What does God require?
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Micah, the prophet
Micah, the prophet
I want to start out by giving a little background on the prophet Micah this morning. Micah was from the town of Moresheth Gath, in southern Judah, and he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah. These 3 kings ruled from about 750 BC to 687 BC, and Micah probably saw his prophecy against Israel be fulfilled since Assyria defeated Israel in 722 BC.
He prophesied around the same time as the prophet Isaiah. Where Isaiah prophesied to the royal court in Jerusalem, Micah prophesied to the common people of Judah, to the rural, farming communities. But the many of their messages were the same.Even though the people were experiencing relative peace and prosperity, their sin before God was mounting up to grievous heights. Most of their sins were hidden behind a veil of religious activities. Oh they were a religious people to be sure, they were filling all the squares. They worshipped at the temple; they made all the required sacrifices; they knew and did all the rituals. They were very religious, but their hearts were far from God. They were sick and didn’t know it. It was like a patient telling their doctor to fix up their x-rays and test results so they appear to be healthy, and with the self-deceit, their condition only gets worst.
These were turbulent times for the people. Rulers and prophets turning away from God, and leading the people of the southern kingdom into false hopes and more errors. Micah did not mince words and spoke out against these prophets when he wrote in chapter 3 verse 6 and 7,
and darkness to you, without divination.
6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
and darkness to you, without divination.
The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
and the day shall be black over them;
7 the seers shall be disgraced,
7 the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
they shall all cover their lips,
and the diviners put to shame;
for there is no answer from God.
they shall all cover their lips,
for there is no answer from God.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without divination.
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
for there is no answer from God.
Jesus quoted Isaiah about these people in . 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
with the Spirit of the LORD,
8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob ahis transgression
Micah was very forthcoming as to where his authority came from in verse 8,
and to Israel his sin.
But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
God had given Micah authority to speak on His behalf, and Micah was not holding back.
God’s indictment -
God’s indictment -
Micah sets the stage for chapter 6 in a courtroom setting. Micah moves back and forth between God pleading his case, the people responding under conviction, and Micah as the lawyer for the plaintiff. states:
1 Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
English Standard Version Chapter 6
6 qHear what the LORD says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 rHear, you mountains, sthe indictment of the LORD,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, twhat have I done to you?
uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For vI brought you up from the land of Egypt
and wredeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and xMiriam.
5 O my people, remember ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from zShittim to Gilgal,
that you may know athe righteous acts of the LORD.”
1 Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
English Standard Version Chapter 6
6 qHear what the LORD says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 rHear, you mountains, sthe indictment of the LORD,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, twhat have I done to you?
uHow have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For vI brought you up from the land of Egypt
and wredeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and xMiriam.
5 O my people, remember ywhat Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from zShittim to Gilgal,
that you may know athe righteous acts of the LORD.”
God commanded Micah as his advocate to plead his case to the mountains and the hills as witnesses since they were present at Sinai when God made his covenant with Israel and when the commandments were written and placed in the ark of the covenant. God was calling for outside witnesses to confirm that He had been just and righteous with His people and that Israel had been wrong in its attitudes and actions before God. Let the rocks that have no ears hear, since Israel, that has ears, will not hear.
God is pleading his case, asking what he had done to make the people turn their back on him after all that He did. God had every right to ask this question: “what have I done to you?” God is innocent. God is also righteous. He is asking the people to remember all the great things He has done for them. Through-out the Old Testament, there are many commands for the people to teach their children all the things God has done. The Word “remember” is mentioned 14 times in the book of Deuteronomy. Remember what God has done. Teach them to your children. Now God is asking them to remember. Remember the Exodus. Remember how God provided leaders for them and how God brought them out from slavery.
Remember the events in the desert. King Balak told Balaam 3 time to prophesied and place a curse on Israel, and three times The Lord cause the curse to be a blessing. God is asking, “Do you not remember these things? How have I grieved you? Why have you sinned?
You hear God pleading and asking the people, what did I do that was so wrong that I jaded you…that I made you weary? After all that God had done and provided for his chosen people, God asks them, what did I do to make you turn your back on me?
God faithfully kept all of his promises to them. And they turned their back. We tend to be remember things like the Israelites, we forget, or rather we chose not to remember. Our question often should be “Do I remember what God has done” but instead we ask, “What has God done for me lately?”
The Peoples Response.
The Peoples Response.
So, lets start looking at today’s text. The peoples response to God’s indictment. says:
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
Not one time do we read the people denying anything from God’s indictment. They start off small, with, shall I bow down before God in worship? How about some burnt offerings, and they even toss in the idea of one-year-old calves that were traditionally for offerings by priests.
While we are at it, lets go all in: Lets round up thousands of rams along with ten thousands of rivers of oil. Oil is not easy to come by, especially in large quantities, but perhaps an endless supply of it will please God. While we are at it, why not throw in our first born children too. This is not implying that God would except a human sacrifice, but that gift would represent all of what a person had.
Can you almost hear the arrogance? What would it take to buy off God? Can God be bribed? Could we ever offer God any material thing He wants or needs? After all, He created it all. Doing penance without true repentance is a sham; it only multiplies the sin and deadens the conscience.
An article I read summed it up like this. “Some of the things what were proposed are wicked things, such as sacrificing their children on an alter. That would only increase God’s anger, and add to their sin. Notice also, that their proposals are all external things. And they’re all insignificant, and they are insufficient to accomplish what was proposed. These things could not answer the demands of God for justice, and neither could they satisfy the wrong done to God by sin. It’s sad, but I have to say it, Men will part with anything rather than to give up their sins, but nothing they part with is acceptable to God unless they repent of their sin.”
This brings up the first of 3 points I want to cover this morning.
1. Religious rituals do not cover us for our continual sin
1. Religious rituals do not cover us for our continual sin
The Israelites believed that as long as they were doing their religious rituals, such as sin offerings, they could do whatever they wanted. The rituals were enough and going to the temple to worship God was enough to cover them in the continuous sin they were engaged in.
After a week of sinful behavior, will showing up at church, and putting a large donation in the offering satisfy God for another week? If this is the thought process, conscience or un-consciously, we have missed what God wants from us. Throughout the Bible, over and over again, the word of God makes clear it is not the sacrifice he is after. The sacrifice, the offering, the bowing and worship only means something if the heart is right.
As one writer wrote, “The whole sacrificial system and worship of the temple had been debased into a kind of national insurance policy: we can sin as we wish, the leaders thought, so long as we are up to date with our insurance premiums at the temple. With extraordinary nerve, the nation suggested to the court that the sins of hypocrisy could be atoned for by further hypocrisy on an even grander scale!”
King Saul thought he could buy off God will a large sacrifice and offering when he did things his way and not God’s way. Look at what Samuel told King Saul in ,
22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees as they were more interested in meeting the letter of the law than having their hearts right before God. says,
23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.
I’ve done some looking, and have yet to find any religious ritual we can do, that can atone for our sin and bring us back into balance with God. Can’t find it. The only thing that can atone for our sin, is to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. No amount of church worship or offering will ever be enough. God took care of that part for us, rituals are not what God wants from us.
2. God desires covenant obedience – justice, loving mercy, and submission to Him
2. God desires covenant obedience – justice, loving mercy, and submission to Him
Micah’s rebuttal to the people’s response to God’s indictment. says,
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
God had told them plainly what he demanded of them, and what He insisted upon, from those that would be accepted by Him. It still speaks to us today, and there are many people today who don’t want to hear this because they believe that they can purchase God’s blessings. They are going to be disappointed, if they believe that they can purchase pardon for their sins, and God’s approval.
God did not want His chosen people to be related to him in only a ritualistic way. God wanted them to be related inwardly, to obey Him because they desired to, not because it was a burden on them.
What God tells all men everywhere in general, must by faith be applied to each of us individually, as if He has spoken to us by name, and to no one else. Once we hear what God has said, it is like finding something that is good.
In reading Lange’s commentary, translating the Hebrew, it could actually be translated as, “nothing else does Jehovah seek of thee, but to do right, and love mercy, and walk humbly before thy God.” Hosea follows the same logic where he writes in .
6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
Do Justice
Do Justice
The first thing Micah says is required, is that we do justice. We need to make sure that we do and give to everyone what is right and proper. We must not do wrong to anyone, but we must do right to everyone. We need to make sure that we are fair, honest, and full of integrity when dealing with others. Jesus sums this up nicely in .
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
But what about God; what is the justice of God? It can be summed up as God’s fair and impartial treatment of all people. God’s prophet, Isaiah said, in ,
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
As a God of justice, He is interested in fairness as well as what is right. His actions and decisions are true and right. That is one of God’s qualities, according to those who worship Him continually in heaven. It says in ,
7 And I heard the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
true and just are your judgments!”
The Bible teaches that God is both Lord and Judge. He not only brings justice to individuals, but also to nations and He “sets things right” for the poor, the oppressed, and the victims of injustice. But for the wicked, and the unjust, and those who oppress others, God the Judge of the earth is a dreaded force. But for all who are unjustly treated, God’s moral actions should be a reason for hope.
Love Kindness
Love Kindness
The second requirement given, is love kindness, or mercy as it is in some translations. Matthew Henry wrote, “We must love mercy; we must delight in it, as our God does, must be glad of an opportunity to do good, and do it cheerfully.” Mercy is described as the characteristic of God’s love that causes Him to help the miserable, just like grace is the quality of His love that causes Him to forgive the guilty.
Look at the mercy that Jesus constantly showed others while he walked the earth when he healed the blind, made the lame walk again, and raised the dead. These acts grew out of His feelings of compassion and mercy.
God wants us to be compassionate to others and show everyone kindness. Jesus wrote in ,
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Paul wrote in ,
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
In order to love kindness, you must be completely dedicated to the God of mercy.
We need to also remember what Jesus said in ,
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Everyone should examine their heart to see if they are capable of caring for others. The answer will determine if you meet the definition of loving kindness that God is pleased with. Mercy is also defined as God not giving us what we deserve. If we got what we deserved, we should all be cast into hell…but God gave us His Son to intercede for our sin. The ultimate in mercy, so we should return that in kind, and treat others with compassion, even when it does not measure up to their treatment of us, but it should measure up to God’s standard of acceptance.
Walk humbly with God
Walk humbly with God
says,
6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
To walk humbly with God, is to have passive and active obedience towards God and implies constant prayer and watchfulness. Israel was supposed to be a holy priestly nation, they lost those moral virtues, so the sacrificial worship was spiritless, and God had no pleasure.
says,
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord.
The greatest example we have of walking humbly with God, is Jesus. says,
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
God does not want extravagant gifts and sacrifices; He wants our hearts.
God gives us direction, if we only listen.
God gives us direction, if we only listen.
says,
9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:
“Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
Wiersbe sums up the rest of the chapter as this, “You must repent and obey, because judgment is on the way.”
Another commentary wrote, “Hear what punishment awaits you, and from whom. I am but a man, and so you may disregard me; but remember my message is not mine, but God’s. Hear the rod when it is come, and you feel its smart. Hear what counsels, what cautions it speaks.
It was a final warning, repent and obey God…or else. How many of you remember growing up, and your parents would tell you a couple times not to do something…but you would do it anyway. That final warning came, and you still disregarded it…and the punishment hurt.
This warning to Judah was similar, but on a much grander and more permanent scale. I got a swat on my butt, these people were dealing with eternal death. Always be listening for God’s direction.
We have the luxury of living after Jesus died on the cross for everyone’s sin so we do not have to worry about those burnt offerings and such, but God was not after that ritual stuff, he just wanted us to give Him our hearts and humbly walk with Him.
Micah proclaimed this message before the people, and it was his heart's desire that the people would accept this message, conform to what God wants, and then serve God in a greater manner. What about you? Are you the person God needs, the person who chooses to do what is pleasing in God's eyes? Are you one who loves mercy, kindness, and compassion? Are you one who walks humbly with God?
If you only do two things, do these, and you will do yourself a lot of good. Love God, Love each other.