Don't Waste Your Summer

Summer Plans?

• What are your plans this summer?

• What do you want to do? • What do you not want to do?

• When you look back at the end of summer before school starts, what would make this an awesome summer?

I remember my sister and I would wake up in time to watch Winnie the Pooh and roll right into at least 2 episodes of Dawson’s Creek.

I would eventually get around to eating lunch and tackling the 3 day chore of mowing our huge lawn.

Needless to say, I didn’t have a very good plan for my summer vacay.

By the end of summer, it mostly consisted of staying up late, playing lots of video games, sleeping until noon. And before I knew it the summer was gone! Sometimes I felt like I wasted it.

It happens fairly easily, we start with good intentions, big plans, but along the way we get sidetracked and distracted.

This is the story of the Israelites in the OT (God’s chosen people)

God promised to bless them and take care of them as long as the followed Him.

They would start out with strong intentions and big words, but inevitably they got sidetracked and distracted.

We are going to look at one of these times in the Book of Micah and pull some challenges for our summer.

God’s Charges to the People of Israel

Micah 6:1–2 NIV

1 Listen to what the Lord says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say. 2 “Hear, you mountains, the Lord’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the Lord has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.

micah 6

Israel has turned their backs on God. They had been called to follow Him and live their lives for Him.

If they followed God they would be blessed, but if they chose to follow their own way they would be cursed and pushed out of the land.

At this point, 400 years has past of God’s patience with them after giving them the law and them not following through.

God is bringing charges against them.

Micah 6:3–4 NIV

3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. 4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.

Micah

God reminds the people of all He has done for them.

How He brought them out of slavery and redeemed them.

Why have they turned their back on Him?

There response to the freedom and redemption God gave them was a sign of their ungratefulness and taking advantage of God’s goodness, grace, and patience.

Have you ever sat back and thought about all the goodness that God has brought into your life? If we really tried to take an inventory of all the blessings God has brought into our lives, the list would become super long, super quick!

But how much does how we live our lives reflect our gratefulness for how God has taken care of us?

It is not about being more religious!

Micah 6:6–7 NIV

6 With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? 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 thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

This is the response of the people and potentially our response when we are faced with our ungratefulness.

Do you want me to make sacrifices?

Serve more, give more, read more, do more....?

The point is not avoiding anything fun this summer, but to think about how to make your summer less about yourself and more about God.

What God Desires

Micah 6:8 NIV

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

What does it look like for Israel to be good?

What does it look like for their relationship to be restored and in good standing with God?

Act Justly – What Does it Mean to Act Justly?

The idea being conveyed here is to be fair in your dealings with other people.

You have the opportunity this summer to be a person of Justice.

Not judging people or getting people back for bad things they’ve done.

But taking an opportunity to be kind and friendly to people you wouldn’t normally be friendly with.

A neighbor, a family member, a person from school you don’t normally hang out with.

It could be seeking to be just in how you treat your family members.

Respecting your siblings

Listening to your parents.

Be a person of Justice this summer.

Love Mercy – How Can We Show Mercy?

We live in a culture that is all about self.

But there are so many people around us who are hurting and in need of love! We, as the body of Christ, have the power to go out and share that love.

Mercy is about carry for the needs of others.

James 1:27 NIV

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

True religion or following God isn’t just about showing up to church on Sundays, but it is lived during the week in the way in which we conduct ourselves towards those we encounter.

Who can we think about to show mercy or love to this summer?

Is there someone in our family?

What about one of our friends?

Are there any local agencies that you can go volunteer your time with?

Be a person of mercy this summer.

Walk Humbly – What Does it Look Like to Walk Humbly Before God?

Proud people don’t need God. They are fine on their own.

They can do everything in their own power and there is no need to rely on God. It’s no wonder that God hates pride.

Humility is the opposite of pride.

By seeking God in all things that we do. When we are humble, we are teachable and able to learn from Him.

Psalm 25:9 NIV

9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

Humility doesn’t focus only on what I want to do, but how can I use the time I have been given to grow and serve?

Don’t waste your summer on yourslef

Of all three of the actions I’ve mentioned, this (humility) is the most important as the other two (mercy and justice) will flow from this one. “Doing justice is a way of showing mercy, which in turn is a manifestation of walking humbly with God.”

[1] James Luther Mays, Micah: A Commentary pg 142

Challenge

How can you build your relationship with God this summer?

What Does it look like to be more humble in your life?

Don’t waste your summer on yourself!!

Who can you show mercy to and treat more fairly this summer?