Justice, Kindness, Humility

Micah 6:8

Matthew 23:23

Micah 6:8

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?

This message is also repeated by Jesus in Matthew 23:23

Matthew 23:23

23 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

What if God put us on trial for our actions?

Micah 6:1-7

That is what happened here.

Israel on trial for rebelling and disobedience worshipping other gods and not worshipping the true God who had done so much for them.

God confronts them with all he had done for them and they did not even defend themselves they went straight to the buy off.

Trying to find how they could bribe God.

Burnt offerings—= basic ritual worship- we might say Ill GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY AND Ill be a better A PERSON

I’ll give you calves a year old— One of the costliest sacrifices (sin offering) — I’LL tithe

Then they step it up… Notice God still has not even had to say anything else…

1000’s of rams- no one had this. —Millions of dollars

10000 rivers of oil- doesn’t even exist— TRILLIONS of dollars

THEN the biggest and the most telling of what is wrong with this group of people—

MY FIRSTBORN for MY SINS.. Where is there focus? On themselves

They are so misguided and so selfish they would give up anything except the one thing that was required. (THEMSELVES) just so they could buy their salvation. (FREEDOM from God’s judgement)

God turns it around. He attacks the problem. He aims at the source the problem. HE AIMS AT THEIR HEART!

Sounds a lot like Jesus doesn’t it? Rich young rulers. Pharisees, Sadducees, etc. everyone trying to prove they were good enough. That they had somehow earned their salvation, but always forgetting the heart.

God’s message has not changed. He wants our heart. He wants to give up everything (OUR SELF) to follow him.

And this is what he requires of us…

Do Justice-

fight wrong and defend truth-

I have always been intrigued by this statement. In fact, DO JUSTICE. This is a simple command. Just Do it. For far too long the church has failed to be completely obedient to this command. We have tried and as a result the church has done a lot of good for God, but we have ignored a lot of things that are wrong, or made excuses for bad behavior.

Over the last two weeks, we have been awakened again to the systemic injustice toward people of color in America. The tragic deaths of African American men and women at the hands of government officials, have brought light onto a very dark part of America and quite frankly the American church.

Next week, Damaris and Cherish Taylor are going to join us in worship. The three of us are going to sit down and have a frank conversation about American Christianity and race. It will be a powerful time and I strongly encourage you to be here or watch online next Sunday.

But we cannot wait until next Sunday to do Justice. Next weekend on Saturday June 13, in Johnson Park at 9:00 AM three recent graduates of Marble Falls High School have organized a protest. They have worked hand in hand with the Marble Falls police department, local leadership and several pastors to preserve the peace. But their voices need to be heard. I invite you to join them in solidarity. We need to hear what they are saying. This will probably be very uncomfortable for many of us. You may not agree with all that they are saying, but we need to listen and we need to do justice.

Justice is one of the action parts of the gospel. I h

Love Kindness- Be merciful.

Kindness comes from God. The kindness or mercy of God It is God’s kindness that leads us to understanding that we need to repent and turn from our sinful ways.

Walk humbly with our God, Faithfulness.

— GIVE your heart completely to God by believing, trusting , and following Jesus.

We cannot live out justice, mercy or kindness, without this last one. It is the key to it all. It is how we can right wrongs in our heart and in the way we have acted. It is the only way for REAL change in the church, in the world, but most of all in our hearts.

We, as followers of Christ, must be willing to admit we are not in control of our lives. We must HUMBLY submit to the word and work of Jesus. We must allow him to be the Lord of our lives. We must be faithful to him and what he calls us to do. This is the beginning, but if we spend our entire lives only worshipping God through words, we have missed out on what it is all about.

We worship God according to Romans 12:1&2 by presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and renewing our minds.

Romans 12:1-2

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This clearly means, we are to give ourselves completely to God. To no longer have the mind of the world, hate, prejudice, selfishness, impurity, division, etc., but to have the mind of Christ. LOVE, Humility, kindness, compassion, empathy, Justice to name a few. None of which can happen if we do not belong to him completely.

I want to end today by reading a parable of Jesus. I think it speaks directly to the church today, and really sums up the essence of Micah 6:8 and Matthew 23:23

Luke 10:30-37

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.

35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”