Prophetic Week 3 (2)

Intro

Micah

Writing to the southern kingdom of Judah

The northern kingdom thought that what southern kingdom was doing was pretty bad

Micah writes to say in fact that both sides have commited wrongs

Both sides have sinned against God and are worthy of Judgement

So he has this moment of Doom and gloom

Israel was accused of idolatry

at every level their judges, their priests, even their false prophets that were spreading lies. They spoke of justice only in ways that put them on top and that put others on the bottom

Poor people were taken advantage of by rich people

Followed always by a message of hope

One day God will come and like a good Shepard take care of his flock

The world as it was

The leaders and the elites controlled much of what went on

They were adopting economic practices that put money into the handful that were at the very top and did not distribute money equally

There was widespread poverty both in both the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom, and the Lord comes down to speak these prophetic words through Micah

Set up to today’s passage

In today’s passage just before this it poses an analogy of Israel in a lawsuit against God

That Israel has wronged God and is sort of trying to settle the lawsuit in court

Scripture

Micah 6:6–8 NRSV

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?” 8 He has told you, O mortal, 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?

So Micah here is sort of suggesting that

Being a blessing involves more than just doing the right thing

The questions of Micah imply that the person that asks them is looking for a merit based relationship with God

In fact the language in the passage is one of a legal system

It is as if he is saying look I plead guilty I have caused great sin, what should I pay to settle the lawsuit so I can carry on my day

Two weeks ago we talked about Blessing and about how Abram went to the land of Canaan and was told that he would be a blessing to those around him

That part of being a blessing is to

When people try to negotiate with God most of the time it doesn’t go so well

Atonement

burnt offerings

doing the things that we are supposed to do

Just because we are now coming back into the building let us not forget that our mission is to the world

We partner with God to create peace

Judgement that Micah speaks of

Hope that Micah speaks of

one day those two things will be reconciled

To be ethical relies both on an understanding of God’s Grace and an equal understanding of our obedience

If God’s call in my life looks a lot like my hopes and ambitions maybe it is not the will of God that is speaking to me.

God doesn’t say now sit back and relax for I will create justice for you, I will love kindness, and I will walk humbly with you. No! He says that is our job

A proper relationship with God also involves a proper relationship with one’s neighbor.Micah also gives us a bit of a clue into who the “we” is...

Leadership at every level

Micah is not talking here only to the elites, but to everybody

This is not a message that is someone else’s problem it

It can be easy to depend only on or to pretend that the people who are responsible for caring about justice those that are responsible for being kind are the leaders, but in fact each individual is called to these things

God is calling you to be just

To act with Justice is to