“To Do Justice, To Love Kindness, To Walk Humbly”: With God

Introduction

Satisfaction with life can feel fleeting, only present on the rare occasion that our expectations match our present condition. Erwin Lutzer tells the story of a hunter who was in the woods when he met a bear. Accosting the man, the bear asked, “What do you want?” The hunter said, “I want a warm fur coat.” The bear said, “That’s fair enough. I, on the other hand, want a full stomach. Can’t we talk about it and negotiate? Perhaps we can come up with a compromise.” Half an hour later the bear got up and ambled away. On the ground was the hunter’s gun as they both got their wish—the bear got his full stomach and the man got his fur coat. The moral of the story? What we want from life can lead to places we don’t want to be.

This is where we find the Judeans this morning as we move into the second half of Micah chapter 6. Last week Micah’s prophecy sounded more like a court case as God presented his case against the Judeans. You might be asking, who were the Judeans? They were a part of what is commonly called Israel. Israel had split in two with a northern kingdom and a southern kingdom. The northern kingdom retained the name, Israel, but by this point in the book of Micah had been taken over by an empire called the Assyrians. The southern kingdom is called Judea. At this point, the Judeans have been attacked by the same people who conquered their neighbors to the North. This wasn’t simply an attack, the Assyrians besieged their capital, which is the city of Jerusalem. When the attack began, a group of Judeans flocked to the Temple to worship and pray for God to be on their side. But Micah stepped in and delivered this prophecy. As Micah speaks to them, we learn why God is allowing this punishment to occur to them. You have walked in the ways of the most evil kings of the northern kingdom of Israel, and now you will experience the consequences.

As the Judeans learn about the consequences that they will suffer because of their wickedness, we learn that those who are not living in proper relationship with God will never be satisfied. So how are we to live in proper relationship with God? God gives us three keys for finding fulfillment in life. Meanwhile, we watch the Judeans as they fail to find it.

“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!” Micah 6:9 (ESV)

Micah says in verse 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!” Micah tells the Judeans that it is wise to fear the Lord. But why is he telling us that we should be afraid of God? He isn’t. That’s not what he means by the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is more living in awe of God. When we live in awe of God, we obey what he says. Living in awe of god means putting his instructions for our life above how we want to live our life. in Exodus 20:3, God says, “You shall have no other gods before me." When he says that, he doesn’t just mean gods outside of us. He includes us. Any time we follow our own way instead of God’s, our God is our self. Living in fear of God, in awe of God, means putting his way before our way.

In The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Susan and Lucy getting ready to meet Aslan the lion. Aslan represents Christ. Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, prepare the children to meet him. Surprised that Aslan is a lion, Susan says, "Ooh, I though he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "That you will, dearie." replies Mrs. Beaver. "And make no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knee's knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then isn't he safe?" said Lucy. "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you!" God tells us what we need to hear, not what is safe to hear or what we want to hear. In another Old Testament prophet, Isaiah, he gets to meet God face to face in the throne room of God. The scriptures say that “the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him.” And I (referring to Isaiah) said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” Is that how we understand God today? It doesn’t seem like it. An easy example is how we view the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is a gift from God started by Jesus Christ on the day before he died a terrible death on the Cross. And yet, don’t we often view it as an optional extra to the faith, rather than the source of spiritual nourishment that Christ intended it to be.

William Gurnall, “We fear men so much because we fear God so little.”

The first key Micah gives us is to fear the Lord, to live in awe of who God is.

“Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins.” Micah 6:13 (ESV)

In the previous section, God and Micah act as prosecutors in a court of law. The mountains which surround God’s People serve as witnesses, and the defendants are the Judeans. After they make their case, the verdict of God comes down in verse 13. Because they disobeyed God, he is going to strike them with a grievous blow. There’s a few ways that this might be confusing for us though. For example, isn’t the wrath and justice of God poured out on the enemies of God? Meanwhile, the punishment that should be ours is laid upon Christ at the Cross. This is all true. However, throughout the ministry of Christ, the group of people that he was most critical of are the religious people of his day. To put it more simply, the people who Jesus would be the most critical of aren’t those unbelievers ruining our culture, although they do have a big problem if they do not turn to him. The people who Jesus would be the most critical of also aren’t those millennials who have turned away from the church. The people who Jesus would be the most critical of is us. In the book of Micah, it’s almost a refrain. God loves us too much to leave us stuck in our sin and our comfort. After six chapters of Micah, the Judeans might start wondering if they’ll ever get a break. God has repeatedly called them back to him. Called them back to holiness. Called them back to living as his People. For the Judeans, God struck them with a grievous blow by the Assyrians invading their land, and later, he allowed the Babylonians to invade. But not just invade, they took them into exile. God loves us too much to leave us stuck in our sin and our comfort.

A church called a new pastor many years ago. He wanted his first sermon to be a great start, so he put everything he had into it. It was captivating, biblical, powerful, rich, and deep. By the end of the it, the congregation was cheering and shouting “Amen” louder than lively group of Pentecostals. The following week, the congregation arrived excited for the pastor would preach. So the pastor got up read the scripture, and started into the sermon. But as he preached, the cheers and “Amens” from the previous Sunday felt like a memory. In their place were looks of confusion with an occasional cheer or Amen from someone who had missed the previous Sunday. On their way out, the pastor received far less “good sermon”s or “thank yous.” Instead, people felt more, confused. So week three comes. The congregation gathers. The worship is rich. The pastor gets up to preach, and it happens again. The pastor once again preaches the exact same sermon for the third Sunday in a row. This time, the entire congregation had heard it before. There wasn’t even the occasional Amen like week 2. Afterwards, an elder approaches the preacher and asked, “Don’t you have another sermon?” The preacher replied, “When you start doing what God is saying, I will move to another sermon.” And the next week, you know what happened… Micah seems to be repeating himself here. Finally, God sends in the Assyrians and Babylonians to confront his people who their sin. What if they had truly turned from their sin?

Accept His correction.

The second key Micah gives us is to truly accept his correction.

“For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab.” Micah 6:16 (ESV)

Micah 6:16 (ESV) For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” As Micah concludes, he points back to the start of the book. He reminds the Judeans of that northern kingdom that we have discussed throughout Micah. The northern kingdom of Israel, called Israel, stumbled in their walk. Omri and Ahab were a couple of the leaders of Israel. When called them out on it through the prophet Micah and other prophets, they pridefully ignored him. So the Assyrians came in, and the northern kingdom ceased to exist. Micah is now telling the southern kingdom of Judah, remember what they were doing? Do you remember what happened with them? You’re doing the same thing!

Back in seminary, I met an EPC pastor who was the Senior pastor of a medium sized church. he was encouraging me to spend a few years as an Associate Pastor before becoming a solo or senior pastor. He said the advantage is that you can learn and make mistakes, and the senior pastor gets the blame for the mistakes. One of his Associates once messed up, big time. So he told him, “You’re going to make mistakes. Don’t make that same mistake again.” That’s what Micah is essentially saying to Judea. we all learn through experience. Let’s learn through the experience of other people making mistakes, aka, your friends to the north, rather than your own mistakes.

Learn from Those Who Stumble

Conclusion

Micah gives us three keys to finding fulfillment in life. Fear God, accept correction, and learn from those who stumble.

Chuck Swindoll describes the Christian experience as similar to that of a piano player. Someone else had explained it to him this way, and suddenly the commands of the Bible made more sense and seemed less daunting. When a person begins playing piano, do we expect them to play a piece by Mozart without a mistake? No. We don’t expect them to play on that level at all. We can, however, envision them playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” flawlessly. The more they commit themselves to the study and practice of piano, the greater their ability, and they are able to play more complex pieces with increasing excellence. The spiritual life is similar. We advance from stage to stage in progression. As we go forward with God we see greater degrees of holiness, righteousness, and perfection in our lives. As long as we live, there is further progression to make. There’s always another level. There’s always a better place ahead, where we can see and hear God more clearly, accomplish His will more completely, and enjoy His presence more intimately.

The Christian life isn’t simply fire insurance to “make it into heaven” one day. It isn’t simply praying a prayer once and allowing the rest of life fall as it may. Instead, Christ is calling us into a way of life. Walking his way because we have become new creations. Therefore, let us experience the fulfillment and life that Christ is giving, by fire and foremost, fearing God, accepting his correction, and learning from those who stumble.