Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Often times pastors are asked for counseling.

From time to time, I receive a phone call or an email and a question is offered along the lines of “Do you do any type of marriage counseling?”

I do not consider myself to be an expert of any level, but I do offer counseling from time to time.

One thing I’ve noticed as I help families, and in the reading and studying that I do, that one of the most common issues facing marriages is that one or sometimes both spouses, over time, begin to take one another for granted.

It’s subtle, at first, but there begins to be a busyness of life that takes over and the efforts once made to share appreciation and affection for the other person end up lacking.

Over time it develops a spirit of coldness and bitterness or resentment.

If not checked, it can become deadly for the relationship.

There are a plethora of Marriage helps out there, and one of the more famous is that of the Five Love Languages.

The concept is that personality and interests are often quite different, and as a result, it’s as if there are different emotional languages being spoken.

A good spouse will try to learn their mate’s language and appeal to it so that their spouse feels the love and appreciation necessary for the relationship to thrive.

Marriage is a sacred covenant and one that should be protected and cared for as long as the two both live.

In our study of Micah, we have been looking at the nature of the prophecies and the practical application of the principles given as they pertain to the relationship between God and His people.

God established a covenant between Himself and His people, and by the time we get to Micah chapter 6 we see that the relationship has hit a rocky patch, to say the least.

This isn’t because God had grown cold and distant toward His people, but rather because they had been taking Him for granted, distanced their hearts from Him, and were no longer interested in His desires or feelings toward them.

It has been said that God’s love language is obedience.

That is to say, our obedience is how we show our love for God.

In Micah 6:6-7, the people are asking Him what it takes for God to accept them.

They had forgotten that He wanted their obedience more than their sacrifices.

They had neglected their responsibility to show their love for God and it resulted in their own drifting away.

Last week, we were reminded that God is more concerned with the heart than He is the rituals.

Israel thought that God cared about the routines, practices, and the rituals of sacrifice, and they forgot that all He’s ever wanted was their hearts.

The same is true for us today.

God desires our hearts and loves when we submit ourselves to His will.

In our time together today, we’re going to look at what is probably the most famous verse in the book of Micah.

We’ve mentioned it, read it, and alluded to it in every message so far in our study, and today we’re going to look more deeply into what God calls good.

We’re going to see that God calls us to do what is good.

I’m going to ask you to do something a little different today, I’m going to ask you to read this verse with me.

Let’s read Micah 6:8 together as we dive into God’s word this morning:

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Do what is good.

Micah shows us forms of love that are to be expressed in appreciation of and response to God’s redeeming acts.

Earlier in Micah 6 God reminds His people of how He rescued them, how He set them free, and how He sustained them.

All He asks for in return is their love, and they missed it.

Now, we will look at these three expressions, but then we will talk about how we must do what is good without missing the point as well.

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The verse is fairly straightforward, and has three simple commands.

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

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?

The first of which is, of course:

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1. Do Justice

One commentary points out that doing or seeking Justice, here, refers to fulfilling mutual obligations in a manner consistent with God’s moral Law.

Another definition of seeking Justice is “creating a situation and a society where everything is right, a society where every last person in it, including the most vulnerable and the weakest, can flourish and thrive.”

(Stephen Um, “Stephen Um on Teaching Micah,” interview by Nancy Guthrie, The Gospel Coalition, Sept. 12, 2019, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/help-me-teach-the-bible/stephen-um-teaching-micah.)

Now, God already spoke of a society like that.

Back in chapter 5, he detailed a situation exactly like what was just described, and we know the God was talking about the New Jerusalem, in the New Earth.

We should be living in such a way that we’re just and fair in the present, while looking for the kingdom to be established as it is promised in our future.

What does God require of us, but to deal justly with one another.

He has also called us to Love Kindness.

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2. Love Kindness

Loving kindness is a heart attitude.

If doing justly is the action, then loving mercy, or loving kindness, must be the attitude of the heart.

Genuine compassion, heartfelt kindness—these actions are to be taking place not as a routine performance in obligation to a handed down duty but rather, as a glad and spontaneous action.

As I said earlier, these are to be expressions of our love toward God.

It’s awfully hard for us to express love for God in how we are kind if we show kindness begrudgingly or only out of duty and not out of a heart attitude of love.

In fact, I would say that if your being kind to others is simply a routine, or a box to be checked each day, God rejects that, just as He does any other ritual designed to purchase His favor.

I would encourage you to check your hearts, and evaluate the attitude behind the attempts to show kindness or love mercy.

Before we move on to the next expression of love, I want to highlight verses 9-12.

Immediately after reminding the people of what God has required of them, the prophet shared God’s chastisement of the people for not doing justly or loving kindness:

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If you take those verses and couple them with fact that chapter 2 tells us that the people were devising wickedness, laying in bed planning for violence then getting up and accomplishing it.

They were stealing, lying, and taking advantage of the poor.

This was widespread throughout the society, and we can’t help but wonder if Micah was talking about his time in history or ours.

While the cultures and the dates may be different, the condition of the hearts around us is the same as back then.

Remember, God continued to refer to them as “My people.”

What He is saying is, “I have described what they look like, and I don’t want them to look like this, rather I want them to look like me.

They ought to be honest, loving, and kind.

They ought to be doing justly and living faithfully as they love their neighbors and not victimize them.

If we are going to live in society, but look like God, we have to understand the third command of Micah 6:8.

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3. Walk Humbly

In other words, this is to walk in submission to God’s will.

In New Testament terms, it’s the concept presented in Romans 12:[1]: to offer your body as a living sacrifice that is an acceptable form of worship to him.”

For someone to show humility, means that they don’t take themself too seriously.

It’s not that they think less of themselves, but rather they think of themselves less, as C.S. Lewis said.

If I’m showing humility, then I’m not focused on exaggerated ideas of my own importance, and that I don’t assume that I have everything figured out and know how it should be.—which,

by the way, is not how we are prone to operate.

Thankfully, we have a model of humility laid out for us in the New Testament.

It comes through the obedience of Jesus, as explained in Philippians 2.

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3. Walk Humbly

Christ, though He is God in the flesh, placed Himself under the authority of the Father in order to be the perfect sacrifice needed to pay for our sins.

God calls us to that same humility - that is, to bring ourselves under the authority of the Father.

In doing so, we bring Him glory and honor, while living with hearts that look like His.

When we do that, we will begin to do justly and love mercy.

Now in saying all of that and identifying the three commands Micah shared with us, there is danger in how we can apply these truths.

If we’re not careful we can strive to follow these commands and end right back up in legalism or rigid routines designed to earn God’s favor.

God wasn’t giving another list of check boxes for His people to complete.

Seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly can become just as routine as the sacrifices God wasn’t interested in.

In the New Testament, a lawyer tried to trick Jesus by asking Him what the greatest commandment was, and in turn Jesus summarized the whole law.

Quickly, look with me to Matthew 22.

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Seeking Justice and loving mercy speak to the command to love your neighbor.

Walking faithfully or humbly with God speaks to the command to love God.

What has God required of you?

Simply put - that you love Him and love others.