Micah on Main Street

Micah 6:8 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 Old Testament is the Bible Jesus used. The God of the Old Testament is not to be disparaged, for He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the prophecies of the Old Testament must be read with faith and obedience for today, and not merely with a critical eye and an editor's pencil. ["Oh, This is not relevant; and that is what was meant— we don't have to pay any attention to Old Testament words!"]

Micah's message is amazingly fitting to today— this time in which we live. He speaks with precision to the spiritual situation of our time.

It is true that being translated from another language much of his pungent style is lost, for by our marginal notes we can see and understand that his mind turned to puns and ironic twists on the names of towns that stood in danger of judgment. [GATH meant 'tell,' so Micah said "Tell it not!"; BETH OPHRA meant 'dust,' so Micah said "Roll in the dust!"] But if Micah were preaching today he would say: "Philadelphia! City of Brotherly love! What do YOU know about brotherly love? Los Angeles! City of Angels! or Providence! You have forgotten the Provider! And so forth!"

But even though we miss something of the keen use of language which Micah had, as Mark Twain said, 'it isn't what is hard to understand about the Bible that disturbs us— it is what we cannot help but understand that hammers us into the admission that we need God! Micah is like that.

I. MICAH ON MAIN STREET: THE MESSAGE

  1. Micah cries against a religion without a vital connection to God (3:5-6 says the Lord, concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; when they have something to bite with their teeth they cry, "Peace," but against him who puts nothing in their mouths, they declare holy war. Therefore it will be night for you- without vision, and darkness for you- without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will become dark over them.") The last thing in the world that I wish to become is a holier-than-thou-type separatist; I thank God that there are many, many non-Nazarenes who are part of the Church of Jesus Christ.

    But at the same time we need to be careful that we worship and align ourselves with people of the Book, of the Spirit, of the 'sold-out-to-God!' In the name of social progress we will be called on many times in the near future to join forces with political expediency, which is fine so far as it goes. But we need to be careful of using religion to give legitimacy to humanist causes! Try calling a prayer vigil at the mausoleum in Quincy Square in the cause of Right to Life, instead of Amnesty International! See what kind of "spiritual coalition" emerges!

  2. Micah also cries out against all witchcraft and soothsayers: (5:12 "I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have fortunetellers no more. I will cut off your carved images and your sacred pillars from among you, so that you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.") It is an insult to Almighty God when His people look for guidance to the horoscope charts and the tea leaves of infidels or druids. Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit is come, HE will guide you into all truth! What possible connection can God's people have with the occult, except to their own shame and darkness?
  3. Micah denounces widespread covetousness and grasping and materialism: ( 2:1,2 - and many other places- "Woe to those who scheme iniquity, who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, for it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them, and houses and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.") There is the distinct possibility (it seems to me) that we in America, in the Church of Jesus Christ, are where the Church of Laodocia was as described in the Third Chapter of Revelation: we think we are rich, and so very wise, and have need of nothing! And the Third World church that has so little is becoming vital while we decline!
  4. Micah was not afraid to cry out against corrupt government, even in a totalitarian regime that could kill him! (7:3 Concerning evil, both hands do it well— The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe, and the great man speaks the desire of his soul; so they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright like a thorn hedge.) What would Micah say in our society— where most politicians are much more interested in getting elected than they are in integrity; where, if a wealthy white man and a poor black man commit the same crime one will pay a comparatively light fine and the other will go to prison ? What would Micah say about the lawmakers who have knuckled under to power blocs and pressure groups and have made laws to kill babies, and to legitimize perverted and deviant behavior like blatant homosexualism, calling it 'alternative lifestyle?'

We can be certain that he would decry it! He certainly cried against these things in his own day! And yet, against such a bleak and seemingly hopeless backdrop, MICAH'S MESSAGE WAS A MESSAGE FULL OF HOPE!

II. MESSIAH WILL TRIUMPH!; THIS IS THE HOPE!

  1. A vision of PEACE over all the earth: (4:1-3 And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it. And many nations will come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths." For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between many peoples and render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.) This vision of peace will be fulfilled in the Reign of Jesus Christ.

    But remember when He comes He will not come peacefully! He will not slip in as a bringer of "peace at any price!" THAT will be someone else!

  2. That vision is centered, not in human politics or wisdom, but in the Person of Messiah! If we will look, all truth is centered, ultimately, in GOD, THE PERSON! (5:2 But as for YOU, Bethlehem Ephrata, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel, His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity... and (v4) He will arise and shepherd His flock IN THE STRENGTH OF THE LORD IN THE MAJESTY OF THE NAME OF THE LORD HIS GOD. And they will remain because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth. AND THIS ONE WILL BE OUR PEACE! )

    And all this is well and good— even gripping and vital, as Micah speaks to our day and age.

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But the challenge of Micah goes beyond the world-wide— and beyond warning and hope for the world at large— and becomes a challenge of what God requires of ME in the midst of all this!

God's complaint against His people is a clear, concise statement of what God asks of HIS people. AND THIS REQUIREMENT IS STILL VALID:

III. A HOLY PEOPLE: THE STANDARD GOD REQUIRES

  1. Micah shows us the total failure of earning our way to heaven: (6:6.7 With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?) How can we make it up to you, God, for the rotten way we have lived? And the awful answer comes back: YOU CAN'T!

    But them comes this simple, easy-to-understand outline of our text:

  2. The simple outline: "DO!" "LOVE!" "WALK!" (6:8 - text)
    1. What we DO reflects what we are!
    2. WHY we do is the basis for God's judgments! (Our INTENTION! Perhaps we cannot understand all our motivation, but we can ask God to purify our heart springs; and we can deliberately side with God on every issue!)
    3. But we can neither DO nor LOVE apart from WALKING HUMBLY WITH OUR GOD! That is the secret of power in our faith!
  3. The DYNAMIC of holiness: Walking humbly with our God!
    1. (Apart from God's constant company) the best of human intentions are actually ARROGANCE! Saying/thinking that WE know already what the Bible means— we reflect that we have eaten from the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, but NOT from the Tree of Life!
    2. (But also apart from God's constant company) the best of human intentions fail to relate to the whole orb of truth. "We put little parts of the puzzle together" with no understanding of the significance of the whole.
    3. (Apart from God's constant company) even the Sermon on the Mount becomes an impossible ideal. For the law of love must be imprinted on the human heart by the fires of a personal Pentecost, a time when the Holy Spirit comes to reside and to preside in the heart forever!

    CONCLUSION: (Thus:)

  4. To walk humbly with our God means:
    1. A deliberate CHOICE! (Amos 3:3) "Can two walk together except they be agreed?"
    2. To walk with God means there has to be some change/ some adaptation on the part both of God and of man!
      • What stooping God has done! But He cannot compromise with falsehood and sin!
      • What JOY surrender means for us! HOLINESS makes us fit to fellowship with God!
  5. Such a walking means:
    1. Fellowship with God!
    2. Direction of life into MEANING!
    3. An unbroken relationship that goes beyond DEATH into

ETERNITY (Enoch-like) for us ALL!

#241 His Way with Thee