Morning Message Text: Micah 6: 1-8
The LORD’s Case Against Israel
1 Listen to what the LORD says: “Stand up, plead my case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say.
2 “Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.
3 “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? 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 thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Morning Message:
The message today was influenced by my daily devotional, and I believe a nudge in its direction by the Holy Spirit. As I have shared with you before I don’t believe in coincidence. As I flipped the page to read my daily devotion the pages must have stuck together, and I ended up jumping two days ahead. When I am finished reading, I always copy them and send them to my family, my way of making sure they all get a little piece of God’s word, whether they want it or not. Anyhow, it was then that I discovered that I had read the wrong one, so I went back to where I was supposed to be. Two days later, when I read it again, I realized that God had plans for this text. Let’s stop here for a moment and think about how God might be leading us in places that we don’t realize.
The devotion is taken from Micah 6: verse 8, “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
“Every parent experiences the battle of wills: the parent’s will against the child’s will—especially when children are very young and begin to discover the amazing concept called choice. But the battle of wills doesn’t take place only during childhood. It is a human battle between equals, between authorities and subordinates, and between mankind and God. Indeed, the first skirmish in the battle of wills took place in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve had to choose God’s will or theirs. Sadly, they chose their will instead of God’s.” (from Walking With Jesus by David Jeremiah, p. 318) How often we choose what we want with little to no regard for God’s will.
“Israel, too, constantly engaged in battles of will with God. God used Micah to tell the Israelites that he did not want their sacrifices while they were still not committed to living faithfully.” (Walking With Jesus, p. 318)
As a pastor in a church that depends on the willful giving of its members, I should be careful how I phrase this, but this has to be said: God is not interested in your sacrifices or your money. He wants your heart and your honest commitment to follow his ways. If God needed what you have, he wouldn’t have blessed you with it to begin with. God owns it all, it is his to give or take, to bless or withhold. These Israelites were so silly thinking they could appease God by giving him some of what he blessed them with and then just live as they please. We should maybe stop and examine our own motives before we are too critical of these Israelites. We know that God sees the heart. We know that God knows our intentions and judges us not on the amount of our sacrifice, but on our willingness to follow him. Jesus and his disciples watched as a widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury. The disciples saw a pittance of an offering; Jesus saw a true sacrifice of all that she had.
As believers in Jesus there is this wonderful, tried and true way for us to find our way back to God’s will for our lives. You know, this can become very repetitive, but following Jesus is not complicated. It’s not easy, but it is very easy to do if you want to. Listen: “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? ANSWER ME. I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery.” What does this have to do with us? Do you know? Can you see it? Maybe I should say it bluntly and directly, in a way that makes perfect sense to a Christian heart. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I have saved you from the slavery of sin and death. I have removed the chains of sin that were dragging you down to the pits of hell.” It’s different for all of us. Maybe He would say to you, “I brought you out of alcohol or drug addiction.” “I have placed you on the right path, when you were so far away from me and wondering in the wilderness of sin, I gave you light and held your hand and put your feet on solid ground.” I don’t know what Jesus did for you, but I know that all of us Christians have a past that we can look at and be reminded of God’s love. That is always the first step, to look back at what God did for you.
Every one of us has a salvation story to tell the world. God sent them Moses. Who has He put in your life that helped lead you to this day? Balak, king of Moab, tried to get a religious man, Balaam son of Beor, to curse the Israelites, but instead God made Balaam’s curse into a blessing. Think about this for a moment, has God saved you from harm that others may have intended to do to you? The Christian life is a journey that many times mirrors the journey of the Israelites through the desert. How has God sustained you in your faith? I am quite certain He has provided manna from heaven and water from rocks. Why is it important for us to remember where we have been? The end of verse 5 tells us, “That you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
Mankind, all of us, some maybe more than others, but we are all made the same and we all have a sinful nature that we must do battle with, not just daily, but sometimes moment by moment. All of us are willful, we have wills of our own and most times our will is in direct conflict with God’s will for our lives. I say this to you so directly because we need to take it seriously and be ready for the battle, the fight that our human nature willfulness is always ready to wage against God. Micah boiled the laws of Moses down to three commands:
1. Do justly. How else could we say this? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Treat people the way that you would want to be treated. And more than that: As Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to know what is right, so, prayerfully do what is right and just. Do you know what a better world this would be if, as people of faith, we always tried to do what is just?
2. Love mercy. This doesn’t mean for us to simply agree that mercy is a good and right thing; it calls us to love mercy. This requires us to have changed hearts. When you love something or someone you always do what is best for that thing or person. You pay attention. If you love football, you make time to watch; you schedule around it; you watch sports shows that talk about football; you focus on it. To love mercy is to focus on it and in everything you do, every decision that you make, be merciful.
3. Walk humbly with God. To humble yourself before God is to show Him the love and respect that He deserves. “Not my will but thy will be done.” In order to win the battle of wills we must fully submit to God. “Be honest and fair in your dealings, remain kind and faithful to others, and walk in daily submission to God.” (Walking With Jesus, p. 318)
Jesus said it best when He was asked what the most important commandment is. Listen, this will sound very similar. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27). You must love God and others in order to win the battle of the wills.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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