Good morning, church. Would you turn with me to Micah chapter 5. That's page 730 in the Pew Bible.
We will have Micah 5 on the screen above when I read it in just a minute, but let me encourage
you to have it open before you as we walk through it together. Micah chapter 5, we're going to pick
up in verse 4. If you're joining us for the first time this morning, let me welcome you. We're glad
you're here. Our practice at Trinity is to take a book of the Bible or to take a section of a book
and just teach through it section by section, week by week. So if you're here celebrating graduation
or commencement, this won't necessarily be a graduation-themed sermon, but we trust it will
be spiritually edifying for you nonetheless. So let me pray, and then I'll read our text for us.
Lord, what a powerful prayer we have just sung that you would speak to us.
God, we confess that as Christians we often take it for granted that you are a speaking God,
that you have spoken many times and in many ways through the prophets and through the apostles,
and you have spoken in these last days through your Son, and you've given us your word, inspired
and preserved to continue to speak to us. So Holy Spirit, we pray that you would come as we read
and as we consider this text, that it would be your voice that we hear and your word that we heed,
and God, your image into which we are conformed, that we might display your glory
and praise your name as a church and as a people. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, Micah chapter 5, we're going to pick up in verse 4 and read through the end of the chapter.
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth,
and he shall be their peace.
When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men.
And they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with a sword and the land of Nimrod at its entrances,
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes into our land and treads within our border.
Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man.
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
which when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.
And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you,
and will destroy your chariots, and I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all
your strongholds.
And I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more tellers of fortunes.
And I will cut off your carved images and your pillars from among you,
and you shall bow down no more to the work of your hands.
And I will root out your Asherah images from among you and destroy your cities.
And in anger and wrath, I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey.
So if you were here last week, you'll remember that the context of the passage that I just read
is this.
The context is this.
God's people are in crisis.
They're on the verge of defeat.
But God promises that his long-awaited king will come, the shepherd king from the line of David,
who, as verse 4 says, will come and will make his people secure,
and who will himself be their peace.
So the context is this message of great good news that God is going to come,
that the shepherd king is going to come and rescue and preserve and be peace for his people.
And we saw last week how this Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ,
who was born in Bethlehem in David's royal line,
and who came and who won a security and a peace for his people
that was far beyond anything that we could have imagined.
Because Christ came and triumphed over humanity's greatest enemies,
sin and death and judgment.
In the light of those great crises, those great distresses, our greatest enemies,
Christ has come, and he is indeed our peace,
eternally and forever for all who believe in him.
Our sins are forgiven.
We are reconciled to God.
We who were enemies have been made adopted children in God's family.
But then what?
Is that where the story ends?
What happens after we believe?
What happens after we come to receive this peace that is Jesus himself?
Do we just sort of wait around, hoping God will come again and just wait?
You know, there have been times in the history of the church where we haven't really painted that picture very well.
There has been a lot of focus on becoming a Christian, on conversion, on belief, and that's been good.
But at times there's been a lack of focus on being a Christian.
What does life look like after I come to believe?
What should I expect the Christian life to be like?
And this lack of focus or clarity has often been unfortunate.
Because when we look at the New Testament, we see that the call to follow Christ,
the call to follow this shepherd king that Micah foresaw,
this call to follow Christ, is a great adventure.
It's the rediscovery of our true humanity,
of our purpose as God's image bearers,
and our purpose as God's kingdom people.
And I think that our passage from Micah today is about this very thing.
Now, Micah is using the language of his day.
He's using descriptions and images that his audience in the 8th century B.C.
would understand under the Old Covenant.
But Micah is describing what will happen after the king comes.
When the king comes and wins his victory and becomes our peace, then what?
Well, in our passage, Micah describes two things.
First, he tells us that the reign of the Messiah extends through us.
And second, that the reign of the Messiah extends in us.
In other words, Christ advances his kingdom through us,
and Christ advances his kingdom in us.
So let's look at how Micah describes the first in verses 5 through 9,
the first half of our passage.
Christ extending his kingdom through us.
Now, notice in verses 5 and 6 that it is the people themselves
who participate in the pushing back of the enemy.
When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, Micah says,
then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men.
That phrase, seven shepherds and eight princes, it's a figure of speech.
It's a figure of speech as if to say, in that time there will be more than enough.
There will be more than ample leadership.
There will be more than ample participation from God's people to meet the call
and to join their king on the field of battle.
The picture is that the Messiah, the king, he won't sort of leave his people behind.
They won't be forgotten.
They won't be relegated to the sidelines.
But they will be caught up to participate in his reign.
He will make them his fellow regents.
And they will join him in the advance of his liberating reign of peace.
Now, as we come to the New Testament, as this passage finds its fulfillment in the New Testament
and in the New Testament, new covenant people of God,
we know from reading the New Testament that the real enemies of God's people are not flesh and blood.
You know, the Assyrian in Micah 5 is sort of this picture of the ultimate enemy coming against us.
But we know as we come to the New Testament that our real enemies are not flesh and blood.
We aren't engaged in a geopolitical struggle.
Our battle is against sin and death, against principalities and powers, as the Apostle Paul will say.
And our warfare is not waged with swords or with guns, but by the Spirit of God,
through the Word of God and prayer.
It's a movement of liberation, setting people free from sin and death,
setting people free from the things that have bound them and captured them and enslaved them
so that they might be free to live for God as God's people.
That's what the New Testament pictures as our great spiritual battle.
But this advance of Christ's new covenant kingdom through his Spirit to all nations
is still happening through the people of Christ, just as Micah saw it.
When we believe in Jesus the Messiah, we're swept up into his story, where each of us has a part to play.
When the Holy Spirit causes us to be born again through the preaching of the gospel and through faith,
he not only unites us to Christ and floods our hearts with his peace,
as Micah says, he will be our peace,
but the Spirit also equips us with gifts,
gifts to build up the church and to participate in the advance of Christ's kingdom in the world.
And as this kingdom goes forth through the people,
what is it we should expect?
Well, in Micah 7 through 9,
Micah gives us two images in verses 7 through 9,
two images of what it will be like when the people of the king,
this redeemed remnant,
are spread throughout the nations in the midst of many peoples.
Which, by the way, is exactly what the church is today, right?
Spread throughout all nations and all peoples.
Micah says, at that time,
God's people, on the one hand,
will be like dew,
like showers on the grass.
Imagine living in the arid, dry climate of Israel, of the Middle East,
but then waking up early in the morning,
and there's dew on the ground.
There's showers on the grass.
We felt some of those showers yesterday, didn't we?
Because it just downpoured all day, right?
But man, in the midst of a dry and weary land,
Micah's saying there's going to be cool,
even refreshing water to be found.
And that dew, that shower,
it's going to be God's people,
spread throughout the nations.
It's going to be you and me,
spread throughout the nations.
Micah says that's what the remnant's going to be like.
They're going to be a blessing.
Jesus, of course,
will say something very similar.
He will look at his disciples and say,
you're the light of the world.
You're the salt of the earth.
You are meant to be a blessing.
The Father sends his rain on the just and the unjust.
So it's going to be with you.
You will love your neighbor as yourself.
In fact, you will even love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you.
So on the one hand,
the people will be like dew.
They'll be like a blessing.
But on the other hand,
Micah says,
they'll be like a young lion.
Amidst the unbelieving nations,
the scattered people of God
will often be perceived as a threat,
as a danger,
as a curse.
And indeed,
there have been times
when the growth of Christianity
has led to social upheaval.
You remember the book of Acts
when the gospel was spreading
in the city of Ephesus?
So many believers
were leaving their pagan lifestyles
to become followers of Jesus
that the local economy was being upended.
Because the Ephesian economy
revolved around temple worship
and shrines,
and there were silversmiths
who made little trinkets
that they would sell
and make a lot of money,
and it sort of made
the wheels of the city turn.
But as the number of Christians grew,
and they forsook their pagan practices
and became followers of the one Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ,
suddenly it was a threat
to business as usual.
It disrupted the local economy
so much so
that some of the silversmiths
in town instigated a riot
to try to get the Christian leaders
thrown out of town.
In his second letter
to the church in Corinth,
Paul described the experience
of Christians in this way.
He says,
Thanks be to God,
who in Christ
always leads us
in triumphal procession.
What a wonderful picture.
Being led by the king
in a procession of celebration.
And Paul says,
And through us
spreads the fragrance
of the knowledge of Christ
everywhere.
For we are the aroma
of Christ to God
among those who are being saved
and among those who are perishing.
And then Paul says this,
To one,
a fragrance
from death
to death.
To the other,
a fragrance
from life
to life.
Paul was experiencing
and his fellow Christians
were experiencing
what Micah foresaw,
that the people of the Messiah
would be both a blessing
and a curse.
They'd be the aroma of life
and at times
the aroma of death.
They would be loved
and they would be hated.
Now at the end of this section
in verse 9
and at the end of the chapter
in verse 15,
Micah assures the people
that they need not
ultimately fear.
That the enemies
of God's people
would not have the last word.
That God would be
their perfect protector
and the ultimate judge.
But in the meantime,
as they participate
in the advance
of God's kingdom,
they must expect
to be both a blessing
and a curse.
To be like dew
and like a young lion.
So how might we apply
all of this to us today?
Well first,
if it is true
that God has a role
for each of us
in this kingdom work,
and if it is true
that this new covenant kingdom
advances not through
earthly weapons
or earthly strategies
but through the word of God,
then all of us
as followers of Jesus
must be eager
to immerse ourselves
in that word of God.
We must become
more ardent students
of scripture.
Reading it,
meditating on it,
memorizing it.
We must make a practice
of saturating
our minds and hearts
with good biblical teaching.
How else,
as we are scattered
among the nations,
how else are we going
to recognize God's ways
and discern God's will
and really inhabit
this story
into which
he's called us
each to play
such an integral role?
How else are we going
to do that
if not through a deep
and constant engagement
with God's word?
Imagine being called
into a theater troupe,
right?
Being called to play a part
in a play.
And the director
hands you the script
and you say,
thanks,
but I got this.
And you walk out
onto the stage
and you have no idea
what your part is.
You have no idea
what the story is,
right?
Instead,
God hands us
the script
and says,
this is the play.
This is how you're
to live this out
in the midst
of the nations.
So soak yourself
in it,
immerse yourself
in it.
And then when there
come those times
when you have to
maybe improvise
because there isn't
an exact verse
that you can quote,
you'll be so saturated
in the story
and the ways
and the word of God
that you'll be able
to do it faithfully.
So as we face
the kingdom task
of our own day,
we must recommit
ourselves to a deep
and joyful saturation
in the Bible.
But second,
as we face
the kingdom task
of our own day,
we have to be,
we have to be
humble enough
to bless
and at the same time
bold enough
to offend.
We have to be due
and we have to be lions
at the same time.
And of course,
humanly speaking,
that sounds impossible,
right?
Most people are either
one or the other,
you know?
You have,
you probably have friends,
you probably have friends
who are very gentle
and very humble
and they'll always agree
with you
and they'll always do
something good for you
even if you've treated
them poorly,
right?
Then you have other friends
who are just like,
they're always telling
you the truth
and they're always
stepping on your toes
and you like them for it
but you kind of
don't like them for it,
you know?
And then you realize
like, oh my goodness,
I'm probably one of those.
I'm probably one of those too.
You know,
I wonder which one I am,
you know?
Most people kind of
humanly are one or the other
and the truth is
most churches
and most communities
usually kind of tip
one way or the other.
Right?
We're either really good
at boldness
or really good
at humility.
We're really good
in a willingness to bless
or we're really good
at a willingness
to offend.
But Micah says,
you'll need to be both.
You'll need to be both.
And that's going to be
the sign,
one of the signs,
that you're really
the people of the Messiah,
of the shepherd king.
So how do we get
to that human impossibility
of being humble enough
to bless
and yet bold enough
to offend?
Well, the reality
is we get there
through a constant engagement
and an ongoing
internalization
of the grace
and peace
that Jesus is for us.
Because the humility
comes
when we grasp
deeper and deeper
and deeper
that we are sinners
saved by sheer grace.
That Christ's love
and mercy
extended to us
when we did nothing
to deserve it.
In fact,
just the opposite.
We defended God
and lived as if we wanted
nothing to do with Him.
God supports our life
with every second,
every moment
we're awake
and alive
and in being
is because of God's
sheer goodness
and power
and mercy.
And yet we live
99.99%
of our days
completely ignoring
that fact.
And yet
God sends His Son
in mercy
to love us
and to die for us
and to forgive us
and to welcome us home
when we've done nothing
to deserve it.
And so that makes us
incredibly humble
because we know
that it's only by God's grace
that we're saved.
We can't work our way
out of that debt.
But at the same time
the grace of Christ
also makes us bold.
It humbles us
but it also makes us
bold
like lions.
Why?
Because as we come
to know God's love
and acceptance
and His favor
suddenly when we come
to know God's acceptance
and rest in it
and relish it
that frees us
from the fear
of losing
the world's acceptance.
We have the most
important acceptance
and favor
in the universe.
If the King
has made me His own
and given me
His favor
what difference
does it make
if I happen
to lose
the world's favor?
It may be costly
but I have
riches
that cannot compare.
And so we mustn't
ever lose sight
of the grace
of the gospel
where this whole passage
starts
He will be our peace.
That's the only thing
that's going to make us
humble enough
to bless
and at the same time
bold enough
to be willing
to offend.
So this is Micah's
first answer
to what happens
after we believe.
when we come
to participate
in the Messiah's
peace through faith
we also become
participants
in the advance
of His kingdom.
The kingdom
of the Messiah
advances
through us.
But the second part
is this
the kingdom
of the Messiah
advances
in us.
This is verses
10 through 15.
Now before we look
at the main point
of those verses
it's good to see
again how verse 15
the last verse
of our chapter
like verse 9
is a reminder
that God will
ultimately protect
His people
and God will
ultimately be
the perfect judge
of all.
And you know
even though that
strikes our cultural
sensibilities
pretty harshly
God being the
perfect judge
it's actually
good news
because if God
is the perfect judge
if God is the judge
and that means
I don't have to be
the one who's trying
to right every wrong.
I can follow
Christ faithfully
and actually forgive
and actually be merciful
knowing that God
will one day
put everything to right.
But this is also
sobering news
for those who are
outside of Christ.
And verse 15
is an urgent call
to flee to Christ
and find forgiveness
and peace with God.
If that's you today
if you're outside
of Christ
then don't delay.
There is full
forgiveness and mercy
for everyone
who turns
and trusts in Christ
no matter what
your background
no matter what
your long list
of failures
and guilt
or shame is.
There's full
forgiveness and mercy
for everyone
who turns
and trusts in Christ.
The judgment for sin
fell on Him
at the cross
so that all
who trust in Him
need never face
the judgment
their sins deserve.
And God offers
this forgiveness
free of charge
to you today.
So believe in Christ
and be saved.
That's where
our passage ends.
But the bulk
of this second half
of verses 10
through 14
the second half
of our text
the bulk of it
is about what God
is going to do
in His redeemed people.
In other words
the second half
of our passage
is largely about
how God plans
to purify
His redeemed people
to make them
increasingly holy
to increasingly
transform them
into His image
and likeness.
And this happens
Micah says
as God
cuts off
or casts away
the things
that the people
depend on
instead of Him.
In verses 10 and 11
God says
He's going to
cut off
their dependence
on military might
on chariots
on strongholds
on citadels
I'm going to
cut those things away.
And then in verse 12
God says
He's going to
cut off
their dependence
on fortune tellers
and sorcerers
and trying to
control or
manipulate
their surroundings
through their
human machinations.
He says
I'm going to
remove that
and cut that
off from you.
And then in verses
13 through 14
God says
He'll cut off
their dependence
on idols
and carved images.
He says
I'm going to
remove those things
from your midst.
And you know
as you look at
the Old Testament
these were the
constant pitfalls
for the Old Testament
people of God.
They were constantly
tempted to run
to military power
or to run to
false gods
to protect them
and keep them safe.
But God wants
His people to rely
on Him alone
and He wants them
to be set apart
from the other nations
to be different
from how they operate.
All the other nations
operated along those lines.
Let's build a big military
and let's build
a bunch of statues
to God's
and then we're
going to be safe
and then we're
going to be victorious.
But God says
that's not what
my people are
going to be like.
God wants them
to be set apart
from the other nations
to be distinct
which is what
the word holy means.
It means set apart
distinct.
Other nations
depend on chariots
and citadels
not God's people.
Other nations
depend on idol worship
engraving images
not God's people.
They would be different.
They would be set apart.
They would be holy
like God is holy.
You see
when we become Christians
when we enter
into a saving relationship
with Jesus
the Messiah
it is true
that all of our sins
are forgiven.
The penalty
for our sins
is taken away
because of Christ's
death on the cross.
But the truth is
is that
many of our sinful
tendencies
and patterns
and habits
still remain.
And God's plan
is to remake us
and refashion us
over time
through his Holy Spirit
to make us
ultimately
more like Christ.
Our sins are forgiven
but now
he's actually going to
work that out
in us
and through us
by his Holy Spirit
to make us
more like Christ
in how we think
and how we act
and how we speak
and how ultimately
what we love
and what we depend on.
Jesus Christ
lived his life
in complete dependence
on nothing
but the love
of his heavenly Father.
He lived
in complete dependence
on the love
of his heavenly Father.
The love of the Father
was completely
and utterly
sufficient for him.
So much so
that even in the
Garden of Gethsemane
when Jesus was faced
with the terrible
prospect of the cross
Christ was willing
to say
but not my will Father
your will be done.
And this is where
God wants to bring us
to the place
of utter freedom
and utter liberty
in God's love
dependent on nothing else
so that we might
be able to say
from the depths
of our being
God thy will be done.
I'm depending
on nothing else
but you.
So brothers and sisters
how has God
recently been at work
in your life
to make you holy?
And how are you
pursuing this holiness?
Are there obvious sins
that you need to confess
and get rid of
to cut off?
Do you need the help
of fellow Christians
or a support group
to fight a sinful
addiction or habit?
If you have sins
you need to confess
confess them friends.
If you have sins
where you need help
reach out for help.
Come talk to me
or any of the elders
and we can point you
in the right direction
so that you can
pursue this path
of becoming
more liberated
more free
more holy
like Christ.
Perhaps you've been
in a season
of change
or of loss.
perhaps it feels
like there are things
that God
has been
cutting off
or cutting away
from your life.
No doubt
those things
have been painful.
But you know
God will often
use these painful
seasons
of cutting away
to produce
a deeper
spiritual growth
in us.
Remember Jesus'
words in John 15?
John 15
Jesus says
I'm the true vine
you're the branches
if we abide in him
we bear much fruit
and Jesus says
as we bear that fruit
God is going to
continue to prune us.
He's going to continue
to prune us
why?
So that we might
become even more fruitful
and that pruning
that cutting away
is never easy
or joyful
at the time.
Sometimes it feels
like a piece of us
is literally being
taken out.
But the result
is a deeper
dependence on God
and a deeper
intimacy with him.
And as our roots
push deeper
and deeper
into God
and God alone
we find ourselves
from the inside out
being more
and more like
Jesus
more and more
who God created
us to be.
You see friends
this is how much
the Father loves us.
He gives his son
for us
to reconcile us
to himself
to be our peace
and then he continues
to pursue us
never resting
in that pursuit
until we begin
to reflect
more and more
of his character
of his wisdom
of his grace
of his glory
of his joy.
And so here is
Micah's vision
for the people
who've come to know
the Messiah
and his peace.
What's the story?
What's the journey
that God has for us?
God doesn't just want
to advance his kingdom
through us.
He wants his kingdom
to be embodied
in us.
He wants to purify us
and make us holy.
He wants to make us
like his son.
And isn't this
the greatest privilege
and joy
that we could imagine?
not just to be used
by God
but to become
living images
of God's own character
to become like God.
To have everything
false
and everything
destructive
cut away
and to have
our true self
emerge.
We live in a time
when we all
want to find
that authentic self
don't we?
And God says
I'm going to help
you find that.
It's not going to be
the path you think.
It's going to be
the path
through the grace
of Christ for you.
Cutting away
the things that are
false and destructive.
So that the self
that's created
by God
in Christ Jesus
that self
that fully known
fully loved
fully free self
can begin to emerge.
Where you'll be free
not just from sin
but you'll be free
for God.
free for God
as Michael will say
in the chapter to come
free to do justice
free to love kindness
and free to walk
humbly with our God.
Let's pray together.
Father we ask
that you would do
this work
through us
and in us
that you've portrayed
and pictured
through Micah's prophecy.
Lord help us
to take joy
in the work
that you're doing
through us.
Help us to find
deep joy
in the work
that you're doing
in us.
Lord and help us
as a church
to be doing
these things
together
in the fellowship
of this family
that you've brought
us into
with Christ
as our head
as our good shepherd.
Help us to open
up our hands
to you God
and say
thy will be done
and then to find
our place
in this great
and this thrilling
story of redemption
that you've made
us a part of.
We pray this
in Jesus' name.
Amen.