Micah 6.
And just again,
that book for David and Marsh would be lovely
! If we could get lots of people to sign it and to write messages
! for them, if you're able to do that.
And then we're meeting for prayer on Wednesday.
Don't forget that.
Micah 6.
So school exams are coming up, aren't they?
Sophie and Marius
are doing GCSEs, aren't they? I'm sure they're delighted
to be reminded about that.
And when I was in school, I don't know if it's the same now,
when you were
preparing for exams, your teachers
would give you kind of exam coaching, wouldn't they?
They'd give you this advice and they'd
give you this strongly
over and over again, repeated words.
So they would say to me and the others
in my class, they'd say, don't panic, make sure
you take the time to read the questions carefully.
Did you get that advice?
Because time and time again,
people rush in and they
come out afterwards
and they confer with people only to find out that they've
given a perfect answer
to a question that wasn't on the paper.
Make sure you read the paper properly
because people often
give a good answer
to a question
that wasn't on the paper.
It's very sad when people do that, isn't it?
It's tragic, actually.
You feel gutted
if you've done that.
And yet, how often
many people do that
when it comes to God?
Because what does God
require of us?
What does God expect from you?
And what does God
want from you?
There are lots and lots of people
in churches, aren't there,
sitting like you are tonight
and they think
they know what God requires of them.
And without any reflection,
they busily go about their lives
and they think they know
what God requires of them
only to find out
too late on the day of judgment
that they've read the question wrongly.
And so look at verse 8.
It's a really famous verse, isn't it?
And I want to speak really
from the whole chapter
but kind of hone in on that verse.
Verse 8 is the text.
What does the Lord require of you?
That's the question.
He has told you,
O man, what is good.
What does the Lord require of you?
Let's do justice
and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with our God.
That's what the Lord requires of us.
But the question is,
how can we actually do that?
And in order for us to understand that,
we need to put this really famous verse
into its context.
If you look at the passage,
you'll notice that the passage
describes a courtroom.
Look at the opening verse,
what it says.
It says, doesn't it?
Hear what the Lord says.
Arise.
Court, arise.
Plead your case before the mountains
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear you mountains,
the indictment of the Lord
and you enduring foundations of the earth.
For the Lord has got an indictment.
The Lord has got a case against Israel.
Against his people.
And he will contend with Israel.
Everyone is entitled to their day in court.
So we say, don't we?
And this is God's day in court.
And God has got a charge against his people
and his people, Israel, are in the dock.
God is the plaintiff
and the mountains
and the ancient hills,
they're in the witness box.
That's the scene
that's painted here in Micah chapter 6.
And the charge is this
to the people of Israel.
You have not given the Lord
what he requires of them.
That's the charge against them.
That's the big issue.
What does the Lord require of us?
Now Israel is their defense,
you notice.
They bring into court
the whole sacrificial system
of the Old Testament.
Look at verses 6 and 7.
Here is Israel
defending themselves
against this charge.
Well, with what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him
with burnt offerings?
Here they are.
With calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of rams?
With ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Isn't that enough?
Haven't we done enough for you, Lord?
What next?
How much more do you think
you can have?
How much more do you want?
Do you think you'll be expecting us, God,
to offer up our children next?
Is that what you want?
Shall I give my firstborn, verse 7,
for my transgressions?
The fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul?
Aren't you satisfied
with animal sacrifices?
Do I have to give my firstborn?
How much more, God,
do you require of me?
Aren't you asking too much?
What more does God require of us?
At St. Paul's Cathedral
in the center of town,
kind of one of the great buildings
of the world, isn't it?
One of the great church buildings.
St. Christopher Wren was the architect.
And I remember hearing about a man
whose job it was
to lead tours
of St. Paul's Cathedral.
If you go to visit,
I don't know whether you can get in
as a worshiper on Sunday.
I assume you can,
but if you're not a worshiper,
you've got to pay to get in.
And this guy
was a tourist guide.
And so if you want to go
round at St. Paul's,
someone like him
will show you around.
And this guy,
he got into conversation
with his tour group,
and he was asked,
do you enjoy your work?
And the man said,
yeah, there's only one drawback.
He said,
I can never get to a place of worship.
So busy on a Sunday,
I can never get to a place of worship.
Think about that for a moment,
the irony of that.
It's a man who spent his life
inside St. Paul's Cathedral
showing people around,
and yet he said,
I can never get to a place of worship.
That's my problem.
And I want to decide
if that's an application for us.
Do you ever get
to a place of worship?
You say you're in one,
now.
Well, not necessarily.
For all our Bible reading,
and for all our singing of hymns,
and for all our praying,
for all our fellowshipping,
for all our religious observances,
for all the Sundays
that we've spent in this place,
for all the sermons
that I've preached
and you've had to listen to,
do we ever get
to a place of worship?
Notice how God is described
here in verse 6.
With what?
Shall I come before the Lord?
It's the word Yahweh.
It's his covenant name.
God is revealing himself.
He is giving Israel a handle
on who he is.
He's giving a name to himself.
You can call me this,
he says.
Yahweh, the Lord,
how shall I come before this one,
the Lord who's revealed himself
to Moses at the burning bush?
This isn't one of the
pagan deities
that's out there in Canaan.
It isn't one of the
fertility gods
or the gods of war
or the gods of whatever
or wherever.
This is Yahweh.
Do you notice how he's described?
With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
It's not like the Roman pantheon.
This is not Zeus
or Jupiter
or Mars
or Venus.
It's not like the pagan deities.
The problem with pagan deities
or the Greek gods
is they were just really
souped up human beings,
weren't they,
behaving badly.
That's all they are.
And the problem with religion
is that you've got to get
on the right side of your god.
And so if you are
a pagan Canaanite
and you need to get
on the right side of your god,
your god who brings fertility,
well, if you fall out
with your god,
with him or with her,
then your crops won't grow.
And it's tit for tat.
That's what religion is.
But our god,
Yahweh,
the god of the Bible,
is above all that.
He is the exalted one.
The god of the Bible,
the god whom we worship,
is not some tin pot god
that you can manipulate
and that you can get blessings
from him.
No, he's the exalted one.
And so how can I appear
before the one who is exalted?
That's the question.
How do I get to a place of worship?
That's the question
in all my religious activity.
In all my religious observance,
that is a very important question
because unless we get
to a place of worship,
unless we get to that place
of brokenness
and bowing down
and prostrating ourselves
before him
and adoring him,
well, I can tell you
what happens in ministry.
What happens in ministry
is you burn out.
All the sermons I prepare,
all the sermons I preach,
if I never get to a place
of worship,
in the end,
it just becomes
intolerable toil.
Do you see the issue?
If saying my prayers,
singing the hymns,
going through the routine,
do I ever get to a place
of adoration?
And the question is,
what does God require?
And how do I get to the place
where I can bow
before the exalted God
and come before Yahweh
and pour out my heart
before him
and praise him
in an attitude of worship?
And the answer comes
in verses three to five.
Do you notice God's answer
to the question?
He's charging them
for all their religiosity,
but they're not actually
getting it.
They're not actually
coming before him
and worshiping him.
That's the charge.
And they've brought in
the sacrificial system
and all the things
they've offered before him
and all the things
they've done for him.
And this is his answer
in verses three to five.
It's the cry, isn't it?
Can you see how it begins?
Oh, oh.
It's a cry from the heart
of God.
Oh, my people.
And he's not only
pleading against his people,
he is doing that
in verses one to two
because he's got a charge
against them.
But he's not only
pleading against his people,
he's at the same time
pleading with his people.
So listen to what he says.
He says,
oh, my people, Israel,
what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you?
Answer me,
for I brought you up
from the land of Egypt.
I redeemed you
from the house of slavery.
I sent you,
before you,
Moses, Aaron, Miriam.
Oh, my people,
remember what Balak,
king of Moab,
devised and what Balab,
the son of Beor,
answered him.
And what happened
from Shittim to Gilgal
that you may know
the righteous act
of the Lord.
Verse five,
that journey,
what happened between
Shittim and Gilgal,
it's the journey
across the Jordan.
That's what it is.
There are two places
on either side.
And the geography,
it might be a little bit
foreign to us,
but it wasn't to them.
These people should know
their history.
And what God is doing here
is he's reminding
these people
of what he's done for them.
That's really important,
isn't it?
If you become,
I don't know,
like,
if you say,
right,
I'm going to become Welsh,
all right,
I'm going to become
a Welshman,
you can't just make
that,
there's certain things
you've got to know.
There's certain things
you've got to understand.
You've got to understand
the beauty of a place
like Swansea.
You've got to know
certain things
about our history.
You've got to know
about O'England Dool.
You've got to know
about these nationalists
burning English people's houses
down in the 1960s.
You've got to know
about the mining community.
You can't just say
your Welsh.
If you say your Welsh,
you've got to know
your history.
It's in wherever
you're from,
isn't it?
And that's what he's saying
here.
Don't you know
your history?
He's saying
you won't make
the right response
to God.
You won't make
the right response
to God.
You won't worship God
in an acceptable way.
You won't know
what God requires of you
until first you understand
what God has done for you.
And I think that's
a really key message
in the Bible.
You will not worship God
until you understand
what he's done for you.
And maybe the reason
actually why
you're not worshipping God
is because you haven't
understood what he's done
for you.
In fact,
that's the pattern
in the New Testament,
isn't it?
You see it in the
New Testament letters.
Broadly,
Paul's letters
in the New Testament
are always split
into two.
The first half
is indicative
what God has done
and the second half
is ordinarily
how we're to live
that out,
the imperative.
He tells us
what God has done
and then he tells us
what we are to do.
The indicative,
it points to
the great salvation
that God has accomplished.
And only then
there is the imperative
to live it out.
And so,
a number of years ago,
it seems to disappear,
there was this thing
called the Micah Challenge,
a guy called Jim Wallace,
you probably don't remember it.
But it was a big thing,
wasn't it?
So churches
and the big message
of Christianity
is what?
They would say
to act justly,
walk humbly
before our God.
Act justly,
love kindness,
walk humbly
before our God.
the problem
with all that
was that it didn't
point you
to what God
had done,
the facts of salvation.
It didn't give you
the indicative,
it didn't give you
the oh my people,
oh my people.
Remember,
he says,
remember what I've
done to you.
It's a bit,
I hesitate
to use this illustration,
but Monty Python,
I've got a sketch,
in the life of Brian,
which is not a film
I recommend,
but there's a sketch
in it,
where there's a really
brilliant sketch in it.
The Jewish authorities
are plotting
to overthrow the Romans.
You'll know the sketch
as I tell you about it.
And one of the leaders
stands up and says,
what have the Romans
ever done for us?
It's a very funny scene.
Somebody pipes up
from the back of the crowd,
well,
there's the aqueduct.
Another one puts up
his hand and says,
there's the roads.
Another one says,
there's sanitation.
And then the answers
start flooding in.
There's irrigation,
medicine,
public baths,
law and order,
education.
All right,
all right,
says the leader.
Apart from the aqueducts,
the roads,
the sanitation,
irrigation,
medicine,
education,
public baths,
law and order,
and education,
what have these people
ever done for us?
That's what they're doing
in Micah.
They're saying,
what has the Lord
ever done for us?
All the times I've
slaved for you,
all the sacrifices
I've offered.
The thousands of rams,
the rivers of oils
I've poured out,
worshipping you,
observing your religious
practices.
And what has he ever
done for us?
Oh, my people,
God says,
oh, my people.
Remember,
remember.
And he mentions
all these things.
It's the history of
God's dealing with Israel.
These people,
these places,
they're foreign to us,
but they wouldn't be
foreign to them.
He says,
remember how I brought
you out from the land
of Egypt.
I am the Lord your God
who redeemed you.
Who redeemed you
from the house of slavery.
Remember how I gave you
Moses and Aaron
and Miriam.
I led you through
the wilderness.
Do you remember
when the Moabites,
they wanted to curse you
and they hired
Balaam the prophet
to curse you?
And do you remember
what happened?
He couldn't curse you
because I kept
making him pronounce
blessings.
Do you remember
how I turned the tables
on him?
Do you remember
how I brought you
across the river Jordan
onto dry land?
And he's saying,
how can these people
who are Israelites
call themselves Israelites
if they've forgotten
about Moses and Miriam
and Aaron
and Balaam
and Balak
and the journey
to Gilgal?
How can they call
themselves Israelites
if they've forgotten
what God has done
for them?
And that's the point,
you see.
God is not a concept.
God is not an idea.
God is not a force.
God is a person.
When Pascal was converted,
I don't know if you
know the story
of Pascal's conversion.
He was a child protégé.
He was a mathematical genius.
He was in fact
the inventor
of the first computer.
He didn't know
it was a computer
at the time.
They wouldn't have
called it that day
but in the 17th century
it was a mechanical calculator.
The guy was a genius,
an absolute genius
but he'd been
a nominal Christian.
But on the evening
of Monday the 23rd
of November 1654,
Pascal had a profound
encounter with God.
He didn't talk about it
very much.
In fact,
he didn't tell anyone.
But he did write about it.
He wrote it down
on a piece of parchment
and he sewed it
into the lining
of his jacket.
He was 31 years of age
and although he
never spoke about it
very much,
he wrote it down.
It was discovered
after his death.
His sister looked
in his jacket.
There was something
kind of in the lining.
She discovered this.
It's called Pascal.
Pascal's memorial.
This is what it says.
Pascal became
a great philosopher,
a great scholar.
He was a very eloquent man.
But when he encountered God,
this is what he said.
It's a bit disjointed
because he wanted to capture
what he experienced
that night.
Let me read it to you.
Fire,
fire,
fire.
God of Abraham.
God of Isaac.
God of Jacob.
Not of the philosophers
and of the learned.
The learned.
Certitude.
Feeling.
Joy.
Peace.
God of Jesus Christ.
My God.
And your God.
God of Jesus Christ.
And so he goes on.
That's what he put
inside his jacket.
And every day,
he remembered
what had happened to him
on Monday the 23rd of November
of 1654.
He carried it round with him
as a memorial
to the fact that God
is not a concept.
God is not an idea.
He is the living God
and he is the God
of people
and of places.
He is the God
of Abraham
and Isaac
and of Jacob.
He is the God
of Bethel.
These are monuments
you can go to.
These are places
in geography
and God has been there,
God is saying
to the people
in Micah's day.
God has left
his footprints
in the sands of time.
Oh my people,
he says,
remember,
remember the righteous
acts of God.
That's what it says
there in verse 5.
Now how does all this
apply to us,
this side of the cross
and the resurrection?
Well, very, very much so.
Because tonight,
after we've sung a hymn,
we will gather round
this table
and we will hear the words,
as the bread
and the wine
is distributed,
Jesus said,
do this in remembrance
of me.
And that is what
the Lord's Supper
is all about.
The Lord's Supper
is a cry from the heart
of God to his people.
Oh my people,
oh my people.
Chuck Colson,
I'm reading some books
of his in a minute.
He once made this observation
about the wine
in the Lord's Supper
and he said this,
the world drinks
to forget,
the Christian drinks
to remember.
Isn't that right?
The world drinks
to forget,
the Christian drinks
to remember.
How important
the Lord's Supper is.
Which probably
happens more often
than we do,
as often as you do this.
As you drink,
you show the Lord's death
until he comes.
Do you remember
how in the Gospels
Jesus went up
the Mount of Transfiguration?
He's on this mountain,
he's transfigured,
his glory shines
through the veil
of his humanity.
It's taken away
and Jesus is seen
for years,
all glorious.
He's on the Mount
of Transfiguration
and he's talking
with Moses and Elijah.
Peter, James and John
can't believe it.
They see Jesus
talking with Moses
and Elijah,
the law and the prophets,
the great summary
of the Old Testament
and Jesus is there
and what are they
talking about?
One of the Gospel
writers tells us
that the subject
of that conversation
was the exodus,
the exodus
that he was about
to accomplish
in Jerusalem.
So what has God
ever done for us?
He has sent his son
to set us free
from our sins
and he became
flesh and blood
in order to bleed
and to die
so that you
might be set free
from the slavery
to sin and death
and you might be
brought into his
kingdom,
into his family
and you might be
called children of God
and so all my people,
oh my people,
remember.
It's not just
a fanciable idea,
it's not just
a nice thing to believe
that makes life
a little bit better
because it doesn't.
This is time
and space
that's happened
in history
God has literally
put his footpins
in the sands
of time.
And so all my people,
remember there is
a green hill,
I doubt there is
a green hill,
but there is a hill
outside the city wall
where God's dear son
was crucified
who died to save us all.
This happened,
remember.
Look at verse 7.
They respond
and they say,
don't they,
shall I give my firstborn
for my transgression,
the fruit of my body
for the sin of my soul.
Does God require
a human sacrifice?
They're saying,
aren't they,
are all the human sacrifices
not enough?
Does he require
a human sacrifice?
Yes, he does.
Can you offer it?
Can I offer it?
No.
Why can't you offer it?
Because God has already
done so.
Because God has not
spared his own son
but gave him up
for us all
and how will he now
not freely give us
all things?
And so how are we
to respond to that,
what God has done
for us in Christ
in giving of his son?
How are we to
respond to that?
What do we do
with that
when we get
eventually to verse 8?
And we're ready
to understand it,
aren't we?
What does God
require of you
and I
in the light
of what he's done
for us?
This is what God
requires.
Do justice.
Love kindness
and walk humbly
with your God.
Verse 8,
he's shown you,
oh man.
Where has he shown you?
He's shown you
in his dealings
with Israel
for a start.
The calcitrant bunch,
aren't they?
The Israelites,
they were stubborn,
they were rebellious
and yet how patiently
God deals with them.
They keep on
breaking his covenant
and he sends them
into exile
and he brings them
back from exile
to the Lord.
He's shown you
that he is a just God
who will do
what he says.
He is a just God
but he's also a saviour
and he will punish
sin
but he will save
sinners.
He's shown you.
Where?
Where has he shown you?
Where do you see this?
You see it ultimately
at the cross.
God at the cross.
God at the cross
where Jesus died.
God shows his justice
and his mercy.
The cross is a revelation
of the justice
and the mercy of God.
It shows us
just like the way
that God can remain just
and yet be merciful
to the likes of you and I.
How just is God?
How righteous is God?
Well he's so righteous
so holy
that when sin is found
on his own son
not because of what he's done
but because it is placed
on him by imputation
when Jesus takes
the sin of the world
upon himself
he is forsaken
by God.
He cries out
my God
why have you forsaken me?
That's how serious
a thing sin is.
That's how holy
God is.
That's how just
God is.
And yet the cross
not only shows us
the seriousness of sin
and how righteous
God is
and how he will punish it
it also shows us
at the same time
doesn't it
how much God loves sin.
It's an old hymn
isn't it?
I've not sung it
since I was growing up
in Wales
but payment
God cannot
twice demand
first at my bleeding
surety's hand
and then again at mine.
God is just
and the reason
God is just
because he's just
he will not punish
sin twice
and if your sin
has been laid
on the Lord Jesus Christ
it has been punished
there
he will not punish
you for your sins.
That would be unjust
wouldn't it?
That's why John says
if we confess our sins
if we own up to them
if we own up to
what we're really like
tonight
he is what?
What is God like?
Well he's lovey-dovey
and he'll sweep it
all under the carpet
and he'll say
it doesn't matter
no that's not
what he's like at all.
If we confess our sins
God is faithful
and he's just
to forgive us our sins
and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
At the cross
God's judgment
and God's mercy
they meet.
At the cross
God has found a way
to be merciful to you
and be merciful to me
without compromising
his justice.
what has God
ever done for you?
What has God
ever done for me?
He has given
his son
to die
for me.
And so what should
be my response?
Love
so amazing
so divine
demands
my soul
my life
my all.
And what will that
look like?
Well that's where
you begin to act
justly.
And he began
to love mercy
and he began
to walk humbly.
In the 1970s
E.D. Armin
he was
Ugandan
president
kind of
totalitarian
ruler
if you've seen
the film
The Last King
of Scotland
it's kind of
depiction
of what he was
like really.
And E.D. Armin
murdered the
Archbishop
Janani Lawum.
Janani Lawum
he was the
leader of the
church in
Uganda.
E.D. Armin
murdered him.
Next to him
for the job
was a man
called
Amfesto
Kivangari.
Amfesto
Kivangari
struggled
with what
he should
do
but he
fled the
country
understandably.
And during
his exile
Festo
Kivangari
wrote a
book
while
Ammin
was
persecuting
and killing
Christians.
During his
exile
Festo
Kivangari
wrote this
book
and the
title of
the book
is a
strange
title.
The title
of the
book is
Why I
Love
E.D. Armin.
And in
that book
Festo
Kivangari
he writes
about his
and expresses
his longing
for E.D. Armin
that evil
dictator
to come
to know
the
forgiveness
of God.
How can
he write
a book
like that?
How can
he write
a book
like that
when his
best friend
had been
murdered
by this
tyrant?
How can
he write
a book
like that
when so
many
atrocities
were taking
place
when so
many
injustices
were being
afflicted?
How can
he write
a book
why I
love
E.D. Armin?
Only because
Festo
Kivangari
he himself
knew the
mercy of
God
and he
recognized
that he
needed
forgiving
just like
E.D. Armin
needed
forgiveness.
And here's
the shocking
truth
we're all
in the
same
boat
aren't
we?
All of
us human
beings
we're all
in the
same
boat.
So
offensive
isn't it?
We're all
in the
same boat
and the
boat is
called
the
Titanic
and we're
all
going
down.
And we
all need
I need
you need
God
to be
merciful
to you.
We're all
sinners
in different
ways.
it'll show
itself
in
different
ways.
And all
of us
need
God
to be
merciful
to us.
And those
who know
the mercy
of God
will be
those who
show the
mercy of
God.
And if
you know
the grace
of God
you will
want to
live it
out in
your
relationships
with
others.
It'll
show
itself
not only
in the
way that
you
handle
other
human
relationships
which are
close
to
you
but it
will
show
yourself
in
how you
view
public
and
societal
issues.
In a view
of compassion.
You'll
want to
act
justly
and show
mercy.
You'll
want to
walk
humbly
before
God.
If you
know
God's
grace
God's
you'll
will
be
very
reluctant
to
condemn.
Nor
will you
want to
condone
isn't it?
You'll
not be
one of
those
pharisaic
figures
crying out
what a
terrible
word we
live in
ringing
up five
live.
You will
recognize
in your
own
heart
there but
for the
grace of
God
go I.
And you
will act
justly and
you will
love
mercy.
Love it.
And you'll
walk humbly
not arrogantly
not proudly
not in a
superior way
not in a
patronizing
way but
humbly.
Because the
Bible teaches
us that God
resists the
proud but
he gives
grace to
the humble.
Like a
magnet isn't
it?
You turn
the magnet
the wrong
way around.
I can never
work out
which way
it is but
you turn
it around
the wrong
way and
you can
push the
iron filings
away can't
you?
But then
you flick
the magnet
and the
iron filings
just are so
attracted to
it.
It's the same
with pride
isn't it?
With the
proud.
God wants
nothing to do
with the
proud.
He resists
them but
with the
humble he
can't keep
away from
them.
That's the
micro challenge.
It's much
more than we
realise it's
not a social
gospel at all.
It's got
social implications
massive ones.
The challenge
is to point
to what God
has done in
human history
through Christ
and to
proclaim Christ
and to
call people
to respond
to what Christ
has done
for them.
And so
he has told
you oh man
oh IPC
what is good
and what
does the
Lord require
of you.
But to do
justice
to love
kindness
and more
humbly
with your
God.