Good Morning Friends,
These days we seek the word of one who will soothe our pain, but without hardship. We seek the words of one that will not cause us offense. We seek one who will tell us everything is all right, and nothing will go wrong. We seek leaders who do not make things hard. And that goes for our religious leaders too. Typically, we are left with a safe God to talk about, a God that will not offend anybody, a God who will save his people, without any judgement or conversion or repentance. The world seems to like a watered-down message about a sentimental God of love. And who knows God will be who God will be. But there is one problem with the appraisal that we can get a pass without any consequences. It is not the God of the Bible. To prove my point, I have included more text from Micah, and not just from the lectionary selection for today. I hope you get the gist of it and how it combines with the Gospel text about Jesus’ brothers and sisters and the supremacy of God’s will. It is about leadership and followers and who can be counted as brothers and sisters in Christ. It begs today’s question. So, What Kind Of God Is Guiding Your Family And Flock?
Scripture: While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46-50 (NRSV)
Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit has been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to eat; there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger. The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets. Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I must bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he takes my side and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall see his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her downfall; now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets. A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. In that day they will come to you from Assyria to Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings. Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvelous things. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; they shall lick dust like a snake, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their fortresses; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall stand in fear of you. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days of old.
Micah 7:1-20 (NRSV)
Message: Micah is the last Old Testament prophet who preached around 800 years before Christ. He lived during a time which gave us the prophets Amos and Hosea and Isaiah. He was a bit of a pessimist and I think I might have been one and you as well if given the same cards. His father’s name is not recorded leaving some to think he was of low birth, from a peasant family. He was from a small village in the lowlands between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean and grew up around vineyards and olive orchards, and the threat from the Philistines. Micah understood the ramifications in the countryside of decisions made by the kings in the capital on the family and flock. The book of Micah however contains many important passages that are hopeful. It is in Micah that the prophecy is made that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. It is in Micah that we find the famous statement, about what the Lord requires of us… namely to seek justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. But basically, throughout Micah you get the same sense as in most of the prophets. Micah has a great concern about the moral lives of the people. And this becomes quite clear as you read through the book. He claims that nothing was as God had meant it to be…families were in disarray, communities in trouble and institution that were supposed to hold the nation together were falling apart. No one could be trusted. Not neighbors, friends or even family. So, as you read on in Micah’s chapter seven, you begin to realize that the God Micah waits for, the God who is Micah’s hope for salvation, is a very different God from how the people viewed the divine. Friends, Micah’s message went against the grain. Micah’s message was one that is too difficult for most to hear. But it is the one we need to hear. It was not a message of empty falsehoods to draw a crowd. Thankfully Micah does not look to his God through rose-colored glasses. He does not look for the sentimental God of success and prosperity that his countrymen looked for. Micah does not imagine that he is deserving of any and all of the hope that will come his way. He writes about his own sin and the hope of mercy. There is recognition of sin and that his sins would not go unpunished. And it is here in this part of Micah that we begin to see the God who has revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ. We begin to see Micah describing God as pardoning sin, forgiving transgression, delighting to show mercy, all characteristics revealed in Jesus Christ. For most of his writings Micah looked forward and his pessimistic human eyes could only see an ever-increasing darkness. But his human eyes looked at what God was going to do. And that was very optimistic. He believed the enemies of God, the enemies of God’s word, the enemies of the truth would see the errors of their ways. They would see the power of God. The proud will be brought down. The sinner will be defeated. Restoration would proclaim it in hope of the good graces of God. And that his society would become a beacon to the world, which would drive down the mighty before it, which would not succumb to violence or selfishness or oppression. What started out as very sad assessment becomes a tremendous vision of the mercy God will bestow on his people and indeed to all who would be a child of God.
And So, the goal, whether we are highborn or lowborn, from the country or the city, whether Jew or Gentile, we are to take responsibility for our sins by confessing them to Jesus and walk humbly with God becoming children of God. We are to have an honest assessment of our situation and hope it humbles us enough to move us to repentance. We are to realize that we are to set God’s will as a priority and that this is going to cause issues and a conflict with the way society views itself even with family and friends. You see, reading throughout Micah and Matthew you get the sense that people pridefully believe themselves on the right path. The culture of the time, indeed our times too, might see itself moving forward in lines of great progress. But Micah and Jesus paint a very different picture that demonstrates that people no longer respected earthly authority much less divine authority. We need a dose of Micah’s humility in our world today. We need a dose of Jesus. We need a blatant recognition that our sins stand under the anger of God, even under an anger tempered by the cross. But also, we need to look past the present darkness, to our souls being anchored in the promises of God, promises of righteousness, promises of light that will never fade, life that will never die, and a Savior that always delights in the mercy of calling us God’s children. Take that with you today, brothers and sisters, and let it be your work, as it was Micah’s hope realized in Christ. When we are transformed into Jesus’ brothers and sisters, conflict is sure to follow for that is when we begin walking with God loving kindness, justice and humility.
Pray that we realize that we are not worthy, but that Christ is. Pray on our journey of faith that we repent as we declare our belief in God’s steadfast love, overwhelming grace and unconditional forgiveness. Pray for God’s presence, comfort, strength and hope as we face the challenges of sin and the conflicts of the world. Pray we realize that we are not God and so need to humble ourselves to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Pray we answer God call for us to be a blessing to others because we have been blessed. Pray God lead us a step further into the future of a faith that brings unity and multiples the blessings to the whole world. Pray we change our ways. Pray people find comfort in a spiritual family. Pray our membership in the called-out assembly of God is an extension of family and love and mercy and justice. Pray we find on the journey the ability to trust and find understanding, security, mutual love, as well as the challenge of growing in and for the Kingdom of God. Pray we as sheep never lack the guidance of God to be free from fear. Pray we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and God’s wisdom and power to act responsibly in accordance with being a child of the King. Pray we grow and serve. Pray we look forward to a heavenly inheritance in this life and the next especially when we are confronted with overwhelming odds.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 