WHAT GOD REQUIRES OF YOU

Micah 6: 1-8

If you have been in a real courtroom before, you might have found it to be less exciting and filled with surprises than in “Perry Mason,” “Matlock,” or “Boston Legal.” I have been on a jury once, been a witness twice, and been a spectator once. In a real courtroom almost never does someone stand and announce his guilt as a spectator, and almost never does an attorney accuse a person who has come merely to observe a trial. Trials have been held in America and in other nations since Biblical Times, albeit often without the decorum and procedures we adhere to in the American court system. Well today, at least at the beginning, you are a spectator at a trial; it is a trial of sorts between the Lord God who has been wronged, Micah who is the prosecuting attorney, and Israel who is the defendant. You cannot have God’s role, and you cannot have Micah’s role! But as we look over the courtroom scene, there could be times when we might become the accused.

First, in verses one and two, Micah, speaking for the LORD, introduces the case. Witnesses in this case are all of creation (meaning the whole world.) The court is reminded of all that the LORD has done for Israel: he redeemed them from bondage, he sent them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and later he stopped the King of Moab—Balak—from cursing Israel even when an oracle named Balaam had failed. He even reminded them how Balaam, a foreigner, considered the Lord to be his God.

Second, between verses five and six, we pause; pause to get the tenor of the proceeding. The defendant Israel is being accused of sinning against God, forgetting God, and even being unfaithful to God by pursuing other false gods. It is Israel, then, acting as its own defense attorney, who retorts with courtroom hyperbole, with a flair for the dramatic. Falling right into God’s accusatory trap, the people of Israel ask what they could do in a worship setting to make things right in God’s eyes! God certainly wanted to say “You are missing the point!” but they proceeded anyway. The LORD had always told them what was required—and he would do that here again—but not before the overly dramatic performance by the defense. “With what shall (we) come before the Lord, and bow ourselves before God on high?” Israel asked rhetorically. “That’s not what God wants!” Micah wanted to object, but hearing the judge’s objection in his head, he let this sob story continue. “Shall we come before the Lord with burnt offerings?” And here spectators like us might think: “Ah, I see what they’re trying to do! They’re giving examples of high redemption costs that might make things right again! But the defendant continued: “Will the LORD be pleased with a thousand rams!!” (Micah rolled his eyes). “Or with ten thousand rivers of oil?” (“Oh brother!” Micah could have said out loud, but the judge would have just reprimanded him for talking out of turn. But how could he be quiet for such exaggerations?) Then Israel goes beyond the pail, infringing into the territory that false gods wanted and that the real God loathed: child sacrifice. “Shall I give my first-born to pay for my sins?” The way it was phrased it treated Israel as a child-bearing mother, speaking the unspeakable act.

Third, surely between verses seven and eight Micah conferred with his client: “Lord, how do you want me to respond to such a heinous response! It is an outrage!” Something about the calm in the LORD’s voice must have steadied this prosecuting attorney prophet and redirected his anger into a steady, jaw-clenched answer: “The LORD has shown you already what is good! Don’t you remember? It’s not just what you do in worship, it is how you live outside of worship that God sees and requires! Do justice! Love Kindness! Walk humbly with your God!” And with that, the state rested, for the time being.

When are the times you want to bargain with God? Some do it if they cheat on a test and are caught; some do it if they don’t tell the truth on their income taxes and are called in for an audit; some do it if they cheat on their spouse and are caught. Notice how many people come to God when they are caught! “If you will just make this one thing right and let people overlook this one thing, I’ll give, let’s see: my whole next paycheck to the church! Or I’ll help the next homeless man I find on a corner! Or I’ll volunteer at a food pantry! What will make this right, Lord?” But the LORD is no fool, hearing each offer as bribery without correction; of gifts without admitting guilt. This famous passage gives answers to more than what God requires in your life; it is what God requires when you are trying to worm your way out of a jam. “Do the right thing! Show kindness! Stop thinking of yourself first!” That’s Micah 6:8 in plain language.

Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, who for years was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, went to seminary in Scotland and studied under the great preacher James S. Stewart. After class one day, Lloyd stayed to ask his professor some questions about preaching and pastoring. At one point Dr. Stewart leaned across his desk and said these startling words: “Do you know what you need to do Mr. Ogilvie?” You need to let your ego die so Christ can find some room in your heart! Upon reflection, Lloyd Ogilvie said “Something had to die in me before God could have his way with me.” God doesn’t want our burnt offerings or ten thousand rivers of oil, or our child or even our promises for future generosity. They all skirt what God wants most: us. God wants us, but with changes: God wants our lives, our souls, our devotion, our muscles, and our bones. God needs all of us to carry out a plan for the world that is different from the one our meager minds can dream.

In his book called Worship, Leslie B. Flynn told this story: “A man was packing a shipment of food that was contributed by a school for the poor people of Appalachia. He was separating beans from powdered milk, and canned vegetables from canned meats. Reaching into a box filled with various cans, he pulled out a little brown paper sack. At first he thought a child a bagged just some different items from the list. But when he looked in, he pulled out a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a cookie. He turned the bag around and read: ‘Christy-room 104.’She had given her own lunch to help a hungry person.” Justice looks like that.

“Years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger of the Menninger Clinic was asked ‘If someone felt a nervous breakdown coming on, what could that person do?’ ‘If you feel a nervous breakdown coming on,’ the Dr. replied, ‘I would urge you to find someone else with a problem—a serious one—and get involved with that individual, helping him solve his problem.’ That way you are no longer lingering over your own problems; you are focusing on solving someone else’s issues. Reid Morrison in this church used to sing a song with this line: “Others; let that my motto be.” If we show kindness for others we are doing what Jesus did in his earthly life, and what he seeks to do through us now. That is kindness.

Finally, “a young seminary graduate came up to the pulpit one Sunday, very self-confident and immaculately dressed. He began to deliver his sermon in his first church, and the words simply would not come out. Finally tears streamed down his face and he left the platform humbled. There were two wise women in the front row. One leaned to the other and said: “If he’d come in like he went out, he would have gone out like he came in.”

Walk humbly with your God. Do justice; love kindness; and walk humbly with your God. If you do that; if I do that; the judge in our trial could very well dismiss the case against us- for lack of sinful evidence. Oh what a joyful day in heaven that will be! What will you do differently now, not just in here, but out there, that will be the first in a series of life-changing events for you? When you begin, the applause of heaven can be deafening.

Jeffrey A. Sumner January 30 2011