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Well, good morning, Willow Ridge Church.
Glad that you are joining us again on this wonderful Sunday morning.
Thank you, Joel, for leading us in worship.
If you've got your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to the book of Micah.
Over the next five weeks, we're going to be working through this book.
And so as you turn there, I want to continue to remind everyone to pray for us.
Right now, as we're still in this coronavirus epidemic, we are having conversations about
what does it look like when we come back together as a church.
And so right now, we are definitely not making decisions.
We're seeking the Lord's will.
We're praying.
And so we just ask that you pray for us as we try to navigate through those waters, seek
wise counsel for what our church looks like when we do come back from everything that's
going on.
As you turn there, a little bit about what we're going to do today.
So today is going to be, for lack of a better term, an introductory message into what this
series is going to unfold for us.
And so as we go through this today, from the weeks after this, we're going to dig in a little
bit more to the truths that God is revealing to us today as we largely look at the first two
chapters.
Now, Micah is considered a minor prophet.
All right.
So there's major prophets, minor prophets in the Old Testament.
And it's important for us to know that there's, when talking about major prophet or minor prophet,
it's not dealing with the content of what's there in each one of these books.
But it's really just talking about that the minor prophets, they're shorter in nature than
the others.
And so Micah is a shorter book.
And so we'll be able to walk through this over the course of the next five weeks.
So what we're going to do today is we're going to read a verse or a section of verses in
chapter one and chapter two, talk about them, and then continuing progressing through that
way.
So let's start off and read Micah one, verse one says this, the word of the Lord that came
to Micah of Moriseth in the days of Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which
he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
So Micah is the prophet and God gives a word to Micah as the prophet for Micah to share
to God's people.
Now, the setting in which this happens is this book or this prophecy is given around the same
time of the ministry and the message of Isaiah and the dynamic of what's happening.
So as we read through this book is that you will see and that you will notice different
places that are mentioned or even different peoples that are mentioned, because right now
in the course of Israel's history, Israel is divided between two kingdoms.
The northern kingdom, which is referred to as Israel and the southern king, which is referred
to as Judah.
Now, the northern kingdom has the capital city of Samaria, right?
That we're familiar with that city in our study of the New Testament.
But in the southern kingdom has the city that we're all familiar with as well as the city
of Jerusalem.
And so this word that is going to come from God through the prophet Micah is going to address
both kingdoms.
It's going to address both peoples that are there as God's people are divided amongst the
two kingdoms.
And it is going to be geared toward these capital cities, largely of what's there.
Now, kind of the culture that is going on is really consistent with a lot of what we have
seen in God's people, the entire nation of Israel.
And so where we find them in the book of Micah is in a broken relationship with the Lord, but
yet they're still in the covenant relationship with God, right?
God's covenant hasn't gone away from them.
God hasn't failed them.
God hasn't left them or forsaken them, but God's people are breaking the covenant with
him.
They're disobeying him.
They're violating the relationship.
And we could even say maybe in terms that you and I are more familiar with, that they
are wandering away from the practice of their faith and obedience to God.
So what God is using Micah and largely what God uses the prophets as a whole for is God wants
to warn them about their sin, all right?
So God wants to point out their sin to them so that they know the issue that God has.
They know the violation that has taken place.
But then also God wants to let them know what will happen if they continue to live in that
sin.
So God wants to make them aware like, hey, this is the consequence that will happen as a result
of your sin.
But then in everything that is filled in not only the message of the gospel that we find
in the New Testament, but the message that we see throughout scripture, which is God calling
his people in the midst of their rebellion, in the midst of oncoming consequences of God
calling them to repentance.
And so this is where we find the people.
This is where we find Micah.
This is what we find happening as this book begins.
So let's continue reading.
We're going to read verses two through four.
Micah writes and he says, here, you peoples, all of you pay attention, O earth and all that
is in it.
Let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple for behold, the Lord
is coming out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth
and the mountains will under him and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire, like
waters poured down a steep place.
And so as Micah begins to explain to them this message that is coming before he brings their
sin before them, before he brings the punishment that will come before he even talks about the
aspect of repentance of what God is going to offer, Micah wants to establish to the people
the character and nature of God.
And this is very important that we understand in God's involvement in this situation in the
northern and southern kingdom and God's involvement of what we see of what God has done in scripture,
what God will do in scripture, and even what God does in our life today as Micah works them
to understanding the character and nature of God.
One of the things that we see in here is that God refuses.
God refuses to allow sin to go unpunished.
God cannot look at sin and sweep it under the rug.
God cannot look at sin and excuse it away.
God has to acknowledge and punish sin.
It's who he is.
It's part of his holiness.
It's part of his righteousness.
It's part of the very character and nature of God.
God can't ignore it, right?
And we see the work of what God did on the cross as he sent his son to die.
But God can't look at sin and not respond.
And so this is what the tone is set of who God is and what God does.
But then Micah goes on and he continues and he describes how God works and who God is.
And he explains in scripture that God is transcendent.
That God is transcendent above the world is what we see in these first few verses of Micah 1.
So what does that mean that God is transcendent?
Well, what we understand is that what it means that God is transcendent is that God almighty,
that he created all things in the earth and he created all things beneath the earth and the heavens above,
which is what scripture tells us.
And he exists above and independent for all of them.
So you and I, we exist in them, not above them.
We exist dependent on them, not independent of them.
And so that what we find is that in God being transcendent,
that he exists above all of these things that he created
and that everything that he's created in all of it is upheld by his power.
It's all upheld by him.
But yet nothing other than himself upholds God.
And so what we begin to understand from that is the power and the nature of God
and God's working in above the universe and all of creation.
And what its purpose, universe's purpose is, is it is in him and it is for him
so that he may receive glory and honor and praise.
And so God's transcendent.
That's the first thing that Micah wants us to understand.
God above, but also that God is eminent.
That God is transcendent above the world, but that God is also eminent in the world.
That what it means is God is eminent in the world is that God's eminence refers to his presence
within his presence within his creation in the belief that God is present while remaining distinct from it.
In other words, there is no place where God is not.
Now, this doesn't mean that you find God in a tree.
This doesn't mean that you find God in a rock.
Nothing contains God, but that in everything within the world, this is where God is.
And that with this, that his sovereign control and reign extends everywhere simultaneously.
That means there is nowhere that you and I can go to the highest of the mountains,
to the lowest of the valleys where God is not present.
Because God is eminent in the world, transcendent over it and eminent in it.
But also what we see in this is that God intervenes.
And so it's not that God's just this presence overruling, holding everything in place.
It's not just that God is in it, listening and spying and hearing and seeing,
but that God intervenes in the details of the world in your life and in mine for a specific reason
and for a specific purpose that God in his sovereignty steps from heaven into the course of human history
and human events to see his will done.
So that what God purposes will be fulfilled.
It's what we see in Christ, stepping out of heaven and stepping into humanity.
And that that wasn't just in the time of Christ, but it always was, it is, and always will be.
And so this is who God is and how God is working and how God is moving.
And so as Micah brings this message to his people,
it's important to understand who God is in this.
So let's continue reading in verse five.
He says,
all this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.
All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces.
All her wages shall be burned with fire and her idols.
And so what has happened here of what God begins to bring out of what God begins to remind them of is their people have wandered away from the faith that God has established with them.
And what they've allowed to happen is for the Canaanite religion to infiltrate the covenant relationship that the people have with God.
And so God's going to bring two charges in the scripture before his people of where they have fallen short of the standard that he set before them.
And in these verses, we see this first charge, and it's the charge of idolatry.
It's what we've been seeing in scripture from the very beginning of the covenant of that God and God alone is the God.
It's what we've seen in Mount Sinai.
It's what we see in all of these interactions where God sends his standard, and it continues on into the time of Christ.
It happens when the teacher of the law, the religious leader, comes up to Jesus and he asks him, what is the greatest commandment?
And Jesus within there deals with the sin of idolatry where Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
That Jesus in that very moment is attacking at the heart of what penetrates all of creation, all of mankind, where Jesus establishes that we are to love the living God, God alone and no other.
It's the breakaway from idolatry, which God's people have always struggled with and continue to struggle with today.
So what is idolatry?
What does that look like in your life and in my life?
You know, we don't create statues and put them in our houses and bow down before them, even though people all over this world still do it today.
So how is idolatry prevalent in your life and in mine?
And we'll talk about this more in future weeks, but idolatry as we approach it, it's elevating anything, any person, any object, any feeling, any pursuit, elevating anything above God.
That's what your idol is.
That's what you value.
That's what you treasure most.
And God says, none of that is acceptable.
None of that is permissible.
And so the first charge that we deal with is idolatry.
And so Micah continues on in verse eight and he says,
And it's a very difficult couple of verses as what we see is Micah as he processes this.
And what we see in these is Micah begins to mourn.
He begins to mourn over sin, not just his individual sin, but the sin of his people.
And as I read through this this week, it just continually struck me that Micah begins to mourn over sin as a whole,
that his response to the accusations of a holy God before his people is to mourn, is to weep, is to wail, is to suffer,
because he knows the devastating action of what sin brings in its wake of devastation and destruction.
And so Micah begins to mourn.
I want to ask you, church, when we view sin, when we see sin in our life, sin in others' lives,
what do we come to?
Can we model what Micah models here for us as he mourns and weeps because he knows the heart of God and he knows what God desires?
Now, verses 10 through 16 begin to give some places in the destruction of what that's going to look like.
But I want us to jump over to chapter two.
We read verses one through five and we'll find God's second charge against his people.
It says this, it says,
Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds.
When morning dawns, they perform it because it is the power of their hand.
They covet fields and seize them and houses and take them away.
They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, against this family, I'm devising disaster from what you cannot remove from your necks.
And you shall not walk haughtily for it will be a time of disaster.
In that day, they shall take up a taunt song against you and moan bitterly and say, we are utterly ruined.
He changes the portion of my people, how he removes it from me.
To an apostate, he allots our field.
Therefore, you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
And the next charge that God brings about is injustice.
What is happening here is that they're wealthy and powerful people.
And what they are doing for their betterment is they're taking advantage of the less powerful.
They're taking advantage of the poor.
They're taking the advantage of the less influential people so that they selfishly can build up on themselves.
And it continues back to in that conversation that we see in Matthew with Jesus on the question of the greatest commandment.
Because he doesn't just leave it with love the Lord your God.
He continues on and he says the second is like it.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Bringing back to the heart of the Old Testament scripture, all the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.
We're not going to read all through this this week, but I want to challenge you at some point in time to go back and read Exodus chapter 22 and 23.
And what we see is in God's law for his people, what he establishes is the importance of social justice, of standing for the truth, of taking care of those who can't take care of themselves,
of making sure that all of God's people are cared for, that within the family of God, that it is upon my heart and your heart to look around ourselves and not just take care of those like us, but take care of all of those.
And it's what we find and it's what we see as the heart of God.
Because God says, look, this isn't just against a nation.
In verse 3, God says, because you're family, you're family.
These aren't strangers on the street, but this is the family that I've called you to, the family that I've chosen you to.
But verse 8, he describes what this looks like.
He says, but lately, my people have risen up as an enemy.
You strip the rich robe from those who pass by, trustingly, with no thought of war.
You take what is not yours without thinking through the consequences of what this holds.
And without thinking through how this hurts and affects the heart of God.
He says, you're not family.
In Matthew 25, concerning the final judgment, Jesus is asked what that looks like.
And Jesus paints a picture very similar of what we see in Micah.
He paints a picture of what it looks like to love him.
He says, then the righteous will answer him.
Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?
When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?
And the king will reply, truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me.
It doesn't mean that Jesus was the hungry one.
It doesn't mean that Jesus was the thirsty one.
It doesn't mean that Jesus was the stranger.
It doesn't mean that Jesus was the one enclosed.
What it means is that God has called from us to stand for justice, that God has called for us to protect those who can't protect themselves,
that God has called us to fight for the victims and not to prey on them, but to lift them up.
And that if we don't do that, then we're not a part of his family, even as we claim to be.
And so God lays that out before him, and he talks about the consequences that will come.
And look at me with verse 9 and 10.
What Mike is talking about here is something very difficult as comes from the warning of God.
And it's the generational consequences of sin.
I recognize that right now we're gathering in our living rooms as families.
And so, but I want to speak to how we've seen this largely in the culture in which we live today.
When we think back just decades ago, we see where sin began to enter in in a different way into homes through the form of magazines.
What was portrayed in these magazines, then became prominent in different types of dance clubs,
which then became a part of movies, which then became a foundation for a lot of internet websites,
and which is culminating today in human trafficking,
where slavery is more prevalent in 2020 than it has been at any point in time in human history.
And what we see in this is what once started off in the form of a magazine,
which was once started off in a misconception of what beauty is,
has continued to build and build and build.
And what we see is the generational consequences of sin.
And it's what God warns against.
But God doesn't end with the warning.
God will end with the reminder of hope.
Verses 12 through 13, he says this,
I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob.
I will gather the remnant of Israel.
I will set them together like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
a noisy multitude of men.
He who opens the breach goes up before them.
They break through and pass the gate, going out by it.
Their king passes on before them, the Lord at their head.
What we see in here is a beautiful picture of Christ.
He reminds them of the hope,
of the hope and faith of the living God that will come and die on a cross.
He paints a picture that he will be like a shepherd caring for his sheep.
He reminds them that he will come from the people and that he will do his work from them.
And maybe more importantly, is even the middle of all the destruction,
he will lead them out and he will go with them.
He will go before them.
And it's just the reminder of even in the consequences of sin,
of even in what we're capable of,
the holiness, the protection, and the love of God.
Would you pray with me?
God, we thank you so much for your word.
Lord, we thank you that you love us enough to bring our sin before us.
Lord, this week, Lord, reveal to us our idols.
Lord, break us where we stand in support of injustice.
Lord, and remind us what it means to love you and to love others.
Jesus, we thank you that you're our shepherd.
We thank you that you came to us.
Lord, and you're leading us as we go.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
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