We are called to share the good news of the coming of God’s kingdom, called to live God’s way, rather than the world’s way. But as followers of Jesus, what is it we are supposed to do?
In this Sunday’s reading from Micah, we get a clear answer to that question. Similar to Jesus’ later command to love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself (see Matthew 22), Micah 6:8 gives us a great one line summary of how God calls us to live.
Today’s Scripture readings are Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 15, and Matthew 5:13-20. A portion in the middle of this sermon is a repeat from my sermon three years ago, and I found helpful this commentary at WorkingPreacher from Tyler Mayfield.
Here’s the sermon audio and video from Christ the King Lutheran Church in Port Washington.
Powered by RedCircle
Come Holy Spirit, and light our hearts with the fire and the joy of your love. Amen
A week ago on Saturday I was at an event our synod put on in Menomonee Falls focused on work our churches are doing around authentic diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Lots of conversation all day around how do we as church—both as individual congregations and as a synod together and as the ELCA in general—how do we as church include all of God’s children, especially LGBTQIA+ people, people of different races and backgrounds, how do we authentically include and value people of all identities, veterans, people with disabilities, different income levels, ages. How do we work together to dismantle systems of discrimination and oppression so that all are truly welcome?
These are all important conversations to have, and it’s easy to find heartbreaking stories of people who have been excluded from churches, even supposedly welcoming churches. I’m glad these conversations are happening, and I know this work is valuable, but I’ll be brutally honest: I caught myself at one point Saturday morning thinking, “Ok, this is all great, but this isn’t what my congregation needs right now. I need strategies on how to get young families in the door and pick music everyone likes, and encourage people to give more money to pay for furnaces and doors.”
Again, it’s a synod event with lots of churches represented, and I saw a poster inviting congregations to send representatives to a workshop to learn “How to form a creation care team in your congregation” to work on environmental issues, and again, I thought, “Ok, that’s nice, sounds like a great ministry for them, but we don’t have time or energy for that.”
I caught myself thinking, “Of course churches ought to take care of creation, of course we’re opposed to racism, but what does all this have to do with me and the people I serve? Is this what we should be spending energy and money on?”
And then I ran into this reading from Micah. I know this reading, I love these verses, especially Micah 6:8. Christin and I had this verse in mind when we named our child. I like Micah, but boy is his message challenging!
A little background: Micah the prophet is living during an interesting time. It’s about 700 years before Jesus is born and there’s a lot of religion happening in Israel. There’s not so much personal faith or actual following of God’s commands, but there’s a lot of religion, and it’s working really well for the people in charge.
The priests and the political leaders are very happy to worship a God who approves of everything they do. When you use it right, religion is a great tool for turning a profit and keeping people happy, again, especially when you decide God approves of everything you’re doing.
And then, as happens from time to time in Israel’s history, this annoying prophet shows up with a message from God. According to Micah, God is not happy.
Listen to a few verses from chapter 3: “Listen, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Should you not know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people, and the flesh off their bones; who eat the flesh of my people, flay their skin off them, break their bones in pieces, and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a cauldron?” It’s a pretty graphic image of how the corruption of the leaders is consuming the people.
Micah lays out specifics: “[Israel’s] rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, ‘Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us.’”
It’s a blatantly self-serving distortion of God’s promise to be with and watch over God’s people.
The section we read today from chapter six is sort of a courtroom drama. Micah lays out God’s case, reminding the people of what the Lord has done for them: “I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery.” What happened? Why have you forgotten what God has done for you?
To their credit, as Micah makes his case, the people seem to realize they’ve done wrong. They get that they’ve sinned; they recognize that they’ve turned their relationship with God into self-serving religion. So they ask, “What is it God wants from us? What kind of sacrifice will satisfy God? What’s the fine we need to pay to make God happy with us again? What sort of worship will convince God to bless us?”
When God answers, when God’s verdict comes, it’s not what they’re expecting. It’s not, “Give me this offering. Prepare this particular sacrifice. Do this new thing.”
Instead, Micah says, “God has told you what is good. You know what you’re supposed to do. There’s no shortcut, nothing you can give in exchange.
You can’t just write a check or put a price tag on God’s mercy. What God wants, what God requires of you is simple: Your whole life. And you know how God wants you to live. Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with God.”
Their old version of the religious life, where they claimed to follow God, but not at the expense of their own comfort, not if it interfered with their own interests, that isn’t going to cut it anymore. Faith can’t just be lip service; God is claiming their entire lives.
Instead of oppressing the poor around them, instead of seeing their neighbors as economic opportunities, they are to do justice. Treat others with kindness, as fellow humans bearing God’s image.
Of course, doing justice is more than just avoiding cheating your neighbors, or not taking bribes against the innocent, as our Psalm said.
This is an active command. Some translations say, “Seek justice” which I prefer, because that word seek makes it clear this is about going out and doing something, pursuing opportunities to help others.
This is our mission. This is what we’re here for. If we are not interested in justice, if we are not working for inclusion, standing up for the poor and the disenfranchised, if we are not fighting for people who don’t have a voice, then, beloved siblings in Christ, what are we doing here? What’s the point? What difference are we making?
It is true that as one or two congregations, we cannot solve everything ourselves. That’s why we have partners, right? The church is bigger than us. During Lent, we’re going to hear more about some of the projects our synod partners are doing and how we can get involved and support their work.
As I said, last week when I found myself wondering, “Does all this inclusion and climate and justice and disability stuff really matter right now for our congregations?” these are the verses I ran into.
What does God want from you? What does the Lord require of us? “The Lord has told you, O mortal what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
We’ve been talking about Jesus calling disciples to join him in his mission. This is his mission!
We don’t get to decide “Should our church focus on justice or on evangelism and outreach?” There’s no choice between sharing the gospel and being saved by grace through faith in Jesus versus doing service projects and public advocacy and witness. Following Jesus means joining in God’s mission, getting involved in Jesus’ liberating work. Eternal salvation includes this life.
We care about justice, we care about inclusion, we care about loving our neighbors and working for their good because God cares about these things.
I heard a pastor suggest part of what walking humbly with God means is we don’t get to decide who justice and mercy are for. We don’t get to decide which neighbors we love, who is worthy of justice, worthy of being included.
We don’t get involved in causes because they’re trendy, or because some politician says we should; we don’t make a contribution or show up at a protest because some other group or synod or organization says we should; we act and we care because Jesus tells us to.
Another one of those famously challenging Bible verses, James 2:17, says faith without works is dead. That doesn’t mean we earn our way to heaven; it means what we believe affects the way we live, and if what you believe has no affect, then it’s fair to question if you believe it, or if it’s just a religious exercise.
Jesus says the same thing, right? He has come to fulfill the law, to bring God’s kingdom into being, to redeem the world, to reconcile the world.
Doing justice, loving mercy, fighting racism, welcoming immigrants, standing up for prisoners and veterans and the mentally ill and the poor, caring for widows and orphans and the elderly, sheltering the homeless, these are not things we do as growth strategies.
I believe people are drawn to churches that are engaged in the work of doing justice, people want to be part of churches who engage in the world and make a difference, but that’s not the point. The point is that this is who God calls us to be. This is what God calls us to do.
Giving away our money as benevolence to others makes little sense as we face budget deficits, but we aren’t here for ourselves; we’re here for our neighbors. Micah lays out what it means to be the body of Christ. This is who we are, who the Holy Spirit equips us to be.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to be the light of the world, the city on a hill. We shine our lights by acting in the world, living out God’s justice while pointing to God, the source of our light.
Jesus calls us to be the salt of the earth. Robyn Brown writes, “Salt changes whatever it touches, light transforms the darkness. Salt preserves, purifies, and flavors; light illuminates, brightens, and ignites.” The church is here to change the world. God is acting through you, building the kingdom. God is changing our lives, orienting us towards loving our neighbors.
Do justice. Love kindness. And walk humbly with God. May God give us the strength and courage to obey, in Jesus’ name. Amen