God’s Watching On Mondays Too / Micah 6:1-8
Epiphany 4, Year A; Downsville Baptist Church; 3 February 2002
As we are in the midst of worship this morning, I suppose we would be quite alarmed if a lawyer walked into the church and presented a court summons to our church. Downsville Baptist Church, along with several other churches throughout the world, have been sued. This massive class action law suit has a variety of charges. If surprise describes our reaction to being sued, I believe fear would describe our feelings when we discovered who it is that is suing us—the Lord God Almighty.
This imagined scenario was a reality for the nation of Israel. The prophetic literature is full of instances when the prophet acts as an agent of the heavenly court who informs the people of God that God holds a grievance against them. Micah comes before the nation of Israel like a bailiff in modern day courts. However, instead of requiring the citizens of Israel to stand as the honorable judge enters the courtroom, Micah declares that all of creation is already standing as the courtroom. If Israel so dares, they can stand before God and plead their innocence before the mountains. If Israel desires to justify what they have been doing, they have some heavy charges to answer. Micah informs the Israelites that God has a dispute against them. God has a contention against his people, and he demands an answer.
The charges that God brings against Israel makes it quite obvious where their big error had taken place and also reveals to us one of the gravest mistakes we make in our relationship with God. We find ourselves asking the wrong question. Israel’s worship had become nothing more than an answer to the question: “What do we have to do to keep God happy with us?” Sometimes I think the biggest difference between the nation of Israel and the Christian church is 24 hours. They attended worship services on Saturday and lived as though God didn’t exist for the rest of the week. We attend worship services on Sunday, and I’ll let you answer for yourselves whether or not we live as though God exists during the rest of our week. Please note that I said nothing about believing whether or not God exists. I said living as though God exists. All Israelites and all Christians will immediately answer that they believe in God no matter what day of the week you ask the question. The true Israelite and the true Christian will be found living in humble recognition of that God during the week. When we view worship as doing what we must to keep God satisfied, we worship in the same empty manner that Micah was accusing Israel of worshiping. In vv. 6-7, Micah brings specific charges against the nation: Do you dare think you are honoring God by simply bowing before him? Do you think God is pleased because you bring burnt offerings and gifts of incense to the altar? However, Micah’s last charge against Israel is the strongest. From the moment of Abraham’s near sacrifice of Isaac throughout the remainder of the Old Testament, we find a God who cannot tolerate the practice of the other pagan religions of the ancient Near East, most specifically their practice of child sacrifice. The gods of the Assyrians and Babylonians, gods named Marduk and Molech, were supposedly most satisfied with worshipers who were willing to sacrifice their own children. The worst elements of the nation of Israel had forsaken God’s commands and sacrificed their own children, under the disturbing influence that this might somehow be pleasing to God. Micah’s last grievance makes this accusation: Israel, do you dare believe that your sin is forgiven by offering your own child as a sacrifice? The answer to the rhetorical question is obviously that the one who sacrifices a child heaps more sin upon himself.
Israel had made the tragic mistake of thinking that the actions of worship were the purpose of worship. God had allowed his people the specific actions of worship as a way to thank God for his mercy and protection. Israel had begun to view the actions of worship as a burden, something they must do to keep God off their backs. Worship, which was the gift God had given to his people, was being treated as though it were a burden. Israel was treating God as though he were a burden to them. Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, Hosea, and in this morning’s passage, Micah, bring forth God’s heartbreaking question to his people: What have I done to weary you?
One of the saddest commentaries on the church today is that too many of us still come with this mind-set, and we need to know that God’s charges through the prophet Micah are resounding through the tunnels of time and into our churches today. God’s concern is not that we make it to church and Sunday School on Sunday morning and evening and that we make it to Bible Study on Wednesday night. God’s concern is not that we are giving 10% of our income into the offering plate. God’s concern is not that we know all the right places to sit and stand during the worship service. God’s concern is not that we sing loudly and pray eloquently. God’s concern is what is going on in our hearts during worship. God doesn’t owe us a life of blessing because we go through the routines of worship. We thank God for granting us a life of blessing by being a people of worship.
We worship like infantile Christians when we come to this place as though we are spending our time on the clock for God’s kingdom, as though we are doing our part for the kingdom of God by singing a few songs, reading a few Scriptures, tolerating the sermons of a 20-something year old student, and dropping a check in an offering plate. When worship becomes a burden rather than a joy, worship has ceased to exist. Worship that is burdensome to us drives us back to our homes and workplaces where throughout the week we think our relationship with Christ is described by obeying the “Don’t Do this List of Rules.” Jesus Christ ended legalistic religion by declaring that he was the fulfillment of the law. Christ draws humanity unto himself to form a community of grace that will no longer be defined by a list of rules but by a life of love, and we make Jesus Christ out to be a liar each time we return to a life of worship that seeks to simplify life with our “Don’t Do This” lists rather than accepting Jesus’ gift of living life to the fullest measure, living the eternal life he has granted each of us. The gospel cries out for citizens of the kingdom of God who will dedicate themselves to Jesus through lives of loving action rather than legalistic inaction. I have grown weary of those who define Christians for what they don’t do. I don’t care if you have a drink. I don’t really think God is waiting with lightning bolts for you if you watch a Rated R movie. I don’t care if you use a strong word to condemn something that warrants a strong word as long as it’s done out of conviction and not emotionalism. I don’t think you’re a bad person if you like listening to Rock 102.5 instead of James Dobson every now and then. And I’ll be brave enough to say that I don’t think God cares too much about that either. God has bigger concerns than our cultural rules that we define with the language of piety. What is God concerned with? Perhaps we should read v. 8 again, a verse that Old and New Testament scholars alike have recognized as the Golden Rule of the Hebrew Scriptures. What does God require of you, o man and o woman: to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
What does God really care about, what is it that God is looking for his children do? Do justice: that means giving food to those who need food, that means cleaning out the rain gutters on the home of someone who is too old and feeble to be on a ladder, that means caring for children who come from broken homes no matter how ungrateful they might appear. Love mercy: that means forgiving someone who does not deserve to be forgiven, that means tipping your waitress twice what you normally would even though she did a terrible job and is visibly upset, and even leaving a short note encouraging her that brighter days lie ahead, that means taking the time to listen to somebody who needs someone to listen. Walk humbly with your God: that means praying not out of habit but because you need to pray, that means keeping enough child-likeness in you to still be amazed that ‘Jesus loves you’ and being filled with an inexpressible gratitude at the foot of the cross and an even deeper joy at the sight of an empty tomb.
G. K. Chesterton rightly remarked that, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and, therefore, not tried.” The final verse of this morning’s passage would be easier for us to accept, albeit much more shallow, if it read, “And what does God require of you, o mortal, but to come to church, give some money, and try to stay out of trouble.” That’s a pretty easy verse to follow, but if that verse was in the Scriptures, we would never recite it because it does not speak to the depths of our souls about all that God would have us become as his children. Christianity does not request that we perform minimal requirements but demands from us our maximum potential.
Ridgecrest is a large Baptist-run assembly ground, nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina. All summer long, every year, thousands of Christians come to Ridgecrest for training, inspiration, Bible study, and challenge. A few years ago, during a conference, people began to notice a man hanging around the grounds. He did not look like he had just stepped out of your typical Sunday School class. His clothes were tattered and torn; they looked like something even the Salvation Army would throw away. His face had not been visited by a razor for a long time. His shoes could best be described by the title of Hymn No. 2 in the book –– “Holy, Holy, Holy”! And worst of all, there was the smell. Let’s just say that when you got close, you did not get a whiff of Obsession by Calvin Klein. This young man was clearly “not one of us”, not the kind of person you normally see at Christian campgrounds. What did he do? Not much, really. He did not approach anyone. He did not harass anybody. He did not ask for money. He mostly just hung around. When chapel services were held, he would walk across the front and sit down. When classes were under way, he would lie down on the grassy slopes nearby. And when meals were being served, he would stand on the dining hall porch, not far from the long lines of people clutching their meal tickets. No begging, no demands, just standing around. At the end of the week they announced that there would be a special speaker for the closing service, and that he would speak on the theme, “Inasmuch as you have not done it unto one of the least of these, you have not done it unto me.” The hymns were sung, the prayers were prayed, the choir sang, and the special speaker approached the podium. Who do you think was that special speaker? Who brought that memorable message? That scruffy young man! That hang-around bum with the worn-out clothing, the messy beard, and the offensive smell! It turns out that he was a young pastor who had been asked to play a part by the organizers of the conference. And his message stung as he said to the crowd, “No one tried to include me in anything. No one asked me if I needed help. No one invited me to the dining hall. No one sat down to listen to my story. A few put religious tracts into my hand. One or two pulled out a dollar bill and gave it to me. But most of you turned your eyes and pretended not to see me. My appearance offended you, and you left me out.”
I know what you are thinking, and I think you are right. If this guy had been outside our church this morning, I really think most of us here would have invited him in, wanted him to be a part of our Sunday School Class, and shared a hymnal with him during worship. I think some of us would do those supposedly good things because it’s Sunday and we know God is watching. What saddens me is that we will all encounter different kinds of people tomorrow and will do nothing because we are too busy or because we are too nervous. God, however, is watching on Mondays also. Through Micah, God declares to Israel that they should be ashamed of treating God like a burden. They had forgotten that this was the God who brought them out of Egypt and into a Promised Land. They had forgotten that this God had given them life and that their lives belonged to God. I wish I could say the Church is radically different from Israel. I wish I could say that, but I cannot. Don’t get me wrong. I know that you and I do some nice things for people, and we often give credit to our faith in God for the nice things we do. However, doing occasional nice things is not synonymous with doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. I think we must all agree that God’s lawsuit has a great deal of merit, but I’m thankful that God is willing to settle out of court. May the Holy Spirit remind us with a life-changing, soul-transforming conviction that God is not merely the God of Sundays, a god of smiles and “how do you do’s,” a god who wants 10% of your money and a couple of hours of your time. God is the God of every day, a god of smiles and tears, a god who is much more concerned with 100% of your heart than 10% of your paycheck, a God who demands that evidence of his Son’s life, death, and resurrection comes shining through in our lives as we do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.
