Well, first of all, let me say thank you to you as a congregation for your ongoing ministry to us, for your love and support, for your warm welcome to us as we've returned to the States for six or seven weeks, I guess it is. We have about a month, a little less than a month left before we head back to Mexico. Thanks to the elders of this body for giving me the opportunity to preach the word here once again. And I would invite you, please, to either turn to Micah 6 in your Bibles or to look at it on the front of your bulletins. As you do that, I'd like to do what I guess is still my habit. I think it's a good habit. And that is to try to orient you a little bit to the book of Micah. After one verse of introduction, Micah launches into a series of charges against God's people, Judah, in the late 7th century B.C. There are three of those sets of charges. They take up chapters 1 and 2, chapters 3 through 5, and then chapters 6 and 7. So, you might give further attention to the Book of Micah, and if you do so, that I hope will help you a bit. Three sections. What we're looking at today is the beginning of the third section. And that because it addresses a particular concern that I've been pondering for a number of months now, and I'm happy to be able to open God's word with you to speak about it. Hear the word of God, then, as it's found in Micah, chapter six, beginning at verse one, reading through verse eight. Certainly, the eighth verse will be familiar to many of you. Hear what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth. For the Lord has an indictment against His people, and He will contend with Israel. Oh, my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Oh, my people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, devised and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him. And what happened to Sheetham from Sheetham to Gilgal that you may know the saving acts of the Lord. Now, there's a change of speaker at this point, I just want to make that observation, otherwise it might seem confusing. Clearly, verses six and seven are spoken by someone we might call a representative Israelite. who begins to express a complaint against God. God has just said to his people through his prophet, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? And what you find in verses six and seven is a response from the people that sure sounds like they were wearied. And then in verse 8 comes the response of God through his prophet to those people. Continuing then with verse 6 in Micah 6. With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? With calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? With ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. Pray with me, please. Father, thank you for this portion of your Word. You do speak to us, O God. You have told us what is good. Now, give us grace as we consider that, that we might understand more fully and believe and obey. The story I started during the children's message actually is a true story. Dr. Salim Gabriel was the guest speaker at the commencement exercises at Geneva College last spring where our daughter Christine finished her work and graduated. Dr. Gabriel is a Presbyterian minister who now lives and works in Pittsburgh, has been there quite a few years. but originally came from Beirut, Lebanon. And just an aside, his was probably the best commencement address I have ever heard. Not only because it was limited to 11 minutes, but because he actually had something solid to say that you could follow easily and make use of. His story, he started with a rather extended story, took much of his time just to develop the illustration. I'm making it much, much shorter. Dr. Gabriel had the opportunity to be present when the first spouses of a group of international leaders came to meet or came together in Pittsburgh while their spouses, leaders of 20 some nations, met over economic issues. He was present because it was the school, a school where he taught, and they were meeting in this school to hear a performance by some of the students. But after the performance, there was a panel discussion and further performances by several professional musicians, one of whom was the world-renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma. And he actually was asked the question, what was your most embarrassing moment in performing? And his response was, when I forgot why I was there. You can imagine how embarrassing that would be. What we might not imagine is how embarrassing it might be for us should we one day be found to have forgotten why we're here. For in a very real sense, We have been left on the stage of life for these years that we're here and continue, may continue, in order to do what God has called us to do. And the wonderful thing about Micah 6 is that it speaks rather directly, I think, to the issue, why am I here? Let's consider that today, but first I'd like to just make the observation and develop it from this text and other thoughts that sometimes God's people do lose their way. They go off in the wrong direction. Other things become central to their lives. Sometimes, in place of God's real purpose for our existence, we begin to live for things that ought not to be the center. What you own or have, what pleasures or comforts you enjoy, what you do for work or play, It's really easy for these things to become central. And while we continue to go to Bible studies or attend worship services, deep down we're struggling because we're living for things, some of us sometimes, that aren't really so important. I wonder how many of us have had this happen to us. I must confess, I have. It's very easy to not even realize what's going on in your life. Things that will ultimately pass away begin to take on a sort of eternal significance. We live as if they're going to matter forever. And things that have eternal significance get demoted or relegated to a lower position or maybe even skipped altogether. Let me be very pointed here. Do some of you have a struggle spending time in God's word regularly? Do you find time for other things, for games and amusements and recreations, for movies and television and sports, and somehow come to the end of days and haven't looked at God's Word that day? It's amazing how we can begin to justify ourselves in such behaviors. The people of Judah were like that, only worse. They had lost their way, for they had lost sight of what brings one near to God. That's clear in verses 6 and 7 of this text. Their religion, in the sense of their outward practice, the things they felt they had to do or maybe needed to do in order to please God or draw near to him, their religion was simply outward observances of what they felt obligated to. Their hearts were not in what they did. You can see that as we reflect on both the complaining tone and the exaggerated nature of what's recorded in verses 6 and 7. See how it escalates. First, it's with what shall I come? Shall I come with burnt offerings? Verse 6. Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams? Only kings, by the way, brought those kinds of offerings generally in the Old Testament era. With 10,000s of rivers of oil, you see now it's, pardon the pun, but it's really getting thick here. Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? What do you want, God? Because I'll try to do it. I don't have any choice. You're God. So that's just the way things are. The striking thing about the people of Judah was that they had lost any sense of wonder and gratitude for what God had done. They'd lost their way. They thought that to draw near to God, they had to make some further sacrifice, either animal or otherwise, in order to have relationship. But the Lord was calling them and would continue to call them to come back to grace. It's a marvelous passage in that respect. If you jump back to verses 4 and 5, you'll see what the Lord's, let me help us be clear on what the Lord's talking about. Verse 4 is fairly straightforward. It's the reference to the deliverance out of Egypt. What some of us may not be familiar with is that what verse 5 is talking about is the time just before the crossing the Jordan into the promised land. The whole incident with Balaam and Balak recorded in the latter part of the Book of Numbers is an incident that occurred not long before the 40 years were over, the 40 years of wilderness wandering. So what verses four and five are saying is, I brought you out of Egypt under Moses and Aaron and Miriam. And even when that false prophet Balaam tried to bring a curse on you, I turned that into a blessing and brought you to the place of entering the promised land. Now, other passages tell us that the people of Israel had been rebellious, they deserved whatever they might get in terms of hardship or difficulty or punishment. But the fact is that God continued to have mercy on them. He continued to show them grace. He brought them into the land. Marvelous thing is the grace of God. So even though verses one and two Sound kind of ominous. I mean, an indictment brought by God against his people sounds scary, doesn't it? Even though those verses may sound ominous. It's really the introduction. To a call to come back to grace. No, you don't need to bring thousands of rivers of oil. You don't need myriad rams. You surely don't need to bring your firstborn. You need to come back to the God who forgives sin. Who is rich in mercy. Who delights in loving kindness. Now, I'll close with this thought, but I need to also introduce it here. Israel knew a picture of God's salvation. The redemption out of Egypt and the crossing over into the Promised Land, you know very well, was not final redemption. It was simply a picture of what God was going to do for all eternity through His Son. How much more then, if this text tells us something about what our reason is for being here, how much more should you and I respond to it than the people of Judah did? Because we have better salvation. What they looked forward to, we've come to possess. They weren't complete without us, the writer of Hebrews says. The final sacrifice, the precious Lamb of God has come. And I'm not going to dip into the installation sermon, but I'm looking forward to opening up some things with you on the 17th of December. for Brian's ordination and installation service about God's identification with his people, about his stooping to come to our need and taking our shame on himself. That, of course, is what you're about to celebrate in the annual celebration of the birth of Christ. It's God's coming to identify with us in our shame and need, bearing it in our place so that we might be free. What marvelous love. And you see, all that I'm saying is, if you know that love, Then, responding to God's call to live according to his reason for your being here is all the more important. I wish I could say that it was that thought that was clearly in mind that took my wife and me to Mexico, but I can't say that. The Lord's been gracious to be teaching me some of these things, beginning at least over the six months or so since we left you. But by his grace, we are seeing some of it in Mexico. We are seeing the need to do what Micah 6 says. So what I'd like to do now is just briefly try to unfold that eighth verse of Micah 6. We've considered the fact that sometimes God's people lose their way. But the Lord graciously shines light on the path. Hear this word of God. He has spoken clearly. Verse 8 begins with that reminder. He has told you, O man, what is good. There is no need to struggle and wonder and wander to know what it is God wants you to do. I fear, people of God, I fear for those who dwell on issues of guidance. as if God hasn't given clear guidance as to how we should live our lives. Yeah, it's good to pray and search out what school you should go to and what job you should take and where you should continue to pray about those things. But I'm concerned that sometimes guidance among Christian people becomes simply a matter of working out the details so that my life will be as happy and pleasant as it might be. When, in fact, God has spoken clearly about what is good. Parents, don't let your children so dwell on those specific issues of guidance that they lose sight of a much bigger, grander picture of what God's purpose is for their lives. It's really critical. And once we get that bigger picture more clearly in view, wonderfully, the details often fall in place. As I said in a Sunday school class we visited a couple of weeks ago, they were talking about this issue, and I raised my hand and the teacher called on me and I said, you know, God seldom steers a parked car. Now, of course, God is able to do that. He's able to steer whatever He wants. But the fact is that we often find where we ought to head while we're engaged in moving for God. Serve Him in some way, you who have questions about your future plans. And you will very likely find some clear direction along the way. Now, let me return to this text. For the issue of guidance is not primarily an issue of what school do I go to, what job do I take, what house do I buy? The issue of guidance is primarily the clear teaching of God's Word about the great principles of life. He shines light on our path. And he speaks here, I would urge and contend, he speaks of a response to grace, not a sacrifice in order to earn favor. Grace has already been declared in verses 3, 4 and 5. Verse 8 is not the substitute, in the bad sense, for what the Israelites proposed in verses 6 and 7. Verse 8 is God's counter to their foolish complaints about how much do I have to do, God? What is it you want from me? And the counter is, grace has already been extended. Redemption is already yours, O Israel. I brought you out of Egypt. I brought you into the promised land. I gave you a land you didn't work for and made it your own. I entered into covenant with you so that you might be my people and I might be your God. So what does the Lord require of you? This is what the Lord requires. To do justice. To love, mercy, or kindness. and to walk humbly with him. I want to take those three apart very briefly. What does it mean to do justice? Well, there are two sides to it, but unfortunately, one side we often miss. It is easy to think of justice only as the punishment that wrongdoers should receive. But there is another side to biblical justice. I want to read three passages to you. Simply hear the word of God and then I will draw two brief conclusions from them. In Deuteronomy 10, beginning at verse 17. The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. Second passage, Psalm 146, verses 7 through 9. The God of Jacob Verse 7, who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners. He upholds the widow and the fatherless. But the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. Notice both sides of justice there. He brings the way of the wicked to ruin, and then there's that whole list. He gives food. He sets the prisoners free. He lifts up those who are bowed down. He loves the righteous. He watches over the stranger. He upholds the widow and the fatherless. Third passage. is from the Prophet Zechariah, chapter 7, verses 10 and 11. Verse 9, thus says the Lord of hosts, render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another. Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart. But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. There are two important ideas that flow from these texts. The first is that in scripture, justice has to do not only with the punishment of evildoers, it also has to do with helping those who have suffered injustice. That's an important point. As Dr. Tim Keller points out in a book that I'm almost done and would highly recommend to you entitled Generous Justice. It's an important point because if we view showing kindness to those in need as sort of a, well, when I have time. If I get around to it, I hope I'll be able to do this, it really sounds good, kind of a matter, then we've missed the point. It is an element of doing justice, to care for those who have been trampled. That's why I asked in the bulletin this morning that we read from Luke chapter 10 as a New Testament reading. Clearly, Jesus commended as the one who truly was a neighbor to the man fallen before robbers. He commended the one who reached out and ministered to him and the others. were not neighbors to the fallen Israelite. They failed. It's an important point to recognize this because it makes it clear that helping people is not an optional work in the category with how often you floss your teeth. It's part of doing justice. There's a second point. that flows from these texts. And that is that those who are often in the position of needing help as a result of injustice fall into four categories. The poor, the widows, the orphans, and the strangers. Dr. Keller suggests an alternate translation for alien or stranger. It suggests that in our 21st century culture, probably the word that fits the biblical usage is immigrant. It's the person who's in a different culture, who doesn't know their way around, who is confused and may be taken advantage of by those he or she works for or lives under or any other number of circumstances. And remember that the Old Testament scriptures tell the Israelites to treat those strangers well. Why? Because you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. You see, what's behind much of what, maybe all of what Micah is saying, is that by nature, you and I are in that situation before God. We're broke. We're poor. We're fatherless. We're bereft. We're strangers. We're aliens. We have no claim. We have no way to make it on our own. But for two reasons, now let me back up. He's not insisted that we perform first and then maybe if we're good enough, we might get his favor. He's reached down to us in spite of our rebellious character. He's brought us home. He's given us home and family and wealth and forgiveness. So that's one reason why we need to think about what we're doing with the people around us. And by the way, I commend you as a body. The work of this congregation in supporting the ministry to Hispanic folks is a blessing. And Rob knows that and thanks you regularly, I know, but I commend you as well. Continue such good works. Expand them. And maybe a few more of you need to be involved in one way or another in such ministries as you're able. To do justice, then, means not only to have a concern that wrongdoers be taken to task, face the consequences of their wickedness, but it means also to care about those who have suffered wrong, not because they're worthy, but because they're creatures made in the image of God. And you yourself have known mercy that you didn't deserve. Quickly, then moving on. Here's what the Lord requires to love mercy. That may refer to the inner attitude that needs to be present to outwardly do justice. And even if that's all that it refers to, what a significant requirement that is to love mercy or kindness. Think about how the Pharisees in Jesus' day fell so completely short of that standard. None of us, I suspect, has as our favorite Bible character a Pharisee. None of us has as our guiding light, the person we most want to be like in all the Bible, a Pharisee. Why? Because they were almost uniformly harsh and critical. They were always looking for someone to throw stones at, including Jesus himself. But you don't need to think only of the Pharisees. Think of Jesus' disciples themselves, how unlike a merciful God they were throughout most of Jesus' earthly ministry. Little children come to Jesus, no, get out of here, he's too busy. James and John, Luke chapter 9, a Samaritan village doesn't receive Jesus. What's their response? Shall we call down fire from heaven, Lord? I'm almost drooling at the prospect. Jesus turns and rebukes them. And continues on to love mercy. means you're not anxious for others to get it, to get what they deserve. You'd much rather see them find mercy. And I'm afraid far too often those of us in the Reformed tradition lean more to the Pharisees direction of just waiting for somebody to get it, and looking forward to it even. It's not our calling, folks. God will deal in judgment with those who persist in evil. We don't need to fret about that one. What we're called to is to be people who love mercy from the heart. who delight in the fact that God is merciful and who aren't just sitting back waiting around for somebody who's crossed the line to get stepped on. That I think is what this text says. Thirdly, the Lord requires us to walk humbly with our God. The word used here may actually be broader than humility. It's a Hebrew word that in other passages has the sense of prudently or circumspectly. To walk prudently with your God, though, is to take into account who He is and who you are. So it certainly includes humility. Consider then, if the people of Judah were to do these things, how much more should those whose redemption is not merely the picture of Egypt and Canaan, but the real thing, do them? So, I ask you, do you know why you're here? I believe many of you do. But I also believe we regularly face the temptation to lose our way, to make what we own be the center of our lives or our jobs or our recreational activities be more important than they should be. And if you've lost your way a bit or maybe have never been very clear about it, Then I urge you, turn away from whatever has improperly become the center of your life in order to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. Let's pray. We thank you, Father, for the privilege of having your word. And I pray, Father, that if I've said things poorly and clouded issues for anyone here, that you would clear that up, either through further discussion or simply by your Spirit's internal work in hearts. But most of all, Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would write on our hearts this marvelous calling that we would not live as people whose lives are focused in the things of this world. We would not conform to our culture in its preference, as Francis Schaeffer spoke once for personal peace and affluence, that we would be people who do justice, who love mercy, who walk humbly and prudently with our God for the sake of Jesus our Savior.