What Does God Require?

Micah 6:8

This Power Point corresponds to the sermon, “What does God Require?” presented by Jerry Truex on

August 24, 2014.

Micah 6:8. 8 He 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? (NRSV)

A. Introduction

B. Micah’s ContextMicah was a prophet from the Southern Kingdom of Judah from 735 to 700 BCE.

Assyrian Threat:

Under Shalmaneser V and Sargon II, the Assyrians destroyed Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE

Left: Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III erected in 825 BCE Below: In the 2nd row of 2nd register on the Black Obelisk, King Jehu of Israel is bowing to Shalmaneser III ca. 841 BCERelief Caption: “Tribute of Jehu, son of Omri. I received from him: silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden beaker, golden goblets, pitchers of gold, lead, staves for the hand of the king, javelins.”

C. Micah’s Message: God’s Judgment is Coming

Micah 3:9-12. 9 Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! 11 Its 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." 12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field [by the Assyrians]; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins [by the Assyrians], and the mountain of the house a pile of wood [by the Assyrians].

C. Micah’s Message: Judeans have sinned

Commit idolatry, which included child sacrifice 1:7; 5:13-14

Prostitution 1:7 Rulers plot evil and do it “because it is in their

power”2:1

Rulers “covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress householders … take their inheritance”

2:2

“You strip the robe of the peaceful … who have not thought of war”

2:8

Rulers drive women out of homes; take hope away from children

2:9

Rulers [Assyrians] 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 caldron”

3:1-3

False prophets who cry out “peace,” but declare “war”

3:5

Rulers who “abhor justice and pervert all equity”

3:9

Rulers who “build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong”

3:10

C. Micah’s Message: Judeans have sinned

“Judges who give judgment for a bribe” 3:11 “Priests teach for a price” 3:11 “Prophets give oracles for money” 3:11 Rulers who depend on military power instead

of the LORD 5:10-11

People who have “treasures of wickedness” 6:10 People who use cheat in business—“wicked

scales”6:11

The “wealthy full of violence” 6:12 People who lie and speak with deceit 6:12 Hostility within families 7:6

C. Micah’s Message: Judeans have sinned

C. Micah’s Message: God is Merciful

Micah 7:18-19. 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. 19 He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (NRSV)

D. God’s Lawsuit (6:1-5)

Micah 6:1. 1 … LORD says: Rise, plead your case [rîb] before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice… 2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy [rîb] of the Lord … the LORD has a controversy [rîb] with his people (NRSV)

Ethical Monotheism

Ethical monotheism is the belief that there is one God and that one God• Guides people through certain ethical

standards and

• Is known by people who keep those standards.

D. God’s Lawsuit (6:1-5)

Micah 6:3-4. 3 "O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 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. (NRSV)

E. God’s Requirements (6:6-8)

1. Two individual speaking (6:6-8)

First Person: 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? 7 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?"

Second Person: 8 He 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?

E. God’s Requirements (6:6-8)

2. Liturgies for entering the Temple

Pilgrim’s Question:

Psalm 15:1. “Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?” (NLT)

Priest Response:

Psalm 15:2. “Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts.” (NLT)

E. God’s Requirements (6:6-8)

2. Liturgies for entering the TemplePilgrim’s

Question:Psalm 24:3. Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? (NLT)

Priest Response:

Psalm 24:4. Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. (NLT)

E. God’s Requirements (6:6-8)

3. Not what, but who

First Person:

Micah 6:6. “With what shall I come before the LORD?” It assumes that some THING is required. I must offer some THING to God in order to be acceptable.

Second Person:

Micah 6:8. “What does the LORD requires of YOU?” The answer makes it clear that what God wants is ME, not some THING.

a. To do justice (mishpat)

• Right social relationship as described in the Torah

• Behaviors described in the Covenant, e.g., Ten Commandments

• Guided by our conscienceRomans 2:13-15. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness … (NRSV)

b. To love kindness (hesed)

• “To love mercy” (NIV, KJV, NLT)

• To love with a “strong element of loyalty”

• To have “steadfast covenant loyalty”

• To show “faithful covenant love”

c. To walk (halak) humbly (tsana) with your God

• To walk (halak) refers to ethics, how to live day-by-day; Jesus: “Follow me” (Matt. 4:19)

• To walk humbly (tsana) means carefully, cautiously, wisely; not doing things your own way, but being “attentive to do God’s will”

F. Conclusion

1. Historical context and the Assyrian threat to Judah.

2. Literary context and Judean’s outrageously sins.

3. If we do what God requires, God will be merciful.

4. God does not require THINGS from us, but requires US to give OURSELVES to God by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.