Walk Humbly with Our God

[00:00:06] And I hope I'm still on. I am. Thank you. [00:00:09] So I'm really thankful for the first hymn this morning about baptism. And we're going to be able to mention that we are here gladly. It said, dearest Jesus, we are here gladly your command, obeying. [00:00:27] Yeah, we're here to worship and to bring our little ones and our big ones to worship the Lord this morning. I wonder if you would take and open your bulletins this morning to the Old Testament lesson there in Micah. And if you don't have a bulletin, you can open your pew Bibles there to Micah 6. [00:00:54] And we'll review those verses here for just a little bit of time this morning. [00:01:04] Because what's going on here? [00:01:06] As Micah the prophet writes, he's speaking God's words and God has a bone to pick with his people. [00:01:17] He says to them, arise, plead your case before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. [00:01:23] Now the bone that he has to pick with the people is that the people have a bone to pick with God. [00:01:28] They have all kinds of complaints about God. And God says, okay, speak it out. Speak it out so loud we can even shake the mountains around us. Well, what's their complaint? [00:01:42] Well, they're being invaded by the Assyrians. All around them, kingdoms are falling. [00:01:50] They're a little bit. No, they're a lot burdened by the worship and sacrifice, the whole system that God has set up for them to worship him. [00:02:02] And they look around at all the other nations and they say, well, they're doing just fine. [00:02:08] Why don't we adopt some of their ways? Why don't we adopt some of their gods? And in effect, what God's people were saying was, we don't want anything to do with you anymore, God. We reject you. And they started putting their trust in themselves and putting their trust in other nations and putting their trust in other gods. [00:02:30] Well, look at verse 2 then. [00:02:34] Hear O mountains. [00:02:37] God's going to talk to the same mountains. He says, the indictment of the Lord and you enduring foundations of the earth. [00:02:47] For the Lord has an indictment against his people. [00:02:51] Now, he's not talking to the pagan nations, he's talking to his people. [00:03:04] And it's as if, uh, oh, you ever been there? I remember being as a kid when I maybe was. Well, I've told you a few of the times I was less than obedient child. [00:03:18] And when you know you're about to hear about it, that's the kind of silence I think is going on here as the people wait to hear what God has to say. To them. [00:03:31] O my people, God says, what have I done to you? [00:03:37] How have I worried you? Answer me. [00:03:41] Because let me give you just a few examples of how I've cared about you. I brought you up from the land of Egypt where you were slaves. [00:03:51] I didn't have to do that. I brought you out, I redeemed you, I bought you and brought you back to myself. [00:04:02] And I also gave you wonderful leaders. [00:04:06] Moses, who was as a king to you, Aaron, who was as a priest to you, and Miriam, who was as a prophet to you all there to speak my words and have relationship with you. So you knew I was with you all the time. [00:04:23] O my people, remember what Balak, king of Moab, devised and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him. [00:04:32] Now, maybe those names don't mean anything to you as we read them here this morning, but I'll bet you, I'll bet you anything that if I mentioned to you a talking donkey in the Old Testament, all of a sudden you remember the story. [00:04:47] Is it flashing? Because you see, Balaam was a prophet and Balak had gone to him. Balak had seen how God's people were ravishing and taking over all the lands around. And so Balak said, oh, I'm not going to take my army out there and get beat up. I'm going to go find a prophet and I'm going to get that prophet to curse God's people. And so Balak gets a hold of Balaam and says to him, go and curse God's people. [00:05:15] And Balaam rightfully says, well, I can only say what God tells me to say. [00:05:22] But he goes. And on the way as he's going, the angel of the Lord gets in his way. Balaam's riding on his donkey, and the angel of the Lord gets in the donkey's way and the donkey stops. And Balaam says, come on, go. And they go three times. The angel of the Lord stops the donkey, and finally Balaam is so upset about it, he beats the donkey. And that's when the donkey talks. [00:05:51] You know what the donkey said? [00:05:55] Same thing God said back in verse three. [00:05:58] What have I done to you? [00:06:01] Have I not carried you around your whole life? Haven't I been a faithful donkey? So if I am stopping in the middle of the road here because I see an angel with a fiery sword guarding our way, what are you beating me for? [00:06:17] And here's what's funny. You should go and read this story. It's all in numbers 22, 23. [00:06:23] It's downright humorous if you Think about it. But finally the angel of the Lord says, if that donkey hadn't stopped this time, I was going to save him and kill you. [00:06:37] Well, this is what God is recalling to his people, that Balaam said to Balak, the king of Moab. Sorry, no can do. I can't curse God's people. [00:06:53] And what's really humorous is Balak just can't take no for an answer. So he tries to get Balaam to curse God's people three different times. [00:07:04] And three different times Balaam says, you can't do it. [00:07:09] Or God says, what happened from Shittim to Gilgal? [00:07:14] That's just a little tiny reference of the amazing thing that happened when God moved his people across the Jordan river and into the promised land, the land that he had promised to give them. In other words, I didn't leave you out in the desert. [00:07:31] You're here where I promised. [00:07:39] And yeah, I think there must have been some silence again as the people pondered, oh no, now what? [00:07:54] And as the people pondered the contrition that must have been waving over them at that moment. [00:08:06] And it's as if the people are saying, well, now what do we do? [00:08:12] Now what do we do? [00:08:18] Well, they dream up some things. Look at verse six. [00:08:23] What? Shall I come before the Lord with him? Bow myself before God on high. [00:08:27] In other words, shall I come and bow down before him? Well, that doesn't sound like enough. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? And with calves a year old? Now that's a little costlier, isn't it? A year old calf, It's a good offering. A good burnt offering. That's what we're called to do. That's what we're commanded to do. [00:08:49] Oh, but this is serious. Maybe I have to do more. Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams and ten thousand rivers of oil? [00:09:00] Now we're sort of going overboard, aren't we? But maybe that's what we have to do to get back into God's good graces. Or here's one. I mean, wow, let's do like they do around where we live. [00:09:16] Give my firstborn for the transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul. [00:09:24] See, because that's what people were doing in those other nations, giving up their firstborn things. Somehow that would appease God's wrath and bring blessing down upon them. [00:09:48] I think there was silence again. [00:09:52] And Micah says, he has told you, O man, what is good. [00:10:02] Sort of like if you have been paying attention to anything that's been going on in this thing called God's people, You should have heard God say, here's what to do. [00:10:19] Here's what the Lord actually requires. [00:10:24] Not all that other stuff. [00:10:29] Here's what he requires. [00:10:31] Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. [00:10:45] Do justice. [00:10:48] Well, that just means have good laws and obey them and make sure that they are upheld. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, who would be against that? You can't have a nation without good laws and good law enforcement. So do justice. That's what a nation should do, and that's what people should do as they carry on their business and carry on their interactions with one another in everyday life, as they treat one another with such things as well, their money or their resources or their sharing of goods in a neighborhood or whatever brings people together. [00:11:32] Do justice. And while you're doing justice, love kindness. [00:11:41] Now, our translation here today says kindness. The word there is hesed mercy. [00:11:48] When we pray, his mercy endureth forever, or the loving kindness of God out of the Old Testament, it's always hesed and he said means the overwhelming love of God that doesn't expect anything in return. It's like the New Testament version of agape. [00:12:11] You know, that agape kind of love that doesn't look for anything in return, just gives. [00:12:17] That's what Micah is telling the people here. Not just do just but justice, but love, that kind of mercy that gives with no expectation of anything coming back. [00:12:32] And as you do justice and as you love mercy, walk humbly with your God. [00:12:42] Sounds so simple all of a sudden, doesn't it? [00:12:47] I wonder if there wasn't again just a little bit of silence, like, oh, oh, yeah. Because what that bespeaks is relationship with God, doesn't it? A relationship with the God who comes to us as he did in holy baptism and gave us such gifts as the forgiveness of sins and such gifts as faith to take hold of his love and his mercy. [00:13:13] Such gifts as the promise to be with us always, to help us in any and every situation, and through all of that, bless our lives both while we're here on this earth and eternally. [00:13:29] That's relationship. That's the relationship God wants to have with us. [00:13:35] And in effect, I think Micah is saying, don't adopt the ways of the world, their death, rather adopt the ways that God instructs you to walk humbly with him, because those ways are life. Now I want you to page over, if you would then to the Beatitudes that we heard read this morning, because I think this interaction between God and His people in Micah help us and really informs us about what our Lord would have us know about the Beatitudes. [00:14:17] And when I read the Beatitudes this is going to sound strange, but I always like to start with the last one. [00:14:25] Look at the last one. [00:14:28] Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. [00:14:42] Blessed are you when that happens. [00:14:46] And I couldn't help but think, I think that happens when we do justice and love kindness and walk humbly with our God. If you live that way in our world, you're in for it. [00:15:05] You're in for Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. [00:15:20] You've got this relationship with Christ. [00:15:27] And it's full of all of his blessings. And the world looks and says, who do you think you are? [00:15:33] Or well, that's a bunch of baloney. [00:15:38] Well, that's not going to get you anywhere. Let me tell you what will get you somewhere. [00:15:43] Lots of quarters in your pocket. [00:15:52] But Jesus doesn't back down. [00:15:55] And he didn't back down as he walked this earth. Go back and look at verse 3. [00:16:01] Jesus didn't back down when a woman came to him at the well who was poor in spirit, and he blessed her by helping her to see that the kingdom of God was indeed real and it could be hers, remember, because she was an outcast. [00:16:24] Or I happened to think about Mary and Martha when their dear brother Lazarus died and they were in mourning and Lazarus was Jesus best friend. [00:16:43] They were all mourning. [00:16:45] And yet Jesus came with a comfort that really transcends our understanding, doesn't it? [00:16:59] He brought them out of the tomb. [00:17:02] He brought their dear brother back to life. [00:17:06] Or remember how Jesus spoke with Nicodemus? Nicodemus was this Pharisee, this high and mighty Pharisee who came to Jesus in the COVID of darkness because there was something about Jesus that he had to find out. [00:17:23] And as they spoke, we discovered Nicodemus was meek. [00:17:33] He was Meekness is trusting an outcome of everything into God's hands instead of trying to control everything in our own ways and by our own hands. [00:17:49] Because as Nicodemus and Jesus spoke. [00:17:56] Well, there was no hypocrisy in Nicodemus. He stood though he was a prominent Jew, he stood on the truth of salvation through Jesus, no matter what. [00:18:13] He was willing to put his own life on the line for what he saw in Jesus. And Nicodemus was born again that day, an inheritor if you will, of that life. [00:18:28] Or how about Zacchaeus, who hungered and thirsted for righteousness because probably with all the quarters that he had, he was able to afford anything because he was a tax collector. But something was still missing and he hungered and thirsted for it and he thought that he would find it in Jesus, so he even went to the trouble of climbing up, remember a sycamore tree? [00:18:57] So he wanted and was able then to see Jesus, so great was his hunger and thirst to see such righteousness and he was satisfied. [00:19:13] Or how about that good Samaritan who after a priest and a Levite or maybe a couple of good Lutheran pastors, passed by on the other side, this Samaritan comes along and cares for one who had been robbed and beaten up within inches of his life. [00:19:39] He was merciful and I dare say he would have reached out to help anyone abused or enslaved or poor or people who cannot speak for themselves on one end or another of the spectrum of life. [00:20:10] He was merciful and he was blessed for it. [00:20:18] Or how about that woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and she was a social outcast. She couldn't gather with anybody else. She was considered unclean un all the time of her life and she just couldn't find any medical relief from any doctors. [00:20:39] She said to herself, if I can just touch the hem of Jesus garment, remember? [00:20:50] And she did. [00:20:56] That purity of faith enabled her to not only be healed, but to see. [00:21:06] To see God. To see Jesus is God. [00:21:15] Or look at verse nine. [00:21:17] Blessed are the peacemakers. [00:21:21] I try as I might, I could only think of one real peacemaker in the scriptures. [00:21:31] Jesus. [00:21:34] Right, Jesus, who made peace between heaven and earth, who in his own person joined again. [00:21:52] The broken relationship between an almighty God and a sinful human being or beings who on the cross merged heaven and earth and made peace where there was no peace. [00:22:13] And Jesus was called the Son of God. [00:22:18] And not only that, but he calls us to be the same kind of peacemakers, doesn't he? So that we too shall be called sons of God. [00:22:29] Well, it takes us to the tenth. [00:22:34] Well, verse ten, the next Beatitude. [00:22:39] Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And really that leads us back into the last one, doesn't it? [00:22:49] Because we shouldn't be surprised if we are persecuted for righteousness sake. [00:23:00] Now if we're persecuted for breaking the law, well, that's a different matter. We deserve that, but we don't deserve persecution for righteousness sake. And yet it does take place, sometimes in little ways. [00:23:20] Loss of a job, being made fun of at school for being a believer. [00:23:27] Well, you could name your own ways that you've seen it. [00:23:31] All the way to being martyred for our faith, as happens in some other countries in our world this very day, To all that Jesus says. [00:23:51] Verse 12. [00:23:52] Would you look at it? [00:23:56] Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. [00:24:03] For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. [00:24:10] Now I'd like to reverse those. Okay. [00:24:14] And we really should maybe end with rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. [00:24:28] And that, Saints of Trinity Lutheran in Greeley, Colorado, that is owing to his great mercy and salvation, which itself leads us to do justice and to love, kindness and to walk humbly with our God. [00:24:59] Amen.