New series coming out of Micah today, focussing on one key verse: 6:8 > ‘He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’
Out of that one verse we’re going to pull out two key words today:
ACT JUSTLY.
We hear ‘act justly, love mercy and walk humbly,’ and we’ll look at those other two in the next two weeks.
What comes to mind for you when you hear these words, ACT JUSTLY??
Maybe you think ‘do what is right,’ ‘do what pleases God.’ Act in a way that is just > what does JUST mean, what is Micah referring to when he says these words, when he passes on these words to the people?
BEFORE we dig into that question, it’s important to consider our posture, how we’re going to come at these words as we hear them over the next few weeks > these words ARE NOT simply instructions for living, things we must do, rules for living a good life in God’s eyes.
They are of course very helpful in teaching us how to relate to other people (and to our God). When we know who God is and we have faith in him we are compelled to live the life he calls us to live – it becomes part of our purpose as Christian people. And in terms of the concept of living a good life in God’s eyes, yes these are very good and important things for us, but there is more to our faith journeys than following a list of instructions, as if that will make God happy with us!
So there is more than simply God saying ‘do this and do that’ going on here.
Let’s have a look outward at the world around us: what does the world say about JUSTICE, what is ACTING JUSTLY in the world’s eyes?
Maybe fairness, acting in a way that works for everyone or at least most people or the majority of people.
Making sure people have what they need, a sense of equality or equity in society > and who decides what is JUST? Who determines what JUSTICE is and makes sure it’s carried out? That’s what the law and lawmakers and governments and governing bodies are for, our society depends on a sense of law and order for there to be a sense that JUSTICE is occurring.
Maybe even ‘people getting what they deserve!’ Good people get good things, bad people get bad things – is that what the world says about justice… Interesting to think about.
Maybe there’s also a sense that we come up with our own definition of what JUSTICE is, we get to choose what we think is JUST, what we think ACTING JUSTLY is according to our own values, principles and beliefs…
Some thoughts on worldly JUSTICE there, what the world says about it.
Now what about God, what does God say about JUSTICE, what is ACTING JUSTLY in God’s eyes?
God says he is the judge, the bible tells us God is the judge, the lawgiver and our king (Isaiah 33:22), and that ‘he’s the one ‘who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another’ (Psalm 75:7).
So if God is the judge and the lawgiver and our king, that would mean ACTING JUSTLY would be acting in line with what God says > he makes judgments and he calls his people to hear and to keep his commands doesn’t he.
When we think of God as a judge we might think of his wrath, how he punishes wrongdoing, he punishes sin > Old Testament-style, God gets biblical!
But the core message of the gospel is not wrath, it’s something else > the core message of the gospel is LOVE.
We do need some direction in life, some guidance, some knowledge, some wisdom – but without love we lose the reason for any of that. Without love this is just a to-do list, it loses its importance, it stops meaning anything significant to us > Side-note: I think there are lot of people out there who know plenty about God’s wrath, but they might not know much about his LOVE, I wonder what you think about that…
We hear in Micah about ‘loving mercy’ > stay tuned because we’ll touch on how God’s judgment is MERCIFUL as we move through this series!
I mentioned before the idea of ‘getting what we deserve,’ and how we might come up with our own definition of what JUSTICE is, what it is to ACT JUSTLY.
God has some notes for us there:
God has a different interpretation of what JUSTICE is compared to what the world’s view may be on that one, and God says ‘No! Don’t come up with your own definition of justice, go with mine – because it’s better!’
‘Getting what we deserve’ >
This is a logical way to view things, it makes sense. If someone does a good thing they get a good thing, if they do a bad thing they get a bad thing. Makes sense, works well in many settings of different groups of people, useful tool society uses in many different ways. That might be a bit simplistic but it’s the basic idea behind ‘getting what we deserve.’
But in terms of God’s judgment, if we all got what we deserved then where would we be??
Because what we deserve is not good, because we have not been good > we have sinned, we have done bad things, we have failed to do good things > just think back to the list of things we hand over to God in our prayer of confession, all the things we get wrong and need his help with.
We have not ACTED JUSTLY, we have done the opposite, we have acted against what God says is JUST, even just by thinking a bad thought we have gone against what God says. It’s very easy to go against what God says! Much harder to put our faith in him, to trust in him, to put our life in his hands instead of holding onto it in our own.
If we got what we deserved we would be in serious trouble. We would be without hope, without joy, without peace, without love. Not good.
But the good news is we DO NOT get what we deserve in terms of God’s judgment.
We actually get the OPPOSITE of what we deserve, we get exactly what we DON’T deserve > we are guilty, but God makes us innocent. Because of his great love for us, that is the judgment God makes on his people. If God was a God of wrath that would not be the case! Our God is a God of love, and how good that is for us!
So if we start to shift our thinking from ‘getting what we deserve’ to ‘living in God’s love,’ the world starts to look a bit different >
Of course governments and governing bodies and systems and all these things are important for maintaining some sense of justice in society, but in terms of the state of our soul – and the state of other peoples’ souls too – what God is saying is on a different level.
If we’re hearing what God says about us – that he loves us, he loves what he has made, he cares for his creation – then we can see what it really means to ACT JUSTLY.
It means to act in line with what God says, not whatever we come up with. And what does God say? That we should love him and love each other >
Sounds simple but it’s better than anything we could come up with, and we don’t have to because God already has.
It means we need to be informed about what God’s judgment actually is, and then act in line with that judgment in terms of how we relate to other people > What God says about us leads us to know how we should relate to other people.
We love others as God first loved us, not because we feel like it or it’s a nice thing to do, but because God has done it for us and through faith in his goodness we are compelled to show love to others, to care about people in need, to pray for other people, to serve, to give and to share together in community. All of those things God has first done for us, and shows us how to do with each other.
ACTING JUSTLY is doing what God would have us do > not what we come up with on our own, not what the world says, what HE says.
We use the gifts God has given us to consider and to reflect and to get creative with how we can ACT JUSTLY, and we operate within the world around us – not apart from it as if we are some special people that are better than everyone else!
As God’s people we are called to go where he sends us, to act how we calls us to act, to put our faith in him as the one who has done it all for us.
Prayer > Lord we thank you for your justice, which means we are made innocent in your eyes. Lead us to know you and trust in you more, and to act justly as you would have us do. Amen //
Tom Kitson 