Ep 414 ｜ Most Misused： Micah 6_8
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Summary
In this episode of Relatable, we take a most misused and abused verse and look at what it actually means based on the context. This verse has been used by many who may identify as social justice focused christians to support their pursuit of the abolition of systemic racism in the United States.
Transcript
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hey guys welcome to relatable today we are doing a most misused if you don't know what that is
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that's where we take a popular verse that is used a lot it's decontextualized and we look at what
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it actually means so micah 6 8 says he has told you oh man what is good and what does the lord
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require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god we've
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done a few of these in the past we've done jeremiah 29 11 plans to prosper you not to harm you
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psalm 37 4 he will give you the desires of your heart matthew 7 1 don't judge i'll see you be judged
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and so what we do is we take this popular verse that's typically placed on mugs or t-shirts or
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used in social media captions and we dive into what it actually means based on the text and based on
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the context because so often the most well-known verses are the most misused and abused verses
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philippians 4 13 is another one like this i can do all things through christ who strengthens me it's a
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wonderful verse but when it's decontextualized we actually lose a lot of the meaning but what we see
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when we read these verses and we seek to understand them rather than just apply them in a feel-good way
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in whatever context we want is that the true meaning of the text is so much better it's so much better
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than the pithy applications they have when they're just decontextualized so today we are going to do
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micah 6 8 because particularly in the past year this verse has been used by many who may identify as
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let's say social justice focused christians to biblically support their pursuit uh in in the for
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example the abolition of of what they might refer to as systemic racism in the united states uh this
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verse was used a lot after the george floyd incident on social media as a way to say as christians we need
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to be uh talking about marching about etc racialized police brutality we need to be doing the work of
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anti-racism we need to be working toward so-called racial reconciliation and we've talked about all of
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these topics and concepts many times thoroughly before the media narratives versus what the data
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says about each and we won't get into all of that today because what i want to focus on uh is what
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this particular verse that is used so pervasively actually means not what i want it to mean not what
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you want it to mean but what it actually means according to scripture and the way that we do that is by
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looking at the context so as christians we hold to the truth that the bible is the inerrant infallible
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word of god inspired by the holy spirit and written by human hands that god has been faithful god has
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been sovereign over the translation and the compilation of the bible and by his grace the text
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that we have today is nearly identical to the message relayed in the original documents that we have access
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to so first because of that we take his word as authoritative we submit our feelings our preconceived
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notions to it not the other way around we seek to understand each verse in light of the entirety of
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scripture we do our best to seek to understand each verse plainly while acknowledging that we are finite
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and therefore we completely have the capacity to get it wrong but also we acknowledge that god has given us
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and teachers and leaders who have come before us the wisdom and the insight through his spirit to be able
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to diligently seek and understand as best as possible what he means and what he is saying in the bible
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the various interpretations and the many translations of the bible don't actually negate its integrity but
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rather speak to its miraculously enduring nature and the piercing truth of the gospel of jesus christ
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which penetrates all of our disagreements and all of our confusion so as we dig into this verse we
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have these things in mind understanding that our exposition of this verse is fallible i mean my
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discussion of this verse will be fallible because i'm fallible but we also humbly ask for god's wisdom
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and we trust him to give us that wisdom because he promises that in the book of james and he has given
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us the tools by which we can seek that wisdom to understand what he is saying in scripture so let's zoom out
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in our analysis first before we zoom in we have to understand the context which means that we need to know
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what the book of micah is who wrote it to whom it was written when it was written and why it was written
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i have a john mcarthur study bible that i enjoy i also have an esv study bible that i highly recommend i love
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the esv study bible i also have a keyword study bible it allows me to look at the original greek
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and hebrew and i will also reference other commentaries from biblical scholars um and if
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there's a big picture biblical concept that i need to better understand when i'm studying scripture i
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typically consult systematic theology by wayne grudem another recommendation that i have i have a whole list
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of recommended resources by the way on my website allybethstucky.com that you can look at but
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these are just a few of them that i use when i'm studying scripture um another great and reliable
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resource i've talked about this but if you're new here maybe you've never heard of it um gotquestions.org
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i know it sounds cheesy and super generic but i actually find their answers to questions uh to be
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very thorough and very biblical and so that's a really great resource if you just want to type in
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at gotquestions.com like what does the bible say about the mark of the beast or something like that
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then it typically has uh really good responses for you to at least give you some food for thought
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and some direction to go into as you're studying the subject in scripture okay so and i'm when i'm
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looking at when i'm looking at the resources that i have what i find is that the book of micah is named
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after the prophet micah this is hebrew uh this is a hebrew name meaning who is like the lord in micah 7 18
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at the end of the book we see micah use his own name as he is proclaiming the love and the compassion
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of god when he says this who is a god like you pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression
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for the remnant of his inheritance he does not retain his anger forever but he delights in steadfast
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love so we don't know too much about micah but his name speaks to god's special sovereignty and
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preordaining his prophets that micah's name would represent a rhetorical question pointing to god's
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glory who is like the lord is a rhetorical question because we already know the answer god's people
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would have known the answer and the answer is no one if we go to the words of another prophet isaiah
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we see god ask this question almost sarcastically because the answer is so obvious he says this
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thus says the lord the king of israel and his redeemer the lord of hosts i am the first and
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i am the last besides me there is no god who is like me let him proclaim it let him declare and set
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it before me since i appointed an ancient people let them declare what is to come and what will happen
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fear not nor be afraid have i not told you from of old and declared it and you are my witnesses
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is there a god besides me there is no rock i know not any that's isaiah 44 6 through 8 it's a great
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chapter i highly encourage you to go read uh the chapter in its entirety but the lord highlights his
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preeminence his exclusive power uh compared to idols which can't see can't hear can't act while he is
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acting and moving and ruling and perfect strength and justice and wisdom and actually what is interesting
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is that isaiah and micah were prophesying around uh the same time period in close proximity to each
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other so this is a theme that god communicates that god clearly wants his people to know a reminder
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that hey the guidance and the deliverance that you were looking for and the idols that you've now
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turned to will not come through for you am i not the god who made you who set you apart and has
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done great things for you am i not better than all of these false weak useless gods these inanimate
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objects that you've turned to what we see throughout scripture is that god is unabashedly fixated on his
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own glory he is a jealous god who will again and again remind us that he alone is worthy of our
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worship and that our worship of him is inextricably intertwined with good and with peace for us and what
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he speaks through micah demonstrates exactly that micah prophesied to the people of jerusalem during the
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reigns of of jotham of ahaz and hezekiah from about 735 to 710 bc the book echoes many of the themes that
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we see in isaiah and hosea and hezekiah and amos who were all prophesying to israel in different regions
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around the same time and they were all in different ways prophesying to a people who had not just turned
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to idolatry but who had welcomed injustice micah's focus was on the southern kingdom ruled by judean
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kings there was much conflict in the region before god called micah to prophesy that eventually led to
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the prosperous reign of king uzziah which led to the reign of jotham who was the first king under whom
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micah prophesied jotham helped continue the prosperity that his father's policies had helped ensure but
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his problem was that he failed to outlaw the idolatry that was running rampant among the people
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john mcarthur notes in my study bible quote worship of the canaanite fertility god baal was increasingly
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integrated with the ot sacrificial system old testament sacrificial system reaching epidemic
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proportions under the reign of ahaz second chronicles 28 1 through 4 tells us king ahaz was another king
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under whose reign micah was prophesying refugees from nearby fallen samaria had infiltrated judea
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bringing their own idolatrous religious practices which only added to the problem the judean people
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hoard after other gods that's what scripture tells us which as we see throughout the bible and throughout
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history leads to the loss of morality both individually and societally and therefore leads to corruption
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and the oppression of the most vulnerable and as we say often on this podcast this is what we see
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in israel's history godlessness refusal to worship and acknowledge the one true god makes hearts of stone
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and brains of mush it makes hard hearts and mushy minds and that's what was happening to god's people
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here that's why micah is prophesying as well as to warn that this rebellion will lead to judgment
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uh that babylon will conquer them a reality that at the time did not seem possible because their biggest
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competition and threat was assyria so like other prophets micah's message was probably hard to believe
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and definitely hard to hear for his audience at the time because again they had those mushy minds and
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hard hearts micah presents his case like a prosecutor like some of these prophets do laying out the evidence
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of guilt of guilt of the people uh my study bible says this there are three oracles or cycles in the
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book of micah each beginning with the admonition to quote here within each oracle he moves from doom to
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hope doom because they have broken god's law at sinai hope because of god's unchanging covenant with
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their forefathers as 720 says so the message is you've been faithless and because god is a just god
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who cares about his glory and cares about your obedience and the consecration of his people
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you will be judged and punished but because god is faithful he will also restore you he will protect
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those of you who turn to him who love him who obey him because he is abundantly patient and abundantly
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gracious he will not destroy you in your entirety as you deserve he will bring you in he will welcome you
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back he will bless you this is a cycle that we see throughout the old testament that culminates
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in jesus christ who pays the ultimate and eternal price for all of our sins satisfying the judgment
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that each of us deserve through his death so even though we are not ancient israel even though we are
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living under a new covenant as christians we read the prophets and we get an understanding of god's
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character his will his glory his intolerance of sin and the amazing miracle of the gospel
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that saves believers from his just wrath so the first part of this book is the first oracle
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uh outlining the people's disobedience the impending doom and the promise of deliverance
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here are a few verses uh verses that speak to that for behold the lord is coming out of his place
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and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains will melt under him
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and the valleys will split open like wax before the fire like waters pour down a steep place all this
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is for the transgression of jacob and for the sins of the house of israel woe to those who devise
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wickedness and work evil on their beds when the morning dawns they perform it because it is in the
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power of their hand they covet fields and seize them and houses and take them away they oppress a man
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in his house a man in his inheritance therefore thus says the lord behold against this family i am
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devising disaster from which you cannot remove your necks and you shall not walk haughtily for it will
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be a time of disaster i will surely assemble all of you oh jacob i will gather the remnant of israel
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i will set them together like sheep in a fold like a flock in its pasture a noisy multitude of men
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so what we read in this first oracle in this first cycle is that the people are guilty they have done
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wickedly god is coming to punish them but he will save a remnant who is faithful to him and then we
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see the second cycle or oracle that speaks to the leaders of the land specifically who are guilty who
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are oppressing the vulnerable among them god promises to deliver those who have been oppressed under these
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leaders here are you heads of jacob and rulers of the house of israel is it not for you to know
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justice you who hate the good and love the evil who eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin
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from off them then they will cry to the lord but he will not answer them he will hide his face from
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them at that time because they have made their deeds evil hear this you heads of the house of jacob and
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rulers of the house of israel who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight its heads give
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judgment for a bribe its priests teach for a price its prophets practice divination for money
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yet they lean on the lord and say is not the lord in the midst of us no disaster shall come upon us
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therefore because of you zion shall be plowed as a field jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins and
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the mountain of the house a wooded height so there was oppression there was political and religious
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corruption there was bribery among judges deuteronomy 10 17 says this for the lord your god is god of gods
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and lord of lords the great the mighty and the awesome god who is not partial and takes no bribe god
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hates bribery he hates dishonesty he hates partiality we'll talk a little bit more about that later when we
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talk about what justice really means psalm 15 5 says this who does not put out his money at interest
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and does not take a bribe against the innocent he who does these things shall never be moved so again
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we see that god hates bribes he hates corruption he hates people who look good on the outside but who
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underneath it are dishonest and manipulative at the expense of the weak and the poor there were schemes
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for profit it looks like uh under the guise of priesthood and prophecy that's what micah is
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talking about god through micah is talking about in his prophecy uh which is another example of that
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kind of hypocrisy that god hates so much that jesus also calls out in his ministry and condemnation of
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the pharisees it was not the pharisees strict adherence to the law that jesus detested that's really
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important for us to realize it was not their faithfulness that he didn't like but rather
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their their rule abiding in order to be arrogant to oppress others and to cover up their inner and
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secret sinfulness and corruption then god promises in this second cycle deliverance from uh the people's
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enemies and the preservation of the remnant then the remnant of jacob shall be in the midst of many
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peoples like dew from the lord like showers on the grass and so he promises that because of his
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faithfulness he is going to protect a remnant of israel whom he will call to himself who will obey him
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and then in the third oracle or psych or cycle that we see in the book of micah is where we get to our
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key verse today which is micah 6 8 um in this last segment of the book of prophecy micah offers rebuke
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and lament and then he ends with that message of assurance of victory in the lord here you mountains
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the indictment of the lord and you enduring fountains of the earth for the lord has an indictment against
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his people and he will contend with israel oh my people what have i done to you how have i wearied
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you answer me for i brought you up from the land of egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery
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so he's saying have i honestly burdened you that you've gotten tired of me like how could that be
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possible when it was i says god that released you from the burden of slavery was my faithfulness not
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enough for you were my blessings not good enough for you this is what god seems to be asking in this
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passage then micah asks what they could possibly do to make up for their sin to get right uh with the
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lord then micah echoes what the people are probably asking uh when they're wondering what could they
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possibly do then to make up for their sin to answer the indictments of the lord so they can get right
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with the lord should i sacrifice thousands of rams 10 000 rivers of oil should i offer my firstborn
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the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul these are hyperbolic questions used to make a rhetorical
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point but then there's an answer to these questions when people are asking oh my gosh i have i'll do
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anything i'll give anything up to make to make myself right with god but then the answer is in
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micah 6 8 he has told you oh man what is good and what does the lord require of you but to do justice
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and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god so the answer is no god doesn't need you to
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sacrifice your firstborn child he doesn't need a thousand rivers of oil he wants your obedience he
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wants your heart he wants your faithfulness oh israel he wants you to do justice to love kindness
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and to walk humbly with god the rest of chapter six talks about the destruction of the wicked the
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final chapter chapter seven in micah is to the faithful remnant this is still a part of that third
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cycle or oracle um he is instructing them to wait for god to trust in his steadfast love his faithfulness
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to keep his covenant he reminds them of he promises to destroy his people's enemies and restore and
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bless them so chapter seven verses 18 through 20 say he does not retain his anger forever because he
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delights in steadfast love he will again have compassion on us he will tread our iniquities
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underfoot you will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea you will show faithfulness to
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jacob and steadfast love to abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old so in light of
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all of this what does our key verse that is very widely used today actually mean what does it mean
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first to do justice to love mercy and to walk humbly with god um let's break the verse down and then
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we'll talk about it again in light of the context of the entire book and of this prophecy so let's
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read the verse micah 6 8 one more time he has told you oh man what is good and what does the lord require
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of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your god so let's break that down
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first let's look at that word do because i think that's an interesting part of this verse we're not
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just talking about admiring justice we're not just talking about liking it or aspiring to it or even
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understanding it god is telling his people to do justice that hebrew word for do is asah and that's a-s-a-h
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asah so it means to do or to make to accomplish to achieve to acquire to act to complete to do something
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certainly tangibly absolutely to cause or to commit to deal or to determine my keyword study bible says
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this about this hebrew word this frequently used hebrew verb conveys the central notion of performing
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an activity with a distinct purpose a moral obligation or a goal in view in other contexts
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it's used to communicate the yielding of grain constructing something engaging in warfare
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uh the completing of something so it is a forward moving action with a moral imperative attached to
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it it's a word that seems to denote a project that's being executed that was handed down by a boss for
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example progress being made under the responsibility of an assigned task work being done um it's very
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tangible it's very concrete again it is attached to a moral imperative so what could it mean then to
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do justice uh the word used here for justice is a mishpat that's m-i-s-h-p-a-t this type of justice
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used in this context means a verdict that is pronounced uh judicially especially a sentence for
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a formal decree which includes the act the the place the suit the crime and the penalty so this is the
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word that describes the legal process carried out in a way that is proper and in this case that means
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proper according to god we see this exact same hebrew word used in zephaniah 2 3 seek the lord all you
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humble of the land who do his just commands seek righteousness seek humility perhaps you may be hidden
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on the day of the anger of the lord which is very similar to what we're talking about in micah 6 8 so
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do his just commands is a good way to understand this phrase do justice um it's a word this do um
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and mishpat put together it's a term that's used to uh describe executing god's commands and in fact
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we see consistently when it is uh used uh when it is used it always goes hand in hand with god's
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commandments with god's ordained legal processes in god's definitions of fair treatment and just
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punishment that means that when this word justice mishpat uh is uh is used here in micah 6 8 it is
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talking about god's commands about what he says right and wrong looks like it means people totally
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in submission to his law because remember the fundamental the foremost sin that he was indicting
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the people for was idolatry so we can't talk about micah 6 8 without talking about the fact that knowing
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justice and abiding by justice according to what god says justice is we first have to repent from
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idolatry and obey the lord so that means when we say that we are going to do justice according to micah 6 8
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what is meant is actually just obeying the lord what is meant is being holy as he is holy what is
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meant is aligning our lives and our definitions of right and wrong with his good instruction in all
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the biblical context that we see this word used we see that it means how things are supposed to be
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done according to god's standards in other words right it means to do things right and that god alone
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is the decider the determinant and the author of what is right so when we use this verse it doesn't
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simply apply to that which we want it to apply it doesn't mean whatever we want it to mean it means
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defining justice exactly how god defines it it is predicated on turning from idolatry and turning
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toward the lord and walking in his commands and what i see so often today is people using this verse
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or the word justice in general to mean whatever they want it to mean if it means abolishing the
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police if it means looting if it means reparations if it means redistribution of wealth if it means
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government subsidized health care whatever people apply this word justice in this verse micah 6 8 to
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mean whatever political cause left or right that they want it to mean but the reality is as that this is
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talking in this verse about procedural justice that is in complete alignment with what god commands
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this is not talking about today's elusive intangible idea of secular social justice which almost always
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simply means whatever whatever government programs or progressive talking points are proffered that claim
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to fix problems it is talking about ensuring justice mishpat happens as god says it must happen
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as we've talked about many times when it comes to the characteristics of god's justice
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um in society the handling of the guilty and the innocent the accused and the accuser we see four
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main characteristics and they are you could probably recite them if you've been listening to this podcast
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for any amount of time truthful impartial direct and proportional now there may be other characteristics
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biblical characteristics of god's justice and there are different kinds of justice also
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that we see in the bible but when it comes to this particular justice when it's talking about
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procedural justice these are the main descriptors of god's justice that most prominently uh come to
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mind and come to the surface when you read about his law giving to ancient israel in the old testament
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and even though as we've said we are not ancient israel and we don't follow all of the laws that god gave to
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his people then we also know that god doesn't change and therefore we understand that god still
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hates that which he has always hated he loves that which he has always loved god's definitions of good
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and bad of just and unjust have not changed so when we see these principles articulated in the old
00:27:37.620
testament we get to hold to them today when we are asking ourselves what does justice really mean
00:27:44.460
and what does it even mean for or to do justice in in society so here are some examples of these four
00:27:53.180
characteristics of god's justice truthful impartial direct and proportional we see in exodus 23 1 through
00:28:00.480
3 you shall not spread a false report you shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious
00:28:05.860
witness you shall not fall in with the many to do evil nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit
00:28:12.080
siding with the many so as to pervert justice nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit
00:28:19.280
so right there in his commands to israel we see two major aspects of god's definition of what is just
00:28:26.300
truthful and impartial truthful and impartial leviticus 19 15 you shall do no injustice in court you shall
00:28:35.260
not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor
00:28:41.420
again we're seeing impartiality here we also see the characteristic of directness you are judging
00:28:48.740
your neighbor specifically for a crime that he or she has done listen to deuteronomy 19 15 through 21
00:28:55.880
and god's concern with truth with impartiality with proportionality and with directness a single
00:29:02.680
witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense
00:29:08.020
that he has committed only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be
00:29:13.920
established if a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing then both parties to the
00:29:19.760
dispute shall appear before the lord before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days
00:29:24.940
the judges shall inquire diligently and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother
00:29:30.280
falsely then you shall do to him as he had meant to do for his brother so you shall purge the evil among
00:29:37.780
your midst and the rest shall hear and fear and shall never again commit any such evil among you
00:29:43.200
your eye shall not pity for it shall be life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot
00:29:51.860
now i want to say something about that last line because you may be thinking about when jesus says in
00:29:57.840
matthew 5 38 through 42 that instead of an eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth uh you should uh you
00:30:05.240
shouldn't pay back people for what they've done so i wanted to reconcile these two things do we do away
00:30:12.120
with what is said in the old testament is jesus talking about legal procedures and i so i consulted my
00:30:18.840
study bible and this is what i found jesus shows that this principle which was meant to guide judges and
00:30:24.360
assessing damages was never intended as a rule for ordinary interpersonal relationships which the
00:30:30.200
faithful should seek to imitate god's own generosity so here and this is something that you can tell by
00:30:36.520
the context as well of matthew 5 is that jesus is not doing away with the legal principle of
00:30:42.200
proportionality as we see it in the old testament he is showing people he's showing the pharisees he's
00:30:47.740
showing the jewish people at the time how they had perverted this law in order to apply to their
00:30:53.900
interpersonal relationships in order to be hateful and oppressive in their friendships and in their
00:30:59.000
relationships with their neighbors and so when jesus is saying look don't seek revenge it's no longer eye
00:31:05.700
for an eye or tooth for tooth he is not trying to say that the justice penal system needed to be changed
00:31:13.420
to no matter match proportionality he is talking about interpersonal relationships where we should emulate
00:31:19.440
that kind of forgiveness and generosity that god through christ has shown us so that means when it
00:31:24.800
goes for justice in court god's principle still stands as good and right proportional based on
00:31:30.120
evidence and truth it is direct and specific to both a crime and a person the new testament also makes
00:31:36.940
clear that god's judgment and therefore his definition of justice is impartial acts 10 34 peter's preaching
00:31:43.140
the gospel to the gentiles so peter opened his mouth and said truly i understand that god shows no
00:31:48.600
partiality but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him
00:31:55.360
james 2 8 through 9 says if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture you shall love
00:32:01.980
your neighbor as yourself you are doing well but if you show partiality you are committing sin and are
00:32:07.680
convicted by the law as transgressors so this means that god's definition of mishpat of this kind of
00:32:16.020
justice excludes slander hyperbole false narratives wrong accusations made in the name of proving a
00:32:23.900
point or pushing a political agenda or misleading manipulative messages represented by hashtags by
00:32:31.420
social media graphics deceptively edited videos or inaccurate reporting it is absolutely rooted in
00:32:38.840
objective truth not a subjective truth that is determined by someone's lived experience or their
00:32:43.700
feelings but in fact that is confirmed through evidence god's justice cares about data because it
00:32:49.740
correlates with reality it cares about proof it cares about actuality about rationality about objectivity
00:32:56.400
it means that god's justice uh favors neither black nor white rich nor poor influential or obscure male nor
00:33:05.500
female it is impartial because god is so concerned with what is actually true he is not the least bit
00:33:23.080
tolerant of deciding someone's guilt or innocence based on their identity throughout scripture we read that
00:33:29.960
god hates partiality that it's a sin that he sees it as evil as wicked he's not for lesser or worse
00:33:37.260
sentencing better or worse treatment of someone based on their station their race their gender their prominence
00:33:45.160
in the community or lack thereof it means that god's justice deals with those who are involved it is direct
00:33:52.440
you are not guilty for the sins of your ancestors when god says in exodus 25 that he visits the iniquity
00:33:59.540
of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me
00:34:04.620
he is talking about a specific people israel for a specific sin idolatry and in context this actually
00:34:12.040
means that these next generations were following the same sins of their fathers god did not make the
00:34:19.440
repentant and the faithful pay for the sins of their ancestors furthermore uh you are not guilty
00:34:26.820
for those uh you are not guilty for the sins of those who look like you you are likewise not innocent
00:34:34.600
based on those factors either god's justice is laser focused on those who are involved with the matters
00:34:45.280
at hand you cannot repent for the sins of other people when daniel asks forgiveness for israel he is
00:34:52.340
talking about sins that the entire people were actively committing he is asking for mercy for god to draw
00:34:58.520
people to himself to show his faithfulness even though they don't deserve it this is not the kind of
00:35:05.380
collectivist shame and and repentance that we see preached by many social justice activists today
00:35:10.560
punishing people who did nothing wrong in the name of justice is not actually biblical justice we don't see a
00:35:17.020
biblical precedent for that that's because god's justice is rational it is sane is proportional it
00:35:24.240
doles out punishments that fit the crime it is not cruel and unusual it cares about the guilty party too
00:35:30.540
the accused according to god even the accused proving guilty still has rights in god's sight so that
00:35:39.020
means those who have the authority to execute justice are to honor those rights and only the exact
00:35:45.020
punishment which is due to them in accordance with the crime committed god is a god of process we see
00:35:51.900
this throughout the bible that hardly anything that god does is just done quickly and automatically he
00:35:58.420
almost always has a process by which through which he is accomplishing things he cares very much about
00:36:05.600
definitions about procedures about the truth he is not arbitrary he's not ambiguous he's not reckless
00:36:12.040
everything he says demands and does is with care it's with intention it's with purpose for his glory and
00:36:19.300
the good of his people so when he says that his people should do justice he means do it how god defines it which
00:36:27.120
is a definition centered on both rationality and compassion we should want our justice system though we are
00:36:34.520
not in a theocracy we're not trying to build a theocracy and even though america is not ancient israel
00:36:39.800
to reflect the justice that uh we see defined by the moral lawgiver because he created justice he is
00:36:48.200
the source of justice justice in this verse refers to legal procedural justice but the verse calls us to more
00:36:55.440
than just that to love kindness and to walk humbly with god now this hebrew word for love used here
00:37:03.860
ahaba is often used to mean uh this intimate close love a covenant love a love that is faithful that
00:37:12.200
lasts that binds the word kindness uh kesed is most often used to describe god's love his goodness uh the
00:37:21.620
works he does on behalf of his people the gifts that he gives them so we are being called to uh
00:37:28.340
inextricably intertwine ourselves with the kind of kindness that god shows us one that is generous
00:37:34.400
uh that helps rather than oppresses the vulnerable one that forgives one that is joyful um and steadfast
00:37:42.300
then we are called to walk humbly with god which is uh what knowing god's justice and emulating his
00:37:49.080
kindness is predicated on again this turning from idolatry that means that we would be humbly walking with
00:37:56.360
god so if doing god's justice means defining and doling out right and wrong according to his terms
00:38:01.860
and loving kindness means imitating god's goodness towards us in our own lives and in our relationships
00:38:08.340
then in order to do that we must first walk in total submission to god and his will which is only
00:38:13.900
possible through his holy spirit given to those who have believed in jesus's death and resurrection
00:38:18.640
for the forgiveness of sins and the conquering of death micah 6 8 is not a command for
00:38:25.960
everyone because it can't be people who are idolaters people who don't obey god cannot understand cannot
00:38:33.420
understand god's justice it's a command for god's people um the pursuit of justice that christians
00:38:41.580
um should be demonstrating should look so radically different than the secular worlds
00:38:47.180
because we are walking humbly with god is it is up to us to show how god's kindness and truth
00:38:53.420
focused justice are displayed in this world and again that looks different today than it did for
00:38:58.920
ancient israel because we're not living in a theocracy and we're not trying to build a theocracy here
00:39:04.800
but when we are talking about justice let's be very specific in defining our terms and let us remember
00:39:10.100
that anytime you talk of justice seeking justice loving kindness and walking humbly with god that in
00:39:17.380
context that is predicated on repenting from your sins and repenting from idolatry and submitting
00:39:23.200
wholeheartedly to the lord that is the only way that we can understand what justice what true compassion
00:39:29.340
what true love looks like it doesn't mean latching on to the latest social media progressive narrative
00:39:35.160
about what justice should feel like or what the world says justice is god is specific he's gracious
00:39:41.520
to give us an idea of what this kind of specific justice that micah 6 8 is talking about and we
00:39:49.660
should look to influence the spheres that we occupy with this kind of justice because again god hasn't
00:39:55.020
changed and so these principles haven't changed and if god is the ever living creator of justice the
00:40:02.900
source of justice then we would do well and those around us would do well for us to advocate for
00:40:08.920
this kind of justice too much of what people are talking about today when we they talk about
00:40:14.140
justice is actually partiality is actually favoring one race or one socioeconomic status or one kind of
00:40:21.660
person um instead of another and they say this is the kind of social justice that god advocates for
00:40:28.100
you're not going to find a biblical precedent for it yes of course we meet needs in a different way
00:40:33.940
we're not going to give to the poor or we're not going to give to the rich in the same way that we give
00:40:37.780
to the poor there are different needs that different parts of society um have absolutely but when we're
00:40:44.620
talking about what this verse is talking about the kind of justice that we have to see uh involving
00:40:51.980
both the accused and the accuser we have to make sure that we are aligning our principles of justice
00:40:58.020
with god's principles of justice um and like i said he is so gracious to tell us what those are
00:41:03.600
throughout his words so i hope this at least gives you something to chew on there's so much more to
00:41:07.780
talk about in the book of micah and even in this verse alone but i hope that adds a little bit of
00:41:12.700
clarity and maybe the next time you see someone decontextualizing and throwing up this verse in
00:41:17.520
order to justify whatever stance they have whether it's an alignment with scripture or not you can use
00:41:23.120
this to have some kind of engaging conversation uh within that i hope is edifying and productive
00:41:28.220
all right thank you guys so much for listening we will be back here soon