July 30, 2000         What in the world does God want?         Micah 6:6-8

by Ronald E. George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church

 * If God gave us the same amount of time and attention that we devote to Him?

 * If God offered as many excuses as we do, and if the excuses were no more justifiable than ours?

 * If God's promises were no more certain than ours?

 * If God withheld His blessings from us as we withhold our offerings from Him?

 -- Robert G. Lee

Scripture Text:  Micah 6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? {of a...: Heb. sons of a year?} 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] 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? {body: Heb. belly} 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? {walk...: Heb. humble thyself to walk}

 The cost of a burnt offering is about $350.00

The cost of two calves a year old is $700.00

The cost of two thousand rams is $600,000.

The cost of ten thousand rivers of oil is (name your price)

The cost of one soul is priceless.

 What in the world does God want?  He wants you.  Do you want him?

 With what shall I bring before the Lord assumes three things... 

1. I want to come before the Lord
2. I want to bring something to pay for transgressions and sin of my soul.
3. I want to please the Lord.

 Why bring an offering, so that I will be accepted.  If I am accepted then I have become pleasing to the Lord. 

 He has showed you what is good and what does God want?  He wants you, but you must come to him, his way.  Could we get God to change to come our way instead of our changing?  Does God change?  Mal. 3:6 says, I am the Lord I change not.  These are his ways.  He wants his people to…

 Do Justly. 

Would you do justly?  What is just?  What is right?  What is the right thing to do?  Should we as Christians be asked anything less than to at least do the right thing?  Then we have the question that begs to be answered what is the right thing to do?   What is God’s idea of justice?  Should we just do what is required?  Should we be willing to go even farther to satisfy the demands of God?  What is justice?  Fairness, impartiality, righteousness, evenhandedness, integrity, honesty, and fair dealing are all synonyms of justice. 

 We represent the Lord.  We are the salt and light.  We are to be the little Jesus’ on the earth. 

 1.   To do justly: He wants his people to do justly.

God gave to us just what we needed and He gave to Jesus just what we deserved.  What kind of justice do we have to give to others?  The kind of Justice we have is that which we have received.

 Have you been treated equally with your fellow humans? 

Have you always received exactly what you paid for? 

Have you always received what you had coming to you? 

Have always been right on time? 

Have you always did exactly what you were supposed to do? 

Have you always given to others exactly what that were supposed to get? 

Have you always been impartial and equal to others? 

Have others always been impartial and equal to you? 

God's Justice is quite a bit different than most of the justice that we see today.  This is the justice that He requires from his people.  This is the kind that treats people fairly and rightly.  The people of Micah's day were constantly using bad weights and taking advantage of others for the love of money.  The love of money is the root of all-evil.

 "Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Barry M. Goldwater  - _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 125.

 God's JUSTICE MUST TAKE PLACE

     It was the beginning of school and the rules for the classroom had be laid down, explained, and were thoroughly understood by everyone. When it was discovered that a lunch was missing everyone was aghast. The punishment for stealing was a swat from that huge fraternity paddle that hung on the teacher's desk.     The teacher began to ferret out the culprit. Soon the scrawniest, weakest little boy was targeted and he confessed to taking the lunch and eating it. The teacher did not want to spank him but the rule was the rule and it must be obeyed. The consequence must be administered.

     The little guy with tears running down his cheeks slowly came forward. Just as he got to the front and was about to receive his punishment a rustle of noise came from the back. The biggest lad in the whole class strode to the front, put the little guy aside and bent over the desk. The big brother took the swat for the little brother.

 While on Golgotha's mountain Jesus of Nazareth took the swat that we richly deserved. God's justice was served and we were spared. What a wonderful, big Brother we have in Christ.

   In our relationships with others, often what passes for love is little more than a neat business transaction.  People are kind to us, so we repay them with equal consideration.  When they treat us unjustly, our negative response is really what they asked for. Everything is so balanced, so fair, so logical with this eye-for-an- eye and tooth-for-a-tooth kind of justice.  But Christian love never settles for only what's reasonable.  It insists on giving mercy as well as justice.  It breaks the chain of logical reactions.

   General Robert E. Lee was asked what he thought of a fellow officer in the Confederate Army who had made some derogatory remarks about him.  Lee rated him as being very satisfactory. The person who asked the question seemed perplexed.

   "General," he said, "I guess you don't know what he's been saying about you." 

   "I know," answered Lee.  "But I was asked my opinion of him, not his opinion of me!"

           Someone has offered this penetrating comparison of the difference between revenge, justice, and grace.  If someone brutally murders your son and you take things into your own hands, that's revenge. If you're content to allow the law and the courts to arrest and punish the offender, that's justice.  But if you pardon the murderer, adopt him, and take him home to live with you as your son, that's grace!

             Pilate and Herod five times had declared Christ innocent of the charges brought against Him and seemed determined to release Jesus. Justice so demanded, for the accusations against Christ had no support that would justify His condemnation.  But the multitude was not seeking justice but demanding Christ's death. Inflamed passions were ready to break forth into a riot (Matt. 27:23).  Afraid of being accused before Caesar (John 19:12) and fearful of inciting the Jews to riot, Pilate sought to absolve himself of all responsibility for his decision.  "He took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. 'I am innocent of this man's blood,' he said.  'It is your responsibility'" (Matt. 27:24).

   But Pilate could not escape the sense of his responsibility. There was a custom among the Greeks, Jews, and Romans of that time that when a man shed blood, he would wash his hands, thus symbolically cleansing away the stain.  Pilate felt that he was a murderer.

   The rulers, the priests, and the people united in accepting responsibility for the death of Christ, saying, "Let his blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25).  While Pilate could not be absolved from responsibility for this miscarriage of justice, the nation did accept responsibility for Christ's death.

   The tragic reply came back like an echo of a groan from future generations: "His blood be on us and on our children."  Thirty years later, on this very spot, judgment was pronounced against some of the best citizens of Jerusalem.  Of the 3,600 victims of the governor's fury, not a few were scourged and crucified! Judas died in a loathsome suicide, the house of Annas was destroyed some years later, Caiaphas was deposed a year after the crucifixion, and Pilate was soon after banished to Gaul and there died in suicide.  When Jerusalem fell, her wretched citizens were crucified around her walls until, in the historian's grim language, "space was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies."  The horrors of the siege of Jerusalem are unparalleled in history.

     Since Jesus has paid the price for our sins and God’s Justice has taken place would we be willing to give some of our unused justice to others.  You cannot give what you do not have.  Then you need to receive God’s Justice for your sins.  You cannot receive what you do not need or want.  Then do you need or want God’s Justice for your sins?  If you say yes you want God in your life, then you have received God’s justice and can now give it to others.