Micah 6:1-8
ICE BREAKER
The topic of justice is currently a big focus in our culture. Our cultures’ way of thinking about justice is quite different from biblical justice.
Biblical justice has 2 important elements:
- It always centers on the person of Christ.
- It is always relational. It is not a post on facebook nor is it revenge. It is the people of God embodying the love of Christ in the world.
Widows, orphans and sojourners are nearly always mentioned in Scripture with the topic of justice.The widow needs care, the orphan needs a family and the sojourner needs a home.
To understand biblical justice we need more detail.
There are 4 pillars of biblical justice. The first pillar is equality(see the “notes” section at the bottom of this document for the other 3 pillars).
Equality–this means that every life is worthy of full dignity. Every life is fully human and worthy of dignity and protection.
What does it mean to be human? To be human is to be God’s image bearers.
We bear His image in 3 ways: physically, relationally, and we bear His image as creators. We are male and female. We are called to monogamous relationships in marriage.
To redefine God’s design it to dehumanize. When we stray we obscure life and we dehumanize it.
One example is the womb.
We don’t see the child but we know the child is there. Another way we dehumanize is a negative view of mental illness which obscures our humanity. We tend to push certain people to the fringes. We can justify treating them poorly.
My mission as God’s ambassador is to maintain the dignity of every human being.
As a group name some people you know personally who are not treated with full dignity. Discuss why this person or group of people may be treated this way.
Group leaders: consider pausing and praying by name for a few of these people or people groups. Ask God to help you to be sensitive to the people around you on a daily basis.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Look for ways to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly. Talk about a practical next step as to what this could be in our lives.
Group leaders: consider discussing with the group if they’d be open to taking a group night and serving together with a local ministry to help the widow, orphan, or sojourner in a tangible way together.You can contact Slyvia Veal or Carol Gates for contact information to local ministries.
- Walk Humbly. Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, 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?” To walk humbly is the releasing of the demand that life be how I want it. At the heart of walking humbly is an awareness of our sin. When we see our sin it builds a bridge toward gratitude. We can move toward gratitude because we can taste Christ’s kindness and acceptance in the face of our failure.
So, in the light of this invitation to walk humbly, is there anyone in your life that you are currently looking down on or someone you are angry with? Why should you punish that person? Christ actually died for our wrongdoing. Who are we to judge another? The second we lose sight of our own sin it’s over. To lose sight of our sin is to lose humility and to subsequently justify anger or the dismissal of another human being. We become blind(think of the Pharisees).
NOTES AND QUOTES
Idolatry, injustice and “The Day of the Lord” are the major themes of the prophets.
Idolatry is defined as replacing God with false gods: money, power, and kids to name a few.
The prophets keep inviting us to COME BACK. When we stray from Him we are harming ourselves.
The structure of Micah: Judgments in 3 segments: chapter 1 and 2; 3 and 4; 6 and 7.
One example of a judgment section is found in Micah 1:3-5. The tribes of the north have made samaria a place of false worship. The south has the right place of worship but it is corrupt. So, the judgments are against both forms of idolatry.
The prophet Micah also includes the promise of hope. One such passage is Micah 4:3-4 This is a vision of shalom; it’s a vision of how God wants His people to live together. There will no longer be war; weapons of war will be transformed for tools of life. We will no longer be afraid.
A key part of Micah is found in 6:8 “He has told you, O man, 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?”
This verse is in response to God’s indictment, His judgment. We hear His judgment and we ask, “What do we do God?” Do we give you our firstborn? What can we do to be right with you? Micah tells us the firstborn(Jesus) is already given for us.
When we come to Christ we are a new creation and we are an ambassador. Sharing our faith is one aspect of being an ambassador. Micah 6:8 describes another aspect of being an ambassador.
Justice:
Biblical justice has 2 important elements: 1. It always centered on the person of Christ. 2. It is always relational.
To understand biblical justice we need more detail. There are 4 pillars of biblical justice.
There are 4 pillars of biblical justice:
- Equality–every life is worthy of full dignity. Every life is fully human and worthy of dignity and protection. What does it mean to be human? We are image bearers; we bear his image in 3 ways: physically, relationally, and as creators. We are male and female. We are called to monogamous relationships in marriage.
To redefine God’s design it to dehumanize.When we stray we obscure life and we dehumanize it. One example is the womb. We don’t see the child but we know the child is there. We tend to push certain people to the fringes. We can justify treating them poorly. My mission as God’s ambassador is to maintain every human beings’ dignity.
Under the topic of equality there is the lens of death: one example of the lens of death is pornography–it dehumanizing women and men. Another example is abortion–it obscures life; life becomes a negotiable chip.
Racism also dehumanizes people. It reduces a people group to one thing so they can be dismissed or overlooked.
Anger, contempt and withdrawal are ways we relate that are dehumanizing. We tend to do these in our own family.
The church becomes the voice for people that do not have a voice.
To apply this personally, think of the people you are angry at. What if you try serving them? What if we do like Christ and we see possibility in the people we are angry at and we pursue rather than withdraw? Think of the Samaritan at the well or Matthew the tax collector. What if we do the same as Jesus?
- Solidarity: the stronger helps the weaker.
The lens of death under the topic of solidarity:Death: we exploit–we get used to the arrangements in life or we do revenge(our culture mistakes revenge for justice). Ignorance: we are comfortable in our comfortable circles. Gossip: think of the moment of gossip–someone is talking about the person who is not there(that person is the weaker person).
- Subsidiarity: Action should be taken by the closest relationship. The order is like this: immediate family, then extended family, then community, then state government and then the federal government. I must take care of myself(don’t be a victim), then I take care of my immediate family. The problem is when we skip levels. When this happens the other levels disintegrate.
The lens of death under the topic of subsidiarity: abstraction—we are against BIG things like global warming but then we don’t do anything because it is too distant from us. Abdication–the breakdown of the family occurs when there is subsidiarity.
I am made for community! I have my own home. I may like to travel but I am made to be part of a community. This is where my connection is.Think of a time when a storm comes through and the power goes out. We bring something to a neighbor and they do the same for us.
This is what subsidiarity does.
Does Jesus live this out? Yes, He says, whichever of you serves is first in the kingdom.
- Liberty: free action within the constraint of virtue. The problem in our culture is that we don’t want to come under virtue. Our culture twists this to mean that virtue lacks freedom.
The lens of death with the topic of liberty is: power. Power can be seen through politics. Control, manipulation, and “you do you” are other aspects of this. Christ wants us to give power away. Think of raising kids: at times we try to control even our adult kids. Why? We don’t trust God and we don’t trust our child. The cross is liberty; liberty from sin.A look at two phrases in Micah:
- “Love kindness”: If there is a call for justice and it is not kind than it is not a call for justice. To be kind is to bring our best to the other. How can we give our best to our households? Does my spouse, my kids, my parents get my worst or my best.
- “Walk Humbly”: it is the releasing of the demand that life be how I want it. At the heart of this is an awareness of our sin. When we know our sin there is gratitude because we receive the kindness of Jesus. Why should I punish you because Christ actually died for my wrongdoing. The second we lose sight of our own sin it’s over.
