12 minute read
My pulpit message notes: Hope of God's Justice
from TT 168
by TIMES TODAY
Hope of God’s Justice
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The late Billy Graham tells a story of himself where he was once stopped for driving too fast in a speed zone area. In the court room he pleaded guilty. The judge was not only friendly to him, but was also embarrassed because this judge knew Billy Graham so well. The fine was only ten dollars and if he was to let Billy Graham go, it would have been inconsistent with justice.
The penalty had to be paid either by the late evangelist Billy Graham, or by someone else and that basically means that judgement is consistent with love. So that on one hand you have judgement that is to be done and on the other you have this judge that know Billy Graham so well and those two were very consistent.
A God of love must be a God of justice. It is because God loves that He is a just God. And when it is done well, you have facts on one side and the truth on the other side and you have fairness and then you have a judgement that brings some sort of satisfaction. And that comes from God only.
It is because God loves that He is just. His justice balances His love and make His acts of both love and justice meaningful. That therefore brings a sense of fairness and satisfaction.
The book of Micah is largely a book that deals with matters of justice and fairness. The prophecy of Micah attests to Micah’s deep sensitivity to the social ills of his day, especially as they affected the small towns and villages of his homelands (the underprivileged).
Micah’s message alternated between oracles of doom and hope. Doom because of the consequences of not honouring God and therefore God’s judgement will come. And hope on the other side is that if there is a reconciliation, then God will love and fairness continues to give His people hope.
The theme is judgement and deliverance by God. Micah also stresses that God hates idolatry, injustice, rebellion and empty ritualism. God delights in pardoning His people when they come to Him in openness. The prophet declares that Zion will have a greater glory in the future and even before and that will only happen if they make amends with God.
We see that the Davidic kingdom, though it will seem to come to an end, will reach greater heights through the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But before then, Micah talks about issues that are really disturbing.
Hope of God’s Justice
The condemnation of the leaders/rulers/political class - Micah 3:1-4
The condemnation of the religious leaders. Micah 3:5-8
The consequences of the choices of the rulers/leaders including religious leaders/ Micah 3:9-12
The condemnation of the leaders/rulers/ political class - Micah 3:1-4
- The gist is that the LORD will hide His face and will not answer. What distinguishes a righteous leader from a self-seeking leaders?: a. v.1 Justice should be paramount. “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice,..?”
b. Loving and practicing what is good versus practicing what is evil. This comes by serving people
— They loved that which was not pleasing to God and they were just exploiting people.
c. v4. They enjoy the favour of the LORD vis a vis the condemnation of the LORD.
“Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.”
- It is interesting that when we go through the leadership transitions, the swearing in like the one that has happened to the parliamentarians, they all carry some sort of religious book and majority of them are Christians and so they carry the Bible and swear by it. I wish that beyond carrying that Bible they would just read and apply what is in the Bible. - When leadership is noble, then itis about service, selflessness and being a servant.
- In our society it has been made a place of gathering wealth, a place of greed and corruption. When leadership is noble it is about integrity, sincerity, honesty and service to humanity. - I couldn’t help but go to the famous chapter six of the constitution of Kenya where we talk about values and ethics:
1) Authority assigned to a State officer--(a) is a public trust to be exercised in a manner that--
(i) is consistent with the purposes and objects of this Constitution; (ii) demonstrates respect for the people; (iii) brings honour to the nation and dignity to the office; and (iv) promotes public confidence in the integrity of the office; and
(b) vests in the State officer the responsibility to serve the people, rather than the power to rule them. (2) The guiding principles of leadership and integrity include--
(a) selection on the basis of personal integrity, competence and suitability, or election in free and fair elections; (b) objectivity and impartiality in decision making, and in ensuring that decisions are not influenced by nepotism, favouritism, other improper motives or corrupt practices; (c) selfless service based solely on the public interest,demonstrated by--
(i) honesty in the execution of public duties; and (ii) the declaration of any personal interest that may conflict with public duties;
(d) accountability to the public for decisions and actions; and (e) discipline and commitment in service to the people.
The day the political class in this country Kenya will take this chapter six of our constitution seriously, then I prophesy that Kenya will be a great nation.
It is sad that if you look at our parliament today nearly a third of them have either active court cases, some of which are murder, but those are the ones that have found themselves into the leadership of this nation. And there we are hoping that something good will come out of them. Chances are, the laws and legislations that they are likely to make is to protect themselves.
Micah says, leaders and the political class, be very carefully about issues of value, integrity, respect, not taking advantage of others. When you do so then you will have the ear of God.
Unfortunately in our country (Kenya) it looks like a force to be reckoned with especially in the political leadership you may need to have some scandals here and there and the bigger the scandal, the more popular they become. May God have mercy on us.
- How can we expect good governance out of what we have across the political divide?
The condemnation of the religious leaders. Micah 3:5-8
What distinguishes a faithful prophet of the LORD who shepherds God’s people? That basically is that they have the truth and they are preaching the Word of God without fear or favour.
Four things: a. They are motivated by the truth rather than personal gain. V 5
- We see that even the religious leaders / the church is not left behind in the times of Micah.
b. They are enlightened by the LORD and saw their visions are not darkened.
- We see that they will not be seeing, or hearing from God. But those that are true to the calling are true to the Word of God and speak the Word of God without fear, or favour.
c. They are commended for their close walk with God. Vs 7
d. The are empowered to proclaim, sometimes the unpopular Word of God. V 8,
- If the religious class are after those that butter their bread you cannot speak the truth especially when the truth hurts. There will be a compromise. That is one of the things that Micah condemns. - Micah mentions four spiritual resources that God has given him to speak the truth:
i. Power - Clearly the power of God. God has given him the strength to persevere in the face of opposition and discouragement.
ii. The Spirit of the Lord. In the O.T. one mark was that when the Spirit of God was on you then you are able to go without fear or favour. But today, may God have mercy even on His church.
Years ago when I was in Bible school, one of the units was ‘Church governance’ and there were primarily about three types; first, the episcopal model, where you have a bishop who gives the leadership to the church.
Second was presbytery church governance where it is primarily done by the elders and that is where presbyterian church derives its name from, so elders play a central role in the church governance. Another was congregational where major decisions are made by the church members, whether it is in AGM or SGM. Those were the main ones.
Sad today there is another one I have seen that has cropped up, and it is a private business kind of church governance where you see church leaders are authority to themselves, they are the sole signatories of their bank accounts, they are answerable to no one, they can do whatever they want and that has creeped into our society today.
- Micah writes and says, watch out. God’s judgement will definitely come if you do not follow the principles of God.
- God’s judgement will come whether it is to the political class, or even the church, because we are supposed to operate by the Word of God in the Bible which has issues of fairness, love, truth.
- We only have to look up to God where there are facts on one side and there is a judgement to be made on the other side and God applies His love and when He applies His love, even we who we are supposed to have been condemned, because of the love of God, we can be called the children of God.
The consequences of the choices of the rulers/leaders including religious leaders/ Micah 3:9-12
- Micah says pay attention because the choices that you make, they will always have consequences. - The consequences in the book of Micah was that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed and indeed that prophecy came to pass when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
- As scary as it was in proclaiming the coming judgement, in the following verses Micah continues with a glimpse into the future and a glimpse of home. That if you repent, God will judge you fairly. That glimpse of hope is that if you come to God and say, ‘I am wrong’, God takes that truth and God forgives and restores.
- I pray that God will have mercy on us. Where we are I pray that God will be gracious to us, but also where I am/we are we will continue to pray for our nation and will not tire to pray that God will have mercy / grace on our nation. That God will look at us with His love so that if there is something that has happened that is not right, it is not too difficult for you to change, because God can.
- But if there is not change on our side, the consequences are quite severe.
- May the LORD have mercy on us as a nation. May the LORD also have mercy on us as a church, i.e. you and I. I pray that the nation of Kenya, as we come to God in prayer that God by His grace will turn things around for the glory and honour of His name. That we will continue to hold hands together as a brother and sister, that we will continue to look at issues of fairness that they will find themselves at the centre of the discourse of this nation in the name of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
