Scripture reading: Matthew 5:1-12.

Sermon text: Micah 6:1-8.

It seems many people struggle with the nature of salvation within the Church. Can we earn our salvation? Scripture clearly says that we cannot do anything to merit the grace of God but confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in His resurrection. If this is true, then does God care about our behavior? Doesn’t a God who demands behavior somehow reward it?

This argument has gone on for centuries, usually with most people claiming they believed in grace while their actions demonstrated their belief in works. The sermon passage today ranks as one of the top texts used to bolster the argument in works. However, a clear exegesis of the passage will demonstrate that God offers salvation solely by grace while expecting those who receive this grace to reveal its presence by their works.

The prophet Micah lived and prophesied during the time of Isaiah, in the fourth century B.C. During their ministries, both Isaiah and Micah railed against the behavior of God’s covenant people. In the eighth century B.C., the people of Jerusalem had come to expect God to protect them solely on the basis of their identity as Abraham’s descendants. The fact God had clearly chosen Abraham by grace and not through merit rarely occurred to most of them.

The sermon text opens with a pronouncement of God against Israel, His chosen people. In a cry for an impartial witness, God called to the “mountains” and “hills” to serve as judges in His dispute with Israel.

In His cry, God asked the people, in essence, “What have I done to deserve your disobedience?” God delivered a litany of His blessings to Israel, beginning with His deliverance of the nation from slavery in Egypt and including one of God’s most powerful acts during the Exodus: His protection of Israel from Balak’s curses at the hand of Balaam as Israel approached Moab. Rather than curse Israel, Balaam blessed the nation and even promised a “star” would arise in Jacob that would “exercise dominion” over the earth (Numbers 24:19).

Given the blessings that came with God’s grace in choosing Israel as His people, the nation had consistently forsaken the covenant which promised them blessings they would never have earned on their own. Instead, the people complained that they couldn’t seem to please God. “What does God want from us? Does He want thousands of offerings? What about our firstborn? Would this satisfy Him?” Israel apparently had forgotten that God wanted only their obedience to a covenant that most nations would have given anything to receive. Almost any nation in the world would have loved to receive a covenant that promised abundant crops, fertile farm animals, prolific families, and protection from its enemies. Given the blessings God promised to the nation, it’s hard for us to understand why Israel rarely bothered to try to obey the covenant God had so graciously offered to them.

Now we come to the problem verse; now we come to the “works” that come with grace. “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 before the LORD your God?”

On the surface, this sounds a lot as if God has given a concise list of exactly what we should do to earn salvation. Let’s look more deeply at these “ requirements for redemption.”

First, we need to consider “justice.” Most of us say we want justice when we witness a heinous act, such as a murder, rape, or treason. We also desire justice when we see someone wronged in their lives. We expect justice when someone wrongs us. But what about when we’re the ones doing the wrong? Do we really want justice when we’re the ones in the dock and on trial?

The Jews had neglected a key factor in God’s nature: Holiness. God cannot tolerate sin. God will offer perfect justice in every judicial matter, regardless of the identity of the wronged or the status of the one accused. Perfect justice will never deviate from the letter of the law.

Now, consider your life. Have you ever wronged someone? If so, that person cried for justice, and God’s holiness compels Him to make right the wrong. If we truly love God as we claim, we’ll freely offer ourselves for justice. Yet, few of us do. Then penalty for our wrongs — eternal separation from God, our Creator — seems too high for us to bear. God had clearly warned Adam and Eve of the consequences of sin, but they sinned anyway. I’ve yet to meet anyone who managed to make it all the way through life without suffering death, the penalty of sin.

Let’s move to the next phrase: “to love kindness.” The Hebrew word translated here as “kindness,” the word “hesed,” refers to a steadfast, unconditional love. God promised this kind of love to His people and then spent the rest of Israel’s existence proving it to them. Some might read the Bible and wonder about this statement, but remember that those who really love someone will lovingly discipline him when necessary. God did nothing to Israel He hadn’t promised to do if they disobeyed the covenant.

God went further in his covenantal love to Israel and to all humanity. When His holy nature required justice for our sins and rebellion, God took the penalty on Himself. Jesus, the divine Son of God, paid the penalty for sinful humanity. Jesus came to earth and lived among humanity as one of the Jews. He kept His covenant with Israel as a member of Israel. Then, Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Now, everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord of his life will receive Jesus’ payment for his sins. When we confess Jesus as Lord, we appropriate His payment for our sins.

Lastly, we must look at the last phrase: “walk humbly before the LORD your God.”

Few humans want to admit we need salvation. Even fewer want to admit they cannot obtain it on their own. We so desperately want to avoid having a lord over us, we’ll try anything to earn our salvation. Admitting we need salvation for our sins requires humility. I love the way C.S. Lewis described his own begrudged humility, and God’s humility, in Surprised by Joy:

1. “You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling... the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms.”
   

Lewis didn’t want to admit he needed God, but he later realized that God had lovingly, humbly accepted him in the condition He found him. When we accept Jesus as Lord, we must humble ourselves and accept His rule. This confession results in our spiritual birth; at that point, we are “born again” and adopted into the family of God (John 3:16; Romans 8:1-17).

This may bother us, but then, we come to realize that Jesus never calls us to a task He cannot complete. We realize Jesus will never ask us to love others more than He loves them. We find we can love each other because we love Jesus more.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and guides us. The Holy Spirit helps us to fight for justice and work for a just world. The Holy Spirit also both helps us show God’s unconditional love to others. The Holy Spirit also helps us walk humbly before God, accepting His will as our own and accepting His guidance in life. We obey God’s commands because we love Him and trust Him to guide us through life.

As we see, God’s desires haven’t changed for His people. He expects obedience, but He gives far more blessings than we can imagine. If you’re a member of the family of God, rejoice in the blessings He graciously offers as reward for your humility and obedience. If you need to confess Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection, I encourage you to humble yourself, admit your need for His sacrifice, and receive His unconditional love in your life. You’ll never regret the joy God’s grace.