Who is Like God? – Part 8 – Story Matters – Micah 6:9-16
August 27, 2017Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
I recently read about a college student who, having been raised on the edge of poverty, was the first person in his family to ever go to college. Someone there offered him some dope which he turned down. “Go ahead, try it, It’ll make you feel good.” But this student again refused. “No one is going to know; what are you scared of?” To which the student replied, “My mother cleaned houses and washed floors to send me to this college. I am here because of her. I am here for her. I wouldn’t do anything that might demean her sacrifice for me.” That story mattered. His decision wasn’t rooted in an ethical awareness that doing dope is wrong; it was rooted in what had been done for him.
God’s commands are never detached moral principles. God always calls us to live in light of what He has done for us. When Moses met the Lord at the burning bush, the Lord didn’t give him the Ten Commandments and tell him to go back to Egypt, instruct the Israelites to keep these commandments, and that as soon as they do He will deliver them from slavery. Rather He delivers His people from Egypt by the pure grace and brings them to Himself at Sinai, and then gives them His law.
Last week in Micah 6, we saw that because the people of God failed to remember the story of what God did for them, that story was not informing how they lived. This week we discover in the second half of Micah 6 that the lives of God’s people tell a story also. God will not forget that story. In fact, in Micah 6, their houses tell a story, and that story informs God’s judgment. Story matters!
Join us as we explore Micah 6:9-16.