Micah of Moresheth: What does God require of His people?

For this post, I decided to unpack one small aspect of the concept of the law of love as demonstrated in the Old Testament. I've taken a particular interest in the book of Micah as of late, and thought it would be interesting to study some things he had to say on behalf of God.

Born in the lowlands of Judah during the time of the more well known prophet Isaiah, Micah delivered a powerful message to the people of Israel. The book of Micah is set up as a lawsuit of sorts against the Israelite people who had not held up their end of the covenant relationship with God.

In the Ancient Near East, agreements were made via entering into a covenant. YHWH used this method with the descendants of Abraham. Covenant blessings were awarded to the Israelite people when they fulfilled their end of the covenant, and on the other side of the coin they were punished with covenant curses for not following through. YHWH always proved to be faithful, and demonstrated great mercy to the Israelites even when they failed.

The main principals of the covenant is a well known list to those of us who live in Western Culture today. Christians in America have even risen up to fight for their right to display this list in public places. The Ten Commandments, of course, is the list I am referring to. These ten principals are the guiding force behind the covenant. Unfortunately, the Israelite people did what many within the new chosen people of God do today, either: (a) disregarded the principals altogether or, (b) put a higher priority on the principals than God ever intended (as demonstrated by the Pharisees of the New Testament and many Christians in the established Western church today).

The Israelite people became caught up with all of the concepts surrounding the law and forgot what the law was centered on. This is demonstrated in Micah chapter 6. I can just hear YHWH speaking through the prophet Micah in a sarcastic tone:

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
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?”
~Micah 6:6-7

All of these actions fit perfectly within the Old Covenant. The problem YHWH had with his covenant people is that they were trying to use these as a means to gain forgiveness from Him. This concept fleshes itself out in the idea: I can live however I want to, and do such and such to be in right standing with God. The Israelites, the Pharisees of Jesus' time, and Christians today all struggle with (or live out) this mentality. The problem is, when we live this way often we follow aspects of the law to the letter, but leave out the aspects that are inconvenient to us. In other words, we make the convenient rules our God.

Where do Christians do this today? I believe that this very passage if spoken to us from YHWH through a prophet today could very well read something like this:

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with daily quiet times
and weekly church attendance?
Will the Lord be pleased with a sacrifice
of every kind of secular arts?
Shall I live by a specific moral code to make up for my sins,
a list of dos and don'ts for the sin of my soul?”

Please understand: all of these practices can be used for good- just as the sacrifices mentioned in the actual passage of Scripture can be used for good. What God grew frustrated with is the way the Israelites made their faith about following the fine points of the law and negating the heart of the law. What is the heart of the law? Jesus answered this question with the idea that the most important matters of the law are: to love God, and to love Man. We often negate following these commandments by getting caught up in being sure we follow the rules we make for ourselves in order to fulfill the commandments.

For example: In order to love God, a Christian will read his Bible. Let's say he sets a goal for himself to read his Bible everyday. Before long, he misses a day of reading his Bible. He begins to think that he is distant from God because he has negated reading his Bible. Instead of focussing on fulfilling the actions required of him based on what he already knows about God from his personal study, he gets stuck on the idea that God will be displeased with him for not reading his Bible. The same can happen with tithing, attending church, and a plethora of other healthy practices.

Another way of missing the point of the law is when we make extra rules for ourselves in order to fulfill the law, and then think that we are more holy than those around us who have not set in place these extra rules. This generally happens when a believer chooses to abstain from certain practices, such as: alcohol, certain movies, music, or literature, dancing, cards, or any number of other practices not explicitly prohibited in Scripture. A believer who abstains from a practice misses the point of the law when he thinks of himself more holy than those who choose not to abstain. He also misses the point when he believes that his abstinence from a certain practice puts him in a special standing with God.

So, we come back to Micah. The sacrifices were not what God was looking for. What was he looking for? Verse 8 tells us:

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?

Whatever practices we adhere to in seeking to grow closer to God should propel us to Do Justice, to Love Kindness (Mercy), and to Walk Humbly with God. That is the end goal. Any other practices in the life of a believer are means to this end. Our ultimate goal should never be to have perfect church attendance, to never miss a quiet time, or to abstain from any particular practice. Our end goal should always be to love better with the love of Christ.

Love: The Higher Law

Theology no longer matters!?!?!

I have come to a point in my journey that I believe theology does not really matter in the grand scheme of things. Okay, that's not really true; theology does matter, just not in the way that most Christians in the American church seem to think. My greatest argument comes from how our Master interacted with others: Jesus' primary mission was not to change people's theology, it was to seek and to save the lost; however, along the way it became essential for Jesus to correct bad theology in order to fulfill his ultimate purpose, but it was never the end that he sought to reach. The end was to see transformation, and the means to that end was always love.

What does Jesus have to say?

The best way to understand this concept is to take a look at the life of Jesus. When did Jesus set out to actually try and "correct" theology? What constitutes as dangerous theology? And finally, when is it important in the life of a believer to confront other believers about theology that could be considered dangerous?

During the time Jesus walked the earth, there were few instances where anything other than kindness or tenderness was demonstrated. There were, however, a few examples of the righteous anger of Jesus. Matthew 23 records one such instance. This passage is often labeled "Seven woes to the Scribes and Pharisees." Matthew 23 begins with Jesus' acknowledgment of the authority of the Scribes and Pharisees. He tells the people to "practice and observe what they are told, but not to do what the Scribes and Pharisees do." The sins of the Pharisees that Jesus lists in the opening verses all deal with pride. Interestingly enough, the more conservative theological sect of the time of Jesus were the Pharisees, and they were also the biggest hypocrites. This should be a warning to any of us who believe we have a "proper" theology. Having a correct knowledge of God and his character does not always yield a life that best lives out the image of God. I believe this is the first point in understanding how theology relates to the law of love.

Jesus goes on to list seven woes against the Scribes and Pharisees. I believe these woes can clue us in to the heart of Jesus, and perhaps what theology he said could get in the way of adhering to the law of love.

1. Pushing people out of the Kingdom

The first "woe unto the Pharisees" came because the Pharisees did not have a proper understanding of the Kingdom of God. Jesus taught that anyone is accepted into the Kingdom of God, and the Pharisees could not accept that. A theology that should be debated is a theology of exclusion. Anyone is invited to come in, of course once a citizen of the kingdom, there are laws to abide by; but, it is never up to us to say whether or not someone is allowed in to the Kingdom of God and whether or not he can be thrown out. It is the King's job to say who is in the Kingdom and who is not. One who adheres to the dangerous theology of exclusion is taking God's job away and saying he can do it better.

2. Converts over Disciples

Because of the major push that takes place within evangelical circles to evangelize, this is a difficult woe to handle sensitively. Jesus said in verse 15:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Unfortunately, today this still goes on due to a second dangerous theology. Please know, I take the Great Commission very seriously. The trouble is, many of our "evangelism programs" do not. Many programs emphasize something called "confrontational evangelism." This does not seem to be the tactic that Jesus used when he worked to seek and to save the lost. Just as Jesus' primary goal was not to correct bad theology, our primary goal should never be evangelism. Our primary goal should always be to make disciples of Jesus. The Pharisees often made disciples of themselves, and many of our "evangelism programs" are set up to do very much the same.

It is important to note that I am talking about the majority of "evangelism programs," not all. Also, I believe that there are many devout disciples of Christ who use even the worst of these programs with the law of Love in mind and fulfill the Great Commission better than many who have a proper understanding of discipleship.

3. No moment by moment accountability to God

The third woe deals with a complex system of how to make a vow or oath that the Pharisees developed. The Pharisees would have to swear by something in order for their word to be taken seriously. Jesus told them that their yes should be yes, and their no should be no. The lifestyle that Jesus demonstrated was one of honesty, because he had a real accountability to his heavenly father. Someone whose theology allows them to not have any real constant accountability to God for his actions is in real danger. This can happen as a result of belief in hard determinism, extreme free-will, or even as a theologian climbs the rungs of understanding and enlightenment that come from great amounts of personal study. When we lose our accountability to God, we lose our integrity with people.

4. Overlook the weightier matters of the law

The fourth woe deals with "check-list style Christianity." It is easier to live in a ritualistic lifestyle than a relationship. Jesus criticized the way the Pharisees took care of the minute matters of the law and overlooked the "weightier matters: justice, and mercy and faithfulness." When theology lived out puts more emphasis on what others see than what we do in private, we live out a faith that is in great danger of being religiosity rather than true faithfulness. Legalism can make a follower look like a tree that bears great fruit, when inside he is truly rotting.

5. Seek external purity over internal purity

This woe is intricately connected to the last one. When a theology leads a follower to live in ritual, he is in danger of never experiencing true transformation. Jesus taught that heart transformation was of the greatest importance to God. Rituals were supposed to aide in bringing about true heart change, but the Pharisees made the rituals the end rather than the means. When our theology lived out is a set of rituals that make us look clean and no inner transformation takes place, we need to reevaluate what we believe.


6. Dead inside

Often in the American church today, there is an overwhelming sense of a need to "have it all together." This theology has lead to a lot of dishonesty about where individual believers are in their journey within the church. Likewise, the sixth woe unto the Pharisees dealt with the fact that they seemed to have it all together, but they were really dead inside. True theology should lead a believer into a community where he can be honest about what he is struggling with and going through. A pious theology can be dangerous, as it often leads to a life lived not in true, honest, open community, but one lived with a mask that covers the need for transformation.


7. Follow in the traditions of those who persecute the true prophets

The final woe pertains to how the Pharisees claimed that they would have lived differently from their forefathers. Sadly, in the tradition of all of those who martyred the prophets before them, Jesus was handed over and crucified by those very Pharisees. We must continue to reevaluate and not carry on those traditions of theology that oppress, but discover and live theology that transforms.

Conclusion

Part of not carrying on the traditions of our forefathers is learning not to argue about theology that doesn't matter. So many times we argue over how sovereign God is, how punishment will flesh out in the end, when Jesus will come back, how old the earth is, and how Satan operates.

These were not the kinds of things Jesus was concerned with. For a student of theology, they need to be studied. They DO NOT need to be relationship barriers to members of the Kingdom of God. We need to come to a place of realizing that the points we need to argue are the points where theology excludes, makes converts over disciples, gives no accountability to God, overlooks justice, mercy, and faithfulness, leads a believer to live in ritual over relationship, does not transform, covers up the struggles of the believer with a mask, and is carried out for the sake of tradition.

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:34-40

Our theology should lead us to live a life devoted to the "higher law of love." That means, when we disagree with one another on the finer points, we resolve to work together to bring God's Kingdom and rule to earth as it is in Heaven.

:: First Post ::

Who Am I?

Hello, and thanks for stopping by. For those of you who do not know me, my name is Scott Turbeville. I am a double major at the Baptist College of Florida in the areas of Biblical Studies and English.

Why Am I Blogging?

I had a wordpress blog last year that I kept up with on a pretty regular basis. Some things happened in my life, and I decided to take it down. Now, I am starting over from scratch. The last blog dealt with a lot of random things, and with this one I hope to keep a focused concentration: namely, I want this blog to be a forum for discussing subjects pertaining to Spirituality. In one way, this blog will still have a broad focus. Posts may deal with anything from current trends within Christian spirituality to how spirituality is portrayed in the arts.

Who Is This Blog For?

This blog is intended to be a conversation facilitator for theologians, ministers, laypeople, and anyone interested in spirituality. I want this blog to be a welcoming environment for anyone of any spiritual background to feel welcome in commenting. That being said, I ask that anyone who comments keep this maxim in mind: Free to Differ, Resolved to Love.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to update on a weekly basis. Feel free to comment to tell about yourself. Also, if you have any thoughts on topics under the broad umbrella of Christian Spirituality that you would like to see discussed, please let me know.

~s.t.