So What?

  January 12, 2014

Text: Micah 6:8

Focus: Christian Living

Function: To help Agape COB understand my passion for ministry.

Form: Storytelling/exposition

Intro:

Micah 6:8

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

I want to thank you, and God for this chance to serve you here at Agape Church.

When I think that I get to pastor a Church that is so passionate about what it means to be a Christian that they decided to name themselves “Agape,” “Love,” I am overwhelmed. I am.

Love... God's Love... Unconditional love... Love given in spite of who we are... What an ethos! What a great commitment! Jesus said: “You will know who truly is my disciple by the love they have for each other.” (John 13:35)

How Cool is that?

And here I am!

(look up) Thank you, Jesus!

Praise God. Thank you.

So thanks again for inviting me to share this journey with you.

Now, to date myself a little.

How many remember Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie?

There is a line in there where he says: “And they all moved away from me on the bench there...”

It was a reference to his being convicted for a petty crime when he was trying to establish credibility with a bunch of ex-felons.

I always thought it to be a funny line, “they allll moved away from me there...”

I have a few moments that I am sort of reluctant to share because “you all might move away from me on the bench...” and wonder about my credibility.

It has to do with a few times when I believe I experienced a very direct and personal moving by the Holy Spirit.

Some people find that hard to understand because it isn't in their experience, or they have experienced religious abuse by someone claiming to be moved by the Spirit of God.

But it has to do with the two foundational scriptures that form my life: Luke 4:18, 19 and Micah 6:8.

In 1979, I was called by God to help a brother plant a Church in Atlantic City, NJ.

A few weeks before we left Fort Wayne for the East Coast, I was in prayer and I believe that I heard in my head, very clearly, “Luke 4:18.”

It was the day that God confirmed my call into ministry. It informed the passion and direction that I believe that God calls the Church to.

After 3 years of assisting another man, and learning quite a bit, I began formal education right here in Fort Wayne at Fort Wayne Bible College.

As I was studying for ministry and learning the finer points of my theology we discussed which translation was the best, whether or not we had eternal security, when the rapture would occur and how to share the faith both in the context of the city we live in, in the suburbs and to the world as an whole.

Now the college had its roots in Mennonite Theology but its peace and justice position had sort of gone by the wayside after WWII.

Without being raised Brethren, I came to the college believing in the doctrines of non-resistance, turning the other cheek and foot-washing in the communion service.

However, there were elements that were trying to get back that peace and justice witness.

The Sociology and History teacher had a big impact on me. The first time I talked with him, he told me how important his Brethren Church back home was because he felt like they were an authentic Christian community.

I wondered what that meant and he explained it by saying that they were a New Testament Church.

Well, I thought “Aren't all churches New Testament?”

Then he got a little bit political. Just a little. He never attacked anyone. But, he would contrast what I call “Civic Religion” and “New Testament Christianity.”

And sometimes he would say things that were pretty controversial.

For example. One day he said that we didn't have the right to oppose abortion until women who were in a difficult pregnancy were welcome without judgment and the Church and society were prepared to care for the child.

And then he would duck behind the lectern, in jest, as if people were going to throw stones at him.

He ducked a lot, in jest.

He wasn't like TV political pundits on TV that exaggerate the perceived inconsistencies of the opposition. In a loving way, he made me think.

And my third year, they chose this verse Micah 6:8 as the “year verse.”

Do justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly. This is what God wants from us.

And it came at an opportune time in my life. Because at that time, as I was preparing to lead churches in Pastoral Ministry, I was faced with the big question: So What?

So What does God want from me?

So What does God want from us?

So What does God expect from the Church?

There is a worldwide divide in theology around the teaching of Jesus and what is important.

I call it the difference between the three days and the three years.

From Good Friday to Easter Sunday, for those three days, Jesus was providing salvation for us by His Suffering, death and resurrection.

The three years before the three days of Jesus' sacrifice, Jesus taught us how to live by the new commandment, the one that both He and Paul said would sum up the entire Old Testament. You know that new commandment, Love One Another.

Jesus spent three days saving us and He spent three years teaching us how to live, or how to love, whichever way you put it.

Around that time, in one of my classes, I heard a student say: “What good is it to feed a person who is starving, or to heal someone who is sick of all we do is prolong their life on earth before they die in hell. Missions should be about saving souls.”

And I said “Amen.” God forgive me.

Quickly, the professor reminded us of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25 “welcome to the kingdom of God because when you fed an hungry person, you fed me...” and “depart from me because you saw a hungry person and refused to feed them. In so doing, you refused me.” The professor was quick to remind us that we do it because Jesus commanded it.

Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

I was in the midst of a sort of crisis of understanding and one day I was praying hard about it because I wanted to know that it was alright to focus on the entire Gospel, the three days of salvation, and the three years of living to glorify God by loving others.

The scripture is: What does God expect? What does God require? What should a bible/theology teacher/preacher focus on?

I was in a sort of angst.

And here is the second moment where you might move away from me on the bench.

Now, I have preached Micah 6:8 a few other times in my years, generally when I was candidating at a Church because it defines my passion.

But this will be special for you because only you can understand the next part.

One day I was driving East on Jefferson Street downtown Fort Wayne and I have to confess I wasn't paying as much attention to my driving as I was to my prayers.

I was crying out to God about this question and about what was important to Him and what He wanted me to do with my life.

I was wrapped up in prayer. I had my head down and was only watching the brake lights on the car ahead of me as I was calling out to God about what all this meant. I was contemplating that scripture: Micah 6:8 and asking God: “So What?”

I again heard a voice speak to me.

The voice said: “look up.”

I was just crossing Calhoun street, Clinton St was the next light and Lafayette St was a block and a half away.

When I looked up I saw the sign for the Matthew 25 Clinic. It is a ministry ran by St Mary's Roman Catholic Church.

Remember my Brethren Sociology professor?

He had a representative from the organization speak to our Chapel service at Bible College about their ministry.

They are still doing it. They see on average 115 people a day to provide nearly free dental, medical and vision care. It is all run as an outreach of that Church.

I'll never forget this moment.

Now, I love what they are doing and I am very ecumenical in my Christian faith. But I wasn't always.

I understood salvation and how to be saved pretty well. And for the most part, that understanding, at that time, did not include Roman Catholics.

I wish I could tell you that I had this great epiphany, maybe like Moses at the burning bush, but all I remember is that in my prayer I said to God: “That can't be, they Catholics.”

Folks, pray often. And when you do, don't argue with God.

God reminded me of Jesus' teaching, “I have other sheep who are not of this fold...”

I was blown away with a profound new understanding of the bigness and greatness of God.

His passion is saving, healing and redeeming humanity. And He loves us. And God is full of mercy. He is full of justice. And next to Him, we need to be humble.

Do Justice.

You know the phrase by Edmund Burke: All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.

Don't “not do anything.” Do justice.

This is an active command. Like Jesus with the woman caught in adultery. He did justice and spoke up for her.

It is our responsibility.

There is an anonymous quote that drives the passion of Richard Stern, the President of World Vision:

“Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, suffering, and injustice when He could do something about it.”

“Well, why don’t you ask Him?”

“Because I’m afraid He would ask me the same question.”

Doing Justice is an active command.

Do this: Justice.

Then have a corresponding passion: Love Mercy.

Love Mercy. This is my favorite of the three.

Rejoice in mercy. When someone, even your enemy succeeds, be happy for them.

Love mercy.

You know the story of the prodigal son.

I love it because it tells the story of how the Father ran to meet the son who did not deserve mercy.

But the story is told by Jesus in response to the Pharisees who were upset at Jesus giving mercy to people who they didn't think deserved it.

The story is really about the elder brother who is bitter about God's forgiveness.

And Jesus tells the story to expose the religious leaders resentment toward grace.

Don't resent mercy.

My son Philip and I work with a prison ministry called Kairos. It has a foundational principle, “Listen, Listen, Love, Love.”

Some of the guards are happy about our work. Some of them are resentful and others are hopeful.

But we have big, huge, tough and scary looking men stand and weep before their inmates when they realize just how much God loves them.

So the action is “doing justice,” the passion is “loving mercy,” and the attitude is “walking in humility before God.”

We have a great big danger of being to proud of our faith.

Remember my argument with God: “But they are Catholics?”

God is in the business of saving, healing, restoring both people to Him and people to each other.

What arrogance for me to think that I have the corner on truth.

God saved us because of His mercy, not because of our wonderful ability to believe.

The Pharisee and the sinner were in the temple praying. The Pharisee was saying to God, “at least I am not like this guy...” And the sinner was saying “God be merciful to me...”

I have to confess, I am still working on this. It is simple when I remember that God is God of the poor and the rich. God is the God of those on right and on the left. God is the God of the liberal and the conservative.

Sin bugs me. It is an offense to the cross of Christ.

But it is my own sin that bothers me the most. So, instead of saying: “love the sinner, hate the sin,” I say, “love the sinner, hate my own sin.”

If we succeeded in living a Christian life, it is by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.