(video:  Dad Life)

Isn’t that great?  This morning we are talking about fathers and what it means to be a man of God.

(cartoon) “Yeah they’re cute when they’re little, but just wait ‘till they’re teens and they blow up your death star.”

(cartoon) “Get the change at the bottom son!”

What does God require of us if we’re to be Godly men and Godly fathers.  Would you turn with me to Micah 6.  There should be a Bible under a chair somewhere in front of you if you need one.  By the way those Bibles are free for the taking.  If you need one and want to take it with you feel free.

Micah 6 - starting at verse 6:  With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high?  Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?  Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I present my first born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Let’s pause there.

There are four questions here in verses 6 to 7.  A list of questions.  Each question has to do with our approach to God. 

First question - verse 6:  “With what shall I come to the Lord?”  Put another way, “How do I approach God?  How do I worship Him?”

Women always seem to know what’s appropriate to wear.  A guy has no clue.  Its uncomfortable being a guy.  Do I have to wear a tie or can I get by with a T shirt?

When I come to bow before God - to worship Him - how am I suppose to act?  What do I wear?  Do I have to sing?  What if I say the wrong thing?  What if can’t find stuff in the Bible?  Or I mispronounce some name?  Especially if we’re not used to this worship thing being here can be nerve wracking.  And this is God that we’re coming before.   

Just tell me what’s required.

Second question - verse 6:  Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?

In Leviticus God gives His people five offerings that they were suppose to make which were to be their way of approaching God.  Year old calves were regarded as the best choice for a sacrifices.

The question here is, “Is this enough?”  Put another way:  “If I’m giving the best of what I’ve got - time - talent - treasure.  If I come to church on Sundays and serve on a committee and pay my tithe and live a Christian life - is that enough?  Is there more that I need to sacrifice?” 

Just tell me what’s required.

Third question - verse 7:   Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil?

Thousands of rams is a whole lot of rams.  Yes?  The question deals with generosity.  I treat my employees fairly.  I give them bonuses at Christmas.  I give to charity.  I handing out money to people asking for it on the street.  I give a large donation every year to the church.   I buy my wife flowers.  Is God pleased with that?

Just tell me what’s…  required.

Fourth question:  Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

God’s people - that Micah is writing to - God’s people were surrounded by peoples who worshipped their own gods - Molech and Baal - worshipped them by offering human sacrifices.  In Judah - King Ahaz and King Manasseh actually sacrificed their own children as burnt offerings.

This is a real question for these people.  If doing all the ritual and Levitical law and going the extra mile in giving doesn’t work - how about some pagan sacrifice? 

The firstborn represents the ultimate - the most precious thing that someone could give to God.  Is there more that I need to add to what the Bible says?  Is grace enough?

Just tell me what’s…  required.

Let’s go on - Micah 6 - verse 8:  He 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?

Long long ago in a church really far away - I engaged in a dubious experiment with a shirt with a clergy collar.  At the time there were a number of events where I was in ministry side-by-side with priests and - at the time - it seemed like a good idea to wear clothing that identified me - like them - as a member of the clergy.

The other clergy seemed to think that if I wasn’t wearing the collar I really wasn’t on the same standing as they were.  People in the congregations didn’t know what to do with a pastor who wasn’t wearing a collar.  It seemed like a reasonable requirement for the office.  Wear this and your recognized as being one of them.

What I found out was that people treat you really different when you’re wearing a clerical collar.  And I didn’t like those differences.  Some day you should try this.  Get a clergy shirt and go walking around the Merced Mall and see how people treat you.

He’s got a collar.  He’s a priest.  Treat him like he’s holy.  The worst was when people would come up and try to kiss my ring.  That was really weird.

One really great thing about Creekside is that we’re not really hung up on appearance.  We don’t have stringent requirements about what people are suppose to wear.  Catherine’s been up here playing violin with bare feet.  People wear shorts.  Its okay to wear a shirt like this.

Requirements can be huge.  Yes?  In some congregations there’s requirements of what how people should dress and what kinds of things they should be involved with and what kind of people they’d like to see in their church.  Requirements that are written - mostly unwritten.  Often dangerous if you mess up on one of them.

Requirements that change from congregation to congregation - generation to generation - ethnicity to ethnicity.  Requirements that way too often are not Biblical - that have nothing to do with what God has laid down as a requirement.

Thinking about all the religions in this world one of the common threads that runs through each of them is “requirements.”  How do I fulfill the requirements of my god or my belief system?

What’s required of me?  Is it possible to know that I’ve done enough - to reach nirvana or heaven or Shakari or wherever I’m trying to get to?  Every person who believes in a god asks the same question.  “How do I approach Him?  What pleases my god?”

The uniqueness of our God - in how He deals with us - is that our God tells us what He requires of us.  God isn’t some impersonal deity that has a set of unwritten laws that if we unknowingly break one He’s going to send us off to hell.  God doesn’t just create us and then say, “Good luck.  Happy Karma.  Hope you figure it out.”

Micah lived in a town called Moresheth which was about 30 miles outside of Jerusalem.  Which is this place - hill country - very rural.  He’s a country preacher - an ordinary man with a message for ordinary people like us.  He lived in the mid 700’s to early 600’s B.C. at the same time the prophets Hosea and Isaiah were around.

When Micah lived there was corruption in the government.  The religious leadership for the most part was pagan.  The economy was at best uncertain.  There was a constant threat of coming war and invasion from the Assyrians - present day Iraq.  Sound familiar?  It was not a time when it was easy to be a Godly man - or a Godly anything. 

The Book of Micah in part is God laying out His requirements before His people and lovingly calling His people to live in this good and beneficial relationship with Him.  In times like these - in situations like yours - to do life - to be a man of God - this is what I require of you.

Verse 8 says that God has told us - announced to us - disclosed - declared what He requires.  God did that for His people in the Mosaic Law.  Reading through the Old Testament - all that detail that we get lost in is God being very clear on His requirements.

Verse 8 tells us that what God told us is good - its beneficial.  Literally “It’s the best.”  God’s requirements are the only worthwhile way to live life.

And what God has told us about what is the best way to live life is what God requires from us.  It’s the bottom line of God’s expectations - what God wants - what He seeks from us.  “This is what I demand from My people.”  Specifically God addresses men:  “O man.”   

Have you ever noticed that men are very linear in their thinking?  Point A to Point B.  Don’t bother me with all that multi-tasking stuff.  Just give me a list and I’ll do what’s on the list.

Verse 8 is the list - the summary - the bottom line of what God requires.  Just tell me what’s required.  Well, here it is in simplified Readers Digest - linear point A to point B - a man can follow this - brevity.

There are Three Requirements on the list.

First:  Do Justice.  Let’s repeat that together.  “Do Justice.”

A while back I parked next to a nice new white car.  When I opened my door the wind blew it open and it hit the nice new white car.  As I got out I looked - there was a little mark on the door - an insignificant very tiny black smudge - which I rationalized that I may or may not have caused - and since there was no dent or anything too horrible that I could see I started to walk away.

As I started walking the person in the car got out and said, “That was a pretty hard hit.”  So we came back and looked at his nice new white car and the little insignificant smudge on the door.  And I said, “Did I do that?”  Knowing full well that I must have.  Not one of my finer moments.  As he stood there irritated I bent over and using saliva rubbed and buffed and removed the little mark.

Is there justice today?  Years ago students cheated by passing notes on little pieces of paper.  Remember when they invented paper?  Then the idea was to pass answers around texting.  Now a days one wonders if there are right answers and if anyone really cares what they are.

Today - you can pay someone else to take your classes for you - write your term papers - take your tests.  It really doesn’t matter if I earn my degree so long as I get it and get the high paying job I think I deserve - brain surgeon for example.

Imagine having your brain worked on by someone who’s never been to school?  Someone ought to have their brain examined.

I can do whatever I want as long as I don’t get caught.  And, how I treat others is not important - unless of course it affects how they treat me.  The end justifies the means.  Right and wrong are relative.

The same was true in Micah’s day.  In Micah’s day people were doing whatever it took to fill their own pockets with money.  They didn’t care about what happened to anyone else.  Foreclosures - for example - they were foreclosing against widows and tossing them on the street.  The lenders didn’t care so long as they got their money.  Sound familiar?

Those in need were being abused and robbed.  Religion had become a profit making business.  The civic and religious leadership - everyone who was in a position to do so was taking bribes.  Justice was for sale to whoever could pay the lawyers or the court the most money. 

Those who know God know that there is a right and wrong - just read His Book.  He’s shown us - O men.  Those who know God know that there is a right and a wrong - and especially in our relationships with God and others.  If we love God we will act justly towards others.

Biblical justice defends the rights of those who are weaker and who have been wronged.  Biblical justice lives by God’s declarations of the worth and dignity of man.  Biblical justice is an expression of love which cares for the rights of others with the same intensity as we care for our own rights.  Biblical justice lives by His absolute truth.

Second requirement:  Love Kindness.  Let’s repeat that together.  “Love kindness.”

Yasher Ragimov is a Christian pastor in Azerbaijan.  As a believer in Jesus Christ, serving in a Muslim country, he’s been arrested and repeatedly beaten and tortured for his faith.

Once, Pastor Ragimov arrived in a small Azeri village just as a funeral for one of the village leaders was beginning.  He began to talk with the Muslim leaders - two of the Mullahs that were there - asking them questions about spiritual things and what had become of the deceased.  The mullahs had no definite answers.

Ragimov asked, “Why are you here if you don’t know these answers?”

One of the mullahs answered, “If you’re so clever why don’t you speak at the funeral.” 

So Pastor Ragimov - standing next to the body of a dead Muslim - in front of 150 Azeris - many of whom would approve of his torture - Pastor Ragimov spoke for two hours about the hope of eternity through Jesus Christ.  Talk about a God moment.

Speaking of his persecutors Pastor Ragimov says, “I can’t do anything about them.  I just pray.” (1)

By any worldly standard this man should hate the people he loves and is devoted to sharing Jesus with.  That devotion is “loving kindness” in action.

“Kindness” is the Hebrew word “khesed.”  Some Bible translations translate the word as “mercy” - “to love mercy.”  Its one of the most important words in the Old Testament.

Khesed describes God choosing Israel to love - not because they deserved His love - but because God choose to lavish His love on them.  God lovingly choosing to enter into His covenant relationship with Israel - and God hanging in there faithfully loving His people even when they brutally turn against Him.

God’s undeserved graciousness - undeserved favor - His mercy - His loyal love to His people.

Each of us lives in sin.  We can’t help it.  We’re born in sin.  We continually choose to sin.  Our sin separates us from God now and forever.  We’re helpless.  Worthy of God’s judgment and condemnation - His wrath.  “The wages of sin - what sin requires - is death.”  (Romans 6:23a)

But, God is lovingly kind - merciful - “khesed” to us.  “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b)

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:4,5, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”  God mercifully withholds His punishment so that by His grace He gives us salvation.  By what wild stretch of the imagination would God ever condescend to something so outrageous for us?  For me?  For you?

Those who understand God’s mercy towards them love to be merciful towards others - co-workers - spouses.  To love mercy is to be concerned with the needs of the those whom we would naturally reject - those who hurt us deeply - who continually require the utmost in patience and commitment.  To love mercy is to demonstrate God’s love and to share the Gospel - even with those who have wronged us.

Third requirement:  Walk Humbly.  Let’s repeat that together.  “Walk humbly.”  “To walk humbly with your God.”

When Paul and Silas were in Philippi they were stripped - beaten - placed in the most secure part of the prison - their feet placed in stocks.  About midnight Paul and Silas were doing what? - singing and praising God.  Testifying of Jesus - their faith in Him - their lives are in Jesus’ hands.

And what happened?  There was an earthquake.  The doors of the jail sprang open and the chains are unfastened.  The prisoners have a “Get Out of Jail Free Card.”

Do you remember the reaction of the jailer?  If one prisoner escapes he’s responsible.  He’s toast - put to death - probably with torture.  The doors are open.  The prisoners are loose.  He’s a dead man.  The jailer takes out his sword and is about to kill himself.  Paul yells at him, “Don’t do it.  We’re all here.”

The jailer runs in to where Paul and Silas are and falls prostrate on the ground in front of them.  Imagine, the jailer throwing himself on the mercy of his prisoners.  This is a man who’s realized his situation - the precariousness of his life - now held in the hands of Paul and Silas.

Grab that:  His carefully constructed life - like the jail - its in ruins.  His intellect - his ability - his position - all that has failed him.  He’s got no where to go.  No one to turn to.  In desperation he cries out to Paul and Silas, “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:22-40)

Talk about a God moment. 

It has been said, “They that know God will be humble, and they that know themselves cannot be proud.” (2)

To walk humbly with our God begins with accepting who we are before Him.  That’s hard for us.  Especially as men.  Our self respect is tied to our ability - our self-sufficiency - what we do.

We have to be honest about who we are.  There’s no room for pride and ego.  To walk humbly with God means we agree with God as to our sinfulness - our desperate need for Jesus as our Savior.  Our desperate need for His khesed.  We receive what He’s done for us - what we could never do for ourselves - our salvation through God’s mercy and grace in Jesus.

To walk humbly with our God means daily surrendering our lives to God - seeking to live in obedience and complete devotion to Him alone.

Shifting gears a bit.  The people that study these things - the statistic keepers - tell us that since 1963:

- Violent crime has increased over 500%
- Illegitimate births have increased 400%
- Divorces have increased 400% - doesn’t matter if you’re church or unchurched.
- Children living in single-parent homes have increased 300%
- Teenage suicide has increased 200% - suicide is the #3 cause of death for teenagers.
- Crime among the very young - 7-12 year olds - has increased 60% in the last few years.

We could go on quoting dismal stats like these but you all get the picture.

A person can debate percentage points.  But, there’s a significant question here.  Right?  Why has this happened?  There are a lot of reasons.  But whenever we hear statistics like this - one of the major causes which is pointed out is the breakdown in the home.

Scripture and history show us that as goes the home, so goes society.  The moral and spiritual condition of the society is always the offspring of the family.  And generally speaking - as go the fathers, so goes the home. 

The man of God is called to a crucial role in our homes, community, and church.  In times like these - as in Micah’s day - there is a desperate need for Godly men who will live as examples to our youth - and society - our families - the church - who will stand up and live what it means to be Godly.

In thinking all that through for us today - it’s important that we don’t fall into the trap of looking at these three requirements as a “to do” list.  Just doing the list and checking items off as we go by.  Trying to somehow accomplish these on our own in some kind of super spiritual effort to meet God’s expectations - to be the Godly man

Do you remember these words of Jesus - the two greatest commandments?  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your - what? heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.... - and what?  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matthew 22:37,39)

That really is the bottom line expectation - the bottom line requirement of what God is saying to His people. 

So many people have that order backwards.  The people in Micah’s day - and people of all times - have always asked, “How do I approach God?  What are His requirements of me?  If I can just do this or that then God will be pleased.”  Trying to meet the religious requirements of others or the arbitrary standards of some deity.  That’s hopeless.  It’s a list with impossible requirements.

The bottom line isn’t about what we do for God.  The bottom line is about what God has done to establish a relationship with us - what He’s done on the cross through Jesus Christ.  Our meeting the requirements of God is found in Jesus Christ - trusting Him to do what we could never do for ourselves.

First - love God with all that you are.  Humble devotion to God with all that we are.  God dealing first with our hearts - the source of our actions towards Him and others.  Then God will use us to be men of justice and lovers of kindness towards others.

Bottom line:  If we’re willing to surrender our lives to God He puts everything else into place.  What God requires... is you.

_________________________
1. The Voice of the Martyrs, October 2002
2. John Flavel - quoted MBI’s Today In The Word, November, 1989

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.