"He hath shown thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God," or, as we have it in the CV, "He has told you, O humanity, what is good, and what is Yahweh requiring from you save to do judgment and love kindness, and to walk meekly with Yahweh your Elohim?" (Micah 6:8).
Israel's covenant with Yahweh had, as part of its basis, the commandments written on the tablets of stone. These commandments were written on two tables. Even today those commandments are spoken of as the two tables of the law, and they readily divide themselves into 2 parts. The 1st 4 commandments speak of a relationship to God: 1. No other gods before me; 2. No graven images; 3. Not take up the name of God for futility; 4. Remember the Sabbath. The remaining commandments make up the second table, which speaks of man's relationship to man: 5. Honor father and mother; 6. Not kill; 7. No adultery; 8. Not steal; 9. No false witness; 10. Not covet.
We take a cue from Christ that this is indeed a good divisional summary of the commandments. When asked what was the greatest commandment He said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. Then He said that the second was similar to it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Micah addressed a chosen people, asking them if there was truly anything extraordinary that God had required of them. They were to be a special people of all the nations of the world, and they were to be a channel of blessings to all people. Was it such an unreasonable requirement for God to expect His people to live in a godly manner?
Micah's comment was much like that given by Christ concerning the law, only he started with the second table of the law instead of the first. He said: 1. Do justly, or do judgment: that is, do what is right or righteous. Correct the wrongs in your life. Do you know what is right and wrong? Do you care what is right and wrong? Do you have that standard within you? Do you care enough to act accordingly? Then he took it a step further--love mercy or kindness. Do you go beyond the legal requirement in your dealings with others? Do you go so far as to love and help where you are needed--Do you love your neighbor as you love yourself?
Then Micah gave us a simple version of the first table of the law. Do we walk humbly with God? Are we honoring Him in the way we live?
All these things are well and good for Micah and the Israelites under the covenant of law, but we are under the evangel of grace, what have they to do with us? These 3 traits were evidence of God's covenant relationship to Israel--they were to be identifying characteristics of His people. God did not refer to the words on the tables of stone as commandments, rather He called them the testimony. And when the tables were placed in the ark, it became the ark of the testimony. And when the ark of testimony was placed in the tabernacle, it became the tabernacle of the testimony. The character described on these tables was intended to be an identifying testimony, from the inside out to identify God's people.
There was also another emblem that was a mark of the covenant with God that Israel enjoyed. That was circumcision. It is most interesting that the apostle Paul took the liberty to refer to believers of the evangel as the circumcision, and those Jews who adamantly required outward signs and observances in the flesh he labeled "maimcision." We would like to look at this particular passage of scripture, because it has a remarkable resemblance to the passage in Micah, but we will see also that it far transcends the words of Micah and the requirements of a covenant of law.
In Philippians 3:3 Paul gives a threefold definition of those he terms the circumcision. These are all terms of grace which define a total dependence on Christ and a service to God that truly comes from the heart.
(v.3) We are the circumcision who:
Are offering divine service in the Spirit of God
Are glorying in Christ Jesus
Have no confidence In the fleshPaul's confidence in Flesh (vv. 4-7)
Paul's glorying in Christ (vv. 8-10)
Paul's divine service in spirit (vv. 11-14)
When Paul speaks of the confidence he once had in flesh, he is speaking of a confidence he has abandoned. He wants no part of anything that is based on who he is in the flesh or anything he had done or accomplished.
As Paul gives us this example from his own life, he is showing us how he is imitating the disposition of Christ. Christ was equal with God in form, but emptied Himself of that. Paul says that whatever was a plus for him by human standards, he counted as a minus, that he might have the true pluses of God's standards--God's righteousness in Christ. This is the same thing he wrote in 2 Corinthians: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, being rich, because of you He became poor, that you, by His poverty, should be rich" (8:9).
To know Him! Who is Christ to you? Son of God?, Saviour?, Coming King? Would you dare call Him your closest Friend? Do you know Him well enough that you actually think of Him as a Friend with Whom you share all your daily experiences. Do you know Him that well? To know Him, and the power of His resurrection! When Paul speaks of the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings and being made conformable to His death, he is speaking of the way you live. And as he talks about the way we live, he is speaking of nearly the same things Micah said.
Micah spoke of doing justly or righteously--living in the way that is right. Paul uses 3 words which all tie together to speak of the right or righteous living of the believer. These words are "faith" (and he specifies the "faith of Christ"); the second word is "righteousness,", (and this is not Paul's righteousness, but God's); and the third word is "resurrection." These 3 words sum up for us the evangel in the first 6 chapters of Romans. They leave out the sin, offense, and condemnation that are also spoken of there, but they do provide a brief summary of the evangel.
If you are a believer, you have faith. But the faith that saves you did not originate in you. The faith on which salvation is based is Jesus Christ's faith. By means of the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God comes to believing sinners. In Christ's resurrection we are justified and declared righteousness: "Jesus Christ was given up for our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying" (Rom. 4:25). And being crucified with Christ, and buried with Him and raised with Him, we walk in newness of life. No longer do we yield ourselves to sin and our members as implements of unrighteousness, but we yield ourselves unto God and our members as implements of righteousness to Him. We are living by a greater standard of righteousness than flesh can ever attain to through obedience.
So do you want to begin experiencing the power of that resurrection now? (Rom. 6:8-14) Take the steps of faith Live with your members as implements of righteousness. This is different from Micah's words--this is life on a whole different level. This is being justified with God, believing it and living like it--that is living on the basis of the faith of Christ. It is living in the power of His resurrection.
Our second thought in Philippians 3 is knowing the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. How does this relate to Micah's second thought, "to love mercy?" Mercy is a pain magnet. Mercy looks around with compassion on the needs of others and moves in close to bear their burdens with them. When mercy sees suffering it says, "I can help and make that better." "Let me ease your pain!" All of Christ's sufferings were for someone else. He was the sinless Son of God. He was above sickness and pain and shame. But He saw and knew His Father's love. And like His Father, He loved mercy, and so He came and suffered for us.
What is Paul referring to when he speaks of the sufferings of Christ? Are these sufferings the pain Christ endured on the cross, or something else? The phrase "the sufferings of Christ" occurs a number of times in the New Testament, and, surprisingly enough, most often it does not refer directly to the cross.
We would like to begin considering this phrase in Acts 9:3-5; "Now in his going he came to be nearing Damascus. Suddenly a light out of heaven flashes about him. And, falling on the earth, he hears a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'" Was Saul persecuting Christ, or was he persecuting believers in Christ? Christ is alive, and when His followers are persecuted, He is being persecuted as well. Notice, following this statement, what is said about suffering. The Lord instructed Ananias, "…he is a choice instrument of Mine, to bear My name before both the nations and kings, besides the sons of Israel, for I shall be intimating to him how much he must be suffering for My name's sake" (9:15, 16). Paul was going to suffer for the sake of Christ. And not only Paul, but others as well. Paul wrote to the Philippians: "…to you it is graciously granted, for Christ's sake, not only to be believing on Him, but to be suffering for His sake also" (1:29).
Paul wrote to Timothy, "…suffer evil with the evangel in accord with the power of God, Who saves us and calls us with a holy calling," and again, "suffer evil with me, as an ideal soldier of Christ Jesus" (2 Tim. 1:8; 2:3). To the Corinthians Paul wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of pities and God of all consolation, Who is consoling us in our every affliction to enable us to be consoling those in every affliction, through the consolation with which we ourselves are being consoled by God, seeing that, according as the sufferings of Christ are superabounding in us, thus, through Christ, our consolation also is superabounding" (2 Cor. 1:3-5).
Paul speaks of the sufferings he endured on his missionary journeys. And he calls the afflictions that came to them as they carried the evangel the sufferings of Christ. Notice the same thing in the letter to the Colossians, "I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and am filling up in my flesh, in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the ecclesia of which I became a dispenser, in accord with the administration of God, which is granted to me for you" (Col. 1:24, 25). Sufferings for the sake of Christ, and sufferings in His service are "His sufferings."
So how do you feel about being called to suffer? It is interesting that as Paul speaks of suffering for the sake of Christ, he speaks of suffering according to our calling. The sufferings of Christ are something we participate in--and Paul said it was graciously granted to us to suffer. But participating in the sufferings is just a small part of a bigger picture. Notice what Paul said to the Romans: "The spirit itself is testifying together with our spirit that we are children of God. Yet if children, enjoyers also of an allotment, enjoyers, indeed of an allotment from God, yet joint enjoyers of Christ's allotment, if so be that we are suffering together, that we should be glorified together also.
"For I am reckoning that the sufferings of the current era do not deserve the glory about to be revealed for us" (Rom. 8:17, 18).
To the Corinthians Paul said, "For the momentary lightness of our affliction is producing for us a transcendently transcendent eonian burden of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).
Do you suffer for believing in Christ? Are you persecuted or do people think ill of you for believing in the reconciliation of all? That is alright. We are not living according to the current era. We are reclaiming it for Christ. We are living according to the future era of glory! We are in the midst of a system where God is not glorified, but everything we do is for the glory of God.
There is a common experience among parents of little girls, and that is learning to braid pigtails. It's not too hard really. Even I learned how, and my daughter still has hair. You brush the hair so that each side of the head has half the hair. Then you divide the hair on a side into three parts. Then as you hold those three parts, you lay the left part over the center, then the right part over the center, then the left part over the center, then the right part over the center, and so on. When you get to the end you bind it with a ribbon or rubber band or a ponytail bunjy.
The believer's life is a lot like that braided pigtail. There is a part of shame, and it is braided together with a part of glory. There is a part of suffering, and it is braided together with a part of joy. And all these opposite things are inseparably bound together. Strands of sorrow and persecution and pain are bound up with strands of joy and rejoicing and victory. But the end result is all joy and glory and happiness.
The fellowship of His sufferings--how will you handle participation in the sufferings of Christ? Will you do it like Christ did? "For the joy lying before Him, [He] endures a cross, despising the shame, besides is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" (Heb. 12:2). The joy lying before Christ was not the obtaining of the position at the Father's right hand, rather it was the doing of the Father's will. By prophetic spirit He said, "I delight to do Thy will, oh My God!" And when the shameful death of the cross loomed up before Him He scorned it. He despised anything that would deter Him from His course of obedience to the Father. Remember His words when Peter would have kept Him from the cross, "Get behind Me Satan!"
True Christianity is a radical counter culture to the norms and mores of the age in which we live. Look around and you will see that the primary goals are to better self, and do this by the accumulation of those things that please self. But Paul has said that he trashed his entire system of self-justification and the expected and accepted moral standards of his community. And then he went further to actually glory in the thought of sharing in the sufferings that inherently fall upon those who strive to further the work of Christ. And now he tops that thought off with the phrase "conforming to His death." What in the world is he talking about?
How is it that we conform to the death of Christ? How was it that Christ approached His death and prepared Himself for it? What was it that characterized the life of Christ, and fitted Him to follow the path He took and to ultimately die the way He did? Paul does not speak of any death, he only speaks of one death here: "conforming to His death." Paul gave us the answer to this question in the previous chapter.
"For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also, Who, being inherently in the form of God, deems it not pillaging to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8).
Christ was obedient, and His obedience knew no limit. He was obedient, not just to the point of death, but He was obedient even unto the most shameful and agonizing death, the death of the cross.
What is it that empowers this kind of obedience? Obedience is easy when little is required and rewards are great. But at the cost of life, obedience becomes an undesirable option. Obedience like Christ's is dependent on humility. Notice that it says that Christ humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death.
Humility is the backbone of obedience. Obedience can't do an honest day's work without humility. Without humility, obedience is too smart for some jobs, and too important for other jobs, and too proud for still others. Humility doesn't have much, but it does have this one thing: Humility knows the truth about who it is and where it belongs. Humility has no union card. Humility never says, "That is someone else's job--that is not my area of responsibility." Humility never says, "Well, I will do this if you say I have to, but I'm going to file a grievance and get extra pay for it." Humility puts its arm around obedience and says, "Okay, this is how it works. We are the apprentices, not journeymen! We do all the jobs that are too dirty and smelly and shameful and annoying and hard for anyone else. We are just below the bottom rung on the seniority ladder--we have to do it all. The buck stops here--we have no right to defer to someone else. We have no rights, and we don't even think about having rights, because that just wastes time."
Have you ever considered the humility of Christ?
It would have been so easy for Christ to grow up with a chip on His shoulder. He was born in a barn, because there was no room for them in the inn, and his father could not afford to buy someone else's room so his wife could at least have a decent place to give birth to her first child. And what did the neighbors, the ones who never forget anything scandalous, have to say about this boy whose mother was pregnant out of wedlock? How long did that stigma follow them around?
At 30 years of age Christ began His ministry as the last Adam, the second Man, Who is the head of the new humanity. But notice how he begins. He goes to His cousin, John the Baptist, and says, "Baptize Me also." And John says, "Lord, baptism is for sinners, I need to be baptized by You! I'm not worthy to lace your sandal! How can I baptize You? You're the Lamb of God!" And Christ said, "treat Me as a sinner, we must do it this way to fulfill all righteousness."
As soon as He was baptized, and God had verified Who He was, He was immediately driven into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days. And at the end of those 40 days, when His health was threatened with starvation, and He was being overwhelmed with hunger, then the Adversary came to tempt Him. Notice how dissimilar this is from the temptation of the first Adam. Instead of being in a wilderness, surrounded by wild beasts, Adam was at ease, in a garden, and satisfied, and had just been blessed with the joy of receiving a perfect mate and friend from God's hand. He was king of the creation and the animals were under his domination. He was told to freely eat of every tree but one--hunger was no issue.
But even though Adam had it made in Eden, and even though God had supplied him with every good thing, he doubted God, and he was disobedient to God. But Christ was on the threshold of death! And still He refused to do or say anything that did not honor God. To Christ it did not matter what happened to Him, as long as He did not dishonor God. It really wasn't fair, was it?
One time when the Lord was casting out demons, the demons identified Him as the holy Son of God. Christ quickly rebuked them and made them hold their peace--why? Because Christ believed that the message was more important than the messenger. The healings and miracles were all for the purpose of verifying the truth of the message. And He would not allow the messenger to receive more attention than the message. That's why he told the disciples many times not to tell what they had seen. He raised a little girl from death, saying only that she was sleeping, and stood there quietly absorbing the scorn and ridicule of the mourners. After the crowd was put outside the little girl was returned to life and to her family, and He told them to tell no one. Why didn't He silence the insolent crowds? Why didn't He justify Himself to those who claimed He cast out demons by the prince of demons, instead of explaining to them how ridiculous their arguments were? Why was He so patient with those who were so openly hostile to Him? Why did He hide from the multitude that wanted to take Him by force and make Him king? Was He not their King?
Because He was humble. Because He would not take His own personal feelings into account. He focus was: "I'm just going to do what My Father wants Me to do. The rest isn't important. The rest is just a distraction."
How did this Teacher and Healer of the multitudes cover His operating expenses? Donna and I have chuckled, thinking back to the days when we were first married, and the budget we had for ourselves. But our hardships were nothing compared to those of Christ. Should the Healer of hundreds and thousands go unpaid? Should the Teacher of 10.000's who heard Him gladly go unpaid? Luke tells us that Mary Magdalene and Joanna, women whom He had healed of evil spirits, gave money to support Christ. But the expenses of a dozen preachers traveling from city to city, month after month had to be considerable. He had no tape ministry no videos, no merchandise.
The Lord was inundated with the shallowness of inconsiderate people day in and day out as He ministered to the needy. But one of the bright spots in His life was a tremendous friendship that He had with a family in Bethany--Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. Here was one family that loved Him for what He was. Here was a home whose door was always open to Him. Here was a place where He was accepted and respected. And here was a place where Christ had to stand by and watch the hearts of His dearest friends be broken, that their faith might be rewarded and increased. Christ wept at the tomb of Lazarus. Everyone was saying, "if only you had come when we called, Lazarus wouldn't have died!" We know how it hurts when those we love are pained. We know how we would prefer that we bear the pain ourselves for them. We know that this is the way Jesus felt about his friends in Bethany. Why did He allow them to go through these things? Why did He not say, "Father, can't someone else die and be raised? Can't I spare even My best friends the pain and sorrow of this experience?" The Father's will came before everything in Christ's life.
On the night of the last supper some of Christ's disciples were arguing among themselves about who should be the greatest among them (Lk. 22:24). I wonder how that made Christ feel. I wonder how it was that He never blew His cork with them. Why didn't He say, "Stop your stupid arguing and give Me 5 minutes of peace! I've been telling you for weeks that I'm going to die and tonight is the night they take Me! Forget your petty concerns for a few minutes and think about Me!"
Do you remember what He did? He didn't lose His temper. He didn't yell at His foolish disciples, even though He knew that within hours they would all turn their backs on Him and run. Instead of being angry with them, He took off His robe, and wrapped a towel around His waist, and began going from one to the next, washing their feet as if He, their Master, was their servant. True humility is an antidote for anger, and it controls our actions and attitude with an iron hand. Do you see what a powerful thing humility is?
On that last night Judas, His betrayer, sold Christ for the price of a slave. He brought the temple guard to Gethsemane where he found Christ, and when Christ spoke to him He said, "Friend, why have you come?" Judas was betraying Him to death under the guise of friendship, and Christ knew it, and He still called him "Friend". He maintained control of His temper.
Christ was taken before the Sanhedrin for a mockery of a trial--He was tried at night--that was a violation of Jewish law. There were not two of many false witnesses that could get their stories straight between themselves to accuse Him, and the Jewish Law requires that there be at least 2 confirming witnesses to convict for the death penalty. The Jews had to break their own laws to convict Him, and they were doing such a poor job of it that Christ finally had to answer the chief priest Himself and tell him that he was the Son of God. He even stooped to give them something they could use to make a false conviction of blasphemy against Him. And even at that He told the truth and let them falsify it.
Then they beat Him and abused Him and shamed Him and asked for a murderer to be turned loose in their city rather than to have the One that healed their sick and told them the truth released to them. He offered no defense for Himself. He did not point out how unjust they were. He did not exclaim that the whole trial was a farce, and that He was innocent, even though that is the truth. He allowed Himself to be wronged and didn't fight back or struggle.
Finally, the worst thing that could happen happened. Regardless of how fickle His friends and disciples could be, Christ always had His Father to turn to. But finally at the end, His Father forsook Him on the cross in a most unearthly darkness. What few friends looked on could not help Him. All the fair weather friends turned on Him. The thousands He had healed and fed and taught were all just somewhere else. The one time He needed a friend more than any other--no one was there. And after He had endured this terrible forsaking, by the One with the power to help, and the One Who knew His innocence, He turned to this One and said, "Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit," and He gave up His life. He had been given the power to lay down His life, and He did. His existence came to an end, unless the One Who had just forsaken Him in the darkness would bring Him back to life. Even such an ordeal as the darkness of the cross, which tested the very essence of Who Christ was and what He believed, such an ordeal as that was completely impotent to find one shred of one shadow of doubt mixed in Christ's faith in His Father.
How did He do that? How did He continually accept being wronged without rebelling? How do you feel inside when you have been cheated, and you know it?
All His life Christ had to take the role of the underdog. The deck was stacked against Him every time. It didn't matter that He was right and good, He had to take the position of one who was wrong and wicked, even though He had to maintain perfect righteousness all the time. Christ was never treated fairly! He never got what He deserved--He got what Hitler and Manson and Phil Scranton deserved. He was always the visiting team, and the home team always used some of their own players for referees, and the home team was always spotted 50 points before the game started. He was penalized every time He turned around. No slack--never cut a single break--always starting out behind. It was Jesus against the world, and the world gets to make up and change the rules as they go along. And, praise God! He won anyway.
How did He do it? How do you compete in that arena without giving up, packing it in and going home? Where do you find the humility to meet every situation wholly concerned about what God wants done there, and totally ruling what your flesh wants to do?
In the garden of Gethsemane, on the night our Lord was betrayed, Peter stood up, with a sword in his hand, and tried to save our Lord. And Jesus said to Peter, "Put away your sword! The cup which my Father has given Me! Shall I not drink it!?" (Jn. 18:11) "Don't fight back! Just take what God gives you! Remember, it is from your Father's hand, and He will not let you down!"
This tells us how Christ was able to be so humble. Here is how he could be humble and patient with stupid and selfish disciples. This tells us why He did not claim any rights or justice for Himself! This tells us why He kept going back time and time again to Jerusalem, where His life was threatened, and kept talking to those who hated Him, trying to show them the truth. This tells us why He stayed away from Bethany while Lazarus was sick, even though it broke His heart to do it. The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?! Christ had no rights! All He had was the need to do the will of His Father. Nothing else mattered. When the soldiers put the crown of thorns on His head, He received that crown from His Father. When they lashed Him, nearly beating Him to death, He received every stroke from His Father. When they spit in His face, He received it from His Father! "Father, if this is what You want for Me, then this is what I want!"
It's pretty easy to turn to Ephesians chapter one and read that God operates all according to the counsel of His will, and then say, "I believe that's true." It's pretty easy to turn to Romans 11 and read that all is out of Him and through Him and for Him, and to Him be glory, and then to say, "I believe that is true." But when we have done nothing wrong, and are cheated, do we say, "the cup which my Father has given me, I must drink?" When it is our loved one that suffers, when we are utterly frustrated and angry, Is that not a cup from the Father too? When you're sitting in the ashes with Job, are you receiving that from your Father?
When someone asks you about your rights and your feelings, do you ever say, "I am not my own, I've been bought with a price, I am a slave, I have no rights?" Do we have the humility to forfeit our rights for the glory of God like Christ did?
Paul was talking about knowing Christ. You will not know Him in the way you know other friends. In many ways, Christ was an invisible man! Millions claim Him as Saviour. Hundreds, even thousands of schools and hospitals have been built because of Him and His influence. But how do we know Him? Is there anyone that knows what Jesus' favorite color was? What was His favorite food? What was His favorite story? Did He have any hobbies? What did he do in His spare time? Where did He like to go? Search the scriptures and see if you can find one bit of personal trivia about Christ! When we look at the life of Christ, and weigh every one of His recorded words, what we find is a Man Whose single passion was the will of God. If we really come to know Christ, it will become our passion to do the will of our heavenly Father also.
Humility is the source of power for obedience, and expectation is the source of strength for faith. A passion for doing the will of God is key to opening these sources of power and strength in your life.
What lies before us? We have spoken much of suffering and shame. Yet while the Bible never promises the believer an easy life, it promises the only life worth living. And, in addition, it promises the resources to meet every challenge.
In Ephesians chapter 2:1-10 we see the workings of God on the behalf of believers, and there we see how God has already prepared for everything we will meet. More than this, we see how He has prepared blessings beyond what we can imagine!
Micah and Paul first spoke of righteousness in life. While we were still dead in our offenses and sins, God saved us, giving us life together with Christ and making us righteous--giving us His own righteousness--justifying us.
This all issued out of the riches of His mercy and His vast love. He showed mercy to us first, while we had still offended Him, giving us an example of how we should be showing mercy to others. And His great kindness to us is still untapped, because there of great displays of it remaining to be unfolded for us in the future with Him.
All this He planned long ago before we were born. He prepared good works for us, that we might walk in them. They are ready for us at every turn, to receive them from His hand. We need only humbly and thankfully receive them from Him and so walk.