Sermon Cloud

Call To Worship from Micah 4

Call:  For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god,

Worship:  We will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

Call:  In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

Worship:  The Lord will reign from this time forth and forevermore.

·        Now, most of you probably know this, but if we have any guests with us today, it is good for you to know that Amy and I have 3 children:  3 wonderful girls Meredith, Landry, and Emma.  Now I can tell you what my initial reaction was when we found out that Amy was pregnant with each of them.  I can tell you what it is like to be in the delivery and even cut the cord. 

·        What I cannot tell you though is what it is like to find out that there is baby growing in your tummy.  I can’t tell you the emotions that occur when that baby begins to grow and move, and I definitively cannot tell you what happens emotionally when you give birth. 

·        But scripture sure does speak about the concept of being pregnant or being in labor a whole lot.  It is a metaphor that immediately strikes an image in your heart and mind whether or not you have ever been pregnant.  Either way, towards that end, for anyone who has difficulty relating to what scripture is talking about, I’ve enlisted the help of those who do know what scripture is talking about.. 

·        Here are a few examples from ladies in our church who shared with me via email what it was like to find out that they were pregnant.

o       Great joy, followed by sadness as the child was miscarried after a only a few weeks into the pregnancy

o       My response was joy, disbelief, amazement, panic, awe, and worry...all mixed together. Then I threw up.

o       You don't want to use those words I'm your sermon!

o       At first I couldn’t believe it when the nurse called & told me that I was pregnant & then I was very emotional & gave thanks to God for blessing me with a child.

·        We even had one mom say that doctor got her due date horribly wrong and it made it look like she had been cheating on her husband.  They soon got a new doctor.  I must admit reading those responses was entertaining and hopefully they helped all of you to get a picture of what it means to be pregnant.

·        Clearly, finding out you are pregnant and being pregnant are life changing and life altering occurrences.  Not everyone person has the opportunity to experience pregnancy and in those situations, we trust that God has some other incredibly amazing experience reserved for us. 

·        Well, this week in the book of Micah, we are going to see the prophet use this pregnancy and labor image to set the minds of God’s people to a sense of expectation.  So, whether we have been pregnant, never been pregnant or even pregnant right now, lets do our best to get in the mindset of waiting for something with expectation.  With that, we will ask, what is it that God is asking us to look forward to with similar expectancy as a pregnancy? 

8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.  9 Now why do you cry aloud?  Is there no king in you?  Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor?  10 Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you shall go out from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. 

·        If we think back to the past few weeks, we are reminded that the heads of households, the priests and prophets, the political leaders, and basically everyone else among the people of God thought that not only could they keep on sinning and God would be okay with it, they even thought that His character wouldn’t allow for the judgment of sin.

·        Now I’m pretty slow to apply biblical conditions to today because I think that gets slightly overdone.  If you watch church on TV, then according to many of them, every single thing that happens in the middle east is a fulfillment of some obscure passage of scripture and all that turns out to be is a boy crying wolf scenario. 

·        But I will say that there are lots of people today that they think they can keep on sinning and that God’s character of love doesn’t allow for Him to judge sin.  A deadly recipe culturally is to think “I’m okay; you’re okay,” and “A loving God could never punish sin.”

·        Any way, while the leaders of God’s people were yelling “peace, peace” God was promising swift judgment.  So, God begins to ask them about all the things that they were trusting other than Him.

o       He says, How is that king of yours working out?  You know the one that you wanted to rule over you instead of me?   How is that working for you?  Can he protect you?

o       What about your counselors?  Are they giving you good advice now?  Do you feel like all this yelling of “peace, peace” going to actually insure that you have peace?

·        Well all those things that you have trusted other than me have failed you.  You’ve flirted around with every other lover but me and know what that has gotten you?  Knocked up.  You’re pregnant, and unfortunately you can’t look forward to a bouncing baby boy or girl in a few months.  No, what you have to look forward to is you will lose you’re home and you will lose you’re family heritage and God is going to give all of those things to the most evil people on the face of the planet, the Babylonians.

·        God essentially says, “You’re pregnant with judgment.”

·        Now what a dismaying pronouncement.  As I read the blurbs from our moms in church, some of them talked about struggling a bit when they found out they were pregnant, but I’m sure that is nothing compared to finding out that God is declaring to bring His wrath against sin against them. 

·        But you know the hope of even an unplanned pregnancy is that you get this great kid or child to enjoy life with.  God offers His people that kind of hope in the midst of the proclamation of pregnant judgment. 

There you shall be rescued; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.  11 Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

·        There is hope though.  God says that while you are in Babylon, in captivity for your sin, there you will be rescued. 

·        God will find you at your worst and lowest moment in discipline for your sin and He will rescue you.  You’ve made such a pain of yourself, with your egotism and spiritual entitlement, pride, and even racism that your enemies are quite enjoying what you are going through.  They are the last people in the world that want you to be rescued.  They want you to suffer and be defiled even.

·        Now once again, when things look their bleakest, God offers a ray of hope.

·        This is a significant shift in the book of Micah here and around verse 12 because if you look at the Hebrew that the book of Micah was written in, so far there have been 9 statements of judgment versus only 3 lines of hope.  But thematically, God is changing the tone of the book and He is going to move from speaking of judgment to speaking of hope at least for His people that is. 

·        You see, the enemies of the people of God did not worship Him and were actively hostile against Him so as you can imagine, God doesn’t usually take their advice.  We see God’s response to them in verse 12.

12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.  13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

·        God makes it clear.  He says to His enemies the OT equivalent of, “You don’t know me.  You don’t know my plans or my thoughts.  You think this is the time to gloat over my people, but it is not.  In fact just when you think they you are going to run over my people, I’m going to use them to run over you.

·        This is God’s declaration that despite the fact that His people are sinful and at times outright rebellious against Him, He still protects His people.  In fact, God not only protects His children, He ultimately enacts His judgment on any that would attack His children.  This is a fascinating point:  God specifically uses and ordains His enemies to bring judgment on His children, but any that would boast in the judgment of God’s children face that very same judgment.

·        So, God here tells His people that He will make their horns iron and their hoofs bronze and they will overrun God’s enemies and the spoils that they gather in will be used to bring glory to God.  That’s an example just how sovereign God is. 

·        Now just like last week, we talked about how and when these things were going to happen.  Well, the literal fulfillment of this passage for the people of God takes place in 2 Kings 18-19 and 2 Chronicles 32). 

·        It happened just as God said it would with Jerusalem being taken by Babylon.  King Hezekiah and the other leaders witnessed the captivity, humbled themselves in prayer, and 185,000 enemy soldiers died, and ultimately, the enemies retreated and left Jerusalem to God’s people. 

·        The people were pregnant with the expectation of judgment and they repented of their sins.  And then they were then pregnant with the hope of deliverance and God granted it.

·        Now here is the crazy and sad thing, after all of that happened, after God rescued His people and brought them back to Himself, they fell right back into their normal sin patterns, and unfortunately, things returned to what became normal for them. 

·        This pattern seemed never to stop.  The cycle of being pregnant with judgment and being pregnant with sin was never ever going to stop.  How is that for a depressing idea, Moms?  Imagine always being pregnant.

·        Well, beginning of chapter 5 of Micah gives us the hope of change.  The hope is very similar that comes with the hope of expecting a child, but in the case of this prophecy, the expectancy, result and end of the labor pains will brings….hope and a savior. 

·        Now imagine this for a minute.  What if you could know what your child was going to be like?  What if you know what they were going to do and what they were going to accomplish?  Would you want to know?  Would you lose some of the joy? 

·        Well, last find out what the promised Savior is going to be like…

5:1 Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. 2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me One who is to be ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.  3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel.  4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.  5 And he shall be their peace

·        From Bethlehem, from this tiny insignificant area, God is promising Hope.  And this hope is described in this way.

o       He will be a Ruler from the foundation of the world

§         2 One who is to be ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

o       He will bring rest to His people

§         3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 

o       He will be a shepherd to His people

§         4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth.

o       He will be their peace

§         5 And he shall be their peace.

·        The Savior will be a ruler from the foundation of the earth who will bring rest to His people, shepherding them towards peace. 

·        The people of Micah’s were pregnant and in labor pains longing for the day to be rescued by their Savior.

·        Well, we stand on this side of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  So, it would seem that we don’t have anything to look forward to in pregnant expectation, right?

·        Well, let’s look at the words used surrounding the arrival of Jesus and just see, okay?

Romans 5
5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.