Sermon Cloud

When I was in college, I didn’t have a standard meal plan where you could just go to the college cafeteria and eat.  I just couldn’t afford one, so I made it through 4 years in the dorm room by cooking all my meals in a toaster oven and a microwave.  There was a particular semester, when classes were over, that I was flat out of money.  I had $.27 in my bank account and the cupboard or the dorm fridge, if you will, was bare.  Since I was an RA in the dorm, I had to stay a couple of days after the semester ended to wrap things up.  I was extremely curious as to how I was going to eat.  Well as one my residents was leaving, he wished me an enjoyable break and said he would see me next semester.  A few minutes later he walked back and said, “Hey I’ve got 4-5 meals left on this meal card, do you want it?”

A similar story happened when Amy and I were engaged.  We had absolutely no money for a honeymoon just weeks before the wedding, and we did not know what we were going to do.  I got a phone call one night as we were making last minute wedding plans.  It was from an insurance adjuster.  You see, I had been a passenger in a head on collision about 6 months prior, and the insurance adjuster wanted to know how I was feeling.  After a brief conversation, he wanted to know if $700 was adequate for the suffering I had incurred in the wreck.  I thought to myself, “$700 is adequate for a honeymoom at the beach. 

I imagine we all have had those situations where you had a bill and you just did not know how you were going to pay for it.  And then, either a friend, or a spouse, or your mom and dad just happened to be setting some money aside in case something like this happened.  A good friend of mine calls that J.I.T. – Just in time.  Once again this week, I asked for the congregation’s help, and they gave me some examples of similar experiences.  We came up with some great stories. Let me give you a few examples.

·        We had one couple who told me about when they first got engaged.  One partner brought in some bills and debt to the relationship.  It just so happened that her fiancé happened to have the exact amount tucked away for a rainy day and was able to pay the bills.

·        Another one of our folks talked about being stuck with a huge car payment and all of a sudden getting a new job that exactly covered the payment.

Well, the reason I tell these stories is because the idea of sticking aside a little money for a rainy day or saving some money just in case you have an emergency in similar to the idea in scripture called “a remnant” – a remnant is something that is saved for a later time with a specific purpose.  We see two explanations of who or what a remnant is in scripture. 

·        Romans 11:5 speaks of God saving a remnant of Jewish people.  Throughout the biblical days and in the present, the majority of Jewish people do not believe in Jesus Christ, but God has promised to specifically choose a remnant of Jewish people to believe by His grace and not their by their own doing.  But that is not the only description of a remnant in scripture.

·        Acts 15:17 also describes any that would believe in Jesus from the Gentiles as a remnant.

Essentially, if you believe in Jesus you are a remnant chosen out of the world to believe in Christ.  This is very important to remember as we look at these next few verses in Micah because the application of the promises found there meant something specifically to the people that first heard it and also something very specific to us.  So let’s look at those promises and ask, “What purpose does God have for His remnant?” 

Micah 5:7-8 Then the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man.  8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

·        Essentially as you read that you can see that the remnant of God’s people is described  in two ways:  like the dew and like a lion or you can also read those as God’s intention for His people to be both a blessing and a curse.

A blessing - like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which delay not for a man nor wait for the children of man. 

·        First, let’s look at this idea of God’s remnant being a blessing.  God intends for His people to be like dew and showers of grace that comes not from the plans of man but from the will of God.

·        The picture of dew or showers is the opposite of the biblical picture of dry land or drought.  Drought is always a picture of God’s blessing being removed.  However, dew or showers is a picture of God’s mercy and grace.

·        For example, when God fed His people in the desert with quail and manna, multiple verses associated those blessings as coming with the dew of the morning.

·        So the picture and intent of God’s people being like dew is for both remnant of Micah’s time, the remnant of believers today, and even the remnant of the future is to be that merciful, rescuing dew to a hurting and dying world. 

·        So often today, and this was definitively a struggle for the people of Micah’s day, we think our relationship with Christ is just about us and God, but that couldn’t be further than the truth.  The grace of God poured into you is intended to be a refreshing mercy to those that do not yet know God.

·        This was a concept that was practically impossible for the people of Micah’s day because their worship was corrupt and immoral, their actions were motivated by greed and instead of blessing people, they were robbing from them.

·        But if we remember what we talked about that last week, God gives us a true and lasting hope.  One that both enables us to persevere in tribulation and one that is the product of tribulation.  Our enduring of those things with the hope of Christ should be something that we offer to hurting world.  2 Corinthians 1

·        The pain and dryness of this world is to be met by a refreshing water of life, Jesus Christ as demonstrated by the mercy He has shown us in ours.

·        But as is normally the case, blessings are always coupled with curses.

·        God also intends for His remnant to be like a lion in the forest that is dangerous among the sheep. 

A curse - like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.

·        Now this one is a bit more difficult to grasp.  Micah’s prophesy was that the remnant of God’s people would be a curse like a lion among sheep – one that tears sheep to pieces with no mercy or deliverance.

·        Well, we got a glimpse of that last week didn’t we?  God had sent His people into captivity under the hands of the Babylonians.  But the Babylonians gloated and delighted in the discipline of God’s people, so God punished them.

·        God brought down a judgment that there was no mercy from because the Babylonians gloated over the discipline of God’s people.

·        Yet, still the concept is difficult for us to consider isn’t it?  The idea of us, as humble faith-gifted believers in Jesus being a blessing to the world makes sense, but how in the world are we supposed to be a curse?

·        Or maybe its not.  Maybe we feel like we have the scriptures and we have been forgiven, we should be a curse to people.  Maybe we feel like we should pound people with rightness all the time and take joy in pummeling opponents in verbal warfare.  That attitude really seems more like the attitude of the Babylonians doesn’t it?

·        I think we find that answer in Philippians.

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

·        Paul begins here by saying that as believers in Christ we are called to live a life worthy of being called Children of God.  Paul is speaking of the church in Philippi, and his prayer was that those believers in Christ would stand firm in a unified Spirit with the mind of Christ striving for the advancement of the Gospel. 

·        Now advancement is wartime language.  If you are advancing something, you are taking territory that is not yours, so in the advancement of the Gospel, there are enemies.  The advancement of the Gospel means that the Kingdom of God is moving into the dark areas of the kingdom of this world. 

·        If you are taking territory, there are going to be enemies.  Practically, you see, some people hear the truths of our need for forgiveness through Christ because we are sinners and they respond with hostility.  That makes sense because without the gifting of the Holy Spirit, it is offensive to be told that you are helpless.  People are talented, gifted, and self-made people, and without God breaking theirs and gifting them with faith, they just hear someone degrading them.

·        Unfortunately, since we know that some people are hostile in response to the Gospel, the church is often pretty apathetic or we lack tactfulness in sharing Jesus.  The reason folks reject the Gospel should never be us.  It should be the offensive message of needing a Savior.  Christ is either a rock to build a foundation on or a rock that crushes you.

·        In terms of being a curse, Paul writes here that a holy life consistent with being called a child of God is a sign that you are a believer and it is a sign of destruction for those that do not believe.  Here are blessings and curses coupled together.

·        And once again, just like last week, we begin to see a purpose for suffering.  One of our callings is a calling to share in the sufferings of Christ  

·        I guess that presents us with a pretty daunting challenge doesn’t it?  If you knew not necessarily the answer as to why you suffer, but that your suffering proclaimed the Gospel to the world, would you find joy in your suffering or even desire suffering?  Would you find comfort? 

·        Isn’t that always the great question of our heart?  When someone hurts us, we ask, “Why me, God?”  When our health is poor, we ask, “Why me, God?”  Basically anytime we get tired of bad times, we ask, “Why me, God?

·        Is knowing that our suffering has Gospel advancement purposes enough?  I mean, is that enough motivation to find hope or to endure suffering?  If we knew that our suffering would help one person in coming to know Jesus, would be more content with our suffering? Paul asks that very questions.

2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

·        Paul voices verse 1 in such a way as to understand that suffering in this world is painful.  But he asks his questions, not so much with sarcasm but with an appeal to reason.  He asks, is there any comfort from the love of Jesus?  Do you participate with the Spirit of God?  Is God affectionate towards you?  Does Jesus have sympathy for your pains? 

·        The answer to those questions is yes, yes, yes.  And if you couldn’t’ answer those questions so overwhelmingly affirmative, you would feel like Paul is mocking you, but he is not.  He knows that suffering causes us to forget those things, so he reminds us.

·        If you can answer any of those questions with an affirmative, if you can say that yes, there is comfort from Jesus, and yes God is affectionate towards me, then Paul encourages you to strive for Godliness.  As the children of God we should have one mind and one love.  We have the mind of Christ, and we have the love of Christ.  In humility we should consider others better than ourselves.  We shouldn’t’ compete against one another, and we shouldn’t be conceited.  We are called to be humble and consider every other person as better than ourselves. 

·        We can do this because we have the mind of Christ.  His example was that despite being God, He took on the form of a man.  He didn’t hold onto the fact that He was God though.  He did not continually walk around demanding for the world to recognize His deity.  Instead, humbled Himself and was obedient in all ways, including being obedient to death. 

·        Because of Jesus’ obedience, God the Father exalted Him and raised His name above every name every known.  At that name, every human being in Heaven and Earth will bend their knee and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

·        So folks there it is.  We are intended by God as His remnant of hope in this hurting world, to be both a blessing and a curse.

·        If we honestly portray Christ and our need for forgiveness from Him, and if we can get out of the way so it is only Christ that offends, then we will portray a true hope in suffering to a world that needs it oh so badly.  But some folks will reject that message and it will be a curse to them..