TEXT: Micah 6:6-8

SUBJECT: The Simplicity of Holiness

My sermon is entitled The Simplicity of Holiness.

In one way, holiness is a remarkably complicated affair. It involves the nature of God and His plan for our lives; the death of Christ on the cross and His mediation for us in heaven; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and His work inside of us every day; the Bible, the church, the sacraments, prayer, and our efforts to put our old selves to death and to stir up our better selves. It’s all wonderfully and maddeningly complex.

In another way, holiness is quite simple. It can be summarized in a single verse—as our Lord did—or in three verses, as the old prophet has just done in Micah 6:6-8.

The text can be divided into two parts: (1) what holiness is not mainly about, vv.6-7; and (2) what it is mainly about, v.8. Note carefully: I used the word, ‘mainly’ twice, because I don’t want you to think the first two verses are somehow against holiness, as though the things named in them are sinful or displeasing to God. In fact, they too are pleasing to Him—only not as much as the ones mentioned in the other verse.

The sixth and seventh verses pose a series of rhetorical questions. Let’s hear them out:

The first question means: What will please God? When men appeared before a king, they brought gifts with them. The gifts did not buy the king’s favor, but were tokens of the respect in which he was held. When the wise men visited Christ, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When the Queen of Sheba paid Solomon a visit she brought a caravan of gifts to honor the king. This was the custom then, and still is, even in our more democratic age.

What kind of gift will make the Lord happy?

How about animal sacrifices? These were commanded in the Law of Moses, and godly men offered them to the Lord and with His approval. But even though animal sacrifices were good, they were not the things God wanted most.

How about human sacrifices? They are far more valuable than any beast you could bring the Lord, and while they were sometimes forbidden in the Old Testament, God once required this of a man. The man was Abraham and the human he was told to sacrifice was the very son God had promised him long before and who had been given to him and his wife when they were well past the age of childbearing.

If you read the story in Genesis 22, you’ll see that, though Abraham did not kill his son, he would have if the Lord had not stopped him. In effect, therefore, he offered God the most precious thing he ever had or ever would have. Surely this is the kind of sacrifice God wants of us all?

No.

The animal sacrifices were ordinary religion; Abraham’s sacrifice was religion at its most extraordinary. Today’s ordinary religion means going to church, reading the Bible, and praying. Extraordinary religion might be becoming a missionary or even dying for Christ.

These are good things. But they’re not the things God wants most. While this may sound funny (or worse than funny), I have chosen my words carefully and I stand by them. Religion is of secondary importance to God!

This doesn’t mean it is of no importance. The sacrifices mattered to God, and so did its details. The kind of animal sacrificed, how it was offered, when, and by whom it was offered. In the same way, going to church, reading the Bible, and praying matter to God. But they matter to Him less than something else.

What matters more to God is how we live our lives: at home, at work, in school, and in the neighborhood. How should we then live? Verse 8 leaves no doubt,

This is not my summary of Christian living, and it’s not gotten by some bizarre method of Bible interpretation. Micah says the Lord Himself has shown you what is good, and what He requires of you.

He has shown you in two ways: conscience and His Word. Referring to pagans who never heard of the Bible, Paul says their consciences either accuse or excuse them (Romans 2:15). When an unbeliever cheats on his expense account, he feels guilty. He may feel a certain pride in getting away with it, too, but there’s a twinge of guilt in all his gloating. When, on the other hand, the man turns in an honest account, he feels satisfied, he feels he did the right thing. This is the conscience and everyone’s got one. Thus, if you study other religions, you’ll see a great many of their laws and maxims sound a lot like the Bible. But of course they do: for everyone is made in the image of God, and therefore, everyone has a basic sense of right and wrong.

If these duties are felt in our hearts, they are spelled out for us in the Word of God. The Bible everywhere praises justice, mercy and humility, and as often condemns unfairness, cruelty, indifference, and pride.

A second thing to notice: the word requires. Justice, mercy, and humility are not hints or suggestions; they are commands from on high. Thus, we’re responsible for being just, merciful, and humble, even if we’re ‘not wired for them’.

The Lord wants us to do justly.

This means ‘to give everyone his due’. It means, if you’re paid for eight hours a day, you put in eight hours a day. If you borrow money, you pay it back. If you make a promise, you make good on it. If you run up a bill, you pay it. It means respecting your elders, and being courteous to everyone.

If the Lord wants us ‘to give everyone his due’ He does not leave it there. He goes on to say…To love mercy. ‘Mercy’ is giving people the good things they don’t deserve. It means overlooking their faults (when you can) and forgiving them—even if they don’t ask you to. It means lending money to people whom you know will not pay you back. It means giving people the benefit of the doubt. It means helping people who never helped you. It means speaking kindly to them even when they’re snotty to you. It means praising them when you can, and only criticizing them when you have to. The Lord wants us to be merciful, full of compassion, to feel for people and to help them out of their problems—even if the problems are of their own making!

Here the great Puritan commentator, Matthew Henry adds a thought we’re prone to forget when helping others who don’t deserve our help—

Underline the word ‘cheerfully’. Do we have to help knuckleheads? No, we don’t have to—we get to! Charity is a duty, but not only a duty. It is also a privilege and a way of sharing in the work of God, and imitating our Lord Jesus Christ.

Among God’s people no sin is more common or less rebuked than stinginess. And here, I don’t mean stinginess with our money so much, as stinginess with ourselves, our time, our attention, our interest, our prayers, our enthusiasm. We’re busy and run ragged, and so we think we can only take care of ourselves by taking care of ourselves only! But the Proverb knows better, 11:24,

The key to having is giving. If you want mercy for yourself, give it to others

Finally, the Lord wants us to walk humbly with our God.

Two words need emphasizing: walk and humbly. To walk with God is to live with Him—not on Sundays between 11:00 and noon, but all day, every day. To walk humbly with Him is to do what He says, admit it when we don’t, and to get back into His fellowship through repentance and faith.

A humble man doesn’t go running himself down all the time. Because unlike that kind of man, he doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about himself. He’d rather think of God and others. This look out of himself is the simplicity of holiness.

If holiness were a super-complicated thing, only a few people could understand it, and even fewer could live up to it. But it isn’t super-complicated: it’s as simple as doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with your God.

Let us memorize the verse and turn it over in our minds every day. But most of all, let us pray for this simple holiness and do everything we can to live by it.

Let us help each other to live holy lives by committing ourselves to intercessory prayer, setting good examples, and gently nudging them when they go wrong. God bless you, everyone. Amen.