Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: It's an interesting thing to ask yourself: if Christianity became illegal today, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Have you ever thought about that?

Guest (Male): On Today's Word, Pastor Brett Meador asks: is your spiritual commitment consistent? Are we going to church on Sundays or Saturdays, checking the box of spirituality, but then acting in more of a paganism kind of way? Are we just Sunday Christians, as they call it, and then Monday through Saturday party-down people and living sinful lives?

In vivid images, Micah saw the Lord descending from heaven to earth and coming with judgment. Yet in summarizing the sins of the people, Pastor Brett Meador fears what God saw looks awfully similar to our very own day. But in our verse-by-verse study of Micah in Today's Word, we're challenged to learn from their example and repent and follow the Bible wholeheartedly.

Brett Meador: I like each one of these prophets that we've been studying just as people. It's interesting to see their different personalities and the response they got from various people. Jonah got an amazing response to a half-hearted sermon, where Jeremiah got zero response to a passionate, loving sermon that was 42 years of preaching and no one listened. We had Amos, the goatherder from Timbuktu, who went to the fancy place and ministered. Each prophet's kind of got its own personality.

But Micah's unique in a couple of areas. One of the unique things about Micah the prophet is he was heard by the people. It is an interesting question: why would Micah be heard where Jeremiah wasn't? Those are some interesting things to think about. Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah the prophet, and so it kind of helps us with the timeframe.

One of the things about the prophet Micah is he came 120 years before the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was around when the southern kingdom fell ultimately in 586 BC. Micah would be around when the northern kingdom would fall to the Assyrians. What's interesting is Jeremiah quotes from the book of Micah, which is kind of interesting of all things.

In fact, why don't you keep your finger here in Micah chapter 1 and go with me to Jeremiah chapter 26. What was going on there in Jeremiah 26 is the people said, "We don't like Jeremiah, let's kill him," because they didn't like what he was saying. But listen to the reason why Jeremiah lives. Micah the prophet is going to save Jeremiah the prophet's life, even though he lived 120 years earlier.

Jeremiah 26:16 says: "Then said the princes and all the people to the priests and the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls."

This is great. Jeremiah is being threatened because they didn't like his prophecies against Jerusalem. But then they said, "Well, maybe we shouldn't kill him because remember, Micah the prophet said the same thing Jeremiah is saying, and Hezekiah didn't kill Micah during that time," which starts to tell you a little bit about the timing of Micah's ministry. Isn't it interesting that 120 years after Micah would prophesy that about Jerusalem in chapter 3, those verses would save Jeremiah's life?

I think that's kind of funny there in Micah 3:12. But go back to the book of Micah. Leaders say Jeremiah may actually have been put to death if it wasn't for that prophecy, as it turns out. Like Amos, the herdsman from Tekoa, Micah is somewhat from a small town. But in the same way that Amos had to go to the fancy place of Samaria, Micah would also have a rural lifestyle but an urban kind of ministry.

I kind of like these guys. I think maybe I feel them just a little bit as a guy who grew up in a small little farming community. We had a big cattle ranch in my backyard when I was a kid. Martin Greer had a thousand head of cattle, and it was just where I grew up out in the sticks of Applegate, Oregon. Then the Lord called me to the thriving metropolis of Portlandia, and that was a shock to move from small-town America to live in Portland.

I sometimes think it's interesting that God uses people that are kind of outside of the ordinary to perhaps speak his word. People that you'd almost think would be the last people to use. Some hick was the guy that would actually be used, like Amos, and Micah was the same way. By the way, Micah was a contemporary of three major prophets: Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos. Those prophets were doing their thing at the same time.

There's speculation that Isaiah and Micah very likely were friends, and there's a few reasons. In fact, a lot of your commentaries will say he's the friend of Isaiah and they just sort of take that for granted because of the style and the nature of Micah's prophecy and how similar it is to Isaiah the prophet. Some scholars call the book of Micah the "Little Isaiah." There's people that have written books about how Micah is the Little Isaiah.

It's an interesting observation, even though Isaiah and Micah were very different people. Micah was a little more of a country bumpkin kind of guy, but Isaiah was accessing royal courts and he had dignitaries that he was intermeddling with. Isaiah was sort of lofty where Micah was more humble, but there is striking similarities between the two prophets. People see those tie-ins.

For some people, Micah is one of the favorites of the minor prophets. He uses beautiful language and poetry and all kinds of literary techniques. His writing is sharp, but it's also touching and personal. He kind of does both of those things. Really Micah's going to pronounce judgment on the cities of Israel and Jerusalem and also in Judah. Both the north and the south Micah will target.

Interesting how the Lord targets cities. Why do you suppose? Are cities more sinful than the country? Have you ever thought about that? I think it's a little bit because of the masses. There's something that happens in big cities where at least in a small community, people go, "Wow, that's kind of bad," and you see something bad and everybody's kind of a little shocked. In the city, there's a group numbing that takes place.

"Well, they did it, so we can do it," and you got all these people piled together. As you got greater packed-in people, you have more packed-in sin. It's not that people are less sinful, I would say, as much as the propensity to sin in the great cities is often where you see the epicenter of evil. That's why God seems to constantly send his people to the cities to preach the word. That's kind of what Micah's ministry would be.

His message is going to be really relatable to us because Micah is going to be dealing with some of these big city problems, which is some of the things we're seeing. It's an interesting divide in America today when you look at the city centers and the giant population centers and the worldview there versus the other places in America that are more of the small-town areas. The worldview is entirely different.

We're seeing in the last couple of years this massive migration of people relocating and moving because they can't take it anymore. They can't live in San Francisco, Portland, LA, Seattle, and so they're all moving to Boise and Arizona and Texas and other places. It's interesting the places people are moving away from the big cities because some would say sin is just piled up and it's gotten kind of grotesque in some ways.

So Micah is going into the city to preach to the cities and we're going to see some relatability to this in our days. He's going to condemn sins like violence and corruption, robbery and covetousness, and gross materialism. He's going to talk about spiritual bankruptcy and illicit sex. Some people have even labeled him the "Prophet of the City," which is kind of interesting.

The first three chapters of this book are dealing with judgment and they're kind of heavy, but the last four chapters are going to be comforting and he's going to seek to comfort the people. Now, by the way, Micah probably saw the repentance of Israel during the reign of Hezekiah the king. When Hezekiah led the people in a righteous revival, Micah was probably there and maybe even a part of that revival. So that's kind of the background of Micah and what he's doing.

Let's dive right in. Micah chapter 1, verse 1: "The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem." Now, when you read Samaria and Jerusalem, that's the north and the south. Civil war and there were wars raging even at this time period. The political atmosphere during Micah's ministry was that of civil war. Israel and Judah were battling it out.

In the Civil War of the United States, there was over 600,000 people killed in that horrible war. But did you know in the civil war between Israel and Judah that in one day 120,000 people were killed? In one day of this civil war. So it was a bloody, brutal battle and both sides, north and south, were moving away from the Lord during the time of these guys' prophecy.

Now, when we look at this verse 1, it tells us Micah was in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This sort of defines the timeframe of when Micah would have been in ministry. It would have been around 750 BC to 686 BC. Some say it's shorter than that because they believe he died before Hezekiah was no longer reigning. So some place his ministry about 40 years from 750 BC to 710 BC.

Hezekiah the king did move everyone back toward the Lord. Now, do you guys remember Hezekiah's son who reigned after him? Manasseh. Maybe the worst king in the history of Israel. So it was a short-lived revival there in Israel and Jerusalem. Another thing that's interesting: while Micah probably saw the Hezekiah revival, he also would see the Assyrian crushing the northern 10 tribes.

In 722, that's when the Assyrians took captive and wiped out the northern 10 tribes. So Micah's ministry was the time of great activity. There were revivals, but there was also total crushing by the Assyrian empire. His ministry was both to the north and the south. His focus would be more toward the south. It's almost like Micah says, "Watch the north and learn from them," as the Assyrians come and crush the north.

Micah's message is almost like, "Judah, Jerusalem, you don't want to go the way of those guys." Wise is the man, wise is the woman who learns from other people's mistakes. It's better to learn by watching than actually having to go through it yourself. How many of you guys were the youngest in your family? How many of you guys learned from the mistakes of your brothers and sisters?

That's the benefit of being the youngest. My sisters, I just watched what they did and saw what got them into big trouble and then kind of avoided those things. That was great. I got into other trouble that I didn't see them learn from, but I did learn a lot from them. But that's really what Micah's trying to say: "Hey, you guys, your brother there in the north as they're being crushed by the Assyrians, let us learn a lesson."

But it's not just the Kingdom of the North and the Kingdom of the South, but we have to remember these stories were written for our admonition. All Scripture, including the book of Micah, is given for instruction, correction, and reproof. Now, another thing we learn in verse 1 is he was a Morasthite, and this is a little country town 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem. It's not that far from the city of Gath, the Philistine city of Gath.

Sometimes you'll see in the Bible it's called Moresheth-gath. But that's where this guy Micah was from. The reason that is important: remember when Jeremiah said, "Remember Micah the Morasthite"? That's the way they identify this particular Micah. There are five particular Micahs in the Bible, so don't be confused. This Micah is Micah the Morasthite.

Now, in verse 2, he gives us one of his literary signals of sections that you should know about. When he says, "Hear ye" or "Hear," that's like a sign that he's sort of dividing into a new section. You can jot these down if you want to, but the first "Hear ye" is Micah chapter 1, verse 2 where he says, "Hear, all ye people." That's the first marker.

The second marker is in Micah chapter 3, verse 1 where he says, "And I said, Hear, I pray you." Then Micah chapter 6, verse 1, he also starts that out: "Hear ye now." So some scholars divide the book into those sections of the various "Hear ye" sections as they call them. But in section one, the first "Hear ye" is the sin of the people and he's going to call them out for their sins.

Verse 2: "Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?"

He starts off describing a cataclysmic activity that's going to happen. God's going to come and judge them. As soon as he puts his foot down in judgment, he uses this flowery language. Where's he going to go? He's going to start in the high places. What did they do in the high places? That's where they worshiped idols and did all kinds of pagan things.

The Lord says, "I'm going to put my foot first in the high places and then those mountains that I put my foot on, they're going to melt and they're going to be destroyed like wax." The idea is Micah saying you guys better wake up and fear the Lord because this is a very somber warning. Notice this is that imagery of saying the northern 10 tribes, they're already kind of toast because they had all the high places and stuff.

But then he asks sort of in a flowery rhetorical way: isn't this the house of Israel? But what about the transgression of Jacob? Is not this Samaria? The southern tribes would have said, "Of course Samaria should be judged. They're evil and doing all kinds of bad things." That northern tribe was the people they were having civil war with. No wonder they thought God should judge the Samaritans.

But then the Lord is saying: "But what about Jerusalem?" Micah is calling them all out saying, "You guys think that the Samaria region is bad? What about Jerusalem?" which is the heart of the southern tribe. And he's saying, "What do you think God's going to do to you guys? Are you kidding?" It is funny how we tend to think God's going to judge other people and we sort of get excited about that.

We say, "Let justice prevail. I'm glad God's going to bring an everlasting righteousness and judgment on this world." But then you kind of forget: what do you deserve? What have you done? Oh, your sins look horrible, but my sins? Well, they're really not that bad. I'm a pretty good person. I know the intent of my heart and you don't. So your sins are ugly, mine are not. That's just human nature.

But that's the way Micah is calling it out. He's saying, "You think Samaria is bad? What about Jerusalem?" Now, in verse 5, when it talks about the transgression of Jacob, there was actually something going on at this time. The people were still worshiping God in the morning at the temple in Jerusalem, but in the evening they'd go to the high places and worship the pagans at night. That's the way they were rolling.

It makes me wonder how easy it is for us as Christians to think we're checking the box that we're walking with the Lord, we're doing the right thing, look at we're at a Bible study. But we have to also ask ourselves: are we sneaking up to the high places after we're done with Bible study acting in more of a paganism kind of way? That's the problem. It's the same thing we have to ask ourselves: are we just Sunday Christians, as they call it, and then Monday through Saturday party-down people and living sinful lives?

But we're called to be Christians throughout the week, all day long. It's an interesting thing to ask yourself: if Christianity became illegal today, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Have you ever thought about that? It's something you should probably think about because it's actually coming. The question is: how long is it going to take to get here? I've been shocked at how quickly things are moving.

If suddenly Christianity became illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you? You might say, "Brett, that sounds scary. I'm not going to let anybody know I'm a Christian. Party down during the week." Well, that's the problem. The wicked flee when no one's chasing them, the Bible says, but the righteous are as bold as a lion. I think it's important to realize that we might have to be mentally preparing ourselves for a day.

We've touched on it the last two years. What are you going to do when things get a little sticky? When people tell you: you can't do that anymore. You can't read your Bible or you can't speak the Bible. When the Bible says: Christians, go out into all the world and preach the Gospel. We're told to go and share the Bible with people.

So what happens when the government says you can't do that anymore? That's something you should be thinking about because what's going to happen when they start saying, "You know what, you can't say that about gay marriage anymore, or you can't talk about transgenderism in a biblical kind of way"? That's coming right around the corner and they're trying to define hate speech and criminalize those things.

Mark my words, it's coming. And you're going to be forced to decide: am I going to go the wimpy way and just say, "Well, I guess I gotta obey the laws of the land. I don't want to get into trouble." You gotta start saying, "Wait a minute, when do you stop preaching the Bible? When do you stop teaching true things?" Well, as it turns out here in our text, we see these people: they're facing those kind of dilemmas where they're sort of living one way on Sabbath going to the temple, but then they're doing a whole another thing on the rest of the week.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador has been pointing out the whole-hearted commitment the believer is to live out in contrast to the worldly living that saddened the prophet Micah. More to come from this study of the book of Micah next time on Today's Word, and I hope you'll stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me here in just a moment.

But first, Today's Word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland suburb of West Linn, Oregon, where Pastor Brett Meador is the senior pastor. You can find out more by going to TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com. All right, Pastor Brett is with me. Brett, one of the most famous men in the Bible is King David. Before he was king, he was known as being a shepherd and then slaying the giant Goliath. He was also a man after God's own heart. But he was also a writer of multiple songs, many of those which are found in Scripture. So music was of course a huge part of his life, and I know music is also a big part of your life at Athey Creek Church. In fact, you'll occasionally be playing with the Athey Worship band. Why is music so important to you personally, Brett, and why is music so vital in worship?

Brett Meador: I love that you brought up David because I think that some men particularly think that worshiping God is kind of a soft thing to do. It's for the ladies. But I dare you to say that to David's face when you get to heaven. David was a guy who made the SEAL Team 6 guys look like wimps. The women in the street said David has killed his tens of thousands, let alone the giant Goliath.

The thing I love about David: he was a warrior, but he was also a worshiper. I think one of the things that we men need to really remember is that worshiping God, there's nothing wimpy about it. David wrestled with depression. He wrestled with challenges and difficulty. But when you read the psalms that he wrote, you realize this is how he was working through the challenges of life.

It's almost like he had the truth in his head, but it would have to reach into his heart. And I think that's what happens when we are worshipers. It's like in Colossians 3:16 where Paul says: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Worship through music isn't just about performance, it's really not about that. It's more about participation and it's the body of Christ coming together to say: here's what God is, and look what he's done, and let's celebrate that together. And it's just a good reminder. So I think for me, I like to be a part of the worship team whenever I can because I want people to see that their pastor who loves the Bible... have you noticed that there's sometimes people that love the Bible but aren't really into worship? Then there's people that love to worship but aren't really into the Bible. I want to show our congregation that both are essential and that's really one of the reasons why I continue to jump in.

Guest (Male): Brett, that's really good insight, how we need to be mindful of how important both worship and the study of God's word really is. Thank you for that. Well, if you'd like more information about Pastor Brett Meador, Today's Word, or Athey Creek Church, you can just go to our website at TodaysWordRadio.com. That's TodaysWordRadio.com. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett Meador will continue in our minor prophets series and we'll see how the story of the prophet Micah reveals a God not only of perfect justice but one of deep compassion and mercy. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.