THEME: SENT TO BEAR MUCH FRUIT: TEXT: JOHN 15:1-17
TOPIC: JUDMENT BEGINS AT THE HOUSE OF GOD: MICAH 1:1-16
Sermon Preached by Rev. Bonface Nyangolo on 28th February 2021.
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).
1. Introduction
Micah means “Who is like the Lord” Any person who is like Yahweh will bear much fruit. Micah bore much fruit to the Kingdom of God.
Micah 1:1 “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.” The word here translated as ‘came’ speaks of the Word ‘happening’ to Micah. It was a revelation.
Micah not only had the Word of God ‘come’ or ‘happen’ to him: it was the Word of God ‘which he saw.’ It is not just that he heard God’s voice, but he was enabled to see into God’s mind.
What Micah has now ‘experienced’ and ‘visualised’ he must translate into words to convey God’s
message to God’s people.
It should also be so with the preacher. God gives us a word from the Bible which we must live
with, experience and enter into before ever we give it to God’s people.
Micah’s prophecies were pronounced during the reign of three successive kings of Judah.
Micah prophesied almost at the same time with the prophet Isaiah, so their work overlaps. For
example, Isaiah 2:2-4 finds its echo in Micah 4:1-5.
Micah’s prophecy concerned Samaria and Jerusalem, the two capital cities of the divided
kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
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His main message is divine judgment for those not bearing fruit in their lives and deliverance
for those bearing much fruit. He also stresses that God hates idolatry, injustice, rebellion and
empty ritualism but delights in pardoning the penitent (Micah 1:7-18-19)
At the time of Micah’s prophecy there was injustice towards the lowly, unjust business dealings,
robbery with violence, mistreatment of women and a government that lived in luxury at the
expense of the hard work of its people. The nation had abandoned God and turned to other gods
thus displeasing God.
However, Micah is not limited to time and space. God’s word never is. The prophet proceeds to
address all people, the whole earth.
‘Hear,’ he says, and in a stronger more intense word, ‘hearken.’
According to 1 Peter 4:17, ‘judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins at us,
what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?’
Micah seems to say: if the LORD deals thus with His own people, what shall the end of those be who oppress them.
So who does God call as witness against the peoples? He calls Himself, even the Lord from His
holy temple! He comes out of His place in heaven on high to tread upon the high places of the earth – the lofty places where idolatry is rife.
The drama which attends God’s presence is intense. Mountains melt, valleys are rent by
earthquakes, and the skies erupt with a torrential downpour.
At the time of Micah’s writing the Assyrian armies were on the march. As the instruments of
God’s judgment, the whole earth shook before them. Samaria would surely fall, and her idols be
beaten to pieces. The enemy reached even to the gates of Jerusalem, which the prophet vividly
described as Judah’s high place.
Conclusion
Micah’s impassionate plea for God’s chosen people to repent will cut many of us to the quick.
Let us allow the words of Micah to break us out of our apathy about extending justice and
kindness to others and press on toward a better society that resembles the harmonious
kingdom of God to come. “Let us determine to live as God desires: To do justice, to love
kindness, and walk humbly with our God” Micah 6:8.