Adapted from a sermon preached September 12, 2010
Joanna Harader

John Wimber did not grow up in church himself. In fact, he was a 29-year-old drug user when he wandered into church for the first time. In an interview with Peter Jennings, Wimber says that he was fascinated with the stories and messages he heard at church. He attended worship services three Sundays in a row, and he was beginning to get frustrated. Finally, after the service, he went up to someone who looked official and asked, “When do they do it?”

“Do what?” the official-looking man asked.

“The stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“The stuff in the Bible.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, multiplying loaves and fishes, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind. That stuff.”

“Oh,” the man replied apologetically, “we don’t do that. We believe in it, and we pray about it, and talk about it, but we don’t do that.”

We talk about the stuff in the Bible, but we don’t do it. . . . This was also a problem in the 8th Century B.C.E.

True, Micah and his contemporaries did not have the Bible in the form that we have it today. They lived before Jesus and so did not have the specific stories of Jesus feeding and healing people.

But Micah–and all of the Israelites–had scriptures that revealed to them the nature and will of God. They had stories of a wondrous creation, divine promises kept, seas parted, and manna in the desert. They had the ten commandments and instructions for Sabbath and Jubilee—to all people could rest, keep their ancestral lands, and be free of debt.

Micah loved God. He loved God’s word. He loved God’s people. And so he says to the religious and political leaders of the day, “When are you going to do it?”

“Do what?” they replied in dismay.

“The stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“The stuff in our scriptures.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, feeding the hungry, giving justice to the oppressed, worshiping God in righteousness. That stuff.”

“Oh,” they replied, “we aren’t going to do that stuff. It doesn’t pay well enough.”

Micah’s words of condemnation, like those of other biblical prophets, seem incredibly harsh. (And if you think the assigned reading is rough, back up and read the first four verses of the chapter.) Micah has nothing here but dismal prophesy for the religious and political leaders of his day who are ignoring the word of God–who refuse to do that stuff in the scriptures.

Micah condemns the prophets, who are supposed to speak the word of God. Their message is supposed to be consistent with the scriptural call for justice and with God’s contemporary revelations to them. But instead of proclaiming God’s truth, these “prophets” proclaim “peace” to those who pay them well and war against those who do not. In adjusting their message based on the payment they receive, they are not speaking the truth of scripture; they are failing dismally in their obligation to God.

Entertainers speak for a fee. Advertisers get paid to push particular products. Political speech writers earn their money representing the views of politicians. But prophets have signed on to speak the messages given to them by God.

Why someone would sign up for this dangerous, thankless, poverty-inducing job is a mystery. But they did. And now they are backing down. Perhaps they didn’t realize that God would try to get them to say such disagreeable things. Perhaps they felt God was getting it wrong on some key points. Perhaps they had trouble distinguishing between the voice of God and the other insistent voices in their heads. Perhaps they simply needed to put some food on the table.

Whatever the reasons, these prophets did not live up to their vocation. They began to speak their own words instead of the words of God. And so, says Micah, God will stop speaking to you. If you will not live into the role God has given you, you will no longer be honored with that role.

The political leaders of Judah are condemned because they fail to uphold justice, they “build Zion with bloodshed / and Jerusalem with wickedness.”

As leaders of a holy people, they are supposed to be leading according to the commandments of God. Separation of church and state was not a cultural value in the late eighth century BCE. The political leaders of Israel, like the religious leaders, were expected to uphold all of that stuff in the scriptures.

And they were doing a very bad job of it. Most of the ten commandments were out the window–they were worshiping plenty of gods besides Yahweh; they coveted their neighbors’ fields and then stole them; they abused and even killed the workers who came from the countrysides into Jerusalem to work on construction projects; they bore false witness by perverting the justice of the courts. The leaders who should be leading the people in upholding God’s commands are the first ones to break those commands.

And the ten commandments are not the only stuff in the scriptures that the leaders are not doing. There are broader principles of hospitality and justice and peace that are missing from the fabric of the nation. God’s word calls for the practice of Jubilee–a time for forgiveness of debts and restoration of land. But Judah seems to be operating under a strictly “anti-Jubilee” system that forces the rural farmers to go deeper and deeper into debt until the wealthy elite hold most of the land.

Because of the unjust practices of these leaders, says Micah, “Zion will be plowed like a field / Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble.” A people whose identity is based in their devotion to the laws of Yahweh will be utterly ruined when their leaders abandon these laws.

It is important for us to realize that Micah is not calling on people to accept new laws or follow a new path. He is calling them to walk on the path to which they have supposedly committed themselves from the beginning. They should do that stuff in the scriptures–follow the laws of God–because that is what they said they would do. Micah issues a call for justice to people who have committed themselves to God and God’s laws of justice as established in scripture.

There is, for sure, a price to pay–as individuals and as a nation–when a society neglects basic matters of justice.

And there is also a price to pay when we ignore the commitments we have made. We lose our integrity, our right to inhabit the roles to which God calls us, when we do not live according to the principles we claim to hold.

A prophet who does not speak the word of God is not, in reality, a prophet.

A leader of God’s people who is not moving toward God cannot, in fact, expect the people to follow. And if no one is following you, guess what? You’re not a leader.

These words of judgment from Micah do not so much declare coming punishment from God as they state the inevitable consequences of people’s failure to abide by the commitments they have made.

And so today, I have for you what might be considered and anti-altar call. Because I want to tell you that committing your life to Christ is not a decision to be made on the spur of the moment. It is not a decision to be made because you like the people at church or enjoy the potlucks or think the garden is beautiful. I would not want someone to say they will follow Jesus because the music made them tap their toes or the sermon made them cry.

It is a decision to be made with serious, prayerful consideration. Because when you commit yourself to Christ, you are agreeing to do the stuff in the Bible. The ten commandments. The economic justice. Feeding the hungry. Healing the sick. Proclaiming good news. Loving your enemies. Living in Christian fellowship. All of that stuff.

If you have not signed on for this yet, take your time. Read the scriptures. Think about what it will mean to follow Christ. If you have signed on for this, think about what that commitment means.

Surely it means, in part, that you will do that stuff in the Bible. To the best of your ability. By the grace of God. With the support of Christian community. You will strive to live a life of integrity. A life of justice. A life of healing. A life of peace. A life of love.

Prophets who speak only their own words are not prophets. Leaders with no followers are not leaders. And Christians who do not follow Christ are not Christians.

It’s a hard word from the prophet. And a true word.

Your commitment to Christ is a commitment to do that stuff in the Bible. You should not make this commitment easily, but I do hope you make it. You should not take this commitment lightly; but for those of us who have made the commitment we will work together, by the grace of God, to be faithful in honoring it.

“Excuse me,” a visitor might ask. “When do you do that stuff in the Bible?”

“Today,” you could say. “And tomorrow. And the next day.”

Thanks be to God.