Micah chapter 3.        Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Power Corrupts

There is a problem with positions, offices and titles. They can create a feeling of superiority. People love titles and high office because they appeal to their vanity. Worse, there is always the temptation to use position for selfish ends, despite the misery it might cause for others. Such was the case among the people of God in the time of Micah. Corruption and ungodly ways had spread from the top down. Such can sometimes be the case today in the church. Titles and position can inflate egos; they love to be called pastor, apostle, reverend, very reverend and so on. What is important is not the title you have but the ministry that you are fulfilling. Ministry is not imposing your will on others but service. Jesus said that if you want to be great in the Kingdom of God then you must serve; if you want to be the greatest then you must become as a slave (Matthew 20 vv 26,27). The Pharisees loved to wear religiously distinctive clothing and to be greeted by flattering titles such as “Rabbi”. But Jesus warned against the use of titles like ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master’; He reminded His disciples that they were all brethren (Matthew 23 v 18). If church has developed into a hierarchical structure, have we forgotten that?

Micah’s comments in this chapter are directed at the leaders and rulers of the nation, and at the prophets and priests.

Leaders and Justice (vv1 to 4)

The leaders and princes of the nation had power and authority to administer the law and justice. We expect of such that the best interests of all are served. Everyone deserves to be treated equally and fairly. But for some leaders, and we can think of a few in the news at the moment, such positions of authority give them the power to act in their own interests and for their own personal gain, no matter what suffering and grief might be caused in the process. They have no time for moral considerations. Just as the leaders in Micah’s day, they hated the good and loved evil. In fact, we find the same attitudes at all levels in our own society. Generally people seem to despise those that do good but proclaim their own bad actions as if they were something to boast about and be proud of. No society can survive long if that attitude prevails and becomes predominant.

As far as God is concerned, those who are responsible for His people must not “lord it over them” (I Peter 5 v 3). Ministry is about service. The rulers in Micah’s day were full of their own self-importance and indulged themselves at the expense of the poor and needy. They stripped them of every thing they had. The imagery used shows how exacting it was. They tore the skin and flesh from their victims’ bodies; they broke their bones and chopped them up for the cauldron. It reminds me of how we used to get everything we could from the Christmas turkey: roast turkey on Christmas day; cold turkey on Boxing Day; turkey sandwiches after that; then there was turkey stew and turkey soup. Nothing was left, but the bones. That was a picture of the extent to which these leaders used their position to extort everything possible from others.

Micah reminded them, as we remind people today, that there will be a time of accounting. In that time of judgment, just as they refused to listen to their victims’ cries for justice, so their cries will not be heard. It will be too late. Those who expect to be shown mercy must themselves be merciful.

May we never see the people whom we serve as being simply the means to achieving our own selfish ends or achieving better status for ourselves. They are not just a statistic to improve our own church attendance records in order to boost our standing in the eyes of others.

Prophets and Revelation (vv 5 to 8)

Prophets have a powerful hold on the minds of people. The man who has a revelation from God and who declares “The Lord is telling you …”, has great influence. None of the Lord’s people wants to disobey God. However, how do you know whether the message is from God or just something that the prophet wants? It is an old problem and one which people in Pentecostal churches are well aware of.

Deuteronomy gives two clear guidelines: if what you are told leads you away from God or, if what you are told does not happen, then it is not from Him (Deut 13 vv 1ff. and 18 v 22). In the New Testament, in I Corinthians 14 v 29, Paul gives good advice that discerning judgment must be exercised in these matters.

These prophets of old led the people astray. John warned, “Dear children, don’t let anyone lead you down the wrong path. Those who do what is right are holy, just as Christ is holy. Those who do what is sinful belong to the devil.” (I John 3 vv 7,8 – NIRV). Micah accused them of biting with the teeth. Strong’s Concordance explains that the Hebrew word conveys the idea of “biting with a sting” – like a snake’s bite, it is venomous. But Strong also points out that the term was used in an idiomatic way to signify lending money at a high rate of interest. This is something which God’s people were forbidden to do. Exploiting people in a time of poverty or need to extort “usury” was strongly prohibited in the law. (Deuteronomy 32 v 19). Yet these prophets used their position as “God’s voice” to persuade people otherwise.

If you provided for the prophets (by feeding them), then they would prophesy peace for you. If you did not, then the word prepared for you would be war and disaster. This is clearly wrong but there are many still who try to control people by false claims of private revelations.

Micah declared to them that God would deal with them so that their fraud would be clearly seen by all. Darkness would surround them. Everyone would know that they had no answer from God. They would be thoroughly shamed. Amongst God’s people they would be as repulsive as the leper who had to cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean!” (Leviticus 13 v 45) Then they would be the outcasts. People today must realise that there is coming a day when they must give account, when all secrets will be made known.

By comparison, Micah was a true prophet, full of the Holy Spirit and not afraid to announce the message of judgment, to tell people, whoever they were, that they had sinned, even though it was not popular. (v 8)

Money – a Root of All Evil (vv 9 to 11)

To acquire it, the rulers perverted the course of justice. Their decisions were guided by the amount of the bribes they received. They had built Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. The priests taught for hire and the prophets divined, that is, told people’s fortunes, for money. The whole system had become corrupt and there was no truth in it. Well did Paul warn Timothy that the love of money is a root of all evils. (I Timothy 6 v 10)

We must consider the message well for today. Things in churches, evangelistic and even Pentecostal churches, have changed so much over the last thirty to forty years. Now we receive invitations to meetings where we have to pay to get in. It began with Christian concerts but has now gone on to meetings where the Word of God is being preached. Are we going to start charging the unsaved to come and hear the Gospel being preached next? What concerns some people is that this has been accompanied over the years with reports of certain evangelists who have amassed a fortune as a result of their method of financing. Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, did not even want them to take a collection; he told them to be faithful in their regular giving so that last minute appeals would be unnecessary and the gospel could be proclaimed without charge (I Corinthians 16 vv 1 and 2). Money has been the downfall of many who started off with intentions of serving the Lord. Be careful! It is on the increase: admission charges, fees for teaching or preaching or conducting seminars and conventions, begging letters, appeals promising a reward of a hundredfold more and so on

The Final Prophecy (v 12)

Micah prophesied what for the Jews was unthinkable. These false leaders, priests and prophets thought that it did not matter what they did; they thought Jerusalem and the temple were always secure, because God had promised He would be there for ever. They felt they could impose on His grace and thus “lean on the Lord”. They thought that because God was with them in the Temple, no trouble would ever afflict them. How wrong! God gives grace and gives more grace, but He does not give us grace to continue in sin.

Micah prophesied that the day was coming when Zion would be like a ploughed field, Jerusalem would be a heap of rubble and the temple mount would be overgrown with trees. It was unthinkable. Therefore it was not widely received. But so important was it that when Jeremiah was prophesying the same things in the days in which the prophecy was about to be fulfilled, the people remembered, word for word, what Micah had prophesied over a hundred years before. (Jeremiah 26 v 18)

In the end sin was punished and dealt with. Let us seek to serve one another. Let each esteem other better than himself (Philippians 2 v 3). Let us seek to bless and edify others with the ministries that God has given us.