Rebellion in the Kingdom—Part Two

Micah 2:1-13

Main Idea: Israel and Judah rejected the King’s commands and instead chose deceit, coveting, stealing, and lying.

1. I. Their Love Replaced by Duty
2. II. Their Obedience Replaced by Rejection
   1. A. They chose deceit over truth.
   2. B. They chose coveting over contentment.
   3. C. They chose stealing over earning.
   4. D. They chose lying over honesty.
3. III. God’s Patience Replaced by Discipline
4. IV. Their Love Replaced by Self-Service
5. V. God’s Blessing Replaced by Disaster

Rebellion is always directed against authority figures. In nearly every instance, people rebel in response to a command. Obviously, I have nothing to rebel against until someone gives me a command. When I receive a command, however, I am confronted with a choice—I can submit and obey, or I can rebel and disobey. Ultimately, my decision will be based on my perception of the truth claim behind the command.

Recently I visited the Grand Canyon. When I was there, I saw several posted signs warning me to stay away from the edge of the canyon. These signs served as a command for me—“Do not approach the edge!” I accepted the truth of this command for several reasons: (a) there were no railings; (b) there was a strong wind; (c) there was loose rock near the edge; (d) the canyon floor was at least 1,500 feet below the rim. Consequently, this was an easy command for me to obey. Apparently it is not such an easy command for others to follow. Every year people fall to their deaths off the cliffs at the Grand Canyon. Those people reject the truth claims behind the commands and choose instead to rebel against them. Ultimately, however, rebellion against the truth claim of one in authority is the root cause.

Today we live in a culture that is rebelling against God’s truth in epic proportions. As Christians, how should we respond to this? This is an important question for us to ask ourselves in this crazy world, and it is the question that Micah was asking the people of Israel and Judah in the seventh century BC. Clearly, culture may change, but the human heart remains the same in every generation. In Micah chapter 2 we’re going to see the response of the people to this question.

Their Love Replaced by Duty

In the previous chapter we were reminded of an event in Jesus’ life when the Pharisees confronted Him. In that exchange Jesus said that love for God and neighbor was the foundation on which the entire Law and Prophets rested. As a result, we understand that the thing necessary for people to remain in covenant relationship with God is an authentic love for God and neighbor. However, the people in Israel and Judah had lost sight of this truth. And as people are prone to do, they replaced love with duty as the motive behind their covenant responsibilities.

Duty is an interesting word. In its simplest understanding, duty is a moral or legal obligation. When we use the word duty, we are often referring to one’s need to pursue a course of action out of a sense of obligation rather than personal desire. I’m certainly not one to dismiss duty as an important aspect of personal integrity. We do not necessarily enjoy doing everything that must be done in our lives. For instance, everyone enjoys certain aspects of their job more than they enjoy others, but all of the tasks must be completed, even if the motive is duty. The same is true in marriage. When I entered into a covenant marriage relationship with my wife, I obligated myself to certain responsibilities. While I strive to fulfill them on the basis of love, at the end of the day, duty still demands that I follow through. This is the nature of a marriage covenant—or any covenant for that matter.

Israel and Judah discovered over time that duty alone is an insufficient motive for loyalty and obedience. Duty alone was not strong enough to keep them connected to God in covenant. After a while they began to grow weary of the demands God had placed on them as a nation. I can hear the people of Judah now: “Can you believe I’ve got to go back up to Jerusalem again and give another sacrifice? How many times should someone have to do this? And I’ve got to give my BEST CALF! My Philistine neighbor doesn’t have to do all this stuff to worship his god. Man! Obeying God is such a pain!” It didn’t take long for covenant loyalty and obedience to disappear. Similarly, the people soon discovered that duty alone isn’t a strong enough motivation for ethical living—only authentic love for God and neighbor can provide the proper motivation to accomplish this task.

That is what Jesus understood. Love is the only thing that can motivate us at all times to do the things that God wants to do. Notice the following diagram again:

This is the paradigm God has given us for loving God and neighbor. Love is the motive. On the right side of the chart, as we saw in chapter 1, God’s desire is that we will love Him with our whole hearts, which will cause us to be loyal and obedient to His will, which in turn leads to freedom in our lives. Freedom, not bondage, is a result of walking in obedience to God’s commands. It is a protection mechanism that positions us to have God’s favor in our lives.

The left side of the diagram represents the second thing that Jesus mentioned: love for neighbor. When we love our neighbor in a way that pleases God, it will result in affection and hospitality. When we have affection for our neighbors, we care about them and what happens in their lives—their struggles, their successes, and their failures. This is affection. Love is what produces the ability and desire to care about my neighbor. When we practice hospitality, we are demonstrating that we care for our neighbor. In today’s world, practically speaking, we have limited the meaning of the word hospitality to refer to the act of having someone over to our homes. The truth is, even using this definition, it may have been a long time since we’ve had someone to our homes and practiced hospitality, unless we’re members of a small group. Sadly, many of us have ceased to care for others.

But genuine hospitality is far more than just having someone over to our home. Hospitality is any action we take on behalf of another person to care for them in some way. It may be providing food, clothing, shelter, or some other tangible need. We can also care for people emotionally and spiritually. In fact, we demonstrate that we care about our neighbor and care for our neighbor every time we use our gifts in ministry through the church, provided that we are motivated by love and not just duty. Remember, Jesus said that only love will provide long-term motivation to care about and care for our neighbor.

Their Obedience Replaced by Rejection

When we turn our attention to Micah 2, we find that the culture had changed in Israel and Judah. God’s model, as I’ve just explained it, was not being used in either nation. As a result, God was about to judge Israel and Judah. In Micah 1, Micah demonstrated that the people had rejected God’s covenant. In chapter 2 he will demonstrate that they have rejected God’s commands. This actually makes perfect sense when you think about it. If we reject the first four commandments and replace God with idols, then the other six commands, which define how we care for our neighbors, become unnecessary. In the culture of Israel and Judah, God’s commands had really become just an afterthought.

They Chose Deceit over Truth

The first thing to notice about the people is the condition of their hearts—they were deceitful (v. 1). The people had yielded to deceitfulness. If I’m not letting God shape my heart, my heart is “more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). We are capable of every type of sin unless we allow God to work in our lives.

The leaders in Israel and Judah—the political leaders, religious leaders, and business leaders—were failing to model love for God and neighbor. Rather, they were spending their time trying to figure out whom they could exploit next. Micah pictured them lying in their beds asking, “Whom can I steal from today?” Why could they do this? Because “the power is in their hands” (Mic 2:1). These were people of influence who had means and opportunity to accomplish their evil plans. The leaders were guiding the people away from God and His purposes. They were restrained neither by fear of God nor by any regard for justice. They had abandoned their love for neighbor. We ourselves live in a culture where we face the same challenges. We look to our leaders, who should inspire us to goodness, righteousness, and truth, yet it seems that they only care about themselves. Rather than care about the needs of people, they are focused on their own circumstances and success. Such is the temptation and danger of a heart that rejects God’s commands.

They Chose Coveting over Contentment

This practice of planning evil had created numerous other ways to disobey God. The leaders had developed covetous hearts. Here in verse 2 we see the tenth commandment violated: “Do not covet . . . anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exod 20:17). In 2:8 Micah wrote, “But recently My people have risen up like an enemy.” God was saying that His people were acting like His enemies because they had rejected His covenant and His commands. How were they doing this? Micah continued, “You strip off the splendid robe from those who are passing through confidently, like those returning from war.” Foreigners were traveling through Israel and Judah, and the people were taking advantage of them. These weren’t foreign armies or raiding parties—they were just ordinary people. Yet God’s people were looking for ways to separate them from their possessions. Who knows how creative they had become? I can picture someone stopping a traveler in front of his house with these words: “Hey, where do you think you’re going? You can’t travel on this road—it’s a toll road. But I’ll let you pass for that fancy jacket you’re wearing.” Visitors often traveled through the land of Israel and Judah, and they trusted God’s people. Yet the leaders of the people were looking to steal from them because they coveted their possessions.

They Chose Stealing over Earning

Clearly, the people had become comfortable with stealing. This is violation of the eighth commandment, “Do not steal” (Exod 20:15). Stealing had become a way of life for them as love for neighbor had been abandoned. According to verse 9, the leaders in Israel had grown brazen in their coveting and stealing. They were even willing to force widows out of their houses, stealing the inheritance away from their children. What depth of evil is this? But, again, once love for God and neighbor has been jettisoned, every other command will be abandoned too. A culture that embraces stealing can always justify its actions. People say to their neighbors, “You’ve got too much anyway. You won’t even miss it if I steal it. Besides, why should you have something that I don’t?” Sadly, this had become the thought process in Israel and Judah. Now, I would expect this if Micah were talking about Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, or any of the other unregenerate people groups mentioned in the Old Testament. But Micah wasn’t writing to them; he was writing to the Jews—people who have the covenant and the law and who know better.

They Chose Lying over Honesty

Micah continued to reveal the depth of their sin in 2:11. The people had become content with lying, in violation of the ninth commandment, “Do not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exod 20:16). Liars led them, and so the people followed their example. Micah said that even the religious leaders were liars. They were content to share a message that was simply a lie. I’m sure they sounded like many of the false teachers in our own day: “You’re doing just fine. You don’t need to worry about how you live. Just be positive, think happy thoughts, and everything will be great in your life! Imagine how you want your life to be, and then speak it into existence by faith. You don’t have to worry about sin. There’s no such thing as consequences. God loves you! He is gracious! Everything will turn out great in the end!” Such are the lies of every false prophet, in both Micah’s day and our own. A steady diet of these lies made it easy for the people to become expert liars. It was now part of their religious DNA. God’s people had embraced deceit, coveting, stealing, and lying, and these sins now defined their lives and culture.

At the heart of all these sins, however, was one fateful decision—they had rejected God’s truth. God had told them what He required. He had called them to be loyal and obedient, but they had refused and rebelled. You can’t love your neighbors and treat them deceitfully; you can’t love your neighbors and covet and steal their possessions; you can’t love your neighbors and lie to them or about them, all the while convincing yourself that everything is okay simply because culture says it is.

As you can imagine, the people hated Micah’s message. Quite frankly, they wanted him to stay quiet: “‘Quit your preaching,’ they preach. ‘They should not preach these things; shame will not overtake us’” (2:6). I can almost hear the people ranting against Micah, “Enough with the heavy-handed preaching already! Everything’s cool; at least, that’s what all the other prophets are saying! We’re Abraham’s kids—we’re going to be fine! Stop already!” They weren’t Micah’s fans.

God’s Patience Replaced by Discipline

In Micah 2:7 we see God’s response. God can hardly believe what He is hearing! While the people were living in denial, believing that all would be well because of their national identity, judgment was right around the corner. God had been more than patient with His people, urging them through the prophets to repent of their sin and renew their covenant loyalty and obedience. Yet they continued unabated in their sin. Finally, God asked an amazing question: “Don’t My words bring good to the one who walks uprightly?” God was reminding His people that covenant blessing results from covenant loyalty and obedience. God said, “My word is a gift to you, and you’re rejecting it. It is the key to My favor and blessing in your lives!” This is the important truth God wanted them to understand: His word always brings good to the heart and life of the one who receives it. Unfortunately, His people were ignoring it at best, or rejecting it at worst.

So it is with us today. The problem is never with God’s Word. The Bible always accomplishes the work ordained for it by God. The problem is always in our own hearts. If we don’t love God’s Word, it’s because we don’t love God. This text should convict us and give us pause when we think about our own hearts and our own propensity to be deceitful and covetous, prone to stealing and lying. Like Israel and Judah, we dwell in a culture that tacitly affirms all of these activities. If we’re not careful, we can be drawn into the subtle lies of culture. Like the leaf that slowly meanders downstream, we can be pulled slowly along until we awaken one day to find ourselves way downstream, looking just like the culture around us. And God, who is our Father, must now discipline us because we’re not allowing His Word to shape our lives. As a pastor, I am just as susceptible to this as anyone in God’s kingdom. I acknowledge that this is a difficult message to hear. I understand the attraction of preachers who tell you that you can name and claim your way to success and prosperity, but that’s not going to help you in the long term. God’s truth helps us, and it stands at odds with a culture like Micah’s and our own.

Their Love Replaced by Self-Service

Earlier in this chapter we saw the paradigm that God created for His people. It represented His will for them as they loved Him with their whole hearts and loved their neighbors as themselves. The following chart demonstrates what the people chose instead.

On the right side of the chart, we see what happened when the people replaced God with idols, swore allegiance to them, and found themselves in bondage. We are reminded when we look at it that if we choose this approach to life, we will experience the same outcome. Yes, God stands ready to forgive us if we confess our sins, but we are not free to determine the consequences that will accompany them.

The left side of the chart reveals the choices they made in regard to loving their neighbors. They had become a culture that was totally self-absorbed. Sounds like our own culture, right? Everything was about their happiness and success. Everyone around them was just a prop in their own personal dramas, existing solely to make their lives better. Rather than love their neighbors with affection and hospitality, the people in Israel and Judah chose to love themselves. In doing so they discovered a simple truth: When you love yourself, you will focus on two very selfish things.

First, you will be concerned with your own self-preservation. You will be concerned about yourself and what you have to do so that your world is the way that you want it to be. If you have to covet to get what you want, so be it. If you need to steal what you want, that’s okay too. Remember Bernie Madoff, the former nonexecutive Chairman of NASDAQ? He ran a Ponzi scheme that is thought by some to be the largest of its kind in history. He swindled thousands of people out of billions of dollars. How does that happen? It happens when there is no love for neighbor and the primary purpose for life becomes self-preservation. If one must covet, steal, and lie to preserve the kind of life one wants, then that’s just the way it has to be. Madoff wanted to be a multimillionaire, own amazing properties, travel to exotic places, and run in the circles of the elite. I’m sure he thought, “What’s the big deal? I have a lifestyle to support. Get over yourself and quit being so judgmental!” His sentence of 150 years in prison gives evidence of the foolishness of his choices.

Second, the byproduct of self-preservation is self-service. Left unchecked, self will totally dominate your life. That was the condition of both Israel and Judah when Micah preached these sermons. It’s easy to see why they didn’t like them. If you embrace self-love over love for your neighbor, you will begin to make every decision on the basis of its personal value to you. How will this decision benefit your life? How will it make you more successful? How can it make your life more enjoyable? As a result, you will avoid any type of activity that is inconvenient or impedes your own personal agenda.

God’s Blessing Replaced by Disaster

Because the people had adopted a lifestyle of self-preservation and self-service, God was preparing to take drastic actions against them (2:3-5). The key word here is “disaster.” We’ve already seen that word in 1:12. The Hebrew word can mean “bad,” “evil,” or “wicked,” but you get the idea. God wasn’t talking about a blip on the radar screen of their lives; He was talking about the epic destruction of their nations. He was preparing to put a yoke on the neck of His people, and it was a yoke the people would not be able to pull off. God said, “My discipline is going to be so severe, I’m not only going to take you out of the land, I’m going to give your land to foreigners.” God had been calling the people back to Himself for years, but the time had come for judgment. Still, the people continued to ignore Him. They were so in love with the culture around them, they could no longer hear God’s voice. So they simply said, “Quit your preaching . . . shame will not overtake us” (2:6).

When I read this, I cannot help but be reminded of God’s purposes for our lives. God saved us to live for His glory, not to succumb to the philosophy of our secular culture. God wants us to love Him, not the idols we are so prone to erect in our hearts. He wants us to love our neighbor, not be consumed by thoughts of self-preservation and self-service. God saved us to set us free from those things. He wants us to care about the people we encounter in our lives—our family, friends, acquaintances, and even total strangers. And because we care about them, we will care for them, looking for opportunities to show God’s love by meeting their needs.

When God speaks to us about things He wants to change in our lives, we have two options. We can ignore Him, like Israel and Judah did, or we can listen to Him. God wants us to listen to the Holy Spirit, confess our sins, and follow Christ. When we do, we will experience God’s blessing. But if we choose to ignore God, then He must take steps to save us from ourselves. God is a loving Father—His discipline, though painful for a season, will ultimately produce the “fruit of peace and righteousness” (Heb 12:11). James gives us the simple solution: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas 1:22). God wants us to love Him and our neighbors, being motivated by truth so that our lives bring glory to God.

Sadly, many people have placed their hope in culture. They are allowing culture to define their self-concept, their personal priorities, and their understanding of success. They are hoping to navigate the challenges of life through their own abilities, yielding to every sin imaginable as they embrace a philosophy of self-preservation and self-service. However, Micah reminds us where real hope is found.

Hope can never be found in the dictates of sinful culture. Hope can only be found in Jesus. Love for God and neighbor frees us to experience God’s blessing and to share that blessing with others. When we live with our hope centered on Christ, and our lives are demonstrating love for God and our neighbors, the difference will be so obvious that it will point people toward Jesus so they can find hope too!

Reflect and Discuss

1. What are the positive and negative aspects of duty? When is duty a blessing to our faith, and when can it be a burden?
2. Samuel told Saul that obedience is more important than duty (1 Sam 15:22). Why is this so?
3. The Bible teaches that rebellion is similar to the sin of witchcraft (1 Sam 15:33). What do rebellion and witchcraft have in common?
4. Rebellion against God’s commands begins with the rejection of God’s truth (1 Sam 15:23). Why is it so hard simply to obey God’s truth as He has revealed it to us?
5. Why does obedience result in God’s favor (Ps 84:11)?
6. What is the relationship between love for neighbor and affection and hospitality?
7. What practical steps can you take in your life to begin to care about and care for the people around you for the sake of the gospel?
8. What is the relationship between love for self and self-preservation and self-service?
9. Self is our greatest enemy when it comes to loving our neighbors. After all, serving others is rarely convenient and often costly. What practical steps can you take to make yourself more proactive in loving your neighbors?
10. Reflect on the influence of culture on your personal ethics. The people in Micah’s day had become careless with coveting, stealing, and lying. Have these things found a place in your heart in any specific ways?