Living Room Study

Micah 2

“‘Stop your preaching’, they preach. ‘They should not preach these
things; shame will not overtake us.’ House of Jacob, should it be
asked: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are those the things He
does?’ Don’t My words bring good to the one who walks uprightly?”
Micah 2: 6-7

There is, at the moment, a serious debate within the “Church”. The
debate is over how to present the gospel: should we focus on God’s
forgiving love, or on His standard by which mankind will be judged?

Personally, I believe we should present both, equally. To me, that
is what sharing the whole gospel is about. It’s what the bible would
call, “not straying from the path”.

“Watch the path of your feet, and all your ways will be secure. Do
not turn to the right nor to the left; turn your foot from evil”
Proverbs 4: 27

God has given us the Bible, to show us how we should live. In the
Bible, we understand God’s Holiness, man’s sinfulness, Jesus’
gracefulness, and the Christian’s thankfulness.

When we stray to the “left” of the Bible’s instruction, we abuse
God’s liberty by rebelling against accountability. Too far to the
“right”, and we worship the discipline of religion, while denying
ourselves God’s gracious gift of a personal relationship with Him.

A healthy “walk” with Jesus is a balance of freedom with
accountability, and discipline with a personal relationship.

In the days of Micah, the liberal “left”, so to speak, had taken the
Lord’s grace for granted…to the point that they worshipped Idols.
Understand, that they had not completely abandoned the Lord. They
simply presented the “positive” aspects of God’s loving provision and
denied the reality of His hatred of sin, which leads to judgment.

This led to spiritual compromise: Adonai + idolatry. They sought
after a religion that allowed them retain a primary identity with the
Lord, yet didn’t isolate them from sinful desire, or profitable
political relationships with other nations. Does this sound familiar?

Whenever the prophets would preach of the true standard of God,
Israel would reject their message. It would be very confusing for
anyone on the outside, because both parties claimed to be God-honoring
Jews. Given the options, the average person would probably go with
the religion which asked “least” of you, while promising the most
liberty.

We read God’s Word, so we can know the truth, and walk straight down
the middle of it. Lord, grant us the opportunity & the boldness to
share the “whole gospel” with others.

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins