Our God is a God of blessings, not curses (Micah 6:3-5)

Delivered at Church of the Good Shepherd on January 30, 2011

Something I've learned over the years, especially being a Christian, is that sometimes, actually many times, it is best to stay silent and listen, and then ask questions when they are appropriate. Bishop Martyn Minns says he listens to people, until he can ask a really good question, so he can get them talking some more and maybe think through what they are saying. A friend of his told him once that he did not believe in God. Bishop Martyn responded, “Oh really? Tell me about the God you don't believe in.” “What?” “Tell me about the God you don't believe in—describe that God.” And his friend does, and then the two of them find out that Bishop Martyn doesn't believe in that God either. In fact, no Christian believes in that God. That God was a caricature made up by people who don't believe to feed others who don't believe.

That's how asking questions really help us out, especially when people try to attack Christianity. Like, when someone tells you that there are so many contradictions in the Bible. “Really? Tell me about them.” That sounds much better than, “nuh-uh!” “What?” “Tell me about the contradictions. Tell me about one.” “Well, one Gospel says Jesus gives a Sermon on the Mount, and another Gospel says he gave a sermon on the plain. Which is it?” That's an actual problem people have with the Bible, and some Christians have gone so far as to respond, "um . . . well, it must have been on a plateau!” Of course the easier answer is that Jesus gave two sermons at two different times and in two different locations. His ministry lasted three years. He had to have preached more than one sermon, perhaps?

Tonight's contradiction is one of my favorites: “The God of the Old Testament is mean and angry, and the God of the New Testament is sweet and kind. They can't be the same God.” Now, Pastor Fred with all his fancy book learning can answer that one and say something like, “well, the God of the Old Testament shows much more mercy than anger, and actually, Jesus talks about Hell more than anyone else in the whole rest of the Bible.” But in Micah 6, we get to hear God defend himself directly, so I'm going to let him do it. So, here's God defending himself. Think of a trial court. The mountains and hills are like character witnesses, because they are the oldest things on earth. They were here from the beginning, and they can attest to God's character. The accusation against God, much like the accusations against Christianity that I talked about before, is that God has cursed Israel, and God now makes his case by asking some questions.

Micah 6:3: What have I done to you? How have I wearied you? The questions are challenging Israel's assumptions about God. They challenge what we today think about God. There's what we think on the one hand, and then there's the truth on the other hand. Well, let's answer the questions God poses to us. What has he done to us? How has he wearied us? What we think is that our God is a God of wrath. God loves to punish. We may say that we don't believe that and that we believe in God's mercy and grace, but later this week we will be groaning and muttering, “Why me, God? Why did you let this happen to me?”

Now, the truth. God presents his evidence in verse 4. “I brought you out of Egypt, out of slavery.” We can read in Exodus that God actually did this. He freed an entire people group from slavery. We also know from reading the Gospels and from our own lives that he frees people out of slavery today. When someone who was lost to God is suddenly found, it's like being brought out of Egypt. The evidence is that our God is a God of great mercy and peace. That's not enough! God now brings in witnesses in verse 5: “Remember what Balak king of Moab devised and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him.” What did king Balak devise? He wanted God to curse Israel. He wanted God to be a God of curses. What did Balaam the seer answer? Everytime he was asked by the king to curse Israel, he instead blessed Israel.

We can see all this play out in Numbers 22 through 24. Balaam is called by the king to curse the Israelites, and we have him standing up there on the mountain, and it's like an Abbot and Costello routine. Four times the king says, you need to curse them, and Balaam says, okay, okay, I'm going to really curse them this time, and he opens his mouth, and a divine blessing comes out. God won't let him curse Israel. It's sort of funny, but the blessings are really beautiful. Israel is strengthened, because God is a God of blessings and not curses.

Now, in the Old Testament, Israel is interacting with God the Father, who is this vast mind. Sometimes it is tough to see that he is a blesser and not a curser when we read about little people interacting with this vast intelligence. Now, when Jesus comes, we have God in the flesh, and we can physically see him in action and see that he is a blessing God. Let's look at Matthew 3:7. John the baptist sees the Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to where he baptizes, and he warns them of the oncoming curse: Brood of vipers. Repent. The axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The one coming after me will baptize with fire. He has a big pitchfork, and he is going to clear the threshing floor. The chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. It's easy to skip over the word “unquenchable.” I do it all the time, before I remember: that's an everlasting fire that cannot be put out. That's a lot of burning.

But Jesus finally sits down and speaks to the crowd in Matthew 5. This is the sermon on the mount. What does he begin to say? Does he say, time to get out the pitchfork? Time to burn some chaff! Here's what he says to the people:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who mourn.
Blessed are the meek.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Blessed are those who are persecuted.

Now, these aren't blessings aimed at the same people that John the Baptist was cursing earlier. But we can really see God's nature here: he is a God who blesses. The threats of John the Baptist aren't necessarily things that God carries out directly on the Pharisees and Sadducees. God does not inflict curses. But God blesses the list of people I just read, and the Pharisees and Sadducees aren't on the list. They will not receive the blessings. They have chosen to reject the blessings. And being outside of God's blessing feels like a curse. We need to remember that when someone says that God has cursed them, that is only what it feels like. What they really mean is that they themselves have chosen to reject God's blessings, and when we reject God's blessings, we have cursed ourselves.

When we live outside of God's will, it feels like we are cursed. And when bad things happen to us, we hold God accountable. This lost world also loves to hold Christians accountable for what they blame God for. I want to pray for a woman named Emily. She's a cashier at K-mart. She's in her 20s and when she saw my collar she snickered. Three young boys, about high school age, were ahead of me in line. She told them that God was in the house. They saw me and they started making fun of me, loud enough for me to hear. Now, I'm not complaining to you. This is not about my persecution. I can handle that. This is about Emily. Before she got to serve me, she heard some bad news from her boss. She either had to stay late or do some stockroom stuff or something that made her visibly upset. She looked very sad when I got to her. Even though she had instigated my ridicule, I blessed her and told her to hang in there. She did not have a very happy life, it seemed, and by her attitude toward me, I could tell that she blamed God for her misfortune.

God is a God of blessings and not curses. If she only knew that God is in her corner. Listen to the first beatitude again. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. That's Emily. She was poor in spirit. Jesus says that we must pray especially for those who persecute us. Pray for those who hurt us. Pray for our enemies, because that person is the one who needs Jesus even more than we do. The one who is brought up from rock bottom into the presence of the savior has traveled the greatest distance. Let's pray for Emily, who is currently in slavery in Egypt. Let us pray that the Lord will release her from bondage and will shower her with his blessings.