Sermons on Micah 6:7

that in your light we may see light, in your truth find freedom, and in your will discover peace. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Amen. As many of you know, I have a tradition every year before departing for study leave and some Sabbath rest, I deliver a sermon entitled The View From Here. This is number 19. I should say a word about the numbering, how that happened. Actually, the first sermon that I preached here in August of 2008 was entitled The View From Here. And so even though I'm just finishing my 18th year, this is sermon number 19. This practice has its roots in an invitation that Joyce Hanson issued during my first visit to this beloved church in the winter of 2008. she said, standing right down over there, Scott, why don't you stand in the pulpit? And I did. In the Atlanta church that I served at that time, the windows out the back of the sanctuary looked out on these impossibly tall Atlanta pine trees. …

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This past weekend I was in California to celebrate my abuelita Mencha's 100th birthday. We had a huge celebration, a family reunion, but this was a quick trip for us. On Monday morning as we were leaving my parents' place and headed to LAX to the airport, my dad gives me a big hug and he says to me, be humble, siempre. Be humble, always. Now that wasn't a surprise to me. He says this to me almost every time we say goodbye from a trip. He has said this to me on big milestones like graduations and my ordination and sometimes just casually on the phone as we say goodbye. Throughout the years of him saying this to me, I've had different interpretations of what he means by this. Be humble always? Is this a caution or a warning? Is this an encouragement? When I'm not at my healthiest, I feel like my dad is accusing me of having a big ego. And usually when I feel this as an accusation, my ego is probably a little inflated at that time. And yet what I think my dad means is a reminder to not do things alone. That I can't do anything outside of doing things alongside God and outside and I can't do things outside of community. When I do things completely on my own, then my ego and pride start to get in the way. Now pride isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like it's important to have pride in oneself. But pride can be dangerous. What I mean is there's a time when your pride …

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5. This faculty seems to be what is usually meant by those who speak of natural conscience; an expression frequently found is some of our best authors, but yet not strictly just. For though in one sense it may be termed natural, because it is found in all men; yet, properly speaking, it is not natural, but a supernatural gift of God, above all his natural endowments No; it is not nature, but the Son of God, that is “the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world.” So that we may say to every human creature, “He,” not nature, “hath showed thee, O man, what is good.” And it is his Spirit who giveth thee an inward check, who causeth thee to feel uneasy, when thou walkest in any instance contrary to the light which he hath given thee. 6. It may give a peculiar force to that beautiful passage to consider by whom and on what occasion the words were uttered. The persons speaking are Balak the King of Moab; and Balaam, then under divine impressions (it seems, then “not far from the kingdom of God, “although he afterwards so foully revolted): Probably Balak too, at that time, experienced something of the same influence. This occasioned his consulting with, or asking counsel of, Balaam, — his proposing the question to which Balaam gives so full an answer: (Micah 6:5ff.:) “O my people,” saith the Prophet in the name of God, “remember what Balak the King of Moab consulted,” (it seems, in the fullness of his heart,) “and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. Wherewith,” saith he, “shall I come before the Lord, and Bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with calves of a year old? Will the Lord by pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression? the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (This the kings of Moab had actually done, on occasions of deep distress; a remarkable account of which is recorded in the third chapter of the Second Book of Kings.) To this Balaam makes that noble reply, (being, doubtless, then taught of God,) “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” …

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