Vaguely Particular

Vaguely Particular from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.


Micah 6:6-8
6 ‘With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? 
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?’ 
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God

Romans 12:1-8
1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

This is the Word of the LORD
Thanks be to God.

Last week, we explored why we do what we do. We remembered together our family history, and how our gratitude move us into the future as we seek to follow Christ. Our discipleship is a grateful response in faith to what God has already done.

The prophet Micah is looking for ways to respond to God. Yet he is so struck by the majesty of our Lord that he cannot find any gift that is worthy. Bulls? Not enough. Rivers of oil? Insufficient. Perhaps his firstborn? Not really God's style.

How about instead we live our lives differently in response to God's grace? God "has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Looks simple enough. Do Justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God. Three things to make up a holy offering to the one who creates, redeems, and sustains us. Simple.

Too bad simple and easy don't mean the same thing.

The beginning of Romans 12 gives us a similar charge, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Yeah! That's a great idea! We should totally do that!

Just one question.

How do we do that.

How do we present our bodies as a living sacrifice when body image is one of our culture’s the largest sources of shame? How do we not conform to this world when we're surrounded by it all the time? How do we be transformed by the renewing of our minds when we never have a chance to rest? How do we discern the will of God when so many other voices are shouting in our ears?

How do we "Do Justice" when our nation's criminal justice system is so obviously broken? How do we "Love Kindness" when we see so many examples of people who are taken advantage of in their moment of need? How do we "Walk Humbly" when our leaders are never able to show weakness for fear of losing political points?

You know, looking at all these questions, looks like these simple instructions are pretty difficult. Hey God, you sure you don’t want the burnt offerings? I mean, I could probably come up with some calves, some goats, we’ve got some cooking oil in the kitchen, you could have that! We could even get a discount if we ordered in bulk…

No? You’d rather have the justice and stuff? Alright.

Problem is, I think those things are beyond the reach of sinners like me. I know most of the time I’m going to choose to do what benefits me. Most of the time I’m going to love what’s entertaining. Most of the time I’m going to walk arrogantly in front of others. Most of the time I’m going to think of myself more highly than I ought to think.

And yet.

And yet God has shown us, fellow mortals, what is good.

We have seen what is good when God creates each new day, reminding us that God created all that exists with a word and then pronounced them good. We have seen what is good when God liberates the oppressed and brings them to the promised land. We have seen what is good when God sends us into an exile of our own making and then brings us home again so that we will know that the LORD is God. The mighty works of God have shown us time and again, that though we are unworthy, God is good.

God has shown us, fellow mortals, what is good. for god has show us himself, most clearly in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The saving work of Jesus Christ shows us the ultimate good. We know that Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection have rewritten who we are, and the free gift of God’s grace has overwhelmed our selfishness and engraved God’s covenant upon our hearts. Our story is defined by God’s goodness that extends to the cross and out the other side at the empty tomb.

Micah asks us, “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?” The give-and-go transactions fall short. We cannot repay what we have been given. But through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have seen what is good. We can respond to the free gift of God’s grace and confidently approach the throne of the Holy One.

We shall come before the Lord and bow ourselves before God on high with the kind of justice that loves enemies and prays for those who persecute, praying even at the height of suffering, “Father forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” We’ll worship God with the kind of kindness that restores broken people to themselves and their community, that lifts up the fallen and tells them to go and sin no more. We’ll walk humbly with God even when God takes us places we would not choose to go, driven into the wilderness by God’s Spirit, taking the road to Jerusalem even though it means going to the cross.

We are already being transformed by the renewing of our minds. That transformation and renewal come only from the grace and power of the Holy Spirit who is present and active among us. The saving work of Christ defines our identity and is the center of our story. By grace through faith, we are liberated from sin and death, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit to face what challenges lie before us as we seek to worship God, grow in faith, and show God’s love to everyone. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are able to discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For God has shown us what is good through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That grace enables and empowers us to discern God’s will and to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.

Just because we’ve seen it though, doesn’t make it easy. Justice, Kindness, and Walking Humbly with God are still very hard work. Part of what makes it difficult is that there’s not a formula for it! Justice in one situation make look different in another. An action that shows loving kindness to one person might be destructive to another. Walking humbly with God can take us to a variety of places. Our description of what is good, of what is required of us, is delightfully vague. It proclaims that God is free to act differently in particular situations. God’s grace always comes from the same source, but it often takes different, vaguely particular forms.

Part of walking humbly with God is not assuming we’re better than others just because God is acting differently in different communities. As we begin Bible School this week, we’ll explore the different ways God calls us to act, because in God we live, move, and have our being. We’ll have different stations at Bible School not as gimmicks to draw folks in, but because God speaks to people in different ways.

Part of our Presbyterian heritage is listening for God in a variety of places, because God can speak through any voice. “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” God has assigned us each a measure of faith so that we can enact our Christian identity in different way as God calls us.

“For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,” God not only embraces diversity, God demands it. God creates people who think, work, and act differently so that the body of Christ may be a more complete image of God.

“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” We belong to one another, and more importantly, to God. As we respond to God, we may be called to do so in different ways, in different places.

“We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.” So long as we walk humbly with God, our particular calling will focus on the one who created us. so long as we love kindness, each member’s individual walk will be in the footsteps of our redeemer. So long as we do justice, our participation in builtding up the kingdom of God will be inspired by our sustainer.

I may only have a vague picture of the particulars, but God has shown us, fellow mortals, what is good. And I, for one, am excited about where God’s vision is taking us.