Alice finishes our mini-series on Micah’s call do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with a look at the final part of that. Jesus’ humility is not one of passivity but of radical boldness. He knew that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, yet He took on the likeness of a Gentile slave to serve others, and challenges His followers do the same. How can we as Christians, embody this radical humility and how does God empower us, in our humility, to build His kingdom on earth?
How To Be Good - Part 2
‘It is not your sacrifice i desire, but your mercy.’ Jesus recites this Hosea prophecy a couple of times to the religious leaders in his day.. And mercy isn’t necessarily quite what we mean (it doesn’t have any implication of deserved punishment in the Hebrew.) It just means love: committed, unrelenting, care. Jesus life and teaching was unrelenting on this message: It’s not sacrifice, nor the temple (statues!), nor righteous behaviour nor any level of being right that he desires. It’s steadfast love. And it’s a flipping challenging message to hear right now.
How To Be Good - Part 1
The theme of justice is on everyone’s lips at the moment. In order to speak about, fight for and do justice meaningfully we need to know what God thinks about justice. The biblical picture is that all lives are of equal value. But it also says something much more: some lives at some times require much more focused concern. Christians are all called not do simply care about justice, but to do and be justice.