WEEKLY SUNDAY
SCHOOL LESSON
An international
Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday July 12, 2015
Over 81,000
readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com
NO
TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPT LEADERSHIP
(GOD’s
justice cleans out corruption)
(Micah
3)
In Micah chapter three the prophet
delivers three oracles, or prophesies, to the rebellious leaders of Israel. Like
Isaiah and Amos, who prophesied alongside him in that same era, Micah knew,
saw, and experienced the underlying moral and spiritual decay that had corroded,
and eroded, the very foundation of a once-faithful GOD fearing society.
Little is known about
Micah, other than the fact that he lived and prophesied in the eighth century
B.C. during the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, however his resounding
book contains a total of three messages, or warnings for the wayward children
of Israel, and, for the Christian community today. They come to us from across
the spans of time, regarding theirs, and our corrupt leadership in the church,
and, in the Christian community at large (Micah 1:2-2:13, Micah 3-5, and Micah
6-7).
The name “Micah” is
short for “Micaiah” and it means, in the Hebrew, “Who is like Yahweh?” The name
stood as an eerie reminder to Israel, and, to us, who seemed to have forgotten
where their blessings came from. Just like in all other prophetic messages,
here GOD is reminding the people of their abandonment of the Mosaic Laws that
were intended to hold man to the lofty standards of “moral and spiritual
behavior” that is commanded by GOD.
GOD made us in HIS OWN “image”
(“tselem”) (Genesis 1:26-27), which means we are HIS “figurative representatives”
here on earth”, and so we are to act accordingly. The word “image” (tselem)
does not mean that we look like GOD, GOD is Spirit (John 4:24), and therefore,
does not have a physical image for us to look like. If we are to resemble GOD,
then, the only way to do that is to act like HIM, or reflect the same human examples
that CHRIST JESUS exhibited to us through HIS behavior while HE lived here on
earth.
As northern Israel and
Judah continued to pursue and live out their worldly fantasies (acting like
their earthly fathers), the ALMIGHTY GOD was hard at work building their enemy,
Assyria, into a formidable world power. In time, HE would allow the great
Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser III to gain control of the northern kingdom of
Israel, and then use his son Shalmaneser to complete the conquest by laying
siege on Samaria in 722 B.C.
Through Micah, the LORD
had already denounced Israel’s oppression of its own people. HE had also
denounced their pride, arrogance, greed, corruption, and religious hypocrisy
(Micah chapters 1 and 2), and now here in chapter three, verses 1-4, we see
GOD’s faithful prophet pointing out to the leadership, their special
responsibility, because they, of all people, were supposed to know and
recognize good from evil. However, through their actions, they had only shown a
desire to disobey the edicts of GOD by embracing evil, and rejecting that which
is good, the total opposite of a people who were to represent GOD, here on
earth.
In this passage, Micah
likens them to a pack of wild carnivores, who, thrive on the very flesh of
their own kind, and then, in their time of need, they brazenly turn to GOD for
HIS righteous support. He warns them that, not only will HE, not listen to them,
HE, in fact, couldn’t even stand to look at them. They would now have to live
with the consequences of their actions against GOD, and endure the judgment for
the evil deeds perpetrated against their own brothers and sisters in the LORD.
In the Hebrew the word
used most often for “peace” is “shalom” (shaw-lome) and it means more than just
“the absence of war”. It is also expanded to include “the presence of health,
wholeness, and security. In verse 5 the LORD says that false prophets promised
a peace that they themselves could not possibly deliver. Only GOD, WHO controls
all things, can deliver true peace. And while the false prophets lied to Israel
about its “spiritual condition”, Micah spoke out boldly for justice, and
continued to hold up the sins of the people to accountability under GOD.
Even in today’s Church,
false religious leaders who turn a blind eye to corruption in the Church, declaring
the foolish demonic statement that “they can’t judge”, will be held accountable
to GOD in the end, as being partially responsible for all sin in the Church,
not just their own sin. GOD expects HIS Church leaders to use “diakrino
judgment” toward HIS people, rebuking them for their bad behavior, using HIS
Word as their standard for judgment, not their own opinions.
When Church leaders
allow, and participate in, sinful behavior, especially in the Church, they show
GOD plainly that they hate justice and twist all that is right (v.9). They
build their churches on lies and deceit, and murder and corruption. They accept
bribes from wealthy members who want to get their demonic agenda across, and
they teach only because they’re getting paid to do so. And then finally, despite
their incorrect teachings, which they are paid to do, they boldly proclaim that
they are working for the LORD, and that no harm will come to them. They have
actually learned to deceive so well, that they have actually deceived
themselves into thinking that GOD is actually with them in their satanic
actions (Vs.10-11).
If the Church doesn’t
get things right with GOD, and begin to “seal up the spiritual cracks” that
dominate the ceilings of our so-called Christian Churches, HE says, that HE
will plow them under and reduce them to rubble. And if you don’t believe it, we
can take a trip down memory lane to, first, Shiloh (1 Samuel 4), then the
temple that Solomon built (586 B.C.), then the temple that Ezra, Nehemiah, and
Zerubbabel built, then to the temple that Herod the Great built, without
instructions, or permission from GOD (A.D. 70).
If the history of the
bible tells us anything, it tells us that GOD will not hesitate to tear down a
religious system gone bad, and start all over again using fresh new people who
have a proven heart for HIM, and desire very badly to do things HIS way, not
theirs. GOD’s justice will always clean out corruption in the Church, and HE
has absolutely no tolerance, for corrupt leadership in any church that calls
itself by HIS name, and in today’s society, that name is of course, “Christian”.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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