God Is Bigger Than You Think

The Judge called the court to order. The jury filed in, and the reporters took their seats. During the break the deal had already been done, and the outcome of the trial had been guaranteed by a rather generous cheque from the parents of the accused. But this was the part the judge liked best.He waited until everyone was listening to him, and there was absolute silence…
Only there wasn't silence.
Because outside the courthouse a man was walking up and down, holding his banner, handing out leaflets and shouting to anyone who would listen. And it was beginning to get on the judge's nerves.

The High Priest was sitting in his office at the temple trying to put the finishing touches to that Sabbath's sermon. The week before had been a particularly poor week in terms of giving, and he was trying to find just the right words to scare the people back to more generous ways. But he couldn't concentrate…
Because outside his window he could hear the words of the man who was standing on the temple steps and shouting. He went to take a look. And when he noticed that a small crowd had gathers to listen, he decided that something had to be done about Micah the prophet.

In the 8th century B. C. Micah had been sent by God to the people of Israel, the kingdom in the North, and Judah, the kingdom in the South. He was sent to show them how serious it was that they had turned away from God, and how serious the danger was that they faced. And the leaders of the people were a perfect example of how bad things had become.

If you wanted the court to rule in your favour, well, for the right price anything could be overlooked, and anyone could be sent to prison. If you wanted the priest at the temple to accept your sacrifices and pronounce God's blessing on you…not a problem, the more you gave the more favourable the sermon would be.
If you wanted a prophet to tell you that God had good things in store for you and your family? Well, that could be easily arranged… for the right price.

Do you see? The nations of Israel and Judah had become utterly corrupt. There was no justice and no truth anymore, because they no longer paid any attention to God. But don't think that they had forgotten God. They remembered God, and they remembered that they were God's special, chosen people, the descendants of Abraham. They thought they had nothing to worry about.

Do you see?
They had made God a pocket-sized God. They thought that it didn't really matter how they lived because they were the Jews! They had the law and the temple, God was on their side. "Is not the LORD among us?" they said, "No disaster will come upon us."

And so God sent Micah to say you do need to worry, and you should be afraid, he said, because… God is bigger than you think.

In chapters 4 and 5, Micah is going to show us 3 ways in which God is bigger, his plan is greater and his ways are more wonderful, than we think.
That's what we're going to be looking at this morning. But before we do that I just want to pause for a moment to say this. Reading OT prophecy is hard! I hope you've tried to read it, and if you haven't then I hope this short series looking at Micah will inspire you to start reading it. But it's hard, so let me quickly say three things that might help.

1) It was a long time ago and things were a lot different back then.
We don't have prophets these days, and we don't need them, because we have the complete word of God in the Bible. So we're not used to listening to prophets. Reading OT prophets feels like entering a strange world. So we should expect it to be hard.

2) What we read now is not how the people back then would have heard it.
You could read the whole book of Micah in 10 minutes. But as far as we know Micah's preached these words over a ministry that lasted around 40 years. So what we've got today in the book of Micah is probably not how the people back then would have originally heard this message. Again that means it's not easy to read or understand, but it also reminds us that this has been kept for nearly 3000 years for us to read!

3) Very often prophets talked about future events all jumbled up.
When the OT prophets talk about things that will happen in the future… Some of them happened in the immediate future. Some of them were fulfilled when Jesus came the first time, and Some of them won't be fulfilled until Jesus comes again. But we're not told which is which, and sometimes they can jump from one to the other.

Reading OT prophecy is hard! But it's also wonderful. So let's turn to chapters 4 and 5 and see three ways in which Micah shows us that God is bigger than we think.

1) His Plan of Salvation is Bigger Than You Think. (v.4.1-8)

It's hard to imagine nearly 3000 years later how radical these words would have been for the people hearing Micah's message. All through the OT the Israelites had known that they were God's chosen people.
Of all the nations on earth God had chosen them, he had given them the law through Moses. He had given them the land through Joshua and David. And he had given them the temple through Solomon.
They were special. And if other people from other nations wanted to worship their God, well then they would have to become one of them. The would have to move to Israel. If they were male they would have to be circumcised. They had to forget their old ways and become Jewish. And the people, just like their leaders as we saw in chapter 3, had become proud that they were the special chosen people… And now they were told that people from many nations would follow the LORD.

Look at v.3, Micah says that one day God's law would govern nations far and wide. And that they would enjoy God's peace and prosperity. God's people back then were happy with the idea that just the people living in the nations of Israel and Judah were going to be saved. They had a small view of salvation. And as long as they were in, that was enough.

And sometimes we can fall into the same trap. I used to be the Assistant-Minister of a church in Essex. And by God's grace the church was growing. In fact the church was growing so much that eventually we didn't have enough chairs for the people coming along each week. So we had a church meeting to discuss what we should do. And the elders of the church put forward plans for an extension of the existing building, and a more radical plan of knocking down the old building and starting again. And then we asked for questions. And I'll never forget what happened next. One of the men in the church, a good man who had been a Christian for many years put up his hand and he said, 'Why don't we just shut the doors?' Well, we didn't understand what he meant, so we asked him to explain and he said. 'When all the seats are full, why don't we just shut the doors? And if you're too late, it's your fault.' Do you see what he was saying? The church was full, and (as long as he had a seat!), that was enough.

Sometimes we can slip into the mindset of thinking that as long as we're in, and the church isn't too empty, that's enough. But not for God!!! His plan of salvation is bigger than you think. Remember the vision of heaven in Revelation 7

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

God's plan for salvation is vast! And look at v.6, God's plan for salvation is not just bigger than ours, it's wider than ours as well. He includes those people that society often writes off. He chooses those whom we often forget. Like the lame, those who will be scattered in the exile, and those brought to grief. Do you remember the parable Jesus told in Luke 14? The groom invites his wedding guests, but they all make excuses for why they can't come. Then we read this.

The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.

That is a picture of God filling places in heaven. Do you see? Very often our idea of how many will be saved and who will be saved is far too small. God's plan of salvation is bigger than you think.

2) His Ways of Working Are Bigger Than You Think. (v. 4.9 – 5.5)
Three times in 4.9 to 5.5 the same pattern is repeated. As Micah prophesies about the future God says there will be a time of trial followed by a time of triumph. Micah was telling the people something that would happen 130 years later, they would be conquered by Babylon and taken into exile. For 70 years they would suffer in a foreign land.

Trial, followed by triumph. Micah is describing the nations surrounding God's people just waiting to take advantage of her.The nations think that they will destroy God's people, but in the end God will turn the tables and his people wiltriumph.It's not clear when in history this prophecy refers to, perhaps it is a time still to come.But again the pattern is trial followed by triumph.

Finally A time was coming when even the rulers of Israel would be struck down. I'm sure many of you will recognise this passage from our Christmas readings. It's talking about the coming of Jesus, 700 years after Micah. Trial followed by triumph. 

Recently I was speaking to John Gray about a book he was reading. A group of Christians had been asked when it was in their lives that they had grown the most in their relationship with God. What had it been that had been the source of their closest times with God and their faith increased. And they didn't say, 'Listening to sermons' or 'being part of a homegroup' or 'meeting up with a prayer partner' although God uses all of those things. Instead the thing that they agreed had most helped them to mature in their relationship with God, and that had brought them closest to him, was suffering. Too often our view of God is too small. It's pocket-sized. When life gets hard, when tough times come, when trials and temptations seem to be too much and all at once, we start to doubt God. We start to question whether he really loves us, or doubt whether he is really in control. Our faith starts to shake, because our vision of God is too small. We forget that it's through those hard times and in the middle of those difficulties that we grow the most, and learn the most, and see most clearly how glorious God really is.

We fail to see that so often God uses trials to bring about his triumphs. Do you remember what Jesus said in John 15 just a couple of weeks ago?

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Our understanding of God ways are too small. God's ways of working are bigger than you think. And finally

3) His Desire for Purity is Bigger Than you Think.  (v. 5.5-15)
These are particularly hard verses to understand. They start with a picture of what life will be like under the messiah promised in v.2-5.
God's people will be victorious, v.5-6, they won't be oppressed anymore. 'Assyria' in these verses is not literal, but is used as the example of all those who stand against God's people. And one day, Micah is saying, God's people won't face persecution from people like the Assyrians.
In v. 7-9 he looks forward to a day when Christians will live scattered throughout the nations of the world.
At times being a blessing to those countries, "like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass". But at other times it appears that their presence will cause those nations trouble.
Perhaps it refers to a time when leaders of countries will hate Christians and try to get rid of them, but again, v9, God's followers will ultimately flourish? It's hard to tell exactly what these verses mean.

But the real surprise comes in v.10-14. Micah has been talking about God's people being triumphant and victorious and prosperous... but look at v.10-11 suddenly it sounds like the LORD is turning against his own people!

What is going on? God wants to purge his people of any other 'gods', Of anything else they might worship in his place, like images and sacred stones. And I think a similar thing is happening in v. 10 and 11 as well.

God is saying that a time will come when he will take away all the other things that we're tempted to trust in and rely upon. So that we would learn to entirely trust in him.

Do you see? So often our understanding of holiness is too small. We're ok with how godly we are, how devoted to God we are, and how important he is to us. But God isn't. He loves us too much to leave us the way we are. God's desire for purity is bigger than you think.

In the 3 parts of this vision Micah shows us 3 ways in which our vision of God is often smaller than it should be. Our tendency, just like the leaders and priests back in chapter 3, is to turn God into a pocket-sized God.
A God we think we can control, a God we think we can cope with, a God that we're comfortable with. Bit God is bigger than that. He's beyond our control or our understanding. His plans, his ways and his love for us are far beyond anything we can ever grasp or comprehend. His plan of salvation, his ways of working and his desire for purity are bigger than you think.

In Prince Caspian, one of the Chronicles of Narnia, Queen Lucy meets Aslan for the first time in many years.
"Welcome child" he said
"Aslan," said Lucy, "you're bigger!"
"That is because you are older, little one," he answered.
"Not because you are?" she said.
"I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

Let's pray that we would grow in our knowledge and love of God.And that each one of us, day by day, would see that... God is bigger than we think.