Micah 6:8 - Homiletics

True piety: its exalted character.

"And what doth the Lord require of thee," etc.? The standard God has set up for human conduct is very high. His law covers the whole range of man's relationships, and demands lofty attainments. Note—

I. PIETY AS DEFINED IN THE TEXT IS VERY EXALTED IN ITS NATURE . See this:

1 . In its eminently practical character . It is to enter into all the concerns of our daily life. It does not ignore the emotional in man, but it insists upon holy feeling being transmuted into holy service to God and to man.

2 . In its being synonymous with morality . The distinction often drawn between "a religious man" and "a moral man" has no recognition here. God's Law has two tables—the one having reference to our obligations to God, and the other to our duties to man; and, correctly speaking, the term "morality" can only be applied to those who are endeavouriug to heed both these requirements, and he has no claim to it who regards only one of these tables, and that the lesser, and who virtually excludes God from his own Law. And the converse is also true. As there can be no true morality apart from piety, so also there can be no true piety apart from morality; in other words, that these cannot practically be separated. Profession and life must go together, and be in harmony; it is the union of religion and morality that constitutes the life of true and vital godliness.

II. THE CONTEMPLATION OF THIS EXALTED NATURE OF TRUE PIETY IS CALCULATED TO EXERT A DEPRESSING INFLUENCE UPON OUR HEARTS . When we reflect upon the Divine requirement in the light of our own actions and conduct, we feel how infinitely and painfully short we have fallen below what we ought to have been. The standard set up is so lofty that we fear we shall never reach it. "It is high, we cannot attain unto it," we cry, and almost feel despairing and hopeless.

III. BUT WITHAL THERE ARE GLORIOUS ENCOURAGEMENTS .

1 . The Divine purpose . What encouragement lies in the thought that he who has revealed this perfect Law for human conduct, and who has the hearts of all men at his own disposal, will not rest until by the power of his grace and Spirit he has so touched and elevated the life of man as that the ideal shall become actual, and the race be delivered, fully and forever, from guilt and sin.

2 . The obedience of Christ. In accordance with this Divine purpose, God gave his own Son, and the Christ appeared amongst men. Think of the life he lived, and how complete a transcript of the Divine Law it was And whilst he exemplified that Law in his life, in his voluntary surrender to the stroke of death as a sacrifice for human guilt he put lasting honour upon it. By that memorable death he declared silently the purity of the Divine Law, and attested the righteousness of the penalty attached to its violation. It has been truly said that "man convinced of sin is ready to sacrifice what is dearest to him rather than give up his own will and give himself to God" (W. Robertson Smith). It is easier to offer "to come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old," than to lay our proud wills at his feet and to yield to him our hearts. But as we contemplate the obedience of Christ and his yielding himself up for us, and see in him expressed the great Father's love, that which was difficult becomes light—we own ourselves subdued, we view sin now in the light of the cross, and see its loathsomeness, and desire to be more entirely delivered from its practice, whilst as we contemplate God's Law, under the influence of the feelings and emotions thus excited within us, we are impelled to cry in all the fulness of a consecrated heart, "I delight in the Law of God after the inward man!" ( Romans 7:22 ); "O how I love thy Law!" ( Psalms 119:97 ).