What Does God Expect of Us? - Sermon for Epiphany 4A (Micah 6:1-8)
Back during my teen years, a bumper sticker appeared with a request: “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me.” There’s truth in that request, because God isn’t finished with us. But, hopefully, we’re moving toward spiritual maturity, which, according to the Ephesians letter, means reaching “the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). This is a lifelong process. Unfortunately, I think this meme often served as an excuse for bad behavior, especially when that statement was placed on the back bumper of a car that cuts you off.
While I’m thankful that we’re justified by God’s grace, if we read scripture, we discover that God has high expectations of us. This is the message we hear from God through the words of the eighth-century prophet Micah, who lived outside Jerusalem. This prophet was deeply troubled by what he observed taking place around him, as the rich exploited the poor. Throughout this book, the prophet envisions God standing in a courtroom, suing the people, including monarchs, priests, and other leaders, because they fail to act justly.
This is what we encounter this morning in our reading from Micah 6. It’s clear that God isn’t happy. So God demands that the people plead their case before a jury composed of the mountains and the hills. The people respond by asking what God expects of them. What does God require of them? What would satisfy God’s anger at them? Does God expect burnt offerings, rivers of oil, or even one’s firstborn child? Micah answers their questions with a simple declaration. What God expects is that they “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8). Justice, mercy or kindness, and humility. Yes, that’s what God expects of us.
These are well-known words that many of us have pondered and recited. One of the things we discover when we read the prophets is that while worship is important, it’s meaningless if we fail to act justly, kindly, and humbly.
So the prophet pictures God in the courtroom demanding that the people: “Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.” Then God begins to build a case against the people. God reminds them that they had been rescued from slavery in Egypt through the ministries of Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. So, God asks them: “What did I do to you?” “How did I weary you?” In other words, God is asking them how God had failed to honor the covenant made with the people through Moses.
It’s clear that God is an even better prosecutor than Jack McCoy of Law and Order, because the people not only acknowledge their guilt, but they want to know how they can resolve the case. They want to know how they can make things right with God.
The people offer several possible solutions. They start by suggesting burnt offerings of yearling calves or perhaps a thousand rams, along with rivers of oil. Would that do? If these offerings weren’t sufficient, perhaps God would accept their first child as an appropriate sacrifice. After all, this was the practice of some of their neighbors. In other words, they wanted to know how they could be more religious.
Pastor Brett Younger points out that the defendants in this case “are religious, but their idea of what religion means is far from God’s hopes for them. They think that religion consists of worshiping ‘correctly’ and staying away from those who do not” [Feasting on the Word, p. 293]. The thing is, people can be very religious and still be evil.
Consider for a moment the mafioso Vito Corleone in the Godfather movie. He can go to church, have his children baptized, and then, when he gets home, order a hit on his enemies. Just because you go to church doesn’t mean you’re a good person. In fact, even being clergy doesn’t mean you’re a good person. History proves that.
So being religious, going to church, and maybe tithing, might be a good thing, but it doesn’t absolve us from our responsibilities before God. We can’t sweep bad behavior under the rug, because on Sunday we serve as a Sunday School teacher, an Elder, or even a preacher!
It’s worth remembering that the infamous B.T.K. serial killer, who murdered around ten people back in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, was a member in good standing of his local church. He even served on the church council and as a Cub Scout leader.
So if being religious doesn’t meet with God’s expectations, what does God expect of us? Before we get back to Micah’s answer, we might want to consider what Jesus had to say in the Beatitudes that are found at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. When we read the beatitudes, we discover that the people God blesses aren’t the rich and powerful members of society. Instead, God blesses the poor, the grieving, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and those who are falsely charged with crimes. This is a rather counter-cultural statement on Jesus’ part, but it fits with what Micah says about God’s expectations.
In another story from the Gospels, a lawyer approached Jesus and asked him what he needed to do to receive eternal life. Jesus responded by asking him what Torah had to say. The lawyer told him that we should love God and our neighbor. Jesus agreed and told him: “Do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-29). Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of the story because the lawyer wanted to know the identity of this neighbor he was supposed to love. Jesus answered that question with the parable about a Samaritan who responded compassionately to a stranger who had been mugged, even though a couple of religious leaders ignored the man in the ditch. This story probably offended some of the people in Jesus audience because Samaritans were persona non grata to much of Jesus’ audience. But this was Jesus’ answer to the question of the identity of the neighbor whom we’re to love. This brings us back to Micah 6, where God tells the people that what is good and desirable in God’s eyes is that we do justice, love mercy or kindness, and walk humbly with God.
So, when it comes to God’s expectations, worship is appropriate, but insufficient. While Torah teaches us to love God with our entire being, it also asks us to love our neighbors. That’s because, as we read in 1 John, it’s not possible to love God whom we can’t see if we don’t love our brothers and sisters who we can see (1 John 4:20-21). In Micah’s words, that means acting justly, kindly, and humbly.
We are living at a time where even people who claim to follow Jesus are engaging in unjust, unkind, and arrogant ways. Our world is increasingly coarse and even vulgar in its behavior. One of the places we see this is on social media. I picked it because it's an easy place to start.
You may not spend much if an,y time on social media, but I participate on several platforms. While these platforms can be useful, they can also be misused and manipulated. It seems like these platforms can bring out the worst in people, even people who are very devout. Every day I witness people breaking the commandment about not bearing false witness.
A few years back, Angela Williams Gorrell wrote a book for Christians who use social media. She proposed five questions we should ask ourselves when we participate in social media, which I think reflect Micah’s message to us.
1. “Is this information true?” This is an important question because it’s rather easy to pass on misinformation if we don’t pay close attention. Once its out there it’s hard to reel it back in. The damage can be enormous.
2. “Even though I find this funny, is it mean, hateful, racist, marginalizing, and so forth? Does it qualify as harassment, bullying, gossip, or lying?” Here is where that word about loving our neighbors really comes in handy.
3. “Am I OK with my coworkers or peers, potential employers, family, and friends viewing this?
4. “What is my tipping point when I see something bad happening online?”
5. “Am I affirming information or actions that are good and true?” [Gorrell, Always On, pp. 155-156]. When you hit that like button or add your comment, what are you saying to the world?
I think these questions resonate with what Micah and Jesus had to say, especially in this moment, even if neither of them had access to modern social media. I might add this word from Paul, who asked the people in Corinth whether their actions were edifying. So, whether it’s a post on social media or some other interaction with others, does what I have to say edify and build up, or does it tear down? We can add to that the question of whether our actions express love for our neighbors, knowing that Jesus’ definition of a neighbor is much broader than we might think. After all, when Jesus offers the parable of the day of judgment, he declares that the ones who are blessed are the ones who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and those in prison (Matt. 25:34-35). This, it seems, is what God expects of us.
Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pulpit Supply
First Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Troy, MI
Epiphany 4A
February 1, 2026
Image Attribution: James, Laura. Sermon on the Mount, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57891 [retrieved January 31, 2026]. Original source: Laura James, https://www.laurajamesart.com/collections/religious/.
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