A Challenge From The Prophet Micah

The past two months of preaching at Scum of the Earth Church have found us taking a journey through the book of Micah. This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching on Micah 6:1-8. This is the passage that contains the famous injunction to “Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.” As I prepared for my sermon, I found myself pondering the question “Where is God walking that I may walk humbly with Him?” As usual, Jesus provided the answer. I have been reading through the gospel of Mark lately and this particular passage has grabbed hold of me. Mark 2:15-17 (NLT) says “That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus). But when some of the teachers of religious law saw him eating with people like that, they said to his disciples “Why does he eat with such scum?” When Jesus heard this, he told them “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call sinners, not those who think they are already good enough.” There is the answer to my question “Where is God walking?” He’s with the sinners. The scum of the earth. The people who have no pretense about being good enough. In other words, the humble and the lowly. Why? They needed a doctor. They needed Jesus, and they weren’t afraid to admit it. Sinners liked being around Jesus, and Jesus liked being around sinners. But sadly, today, sinners don’t seem to like to be around the church. We tell them that they are welcome to come in when they are seeking salvation, but how often do we go out to seek them with salvation? So I’m taking a bit of a risk. Every Friday morning from 10 to 12 a few others and myself are going to walk the Capitol Hill neighborhood in downtown Denver, the neighborhood where Scum has always made our home and where our heart lies. We are going to pick up trash, ask business owners if we can pray for them, get to know the homeless, and in general try to make ourselves available as instruments of justice and mercy. Please pray for us. We hope to meet some sinners.