At Your Service
Read Micah 3:1–5:15
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1. “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,
2. but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.
3. Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.
4. Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”
5. This is what the Lord says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.
6. Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end.” Micah 3:1-6
Many people regard teaching as an underpaid profession. “Teach because you love it,” they say. “Don’t do it for the money. The hours are long and the hassles are plenty.” The same could be said for related professions, such as preaching and social work.
Ironically, this set of prophecies contains a harsh message for some preachers and teachers who have found a way around their profession’s classic compensation problem. But their cure is worse than the disease, and God says it’s not all right.
Micah’s words also contain one promise that is still to be fulfilled, and another that already has been, and is still being, celebrated.
Some of Micah’s sternest words condemned religious leaders who accepted bribes or who ministered only if they were compensated well for their work (Micah 3:11). The priests and prophets of Israel had come to love money more than their jobs—a serious problem of inverted values.
When Christians preach or teach for personal rewards, the point of their ministry evaporates. “Ministering” means “serving.”
Whenever you serve or minister to others, do it cheerfully and willingly—for Christ—even if no one pays or rewards you for it. And encourage other Christian workers to do the same by never using your giving to impose your preferences on them.
