Leaders Held Accountable

Well, now let's turn to God's Word.

You know, I found these concepts stripped straight from the headlines from the last

couple of years.

Pastor found embezzling money from large church.

Church leaders exposed for cover-up of sexual abuse charges against pastors.

Pastors who are having affairs claiming, look at this church, God is blessing this church

with new buildings, growth in numbers, and we are reaching more than ever.

God is on my side.

The common thread in all of these headlines is that these leaders used their position

for selfish gain at the expense of those that they lead.

They've gained power.

They've gained money.

They've gained fame.

They've gained illicit pleasure because of the roles that they have.

How do we think about this?

How do we think?

How are we to think when we find church leadership abusing its position and power to serve itself,

not the Lord, nor the congregation, nor the community that it is in?

Friends, this is what our passage this morning in the book of Micah will look like.

If you want to turn there, we're going to look at Micah 3.

We're starting in…that's page 729 in your pew Bible.

And as you're turning there, just remember, Micah was a prophet at the end of the northern

kingdom of Israel and the ongoing existence of the southern kingdom of Israel.

He prophesied most likely over the Assyrian invasion of the northern kingdom and the Assyrian

threat to Jerusalem itself.

Micah prophesied to a nation and to God's people as they were struggling to come to grips

with what was going on in their nation and in their church.

And the book is likely a compilation of prophecies.

And we don't always know the specific historical context of each chapter or each oracle that

we see.

But it's not difficult to see his overall theme.

The overall theme of Micah is that God's judgment is coming because of the sin of Israel,

its leaders, and its people.

Yet he will not forsake his covenant people, but promises to be to them a God like no other.

This is the big picture of what the book of Micah is telling us.

And in our passage today, he sets his sights specifically on the leadership.

And he pronounces oracles of judgment on them while offering a whisper of hope.

So let's read Micah 3 together.

Again, that's page 729 in your pew Bible.

Let's read it and then look at it for a few minutes this morning.

And I said,

Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to know justice?

You who hate the good and love the evil,

who tear the skin off my people and their flesh from off their bones,

who eat the flesh of my people and flay their skin from off them

and break their bones into pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.

Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time

because they have made their deeds evil.

Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,

who cry peace when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.

Therefore, it shall be night to you without vision

and darkness to you without divination.

The sun shall go down on the prophets

and the day shall be black over them.

The seers shall be disgraced and the diviners put to shame.

They shall all cover their lips,

for there is no answer from God.

But as for me, I am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight,

who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Its heads give judgment for a bribe,

its priests teach for a price,

its prophets practice divination for money.

Yet they lean on the Lord and say,

is not the Lord in the midst of us?

No disaster shall come upon us.

Therefore, because of you,

Zion shall be plowed as a field,

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house of a...

and the mountain of the house of wood of...

let me try that one more time.

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Let's pray and ask God for his help as we read his word.

Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning,

and Lord, we hear the tone of this passage.

Lord, I pray this morning that you would have,

Lord, for us a word.

Lord, we pray that you would humble us before your word.

We pray, Lord, that you would,

Lord, open our hearts to receive your word,

and our minds to understand your word.

And I pray for your help,

that I may proclaim it faithfully.

Lord, that we would together sit under your word this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So sometimes when we preach,

we preach through the passage sequentially,

and then the first point is about the first couple of verses,

and then we go on.

The prophets aren't always like that.

Prophets often have cycles.

And so that's how we're going to preach through this today.

We're actually going to preach through the cycles of judgment,

because there are three of them in this passage.

Then we'll figure out,

think through how to apply them.

And then finally,

we're going to look to Micah's and our ultimate hope

in light of this passage.

So if you're taking notes,

that's our outline this morning.

First, we see what are the cycles of judgment?

What are the charges that Micah brings

against the spiritual leaders,

the covenant leaders of God's people?

We see them, there are three of them.

Verses 1 through 4 is the first one.

Verses 5 through 7 is the second one.

And verses 9 through 12 is the third.

We're going to ask a few questions about that.

First of all, who are they?

Who are the leaders that he is targeting?

Well, you see the phrases,

heads and rulers in verse 1,

and then again in 9-11.

This likely referred to the kings,

or those in more political power.

We see the prophets mentioned in verse 5 and 11,

and we see the priests in verse 11.

What we need to recognize and remember

is that in the Old Testament covenant community of people,

the religious leadership and the political leadership

and the social leadership were all overlapping.

They didn't have distinct branches of government.

These roles were often intersecting with one another, right?

And so we need to recognize that as God is bringing this word

to the Old Testament covenant community,

it has this overlap.

And we'll think a little bit further on about how we apply that today.

But for now, we need to see he's talking to this range of people,

prophet, priest, and king, if we want to put it that way,

who were meant to be leading God's people,

and yet were failing in doing it rightly.

What were the charges?

What were the particular ways?

Well, in verses 2 through 4,

we see that they are perverting justice

by calling good evil and evil good.

It doesn't explain exactly what this is.

If you were here last week,

Tyler explained in a lot more specifics

of what chapter 2 explained

about the way that there was economic injustice

and taking of lands and things like that.

But here, what Micah does is simply say,

you are calling something that is right wrong

and something that is wrong right

in the way that you are leading.

And then he says,

what you are doing,

it's like you're a bunch of cannibals.

You are stripping the people of everything they have

down to their very lives.

You are devouring them

by your selfish and self-serving ways.

We see a hint in verse 10-11

that even the civic building projects of the city

were done so at the expense

of the very life of the citizenry

that that was meant to serve.

So that's the charge we see in verses 2 through 4.

In 5 through 7, we see a charge against the prophets.

What is it that they're doing?

It seems what they're doing

is they are changing or adjusting their prophecies

based on what they're getting back for it.

Look with me at verse 5.

It says,

who cry peace when they have something to eat

but declare war against him

who puts nothing in their mouths.

Wrestling with that,

what does it seem to be saying?

He seems to be saying the prophets,

if you come to the prophets and give an offering,

give them food,

give them money,

give them whatever it is that they're looking for,

if you're filling their mouths

with the things that they want,

then they will bring you blessing.

Oh, the Lord is with you

and the Lord will do well.

But if you don't have anything to bring to them,

it is war against you.

Woe be to you.

Their spiritual leadership

is dependent on what they're getting

from those that they're called to serve.

And they've lost their ability to speak for God

because they're speaking to fill their own bellies.

Their words are no longer trustworthy,

are true.

And they bring silence and darkness

upon the people

because they can no longer speak for God.

Then we go on

and we look at the oracle in 9 through 12.

We see those who are making judgments

are taking bribes.

In fact, in verse 11,

it seems everybody is taking bribes.

Prophets, priests, and kings,

they're all saying,

hey, if you give me something,

I'll give you something back.

They're making straight things crooked

by the way that they're warping

all of their leadership

to serve themselves.

And what should be centered about God's glory,

about God's justice,

about leading people

and even the world to worship God,

instead becomes about the leaders,

their glory, their comfort.

And it's destroying the people.

And finally, in the second half of verse 11,

you see their hypocrisy.

Because while they're leading

in all of these evil ways,

those who have been entrusted by God

to lead well,

instead, they are saying,

God is blessing my evil leadership.

God is blessing what I am doing.

They violated the covenant requirements

for leaders.

They lean on the presence of the temple

and the fact that Jerusalem has not fallen.

Look with me at verse 11,

the end of it again.

They lean on the Lord and say,

is not the Lord in the midst of us?

No disaster shall come upon us.

The presumption,

the spiritual arrogance,

and the pride of these leaders

is shocking.

They serve themselves

and claim that God is blessing them.

This is a word of judgment

that God brings.

He is exposing their sin

and He is warning them.

And while this passage may have

secondary application

to political leaders,

to institutional leaders,

to leaders of households,

certainly there are resonances

of character and quality and focus,

like what are you doing

as you're providing leadership

in lots of different areas?

I want to argue this morning

that the primary application

of this passage

is to the church.

Because the Old Testament community

was this overlapping

civic religious community,

but in the transition

into the New Covenant community,

post-Jesus resurrection,

the New Covenant community

was a transnational,

not civil or state body,

body,

but the church

and the leadership

of the church

is called

to account

in this passage.

And it brings me no joy

to say that we see

some of these leadership failings

in the church today.

With humility

and with tears,

we recognize

that these things happened.

As your pastor,

I know some of you

have been wounded

scarred

by the leadership failures

of the church.

And look, it's easy.

We could sit back

and look at those

outside our circles.

We could look at

the Catholic Church

and sexual abuse

by priests.

We could look at

the prosperity gospel

and their stealing money

from widows,

promising financial blessing

in its false promises.

We could go after

the false healers

that have worked out

a system

in order to make it

look like.

They're providing

these miracles

when they're not.

We could look at cults

that take over

bank accounts

that separate

those disciples

from their families

that abuse women.

We could look at

all of them

and feel pretty comfortable,

couldn't we,

if we wanted to do that?

And look,

we need to recognize

all of these things

are terrible.

They are perversions.

And for those

who suffer

under these leadership,

it produces destruction

in their lives.

But friends,

that's not how we apply

the Bible,

by thinking,

well,

who are the people

out there,

not about me,

that we need to look at?

We need to look at ourselves.

We need to look

at our own tribes,

our own circles,

our own church.

those in our circle

of Christianity.

We have held up

celebrity pastors

like Mark Driscoll.

And yes,

I'm going to call him out

because he failed

in his leadership

because he made it

about himself.

Ravi Zacharias,

he failed in his leadership

because his personal life

had nothing to do

with his public ministry

and he claimed

to speak the truth of God

while hiding his sin.

Friends,

we're on Southern Baptist Church.

And last year,

the Southern Baptist Church

released a report

that said

the leaders

of our denomination

failed

over and over again

to respond

to allegations

of sexual abuse

by pastors

in the church.

The leadership

failures

on multiple levels

in that.

So let us not

throw stones

at others,

but let us look

at our own house

and see

that we too

may fall into this,

have fallen into it

in some places.

Leaders who lead

for their own benefit,

gaining money,

fame,

and pleasure.

Leaders who make

false assurances

about spiritual health

while hiding sin.

Leaders who are not

ultimately serving God

and people,

but who use

God and people

for themselves.

God and people

in the church

in the church

and people

in the church

and the church

says God will hide

his face

from his people.

In verse 7

it said God will be

silent

to his teachers,

his prophets.

And in verse 12

there is this picture

that I couldn't read

this morning,

but you understand

a picture of total

devastation.

Jerusalem,

Zion,

which is the Old Testament

word specifically

about the spiritual value

of Jerusalem

being the center

of God's kingdom

on the earth

and a picture

of the heavenly kingdom

that's going to come.

He says Zion

will be plowed

like a field

and Jerusalem

will be

like a pile

of rubble,

a wilderness

where the trees

are growing

in the middle

of the plazas.

God warned them.

And you know

what's remarkable?

We read in Jeremiah 26,

18 that Hezekiah,

the king,

actually heard this.

Verse 12

is quoted

in Jeremiah

that Hezekiah

heard this warning,

responded to it,

repented,

turned to the Lord

and for a time

God relented

on this judgment

that He had prophesied

because of that faith.

And yet we also know

that a hundred years later

because they persisted

in their sin,

the leaders,

the kings of Israel

persisted in it.

So in 586

when Babylon

finally came

they raised Jerusalem,

they sowed salt

in the fields,

they tore down

the temple,

the walls of the city

were broken,

and the people

were taken

into exile.

God did not let

these ungodly leaders

stand forever.

He brought judgment

upon them.

And it might have been

if you were

in Israel

in say

690 B.C.

and you're watching

all this terrible

leadership happening,

you think,

where is God?

What is He doing?

Well,

He finally did show up.

And we do know

that though the wrong

seems oft so strong,

God is the ruler yet.

Reading through the book

of 2 Peter,

He reminds us that

there will be leaders

like this in the church.

They will come

and they will preach

false things

and they will use people

and they will take

advantage of people.

But in the end,

God will judge them.

In the end,

God will bring them.

He will have

His day of justice

and He will build

His church

and the gates of hell

will not stand against it.

He will not let

these selfish

and destructive leaders

escape His justice

forever.

So how do we apply

these things?

I've suggested

that we too

are in a similar situation.

What do we do

with a passage

like this?

How do we make it

come home for us?

First of all,

as a leader

of this church,

I am reminded,

there but for the grace

of God go I.

And I ask you to pray.

Pray that the leaders

of this church

will not fall

into these sins.

I can stand before you today

and say,

as far as I know,

we do not live

in these patterns

of selfish leadership.

but I also want to say

that I need to keep

asking myself

as a leader,

am I in any way

like this?

Has my heart

become hardened

so that I'm

justifying sin?

Has my motivation

become warped

so that I'm ministering

for selfish reasons?

Am I doing this

because it's about me

and what I get?

Or it's about God

and His glory

and the good

of His people.

Not only do I ask you

to pray for us

as leaders,

but I ask you

to talk with us

that we might

examine ourselves.

If you have concerns,

bring them to us.

Don't be afraid

of raising them

with us

because we want

this word

to never be true

about the leadership

at Trinity Baptist Church.

We may need your help.

It also causes us

to think through

how do we engage

with a broader church?

How do we engage

with our circles

and our tribes,

our denominational failures?

How do we bring

clarifying truth

and justice

and righteousness?

How do we bring

the truth of God's word

to bear on these things?

And here's where

I'm going to say something.

I don't know if you guys

are going to agree

with me or not,

but here we go.

I think we have

a temptation to say

we must be like Micah.

We love to step

into the role

of the true prophet.

We want to be the ones

speaking truth to power

and be the savior

of the church.

And I'm wary

of that approach

because I think Micah

points us elsewhere.

First, we see

that in Micah 6, 8

at the heart

of this book.

He has told you,

oh man, what is good

and what does the Lord

require of you

but to do justice

and to love kindness

and to walk humbly

with your God.

And our engagement

with our spiritual leaders

should be shaped

by these words.

Let me speak plainly.

Cancel culture

is an unhealthy spirit

of judgment

and condemnation.

It has a lust

for winning

and a pleasure

for toppling leaders.

We love to sit

in the seat of judgment

on others

and it fills our hearts

with an ugly

self-righteousness

and we lose sight

of Micah's call.

We are called

to do justice,

not always

to enforce justice.

We are called

to love mercy,

not judgment.

We are to walk humbly

because there

but for the grace

of God go I.

And it does not mean

we are silent

but it means

that the way

that we speak

must be different.

It must be rooted

in God's word

and it must be

spoken humbly

and ultimately

it must be spoken

in faith.

Faith in something

that is bigger

than us

because what we'll see

in Micah,

what we'll see

in the next couple

of chapters in Micah

is that though

he brings these

oracles of judgment

and warning,

he says,

I will come.

I am not blind.

I am not helpless

to this state

of my people.

I will come

and be the ultimate judge

and the redeemer

and the ruler

and the king.

I will come

to do these things

for you.

And I think

that's the appropriate

application

of verse 8

as well.

So as we close,

let's look at verse 8

for a second

because this is where

in the middle

of these oracles

of judgment

the prophet

interjects himself

and he says this,

as for me

I am filled

with power

with the spirit

of the Lord

with justice

and might

to declare

to Jacob

his transgression

and to Israel

his sin.

Micah says

there's a true prophet

sent by the Lord

who will bring

these things.

This prophet

will come

knowing what

the leaders

the sinful

selfish leaders

don't know

because they don't

know God's word

but this one

does know

God's word

and he will come

to lay bare

the transgressions

and the sin

of the people

so that he might

redeem them.

this word

verse 8

reminds us

that though

God's leaders

have failed

their people

God has not

failed his people

and though

they have

abandoned

the people

God has not

abandoned them

and in the fullness

of time

God sent

this one

the fulfillment

of verse 8

Hebrews 1

says in the last

days God

spoke to us

spoke to the

fathers

through the

prophets

but now

in these

last days

he has spoken

to us

by his

son

Jesus

comes

as the

prophet

and the

priest

and the

king

he comes

as the

righteous

judge

who will

judge

all things

fairly

and equitably

he will

come as

the true

prophet

the word

of God

the very

word of

God

given

to us

he comes

as our

high priest

the one

who intercedes

for us

by offering

himself up

and then

interceding

for us

with all

of his

authority

as the

great leader

of God's

people

he comes

as a

son of

God

for our

redemption

and how

does he

do it

he heads

to the

cross

just as

Jerusalem

was raised

and ravaged

so Jesus

was stripped

just as

Jerusalem

was made

a desert

so Jesus

was sent

out on

a hill

to die

just as

Jerusalem

was abandoned

my God

because of

its sin

so Jesus

bearing our

sin on the

cross

cried out

my God

my God

why have

you forsaken

me

this is the

leader

that God

has sent

for his

church

this is the

only hope

that this

church has

that Christ

would be

our head

and he

exerts

his greatest

authority

not by

putting us

under his

thumb

but by

laying down

his life

for us

to redeem

us out of

our selfishness

out of our

pride

out of our

rejection

of God

to redeem

leaders

out of

arrogant

self-centered

self-serving

leaders

and to redeem

a church

of people

who will

truly be

to his

glory

that one

day a

new

Jerusalem

will come

down from

heaven

and it

will not

be a

plowed

field

and it

will not

be a

wilderness

but it

will be

a glory

of life

with God

and this

is what

Jesus brings

to us

and this

is our

hope

in the

midst of

this

oracle

of judgment

so friends

let us

recognize

how prone

we are

to be

the ones

who need

our sin

to be

exposed

and let

us look

to the

one

who has

not only

exposed

our sin

but who

has taken

it away

by bearing

it on the

cross

for us

let's pray

together

oh lord

have mercy

on your

church

lord we

pray that

by your

spirit

you would

refine

your

church

that you

would lay

bare the

sin of

leaders

lord we

ask that

you would

rescue us

lord rescue

us from

our own

sinful

hearts

and rescue

our church

from the

destruction

that comes

from sinful

leaders

oh lord

jesus we

pray

lord that

we would

instead turn

to you

and see

you to

be our

true head

our true

great shepherd

one who

has come

and loved

us and

laid down

his life

for us

that we

might be

his

forever

oh lord

we ask

that you

would turn

our hearts

to worship

you

in spirit

and truth

lord that

through your

mercy we

might be

saved from

this judgment

and that we

might be

your people

for your

glory

pray this

in jesus name

amen

turn

see you

م

go