CMLC 2026-02-01 Sermon

Most of us think we know the story of Joan of

Arc. She's the teenage peasant girl who hears

voices, puts on armor, leads an army, saves France,

and gets burned at the stake. Tragic, dramatic,

but simplified. She shows up in textbooks, paintings,

statues, and Bill and Ted's excellent adventure.

So we think we know her. But that familiarity

actually makes it easy to miss what actually

happened. Joan of Arc was not having vague spiritual

feelings. She claimed specific visions from Saint

Michael and other saints, telling her that France

had been wrongfully invaded, that the English

needed to be driven out, and that she was to

help Charles the Dauphin, not Charles the Dolphin,

the Dauphin, to be crowned king. I know, I got

it confused too. Against every social expectation,

a teenage girl with no rank, no education, and

no power convinced military leaders to give her

an army. And she was right. She helped break

the siege of Orleans, a turning point in the

war. She escorted Charles to Reims where he was

crowned king, securing his claim to the throne

finally. She didn't just inspire people, she

changed the course of history. And that's when

she became inconvenient. She embarrassed powerful

men because she was a teenage girl with no noble

lineage, telling generals what to do and being

right. She disrupted political alliances by church

leaders who were far too comfortable cooperating

with corruption and foreign power and revealed

their compromises. She claimed direct guidance

from God, though the church tightly controlled

who could speak on behalf of God. When she was

captured, she begged for a fair trial for church

counsel for the protections she was entitled

to under church law and was denied all of it.

The trial was a performance. The verdict was

decided before questions were even asked. The

church leaders saw evidence right in front of

them, but accused her anyway. She wasn't condemned

because she was proven false. She was condemned

because she no longer served the interests of

those in power. and at 19 years old Joan of Arc

was burned alive as a heretic. Justice was not

found that day. 25 years later, the church reopened

the case. The trial was declared corrupt. The

verdict was overturned. The truth hadn't changed.

It's just that time was needed to reveal it.

Joan of Arc's life reminds us something very

uncomfortable. Sometimes faithfulness is punished

long before it is honored. And sometimes justice

is delayed so long that it looks like it may

never come at all. Joan of Arc is easy to honor

now because time has done the hard work for us.

History names the corruption. Distance from the

event made the verdict safe. We can look back

and be honest without being offended. We can

condemn what happened to her without risking

our own egos. But the harder question is this,

what corruption looks obvious to God now, but

feels normal to us? Not what corruption looks

obvious to us, what corruption looks obvious

to God. Joan didn't fight for chaos. She fought

because something was wrong. A people had invaded,

a crown had been stolen, yet there was a longing

beneath it all for order, for truth, for something

that would last. That longing was not the problem.

It was what the church did to get it. And that's

where Micah begins. Not with villains that everybody

agrees on, but with God standing in court against

His own people. Micah opens with God calling

the mountains as witnesses because this is not

just some petty argument. This is about foundations.

It's about what endures. Everyone wants something

that lasts. And in people's eyes, what lasts

longer than power, reputation, success? And when

all of Israel is falling into the same issues,

he has to ask the very mountains to be his witnesses,

even though I'm pretty sure they don't have eyes.

Israel had been worshipping other gods and playing

the games of the other nations, but God saw the

corruption that they would not admit. For all

that they kept justifying themselves, they were

never actually the victims. Jones' judges thought

they were preserving stability, but God was the

one making the indictment. Just because there's

no earthly conviction, doesn't mean there's no

corruption. And Micah saw that firsthand. He

reminds us that God sees beyond outcomes. It's

not just, did you get what you wanted? He sees

the processes, the motives, the trade -offs that

we justify in the name of the greater good. You

see, Christians, we don't usually abandon God

outright. Not obviously. We get impatient with

Him. God, you need to hurry up. Christians watch

the world advance using methods that feel ruthless,

efficient and effective, and then we get frustrated.

We tell ourselves, if we don't play the same

games, then we're just going to lose. Nobody

likes to lose. Power tolerates authentic faith

only until that faith refuses to be managed for

winning the games. And when power justifies itself

as fighting the powers of darkness, Suddenly,

everyone somehow seems to have a demon. Micah

6 -3, Oh my people, what have I done to you?

How have I wearied you? Answer me. God is not

thundering here. He's wounded. God is hurt. He's

saying, when did I become the obstacle in your

life? God is saying, when did my expectations

become unreasonable to my people? When did obedience

start sounding stupid and naive? God is not confused

about what He wants from us and He is not impressed

by what we offer instead. He has always wanted

the same thing. And it has never been served

by our great ideas and scheming to get our way.

God has always been able to do things on our

behalf without our compromise, without our corruption

or selling out or lying to ourselves. God never

needed us to be anything but faithful. And God

would thereby be glorified. He has always been

able to do far more than our faithfulness alone

than we could ever imagine. But what do we bring

instead? You see, when we sense that something

is off, we don't usually repent first. Let's

just be honest. Our first choice is not, I'm

very, very sorry, I shouldn't have done that.

We negotiate. We bargain. We argue. even with

God. The people in Micah, they escalate almost

comically how desperate they are to try to prove

that they are good. More sacrifices, thousands

of them, rivers filled with oil. Even their firstborn?

It's kind of creepy. But more offerings, bigger

sacrifices, louder religion, costlier displays,

in trying to secure what we think we need to

be good and godly people, we often sacrifice

what God actually asked of us. So what has God

actually asked of us? He has told you, O man

and woman, what is good. And what does the Lord

require of you? but to do justly and to love

mercy and to walk humbly with your God." That's

it! No escalation, no spectacle, no bargaining.

He has shown you what is good. There's nothing

hidden here. There's nothing complicated. There's

nothing reserved for experts who tell us not

to believe our own eyes when we see what is wrong.

What does God want? Justice to shape how we treat

other people. Mercy to shape how we respond when

others fail. Humility to shape how we understand

ourselves before God. Micah reminds us that God

isn't asking for us to make large shows, or grandiose

arguments and debates, or supposed victories

by our own power. He's asking for us to be aligned

with His Kingdom in who we are. The church itself

is the place where We keep convincing ourselves

we can find the kingdom of God, but scripture

and history itself keep showing that time and

time again when those who are on the inside are

the very ones who are undermining justice, mercy,

and humility. The question that lingers is not

whether we objectively admire justice, mercy,

and humility. Sure, those are good things. It's

whether we ever actually practice them. Even

when they cost us something and y 'all the youth

are watching us and Doubting if God is even real

based on our lives But then along comes Jesus

Seeing the crowds Jesus went up on the mountain

and he taught them the mountains are again bearing

witness But this time, the rock is not merely

hearing an indictment, it is hearing a revelation

because the cornerstone himself is standing on

the mountain. But before we start reading these

batitudes, I've got to pause for a moment because

we've heard them so often. We need to remember

that they are not just a recipe for trying to

get things from God. You do these things and

God will give you everything. It is not that...

It's not as if once we believe that we've arrived

at every one of them, then we're going to believe

that God is giving us everything we want. They're

not transactions. This is a description of what

it looks like to live in God's kingdom. They

reveal the kingdom He desires. So before we misunderstand

them, let's be clear. Jesus is not glorifying

the suffering we may go through. He's not saying,

well, start making yourselves miserable and then

I'll finally be happy with you. This isn't that

eat your vegetables because misery is holy kind

of a thing I mean I remember as a kid we were

like traveling around with my fifth grade class

and we went for dinner at this place and they

served us this bowl of lettuce and tomatoes and

stuff and I'm sitting there like Why did you

do this to me? What is happening here and all

the other classmates? Started eating it without

any complaints and my only thought was traitors

What are you doing? And I ate it, and I suffered

through it. But it was only until later that

I realized this will nourish you, even if you

don't trust it just yet. Just add extra ranch

dressing and you'll be fine. But you see, the

Beatitudes, they show us how the kingdom of God

actually exists. Anything that we do to avoid

them, especially when we know what God desires,

that's what we need to fear. See, Jesus begins

to be attitudes with words that we don't want

anywhere near our lives. Blessed are the poor

in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed

are the meek. Who wants that? Those are not goals.

They're not aspirations. They're not places that

we want to find ourselves, but rather they are

where we find ourselves when life does not cooperate.

No one prays for poverty of spirit or asks for

grief or wants to feel powerless. Sometimes it's

just simply where we are. I was talking recently

to one of my friends who was struggling with

her daughter for years. Even before graduation,

there was a lot of tension, there were arguments,

and a sense that nothing that she said was ever

being heard. And even after graduation, the distance

feels even sharper. And I'm sitting there thinking,

isn't that just what teenagers do? I thought.

But she kept saying, almost like a warning and

a defense, this is going to blow up in her face.

All of this will blow up eventually. And it will.

But the quiet shift came whenever this mother

finally paused and said, it's still going to

be okay though. Because the pain, it's not that

the pain of whatever the consequences will be

won't matter. It's not that teenagers are always

going to make every best decision possible, but

rather knowing something deeper. is that when

everything does fall apart, her daughter will

know exactly where to turn. She will know that

there is a place where she is safe, where she

is welcomed, and that her failures are not going

to be weaponized against her. That's what the

kingdom looks like when things don't go the way

that we planned. Because when we find ourselves

in broken situations, how often do we panic?

We're trying to escape them, trying to change

it. We make really dumb decisions to do so. When

we're poor in spirit, when we scramble, when

we're afraid of losing control, it's amazing

what we sometimes try to do to get it back. When

we're mourning and the sorrow threatens to hollow

us out, how often do we keep ourselves too busy?

When we're meek, we become convinced that everyone

is taking advantage of us, and then we try to

figure out how to do it to others instead. But

Jesus says something. entirely different. Because

being poor in spirit does not mean that you're

empty. It means you finally recognize where your

riches truly lie. To mourn does not mean that

you are broken beyond repair. It means that you

are able to love. You are able to hope. And something

or someone mattered enough to you to grieve.

And to be meek is not something that we need

to erase or be ashamed of. It's refusing to build

your life on taking advantage of others. Even

when the world tells you that that's the only

way forward. Because Jesus, he begins here because

these are the people through whom the kingdom

is visible. The poor, the mourning, the humble,

and meek. Those are the ones who reveal the kingdom

the most. Because then that's where there's space

for everyone else to bless and to love. Blessed

are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who

mourn. Blessed are the meek. But sometimes it's

only here that we finally learn how real the

Kingdom of God really is. And then He keeps going.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And let's just be honest, do we actually hunger

and thirst for righteousness? I'm not saying

do we hunger and thirst to control things the

way we want. Not do we hunger and thirst for

the power to make things come out a certain way.

Do we hunger and thirst to win an argument, to

shape a narrative, to secure a position? Do we

hunger and thirst for what's actually right?

For what's ethical, for what's good, for what

is faithful, even when it costs us something?

Because righteousness is slower than power, and

it is quieter and not efficient at all. But Jesus

says those are the ones who are going to be filled.

Blessed are the merciful in a world where mercy

seems to have no place, where it refuses to reduce

people to their worst moment, and it leaves room

for repentance, growth, a chance to return. Blessed

are the pure in heart, not the flawless, not

the self -righteous, not the ones who pretend

like they never struggle on their little Instagram

profiles where they act like they're perfect

and Photoshop themselves. The ones who want to

show kindness just because it's right. Who want

to do good, not because it's seen, not to be

praised, but simply because it reflects the heart

of God. But wouldn't doing all these things get

us noticed? If we do all this stuff, aren't we

gonna get glorified for it, praised by other

people? Not necessarily. Scripture tells us that

doing good has no law against it, and that's

true. But that's a generality, not a guarantee.

Even when the law is not actually against you,

how often are the people against you? How many

times have we watched someone do the right thing

and suffer for it? Their reputation gets damaged,

their friendships are taken from them, the doors

quietly close, and sometimes they lose far more

than anyone ever expected. History tells us this

story again and again. Joan of Arc did what she

believed necessary to bless her people. She didn't

seek power or comfort. She wanted to be faithful,

but she was slandered as a criminal. Her name

dragged through the mud. put on trial and executed.

By the way, what were the trials against her?

Blasphemy, witchcraft, and wearing men's clothing.

A woman wanting to wear pants, apparently, is

against God's law. But I'm sure we'd never burn

a woman at the stake for dressing like a man.

We hear these things and we think, how absurd,

how cruel. But the world doesn't change all that

quickly. How many of us are even trying to pursue

it though? Blessed are the peacemakers. Because

this is not about peace that gets credit or gets

awards. It's not peace trying to make us seem

like the bigger person. It's asking, are you

pursuing peace because you actually want it?

Peace where people wake up without fear, where

someone doesn't always feel they're in the crosshairs.

Because it's not passive or naive and it's certainly

not cheap because it may cost you everything

But this is where the blessings truly are Because

this is where the blessings are part of something

real Something that matters and as hard as it

may be to realize We expect the world to resist

righteousness We expect those who do not know

Christ to misunderstand and to oppose us But

what's harder? is when the people who claim God's

name do the same thing. Because when Micah speaks,

he's not speaking to pagans. He's speaking to

the people of God. Because we should know better,

and we usually don't. So what happens when we

lose sight of that? Well, I've got to tell you,

though. I cannot, up here, promise you that anything

is going to get easier. I cannot promise you

that doing the right thing will always be good

for your reputation. I cannot promise you that

suffering is going to stop any time before Jesus

returns. I can't promise you that even this church

will always get it right. But I can promise you

that you will not be outside of the kingdom of

God. Faithfulness is never wasted. Obedience

is never forgotten. Suffering is never meaningless.

The kingdom of God does not belong to the powerful

and corrupt. But you see, what we need to remember

is When we live no differently than the world,

we don't just harm our witness. We make people

wonder whether the kingdom of God is even real.

So today I cannot offer you a reward. I can't

give you something that you can easily see. But

what can I give you? I give you Jesus. I give

you the Son of God. I give you the one who did

not merely talk about the kingdom but brought

it to existence by dying for us. I give you the

one who truly loves you, the one who isn't just

claiming to be your Savior, the one who actually

does it. I give you the one who makes a real

difference. And as you follow Him, as you serve

Him, as you live as part of this kingdom, I give

you that too. So everything you do in God's name,

not just what you decide to baptize with His

name, but what you do for justice, mercy, and

humility, Matter is for eternity Joan of Arc

didn't live to hear her name cleared the disciples

almost all of them were martyred and even Jesus

himself was nailed to the cross as a criminal

But that didn't end the story the resurrection

still came So whatever it is you're living through

right now It's not about trying to overpower

the things that make it difficult It's about

learning to see the kingdom to live with justice

mercy and righteousness to walk humbly before

God. Because when we do, that's when we discover

the reward. Not someday, but now. Because the

Kingdom of God is your reward. Christ Himself

is the justice, mercy, and humility we proclaim.

Because the Kingdom doesn't always look like

winning. But it is the only thing that lasts.

Thanks be to God.