Sunday
Morning Bible Study
May
11, 2014
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does is address the person who is: Empty,
lonely, guilty, afraid to die? Does it
speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach
for a decision Is the church loved? Regular: 2900 words
Communion: 2500 words
For Notes: Use “blank” spaces to fill in
Micah lived in the days of the
divided kingdom, when the northern kingdom was called “Israel”, and the
southern kingdom was called “Judah”
Micah’s ministry was roughly from the years 750-700 BC.
Micah lived in the southern kingdom
of Judah and had messages for both the northern and southern kingdoms.
Micah gives three messages, and
they all start with the words “Hear now”.
Chapters 1-2 were the first message, chapters 3-5 are the second
message, and chapters 6-7 are the third message.
During the ministry of Micah, the Assyrians would begin their campaigns
against Israel.
Warning: Micah is going to be
bouncing all through time – from his time all the way to Jesus’ return, and
back again.
Their first invasion into the
northern kingdom of Israel came in 733BC.
They would completely conquer the northern
kingdom in 722BC.
They would come back about 20 years
later to attack the southern kingdom.
4:6 – 5:1 Zion’s Future Triumph
Chapter 4 has been about life in Israel after Jesus returns, far in Micah’s
future.
We started this section last week talking about how God would gather the
outcasts and rebuild the nation of Israel.
:8 And you, O tower of the flock, The stronghold
of the daughter of Zion, To you shall it come, Even the former dominion shall
come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
:8 tower of the flock
Jerusalem is called the “tower”, the lookout, the place of protection. It
will one day gain its former stature.
Towers had a view
They were built to see ahead
Watchmen would take turns in the
towers to keep an eye out for the approach of enemies.
Jerusalem will be a place that
looks out for the whole world.
Towers were places of protection
Sometimes towers could be quite
large, large enough to hold an entire city’s population.
When the city of Shechem was besieged by a man named Abimelech,
the entire city went into the city’s tower for protection. Abimelech (Judges
9) got his army to gather tree branches and they burned the tower down over the
people.
Jerusalem would be a place of
safety.
Some towers are safer than others.
(Proverbs 18:10 NKJV) The name
of the Lord is a strong
tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.
:9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no
king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like
a woman in labor.
We are now back in the viewpoint of Micah’s time.
:10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O
daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from
the city, You shall dwell in the field, And to Babylon
you shall go. There you shall be delivered; There the Lord will redeem you From the hand of
your enemies.
:10 to Babylon you shall go
Jerusalem might think it would be taken to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria.
At the time of Micah’s writing, Babylon was just a small city/state along
the Euphrates River.
Yet a hundred years after the time of Micah, Babylon would be a world
empire, and Jerusalem would be taken captive.
:10 There you shall be delivered
Deliverance would come from
chastisement.
(Hebrews 12:11 NKJV) Now no
chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it.
Before Babylon, the Jews were still
dabbling in all kinds of idolatry.
After Babylon, the idols were gone.
:11 Now also many nations have gathered against
you, Who say, “Let her be defiled, And let our eye look upon Zion.”
:11 many nations have gathered against
you
Zechariah prophesied that this would happen leading up to Armageddon (Zec. 14:2)
(Zechariah 12:2–3 NKJV) —2 “Behold,
I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when
they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a
very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be
cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.
(Zechariah 14:2 NKJV) For I will gather all the nations to battle against
Jerusalem…
:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, Nor do they understand His
counsel; For He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
:13 “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; For I
will make your horn iron, And I will make your hooves bronze; You shall beat in
pieces many peoples; I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, And their substance to the Lord
of the whole earth.”
:12 like sheaves to the threshing floor
The picture is of Jerusalem judging the nations like wheat is “threshed”,
beaten and tossed into the wind.
God will beat them and toss them in
the air.
When wheat is harvested, the shocks
of grain are gathered to the threshing floor, then crushed by the oxen walking
over them or run over by a threshing sledge.
Then the grain and sheaves are
tossed into the air for the wind to carry away the chaff.
5:1 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of
troops; He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with
a rod on the cheek.
:1 strike the judge of Israel
Some suggest God is talking about
Zedekiah, who would be the last king over Judah before the Babylonian invasion.
Jesus, the “judge of Israel” would be beaten for us. (Is. 50:6; Mat. 27:30)
Isaiah prophesied,
(Isaiah 50:6 NKJV) I gave My back to those who struck Me, And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
Mark recorded,
(Matthew 27:30 NKJV) Then
they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head.
5:2-6 Bethlehem’s Messiah
:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the
thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be
Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah
A most amazing prophecy – we are given the birthplace of the Messiah 700
years before His birth.
:2 Though
you are little
little – tsa‘iyr
– little, insignificant, young
Bethlehem has never been a big city.
It’s always been “O Little Town of Bethlehem…”
Six miles to the north of Bethlehem
is the city of Jerusalem with 750,000 people. Fullerton has 125,000 people.
Today Bethlehem has a population of 30,000 people.
I might imagine that God could use somebody from a big place like
Jerusalem, but Bethlehem? No way. Yes way.
Lesson
God uses “little”
Gideon faced an army of 150,000 Midianites and was told to gather his own army. He was able
to get 32,000 men together. God told Gideon that he had too many people. It
wasn’t until Gideon got his army down to a LITTLE group of 300 men that God was
able to work and bring a great deliverance.
When Paul became afflicted with
this thing he called a “thorn in the flesh”, he felt like he needed God to take
it away.
Some have suggested that it might
have been some sort of eye disease.
I would imagine that Paul probably
thought that he couldn’t do his ministry with this difficulty in his life.
(2 Corinthians 12:8–10 NKJV) —8 Concerning this
thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9
And He said to me, “My grace is
sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in
weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
God allowed Paul
to keep struggling with his “thorn” because God wanted to display His power and
grace in Paul’s life in a greater way.
The only way for God’s strength to be obvious was for Paul’s strength to
be weak.
God uses
little. God uses weak.
Do you think that God uses me in
your life? How many of you would you say
that God uses me?
I’m going to let you in on a little
secret. When I was in high school, I was
not one of the popular “in crowd”. Your
pastor was a geek. I got out my old high
school year book from my sophomore year – I was in the chess club, the biology club,
and president of the Latin club. I
wasn’t a football hero. I could sing but
I never got the lead in any of the school musicals.
I don’t think I was ever a
“star”. And I’m not sure I’d want to be.
But I do want God to work through
me.
Do you feel small and
insignificant?
Do you sometimes wonder if God
could ever use you?
Little is good. Weak is good. Humble is good. Peter wrote,
(1 Peter 5:5 NKJV) …be
clothed with humility, for “God
resists the proud, But
gives grace to the humble.”
Be careful when you feel God
tugging on your sleeve and your response is, “I’m not big enough” or “smart
enough” or “strong enough”. You might just be the right person that God wants
to use.
:2 Whose goings forth are from of
old, From everlasting
Jesus existed before He was ever born as a baby in Bethlehem.
everlasting – ‘owlam – long duration, antiquity, futurity,
everlasting, perpetual
Jesus is actually present in the Old Testament, but He appears under a different
name as the “The Angel of the LORD”.
This phrase “the
angel of the LORD”, or literally, “the messenger of Yahweh”, is a specific
phrase used in the Old Testament to indicate a specific person. He made many
appearances to many different people. The actual Hebrew phrase appears 58 times
in the Old Testament.
He appeared to Abraham when he
was going to sacrifice his only begotten son on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:11).
(Genesis 22:11 NKJV) —11 But the Angel of the Lord
called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”
He spoke to Moses out of the
burning bush (Ex. 3:2).
(Exodus 3:2 NKJV) —2 And
the Angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he
looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not
consumed.
He
was the one who called Gideon to deliver the Israelites (Judg. 6).
(Judges 6:12 NKJV) —12 And the Angel of the Lord
appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord
is with you, you mighty man of valor!”
He was the angel that David
saw at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite on Mount Moriah, which led to the purchase of the
property for the Temple (1Chr. 21:16).
(1 Chronicles 21:16 NKJV) —16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven,
having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the
elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
We believe that the “angel of
the LORD” is a “theophany”, or an appearance of Jesus
in physical form before his birth. In some of the passages I just mentioned,
this “messenger of Yahweh” is actually called God (Gen. 16:13; Ex. 3:2-4).
John recorded in his gospel:
(John 1:1–3 NKJV) —1 In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2
He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and
without Him nothing was made that was made.
(John 1:14 NKJV) And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth.
There is only One
who has existed from eternity past – God.
(Psalm 93:2 NKJV) Your
throne is established from of old; You are from
everlasting.
:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah
This place was where Jacob’s wife
Rachel died and was buried.
(Genesis 35:19 NKJV) So
Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath
(that is, Bethlehem).
Bethlehem – “house of bread”
Ephrathah – “place of fruitfulness”
Bethlehem was where one family from
the tribe of Judah settled and passed down their inheritance from one
generation to the next.
You might recognize the names of
Elimelech and his wife Naomi. Or perhaps
you might recognize Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth, who lost her husband, and
remarried another man from Bethlehem, Boaz.
It was there in Bethlehem that Boaz
and Ruth raised their son Obed, their grandson Jesse,
and their great-grandson … David.
This is why Bethlehem is sometimes
called the “city of David”. This was the ancestral home of David’s family.
According to the
laws in Leviticus, the property in Bethlehem would always belong to the family
of which David was a part.
Bethlehem was David’s home town, where the prophet Samuel found the young
boy David, and anointed him to be the next king of Israel.
In a way, it’s not strange to think
that Bethlehem would be connected to the Messiah.
God promised David that he and his descendants would always rule.
(2 Samuel 7:13
NKJV) He shall build a house for My name, and I
will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
In a way, the prophecy could be fulfilled simply by
someone being a descendant of David. But
God is going to fulfill it literally.
When the wise men came from the
east looking for the baby who was born king of the Jews, they asked for advice
in Jerusalem, and the chief priests, knowing the prophecy of Micah, pointed
them to Bethlehem. (Mat. 2:4-6)
(Matthew 2:4–6 NKJV) —4 And when
he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he
inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is
written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
Our prophecy in Micah was not some
unknown, hidden piece of information.
The religious leaders in Jesus’ day
knew of the prophecy.
Yet historically, having the Messiah born in Bethlehem almost didn’t
happen.
During the next 700 years, the Jews were hauled off to Babylon, returned to
Israel, and though some people settled in Bethlehem, Joseph and his pregnant fiancé Mary were living in the Galilean town of Nazareth, 70
miles away.
So how could the Messiah be from Bethlehem if His parents were living in Nazareth?
God used a pagan emperor in Rome to make a decree and require everyone to
return to their ancestral homes and register for a census (Luke 2:1-5).
(Luke 2:1–5 NKJV) —1 And
it came to pass in those days that a decree
went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2
This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3
So all went to be registered,
everyone to his own city. 4 Joseph
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city
of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of
David, 5 to be registered
with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.
Since Joseph was actually a descendent of King David, he was
required by the Roman Emperor to go back to his ancestral home, Bethlehem, in
order to register for the census.
God used a man who claimed to be a god to get
His Son born in the right place.
700 years after the prophecy of Micah, the Messiah was
indeed born in Bethlehem.
Lesson
God knows what He’s doing
The birth in Bethlehem is a great example to us that God knows exactly what
He’s doing.
We go through times when don’t have a clue how things are going to turn
out.
And then someone will poke us in the eye with this verse …
(Romans 8:28
NKJV) And we know that all things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
We hear this and say to ourselves,
“Nothing good could ever come out of the mess I’m in”.
Let me say to you that God is a bit bigger than you are.
You may not see what God is doing, but God does.
:3 Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time
that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His
brethren Shall return to the children of Israel.
:3 she who is in labor has given birth
(Micah 5:3 NLT) The people of Israel
will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then
at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land.
I hear that “giving birth” isn’t an easy thing… mom’s is that true???
The idea is that the people of Israel will seem to be “abandoned” by God
until a “birth” occurs.
The birth could be Mary giving birth to Jesus.
It would make more sense that the birth is of the nation of Israel (1948).
This was the birth followed by the “remnant” returning from all over the
world.
:4 And He shall stand and feed His flock In
the strength of the Lord, In the
majesty of the name of the Lord
His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the
earth;
:4 feed His flock In the strength of the
Lord
Great picture
:4 For now He shall be great
When Jesus returns, He will feed
His people with spiritual strength.
They will no longer wander around
the world, but will “abide” (stay put).
Jesus will be “great” to the whole
world.
Paul wrote,
(Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV) —9 Therefore
God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every
name, 10 that at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of
those under the earth, 11 and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father.
:5b And this One shall be peace.
The English translations are split
on which paragraph this sentence belongs.
Some put it with the previous section dealing with the Messiah (NKJV,
NAS, ESV), others continue the section on the Messiah
into the next section that deals with Assyria (NLT, NIV, KJV) with the Messiah
being the one that brings victory over Assyria.
In the ancient Hebrew, there are no
paragraphs, periods, punctuation, or verse separation. Where our English translators place these
things are sometimes up to interpretation.
:5b When the Assyrian comes into our land, And
when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds
and eight princely men.
:6 They shall waste with the sword the land of
Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us
from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our
borders.
:5 this One shall be peace
The Messiah would be Israel’s source of peace, and I think Micah means that
He is their peace even when the Assyrians come.
This seems to be the Messiah, but I
wonder if it also could be referring to Jesus in His role as the “Angel of the
LORD”.
:5 When the Assyrian comes into our land
Video: Assyria map clip
A few months ago we saw a map of
how big Assyria was in Jonah’s day.
By Micah’s time, they had grown
even more, right up to Jerusalem’s doorstep.
In Micah’s day, the Assyrians were the big threat.
They wiped out the northern kingdom of Israel.
They would come back 20 years later and try to take the southern kingdom of
Judah as well.
Some have suggested that “the Assyrian” is a phrase that covers all the enemies
of Israel, and that God will in the future deliver Israel from their enemies.
Even though the nation of Assyria does not exist today, its ancient empire
covered the modern nations of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey.
This might be a warning for those nations today that want Israel
annihilated.
:5 we will raise against him Seven
shepherds
All the commentaries I read said
this phrase (seven … eight) means…
This speaks of having “enough” or “more than enough” Israeli leaders to
face the enemy.
:6 the land of Nimrod
Nimrod was the ancient founder of
Babylon and Nineveh (Gen. 10:8-12), the area eventually covered by both the
Assyrian and Babylonian empires.
(Genesis 10:8–12 NKJV) —8 Cush
begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. 9
He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like
Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was
Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh,
in the land of Shinar. 11 From
that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir,
Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the
principal city).
:6 He shall deliver us from the
Assyrian
Some have suggested that this could be a hint about God delivering Israel
from the antichrist, calling him “the Assyrian”.
There is a sense in the study of
prophecy where we see some prophecies containing more than one fulfillment.
The prophecy about the coming of
Elijah before the Lord’s coming has two fulfillments.
There is a partial
fulfillment with John the Baptist coming “in the spirit of” Elijah.
We believe that
Elijah will also return himself (Rev. 11).
I’m not too sure since other
Scriptures indicate that the antichrist will have his power base centered in
Europe, be a Jew, and eventually move on Israel.
I wonder if it might also refer to Hezekiah’s day when the Assyrians came
back to conquer the nation of Judah.
Hezekiah prayed, and God answered.
(2
Kings 19:35 NKJV) And it
came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one
hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the
morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
It was the “angel of the
Lord” (Jesus), the Messiah, the everlasting one, who saved the Israelites from
the Assyrians.
Lesson
Trust
Experience
Remember that Jesus has been around since
eternity past.
If your car breaks down and you don’t know
what’s wrong with it, are you going to want to get the mechanic that’s right
out of high school and has only fixed one other car, or do you want the fellow
that’s been fixing cars for thirty years?
If your computer breaks down and you can’t
fix it yourself, do you want your neighbor who just bought his first computer
last week to help you, or do you want the guy who does this for a living, and
has for some time.
So what do you do when you are broken?
Jesus has been in the business of saving
people for a long, long time.
He knows what He’s doing.
You can trust Him with your life.
You can trust Him with the messes in your
life.
You can trust Him with your eternity.
5:7-15 Judgment
:7 Then the remnant of Jacob Shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like
dew from the Lord, Like showers
on the grass, That tarry for no man Nor wait for the sons of men.
The Jews will have been scattered around the world, and they will be a
blessing, “refreshing” like dew.
:8 And the remnant of Jacob Shall be among the Gentiles, In the midst of
many peoples, Like a lion among the beasts of the forest, Like a young lion
among flocks of sheep, Who, if he passes through, Both treads down and tears in
pieces, And none can deliver.
:9 Your hand shall be lifted against your
adversaries, And all your enemies shall be cut off.
The remnant of the Jews will be dangerous to their enemies, like a lion.
:10 “And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord, “That I will cut off your horses
from your midst And destroy your chariots.
:10 destroy your chariots
God now warns His people of a measure of judgment that they will be facing.
In a strange turn, God will now destroy Israel’s weapons of war. He wants them trusting Him, not their
weapons.
Zechariah prophesied the same
thing:
(Zechariah 9:10 NKJV) I will cut
off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from
Jerusalem; The battle bow shall
be cut off. He shall speak peace
to the nations; His dominion shall
be ‘from sea to sea, And from
the River to the ends of the earth.’
God told Israel not to “multiply
horses” because God wanted His people to trust Him, not their weapons.
(Deuteronomy 17:16 NKJV) But he shall not
multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to
multiply horses, for the Lord has
said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’
David wrote,
(Psalm 20:7 NKJV)
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will
remember the name of the Lord our
God.
:11 I will cut off the cities of your land And
throw down all your strongholds.
The cities that Israel has built
for protection will also be demolished.
:12 I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And
you shall have no soothsayers.
If there is any hint of false
religion left in the land of Israel, God will destroy it.
:13 Your carved images I will also cut off, And
your sacred pillars from your midst; You shall no more worship the work of your
hands;
:14 I will pluck your wooden images from your
midst; Thus I will destroy your cities.
:14 wooden images – ‘asherah – “groves (for idol worship)”;
A Babylonian (Astarte)-Canaanite goddess (of fortune
and happiness)
She was the supposed consort of Baal
Her statues were a bit pornographic, centered around sex
(no need to show you pictures).
:13 Your carved images I will also cut
off
There will be no more idol worship.
:15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not heard.”
:15 I will execute vengeance in anger
and fury
This is speaking of the judgment that the unbelieving nations will face
(Rev. 19:15).
(Revelation 19:15 NKJV) Now out
of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And
He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
:13 Your carved images I will also cut
off
Lesson
Judgment for believers
Even though Jesus will be coming back to “save” the nation of Israel, He
will judge them as well.
He will rescue them from their enemies.
He will destroy the things in their midst that have kept them from trusting
Him.
In a way, as believers, we too will face a type of judgment as well.
We aren’t going to be judged and sent to hell because Jesus died to save us
from hell.
Yet there will be a type of judgment after death.
(1 Corinthians 3:10–15
NKJV) —10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise
master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let
each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver,
precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it,
because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of
what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will
receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself
will be saved, yet so as through fire.
The foundation of your life is Jesus Christ.
What you do after meeting Jesus Christ is the building you
build.
You can build your life with different kinds of materials
– gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw.
When these things are put into the fire of judgment, some
things come through fine, other things burn up.
Paul makes it sound as if some people will come through
the fire with nothing to show of their lives, just
wisps of smoke coming off their head as they make it through the fire.
One of the determining factors of how your life makes it through the fire
is the motive behind what you do.
(1
Corinthians 13:1–3 NKJV) —1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though
I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all
knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and
though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
I can do lots of good things, but if I don’t do them out
of love, they are worthless – they will be the things that burn up in the fire.
Don’t think of this “love” in terms of the world’s idea of
romance.
This is love that is self-sacrificial, patient, and kind.
Are you ready for this kind of judgment?
Does anything need to change in your life?