The Micah Mandate

The Micah Mandate

By George Grant

(His dates: 1954- , Copyright 1995, 1995, Publisher: Cumberland House)

(No notation) = Direct Quote, [P] = Paraphrase, and [Magee] = Magee Observations

[Magee] Introduction

I am not a Theonomist or a fan of the reconstruction of American government according to Old Testament Law

Contents

Introduction: A Fractured World

Part One – An Imbalancing Act

1. From Pillar to Post

2. In, Out, or Of

Part Two – Justice: To Do Right

3. Legal Entanglements

4. Good News vs. Nice News

Part Three – Mercy: To Do Good

5. Living as if People Mattered

6. Oddities and Rarities

Part Four – Humility: To Do Well

7. Our Codependent Love

8. Just Do It

Part Five – The Right Balance

9. Having It All

10. Where the Action Is

Teaching Notes

Introduction: A Fractured World

Divided

[P] We need to be heavenly minded so that we will do earthly good.

The best that I can offer you is the tried and true, the old and familiar, the well-trod sod.

Part One – An Imbalancing Act

1. From Pillar to Post

FINDING BALANCE

Biblical balance… entails far more than a happy medium between virtue and vice… A well-rounded, wholehearted fully integrated life… It is the singular fruit of incarnational faith.

A SHORTHAND STATEMENT

Micah 6:8 ⁸ He has told you, O 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?

A snapshot of Biblical balance

A COVENANT LAWSUIT

[P] Context of verse

JUSTICE

Justice and righteousness

MERCY

Mercy and authority

HUMILITY

The proper attitude toward the person of God Himself

TIPPING THE BALANCE

Thomas Chatterton

WE LIKE HE

2. In, Out, or Of

A good theology will invariably produce a good garden

WORLDLINESS

A worldview is simply a way of viewing the world.

A vision of life and faith that integrates justice, mercy, and humility before God will cover the whole spectrum of heaven and earth

BACK TO THE GARDEN

The spiritual revealed and made manifest in the physical

THE GREAT COMMISSION

A full-scale assault on the evil and privation of the dominions of darkness

BOTH/AND – NOT EITHER/OR

A BALANCED WORLDVIEW

Patrick Henry

MICAH’S WORLDVIEW

Part Two – Justice: To Do Right

3. Legal Entanglements

FAITH, HOPE, AND POLITICS

Smothering influence of partisan ideology everywhere

LEGALISM

Legalism abolishes the significance of the cross.

LAWLESSNESS

Like legalism, lawless disobedience is heresy.

THE PURPOSE OF THE WORD

There must be a basis for truth and justice… The Bible is that standard.

1. Reveals the moral standards of God’s sovereign rule.

2. Convicts us of sin and leads us to Christ

3. Testimony to the nations

4. Blueprint for living

[Magee] This seems more to be a discussion of the purpose of the Law, rather than a purpose of the Word, which may be revealing.

MANIPULATING GOD

[P] The pagan way of viewing God

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians

BETWIXT AND BETWEEN

Whitefield

TAKING THE OFFENSIVE

4. Good News vs. Nice News

TAKING OFFENSE

People can’t be ambivalent about Biblical justice.

PLURALISM

Now the assumed basis of American culture and life.

HELL ON EARTH

Rampant immorality has begun to significantly erode the stability of our cultural foundations.

LEGISLATING MORALITY

That’s what legislation is.

Good and bad matter.

HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE

Edwards – Sinners in the hands…

TRUTH, JUSTICE, AND THE AMERICAN WAY

Provokes us to an unflinching demonstration of justice – in both word and deed

Part Three – Mercy: To Do Good

5. Living as if People Mattered

SERVICE

Biblical service is a priestly function of mercy

DOING UNTO OTHERS

God cares for the needy. And His people are to do likewise.

Mercy goes far beyond mere politeness.

The balanced Christian life necessarily includes merciful service.

GOOD DEEDS

Titus 2:11-14 ¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, ¹² training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, ¹³ waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

TO THE UTTERMOST

Most of the church’s greatest heroes are those who willingly gave the best of their lives to the less fortunate. Service was their hallmark. Mercy was their emblem.

Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase…

A LIFE OF SERVICE

Washington’s submission to authority and especially His orderly resignation of his commission

GOOD SERVICE

Where there is mercy there is hope.

Jonathon Edwards: “That religion which God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference. God in His Word, greatly insists upon it, that we be in good earnest, fervent in spirit, and our hearts vigorously engaged in mercies.”

6. Oddities and Rarities

WINNERS AND LOSERS

There was a time when martyrdom was among the church’s highest callings and greatest honors… But no longer.

E. M. Bounds

PEER PRESSURE

The worldliness of the modern church

COMPROMISE

Daniel was a man of principle…. Daniel understood the nature of his opposition. Compromise would have been fruitless.

Joseph

David

Early Christians

STEADFASTNESS

The enemies of the gospel often mistake this single-minded dedication to the work at hand as a kind of prideful know-it-all aloofness. That many Christians today make the same mistake is a telling commentary on the modern evangelical mindset.

WORK

1. All honorable work is holy.

2. God calls each person to his or her gifts.

3. Work is intended for the benefit of the community.

4. The high ideals of the work ethic can only be attained through Christ’s restoration.

BEYOND THE WICKET GATE

Bunyan

DONE WITH

In the center of Bedford England… statue…

The Lord Magistrate of Bedford at Bunyan’s sentencing (1673): “At last we are done with this tinker and his cause. Never more will he plague us: for his name, locked away as surely as he, shall be forgotten, as surely as he.”

A world and life view rooted in the grace of the sovereign God and the uncompromised maturity of diligence in daily work.

Part Four – Humility: To Do Well

7. Our Codependent Love

Cotton Mather

KNOWING GOD

If we fail to come to a full and accurate knowledge of God… then we are not only like to miss God’s purpose and will for our lives, we are likely to make a mess of the world around us as well.

THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S

Nebuchadnezzar

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Nebuchadnezzar learned his lesson and changed his heart and his life. What about us?

FEAR OF GOD

Richard Baxter: “The proper knowledge and fear of God leads us but to two postures of the spiritual service of worship: corporately in yielding of our praise in the church, and individually in the yielding of our time in the world.”

The balanced Christian life always maintains this two-fold expression of holy knowledge and fear: putting a high priority on the centrality of the church and sanctifying whatever time God grants us.

THE CHURCH

1. The church renews the minds of fallen men through the teaching and preaching of the Bible.

2. The church readjusts men to genuine life through sacramental worship.

3. The church reforms the lifestyles of men through discipleship.

TIME

Our time is not our own.

[Magee] Important idea here of ordering our lives according to the patterns of the New Testament. This point is obscured by the author since He accepts the church seasons as normative without any persuasive biblical basis. I think that the answer from the Scriptures would be a full understanding of the week and the day that would form the appropriate rhythm for the Christian life.

Diligence

Patience

INFORMED BALANCE

C.S. Lewis: “It was through pride that the devil became the devil: pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.”

While all the world runs from dependency and co-dependency, the knowledge of God beckons us to humbly welcome them both – the former as we fearfully acknowledge God’s sovereign rule and reign in the world and the latter as we yield to the gracious provisions of the church in space and time. Living the balanced Christian life demands both.

8. Just Do It

THE DISCIPLINE OF FASTING

[Magee] We used to fast until the dinner meal once per week in the years of the life of the church. I am not sure what happened to that practice. Perhaps next year as we start our walk through the Bible and our once a month gatherings we can resume the practice on a monthly basis.

THE DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER

Athanasius prayed five hours each day. Augustine once set aside eighteen months to do nothing but pray.

1. Not a means of self-promotion

2. Habitual

3. Hedged by God’s will

THE NEHEMIAH MODEL

HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?

They fasted and prayed.

RIGHT WHERE HE WANTS US

Dependent

Part Five – The Right Balance

9. Having It All

The Micah Mandate is peculiarly the domain of the ordinary.

PRIESTLY SERVICE

Salt of the earth

PATRON SAINT

James Alexander Bryan (Brother Bryan) Birmingham, AL

10. Where the Action Is

The cure is simply the church adhering to its essential calling. It is found when the elect of God yield to their divine mandate in every aspect and in every detail of their lives.

A CULTURE WAR MAELSTROM

Augustine

TINY PUSHES

Titus 3:8-9 ⁸ The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

[Magee] Closing Thoughts:

1. The premise of this book is excellent (a look at Micah 6:8 as a snapshot of a biblical way of life). I am very distracted by the exegetical leaps that the author takes to move us in the direction of reconstructionism. I do not believe that the Great Commission sends us off to remake the civil magistrate according to Christian principles.

2. I do think we should give some hard thought to how we are living out these three ideas together: justice, mercy, and humility.

3. The three are interesting… Why are they given together? Justice and mercy make sense. One without the other will be an excess for a creature. To do both is quite a trick. We could easily begin to think too highly of ourselves for achieving such a great goal. Humility is the constant reminder of who we are, and requires us to define justice and mercy from the Word of God, in the presence of God, and by the power of the Spirit of God.

4. Our best bet to live according to Micah 6:8 is to have communion with God in a life of word-sacrament-prayer by the power of the Holy Spirit. A life of that kind of humility before God will surely be expressed in righteousness and mercy.

5. Another way of looking at the life for us is 2 John – with truth, love, and obedience.

6. Stay in the Bible all the time, and you will address all issues that should be addressed.

7. We need to be zealous for good works. Titus 2:11-14

The Myth of the Just Price

The Myth of the Just Price

By Laurence M. Vance

(His dates: ?-?, http://www.mises.org/story/2918, Posted on 3/31/2008)

(No notation) = Direct Quote, [P] = Paraphrase, and [Magee] = Magee Observations

[Magee] Introduction

Recommended by Phillip Bresson

An enjoyable read, if you can maintain your cool, and keep a heavenly perspective… :-)

Contents

1. The Biblical Concept of Justness

2. The Just Price

3. Interventionism

4. The Biblical Case for Laissez-faire

5. Conclusion

Teaching Notes

Introduction

The concept of the just price is the basis of a great deal of erroneous economic thought that permeates our supposedly free market, capitalistic society.

Disguised with a euphemism – Medicare is not called socialized medicine…

Not only is any price agreed upon between a willing buyer and a willing seller the just price, that alone is what makes it the just price.

The Bible is our final authority in all matters.

1. The Biblical Concept of Justness

The expression just price is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures.

There is generally no mention of what the items were sold for.

The absence of fraud would be essential for the price of any commodity to be said to be just. But one will search the Scriptures in vain for any other concept of what constitutes a just price.

2. The Just Price

Thomas Aquinas. Born about 1225.

Discusses the concept of the just price in the section in his "Treatise on Prudence and Justice" called "Of Cheating, Which Is Committed in Buying and Selling."

Equated the just price, … with the common market price established by the "common estimation" of buyers and sellers.

Rothbard: "Unfortunately, in discussing the just price, St Thomas stored up great trouble for the future by being vague about what precisely the just price is supposed to be."

Aristotle… equal value in a commercial exchange… revived and employed "as a philosophical justification for the medieval doctrine of the just price." (Baldwin)

Two minority viewpoints

1. Just price was only that beyond labor and expenses that enabled the seller to maintain his social status

2. Just price was the cost of production plus compensation for labor and risk incurred. àMarx

Aquinas:… a number of principles:

* The merchant performs a valuable service

* The merchant can conduct business without sinning

* Buying and selling are to the advantage of both parties

* Misrepresenting the condition of goods in a sale is fraud

* Price is influenced by changes in supply and demand

* Price can vary according to location

* Price can vary according to time

* Price is a function of utility

* The just price is an estimate, and cannot be fixed with mathematical precision

* The just price is the current market price

* Price should represent the true value of goods

It is this last concept that sends Aquinas off course.

3. Interventionism

United States of America:… We see nothing but interventionism,

Mises: "a method for the transformation of capitalism into socialism by a series of successive steps." Here are some examples.

THE MINIMUM WAGE

Minimum-wage laws violate freedom of contract.

SUGAR PRICE SUPPORTS

Since 1894…

The gang of thieves in Congress who accept $2 to $3 million in bribes each congressional election from their sugar daddies in the sugar industry are costing American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year through higher prices on not just sugar, but anything made with sugar.

PRICE GOUGING

[Magee] – The kind of rhetoric we are regularly exposed to on oil prices makes me ill. If we would just let gas prices be what they should be and stop manipulating them, that would create proper incentives for the development of energy alternatives, and would help us enormously in terms of our foreign policy.

DUMPING

Antidumping laws are not designed to protect the public, they are designed to product domestic producers from foreign competition.

USURY

All of the fifty states regulate interest rates in the twenty-first century.

[Magee] some verses here…

^ESV Exodus 22:25 "If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him.

^ESV Deuteronomy 23:19 "You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest.

^ESV Nehemiah 5:7 I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, "You are exacting interest, each from his brother." And I held a great assembly against them

^ESV Psalm 15:1-5 Who shall dwell on your holy hill?... who does not put out his money at interest

^ESV Proverbs 28:8 Whoever multiplies his wealth by interest and profit gathers it for him who is generous to the poor.

^ESV Matthew 25:27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

^ESV Luke 19:23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?']

[Magee] This is not easy to sort out. The last two citations are positive. The others are negative. There may be a difference between profiting from personal loans to someone in trouble, vs. business loans for capital. In any case, I don’t precisely know why this is condemned. It clearly has nothing to do with the specific rate. The condemnation, such as it exists, is for any lending at interest.

THE STATE

I have maintained that, in the absence of fraud — not in the absence of ignorance, laziness, greed, or stupidity — not only is any price agreed upon between a willing buyer and a willing seller the just price, that alone is what makes it the just price. A just price for an item does not exist independently of a transaction between buyer and seller. It is both impossible and immoral for any governmental body to institute, regulate, control, or recommend what is a just price. It is impossible because the state is not omniscient; it is immoral because the state has no authority to intervene in the market.

I will even grant that it might be immoral under certain circumstances to charge a particular price. But that doesn't mean that it should be illegal. Vices are not crimes. Saying that the just price is a moral imperative is one thing, but making it a legal device is something else that opens up the deadly can of worms of government intervention that can never be closed. The separation of market and state is just as important as separation of church and state.

4. The Biblical Case for Laissez-faire

[P] Same economic philosophy for Marx, Keynes, and many Christians!

Christian statists … can neither establish nor confirm their position from the New Testament without reading their conception of social justice back into the Bible, applying to the government admonitions given to individuals, and opaquely misreading the Scriptures through interventionist glasses.

WEALTH

But it is not riches per se that are disparaged in the Bible. Rather, it is trusting in riches, boasting in riches, coveting riches, or obtaining riches unlawfully.

The New Testament admonishes the rich, not to become poor, but to "be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate."

[Magee] communicate=share with others in need

There is no imperative or implication in the New Testament for the state or any individual to seek the redistribution of wealth.

POVERTY

The idea that individuals, let alone the state, should seek to eradicate poverty is never advanced in the Old or New Testaments.

THE MERCHANT

The Bible nowhere condemns mercantile activity as an action or a profession.

^ESV Matthew 20:13 But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'

EMPLOYMENT

^ESV Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

UNEMPLOYMENT

(Acts 2) This is charity, not communism, and as such was purely voluntary.

^ESV Acts 5:4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."

5. Conclusion

Laissez-faire is natural, moral, and biblical.

Both parties are better off after an exchange than they were before the exchange.

There is no such thing as market failure.

The only problem with the free market in the United States is that it is not free. Not only is government intervention the rule rather than the exception, even so-called defenders of the free market regularly call for more government oversight.

[Magee] Closing Thoughts:

1. I agree entirely both economically and morally.

2. This kind of stuff (foolish government intervention) is infuriating.

3. We have to be careful not to let such things distract us with anger – Part of living in a particular place and time is facing the economic/moral idiocy of that place and time.

4. Nonetheless, in our role as teachers, we do not want give in to any of this for a minute. To do so would be dishonest.

5. I don’t have a good answer to the biblical prohibitions of lending at interest. It does not appear to have anything to do with the specific rate charged. I think that it had something to do with the oppression of the poor by the powerful, and particularly something to do with duties of charity within the covenant community. A proper application in the New Testament era might be that within the church we should be giving to the poor rather than lending to them at interest.

6. This temptation to unhealthy anger on these topics is serious. Nothing we think about the foolishness of the state role in the economy can be allowed to overturn Romans 13. We cannot get caught up in nasty dialogue that encourages everyone to be enemies of the state. That would be against God’s Word. I don’t agree with what they are doing, and I will use my freedom and my vote accordingly, but I will show respect to governing authorities, even if things get much worse than they are today.

7. We are looking forward to a life beyond scarcity. In the new heavens and the new earth things will be quite different.