“Patience and Walking Humbly” 12-4-22
Overview
Patience and Walking Humbly
Advent forms us as a people who wait. We live in the in-between time — between the first coming of our Lord and His return — and so patience is not optional for the Christian. It is the texture of our daily walk with God. Yet patience is hard, not only in the small frustrations of life, but in our walk with God day after day. The question worth asking is: what produces real patience in us?
The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah who ministered in the eighth century B.C., gives us a striking answer. Confronted with the question of what truly pleases God, Micah does not point to multiplied sacrifices or extravagant offerings. Instead he writes, "He has told you, O mortal, 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?" Micah 6:6-8. Justice is what is right and fair, rooted in God's own law. Kindness translates the rich Hebrew word chesed — steadfast love, or as Luther rendered it, "goodness in action." And the third call, to walk humbly, carries the sense of walking attentively, thoughtfully, with understanding — attentive to who God is, what He has done, and how utterly we depend on Him.
Here is the connection often missed: walking humbly is linked to patience. When we walk attentively with the Lord, we remember His magnificence and recall His promises — "I am with you always," "I will never leave you nor forsake you," "I will not leave you as orphans." Self-reliance is what comes naturally to us; we march to center stage and expect God to follow the script we have written. This was the failure of our first parents in the garden, who would not trust God's goodness and strode into sin instead. The humble walk reverses that posture. Three simple questions help cultivate it: What do I deserve? What do I have? What am I promised? We deserve God's wrath for our sin, yet we receive His grace. We have countless blessings, chief among them the Lord Jesus Himself, who has claimed us in baptism. We are promised the glory of heaven, where suffering and trial are no more.
The image Jesus gives in Matthew 11:28-30 makes this concrete. Under the Mosaic law, a younger ox was paired in a training yoke with an older, stronger ox; the strong one carried the weight while the younger simply learned to walk alongside. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened," Jesus says, "and I will give you rest…for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." He bears the crushing weight of our sin on the cross and gives us His perfect life. Yoked to Him, we walk alongside — and we can wait. We can wait on a diagnosis, on a clouded future, on the unfolding of His will, because we know the One to whom we are joined. He empowers the very thing He calls for. The humble walk produces patience, and patience says, "If God has done all this for me, I can wait on Him."
Transcript
Would you open your Bibles, please, with me? 2s
To the Old Testament, to the Book of Micah, 5s
if you're using a few edition of Holy Scripture, 8s
Micah's on page 819, 819, for our study today. 11s
We continue today with the second in this sermon series, 18s
entitled Patience, when now waits. 23s
This sermon series was placed in this season 28s
for a particular reason. 31s
Because Advent continues to teach us 35s
that we are a people that wait, 37s
that we are a people to be patient. 41s
We live between the first coming 46s
and the second coming of our Lord. 48s
So we live in the in-between time, don't we? 50s
And so as we live in between time, 54s
we are called to be patient, patient with God. 58s
We long for his second coming. 66s
We cry, come, Lord Jesus, in our liturgy. 68s
And we are reminded that God the Father knows the day 73s
and the hour when the Lord Jesus will come again. 78s
And so in the in-between time, we wait, patient, patient. 81s
Patience can be hard, can't it? 94s
It can be a struggle. 97s
It is said that the shortest period of time is the period, 99s
after the light turns green before the person behind you 103s
starts to home. 107s
And if we're all honest with each other today, 110s
we've been on both sides of that equation, haven't we? 113s
Patience can be a struggle. 118s
What about patience with God? 124s
Not just in waiting for the Lord Jesus to come back again. 130s
But what about patience with God? 135s
Day after day after day. 142s
As we study today, I hope it will see, 148s
is that there is a connection, there is a connection 152s
between patience and something. 155s
So let's study. 163s
This great book, this great prophet, Michael. 166s
Michael was a contemporary of Isaiah and Joseia. 169s
He prophesied probably in the time range of 750 BC to 686 BC. 171s
And there's themes that God spoke through the prophet. 180s
Thames, as God was saying, that he hates idolatry. 184s
He hates injustice. 188s
He hates empty ritualism. 189s
He loves to forgive the sins of the penitent. 191s
Michael, this fantastic book, this fantastic prophet. 198s
And just as an aside, Michael contains one of the great 204s
verses in all of Scripture for it was Michael, 208s
who was privileged to declare the prophecy. 211s
700 years before the birth of our Lord, 214s
where our Lord would be born. 217s
And included in the great verses of this prophet 223s
are these verses. 226s
Look with me, please, at verse 6. 228s
With what shall I come before the Lord? 232s
And bow myself before God on high. 235s
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings 240s
with calves a year old? 242s
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams 245s
with 10,000s of rivers of oil? 248s
Shall I give my first born from my transgression, 252s
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 255s
In this repetitive question here, 259s
at the heart of the question is, 262s
what is it that will please God? 263s
What will please him? 267s
And the answer, verse 8, 271s
he has told you, or mortal, what is good? 275s
And what is the Lord require of you? 280s
But to do justice, 284s
justice is that which is fair, it's right. 290s
It is appropriate, it is correct, 294s
just as rooted in the very law of God. 297s
What please is God, what please is God 302s
is when justice is done. 305s
Secondly, he goes on, and to love kindness. 309s
That word translated, their love kindness 315s
is one Hebrew word, it's chessed. 316s
That's a great word, it's steadfast love, 320s
Luther translated it this way, goodness in action. 322s
Isn't that lovely? 325s
Goodness in action, what is God love? 327s
God loves chessed, God loves goodness in action. 330s
First thing, justice, second thing, chessed, 338s
goodness in action, and the third thing that God loves. 341s
First semester, seminary, I was introduced to it. 352s
The concordance, now it's not something 358s
that was totally new, because most likely in your Bible, 362s
you have concordance also. 365s
It's probably a lot smaller than other concordances, 368s
but it's still helpful, isn't it? 372s
What I was introduced to, first semester, seminary, 375s
was the exhaustive concordance. 378s
The exhaustive concordance is a thick book, 383s
you didn't carry it with you to class, 386s
kept it on your desk back in the dorm. 388s
The exhaustive concordance lists every word, inscripture, 392s
every word. 399s
And how many times that particular word occurs in Bible 403s
and it lists it out with all of the verses. 407s
So you've got the Hebrew word, 411s
and then you've got all the times that that word, 413s
you'll see the Hebrew translated English, 416s
all the time that word appears and scripts 418s
your same thing with the Greek, got the Greek word, 420s
then you've got the English equivalent, 423s
and then all the times that are the curve. 425s
That's why it's called the exhaustive concordance. 429s
Can you imagine before computers, 431s
how exhausting it would have been 433s
to put together an exhaustive concordance, right? 436s
There are some words in scripture. 442s
Some words that are referenced quite a bit, 445s
and you look up a word, you'll see a long string 449s
of all the verses that that particular word is there. 452s
And there are other words, 455s
there are other words that are just a blip, 458s
just a blip in their usage. 462s
Look with me, please again, verse eight. 468s
He's told you immortal, what's good? 473s
What does the Lord require of you? 477s
What to do, justice? 480s
To love kindness, 483s
and here comes the third, 486s
and to walk humbly with your God, 489s
to walk humbly with your God. 498s
That word, they're translated humbly, 502s
that particular word, it occurs only two times 505s
in the entire Bible, that particular word. 510s
It's a really tough word to translate, really tough. 516s
And so like with all of the words in scripture, 522s
there is how is it used in scripture, 524s
how is it used outside of the scripture 526s
during that period of time, 528s
and it's exactly what the linguistic scholars 530s
would look at, and there can be a struggle 532s
with how to translate that particular word, 536s
here it's translated humbly, but what's underneath it, 540s
how you can also translate it, 544s
is attentive, thoughtful, 546s
with understanding. 552s
The call then, what pleases God, 555s
is as we walk with Him with an attentiveness 560s
in understanding and a thoughtfulness. 565s
Will attentive to what? 572s
Attentive to what? 576s
Attentive to who He is, what He's done, 577s
and our dependence upon Him. 583s
Here's the point. 589s
Walking with that attentiveness, 592s
walking with that understanding, 595s
walking humbly with the Lord, 596s
is linked with patience. 600s
Walking humbly is linked with patience. 607s
You see, as we walk attentively with the Lord, 615s
as we walk attentively, 619s
we are reminded of who He is, 621s
His magnificences, grandeur, how marvelous He is. 624s
We're reminded of that. 629s
As we walk thoughtfully, remembering His promises, 632s
all of His promises, 638s
I'm with you always, I will never leave you for the sake you, 641s
I will not leave you an orphan, 644s
all of His empowering promises and His comforting promises. 646s
The call then is to walk with this understanding 652s
that He holds us. 656s
Every blink, every beat, he holds it all in His hands. 659s
This call then to walk with that attentiveness, 666s
to who He is and what He is done 669s
and our dependence upon Him. 671s
Oh, but what comes naturally to us? 676s
What comes naturally to us is not the humble walk 679s
with the Lord. 683s
It is not that attentive walk with the Lord. 684s
What comes naturally to us is not this reliant walk 687s
with the Lord humbly, but what comes naturally to us 692s
is that we march into self-reliance. 697s
Instead of the humble walk, what comes naturally to us? 703s
What comes naturally to us is we hoof it to center stage 710s
where the light comes upon us 714s
and we expect God to live out the script 717s
that we've written for Him. 720s
What comes natural to us is not the humble walk. 724s
What comes natural to us is how we run to embrace 729s
our plans and our priorities and our purposes. 737s
Well, I consider Adam and Eve, right? 745s
God had placed them in the garden. 748s
It was absolutely perfect. 750s
It was perfect. 751s
It was nothing that wasn't perfect in the garden. 753s
God said that Adam and Eve were to worship Him 760s
and they were to serve Him by serving one another. 762s
That's a vertical and a horizontal relationship. 764s
They were given purpose and perfection in the place 768s
to live. 772s
God had drawn the boundaries between Himself 774s
as the Creator and the Creator. 776s
He said, eat of every fruit except donated this tree, 778s
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 784s
They used to turn it for yourself, which right and wrong, 786s
you will die, you'll die. 788s
But our first parents, they didn't trust in the goodness of God. 792s
They didn't trust in the provision of God. 795s
They didn't trust in the plan of God. 798s
They thought that maybe somehow God was keeping something 802s
from them and so what do they do? 805s
But they strived into sin, stride into sin. 809s
The humble walk, the attentive walk with God, 819s
the understanding walk with God. 827s
Oh, we struggle against that. 833s
And so often, we can find ourselves 842s
just laying on the horn and yelling, 849s
moving along God, get going, do something, 859s
or get out of my way. 873s
I actually scrolled Junior. 884s
I actually scrolled Junior. 888s
This says there are three really important questions 889s
to ask ourselves. 892s
They're really simple questions. 896s
What do I deserve? 900s
What do I have? 903s
What do I deserve? 909s
What do I have? 911s
And what am I promised? 912s
Well, if we're honest, what is it that we deserve? 918s
We deserve the eternal wrath of God for our sinfulness. 920s
We sin against him as we confess and thought, 926s
word indeed, what we've done, what we've left on that so encompassing, 928s
isn't it? 931s
It helps us to understand as limited as our human minds 933s
can understand the breath of our own sinfulness. 937s
What it is that we deserve, what it is that we deserve 940s
is God's eternal wrath. 944s
But what are we given? 950s
We're given the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 953s
who takes upon himself our sin, 956s
who takes upon himself the wrath of God for sin. 960s
And we hear the word of forgiveness that is said to us. 965s
What is it that we have? 978s
We can start cataloging our blessings, right? 983s
Catalogging our blessings, right? 988s
Catalogging our blessings, even amidst the trials 990s
that we go through. 991s
We can catalog the blessings, 994s
food and clothing, home and family. 998s
We can catalog the blessing of the be able to gather today. 1001s
Gather today in this place. 1006s
Warm. 1009s
The blessings that God continually provides us 1011s
down to every blink and beep, 1014s
but the chief blessing, the chief blessing, 1019s
is that we have Jesus, 1024s
and that Jesus has us, 1028s
that He's claimed us in the waters of baptism 1031s
and we belong to Him. 1035s
He's the only thing we need. 1040s
Only thing. 1046s
And we have that. 1049s
What do we deserve? 1053s
We deserve his wrath, but yet we've got his grace. 1053s
What do we have? 1057s
We have a host of blessings that chief of them 1058s
being the Lord Jesus Christ. 1060s
And what do we promised? 1062s
We're promised fellow believer 1066s
that today is one more day in all of eternity for us. 1068s
We are promised the glory and beauty of heaven 1072s
where there are no more trials, where there are, 1074s
there is no more suffering. 1077s
We are promised that God holds us and sustains us. 1080s
And that God has prepared for us 1087s
that beautiful place in heaven itself. 1089s
What do we deserve? 1096s
His wrath, but we get his grace. 1097s
What do we have? 1099s
The chief blessing, the Lord Jesus. 1100s
What do we promised? 1101s
The beauty and glory of heaven itself. 1104s
You see, all of the scriptural promises 1108s
that give rise to the answers to those questions, 1112s
all of those scriptural promises. 1115s
That births in us. 1120s
It births in us. 1123s
The humble book. 1128s
It births in us. 1132s
A patient where we can say, 1137s
if God does that for me, 1145s
I can wait on him. 1150s
I can wait on him. 1155s
I can wait on him until the future becomes clear. 1161s
I can wait on him. 1167s
As I'm waiting a diagnosis, 1170s
I can wait on him as I'm trying to work through a problem. 1172s
I can wait on him because I know who he is and what is done. 1177s
How dependent we are on him. 1189s
God keeps coming with his promises and pulling away all 1194s
of the Bremble, all of the trash, 1200s
all of that which gets in the way of the attentive walk. 1206s
And he births the humble walk 1215s
and linked to the humble walk is patience. 1222s
Where we say, 1229s
you're deemed where Lord Jesus, 1232s
I can wait, I can wait 1240s
because I trust you. 1248s
Mosaic law. 1256s
There was a law that said you couldn't put an older oxen and the younger oxen in the same 1260s
yoke. 1269s
It was a law. 1271s
So the law said that you had to use it training yoke. 1275s
Now, why is that? 1281s
Well, younger oxen isn't going to be able to carry the load. 1284s
They have to be trained. 1290s
As almost as I've said, you take the older the stronger oxen and you put the training 1293s
yoke on the younger oxen. 1298s
And guess who's carrying the burden in that equation? 1301s
It's the older stronger oxen. 1305s
And what does the younger oxen have to do? 1308s
The younger oxen just kind of goes along. 1312s
Goes along because the weight is being carried by the strong oxen. 1315s
And the younger oxen is trained to walk right on side of the older oxen. 1322s
Train. 1336s
As the older oxen carries the weight. 1337s
Jesus said this, Matthew 11, come to me. 1342s
All you that are weary in our carrying heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest. 1349s
What are the heavy burdens here that he's referring to? 1356s
It's the law. 1359s
It's the heavy burden of trying to communicate to God. 1361s
How worthy we are of his love and forgiveness and the glories of heaven itself. 1367s
That's a burden because you see we can't do that. 1374s
That's a load that we cannot carry. 1378s
So Jesus says, that's a load that you're not supposed to carry. 1380s
He says, come to me, all you are weary in our carrying heavy burdens. 1385s
And I will give you rest. 1389s
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I'm gentle and humble in heart. 1391s
And you will find rest for your souls. 1397s
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 1400s
Why is that? 1406s
Because he's carrying all the weight, isn't he? 1408s
He goes to the cross and he bears our sin upon him. 1412s
He gives to us his perfect life. 1418s
He takes all of our sin, the burden of that. 1420s
He lifts all of it. 1424s
He places his yoke upon us and we simply walk alongside. 1426s
And he is carrying all the burden. 1433s
We then walk alongside yoke that way, understanding what he has done for us and what he 1441s
does for us. 1451s
We can wait. 1457s
We can wait. 1462s
We can wait on the one that loves us to that extent and that depth. 1464s
We can wait for whatever is timing is in whatever situation it is. 1475s
We can wait for the manifestation of his will in whatever situation it is because we know 1480s
of the one to whom we're yoke. 1486s
We can wait on him. 1496s
We can wait on him. 1500s
Do justice? 1507s
Love kindness. 1511s
Walk humbly with your God. 1516s
He empowers the very thing he calls for. 1524s
He empowers them. 1529s
The patience that comes with the humble walk. 1533s
We can wait. 1545s
We can wait. 1550s