It was a take-off of a large department store - and all the behind-the-scenes antics of the staff and their relationships with one another and the customers.
"Are you being served?" is a useful opener with a customer who obviously isn't - or perhaps, "Do you need any help?" We are accustomed to "self-serving" and may want to be left alone - free to wander in and out of this shop or that. But at other times we wish a sales assistant would get off the phone or stop the social chat with another client so we can get some service!
In some businesses the old ideal of "service" has gone completely or radically changed. Perhaps this is because we consider ourselves a classless society in which nobody should be expected to "serve" anyone else.
The concept of Jesus was different from this. By word and example, he showed us that we are to serve one another (Jn 13.14,15). And, even while slavery was still in vogue, Paul taught a mutual service which cut right across the expectations of the time (Eph. 6.5-9).
Of course, not serving is one thing, but not being served is another. More than we are prepared to admit we exhibit a double standard. And we do it in relation to God too. On the one hand, why should God expect us to serve him? But then again, he'd better be there when we need him!
Should we ever be saying to the Lord, "Are you being served?" It seems odd putting it that way. Perhaps we need to think further about that one!
The opening chapters of Micah are about the sins and transgressions of the Lord's people. Fraud and stealing were rife.
"Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money" (Mic. 3.11). Civil rulers and the spiritual and moral leaders were all misusing their God-given responsibility.
Chapter 6 begins with the Lord's accusation that his people have forgotten all that he has done for them - "I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam… Remember your journey… that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord" (vv. 4-5).
"With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" (vv. 6-7)
The sacrifices and offerings were continuing as prescribed. Does the Lord want a multiplication of these sacrifices and offerings to a grandiose scale? Even to giving "my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul"? No, Abraham had spoken rightly to Isaac that "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son" (Gen. 22.8).
In Micah 5.2, we read, "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Some 700 years later the chief priests and teachers of the law, questioned by King Herod, accepted that these words pointed forward clearly to the coming of the Messiah (Mt. 2.6).
Yes, the complete and perfect sacrifice could only be provided by the Lord himself. The Lord is the greatest servant of all. All the other sacrifices could at best look forward and prepare the way for him.
The Lord has done all that is needed to bring us back into a relationship with himself. We can't repeat that. We don't have to repeat that.
So - "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Mic. 6.8).
The prophet's words are directed to all of us - the word "man" ('adam) is inclusive of the whole human race. The Lord has three particular requirements:
The people of Micah's day weren't living out "justice" and "constant love". Micah describes them as planning iniquity, plotting evil on their beds, seizing fields and houses, defrauding others of home and inheritance (2.1-2). They were failing to show committed love, driving out women from their homes and taking away the blessing God intended for their children (2.9). They were using dishonest scales and false weights (6.11)… These were the visible public ills, but behind it all was the breakdown of their relationship with God.
They had a formal relationship with God - through their sacrifices and offerings. But their heart was far from him. Jesus quoted Isaiah 29.13 to the people of his day - "These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men" (Mt. 15.8-9).
So… is the Lord being served today? How do we measure by his three requirements? Do we act justly? Do we love mercy? Do we walk humbly with our God?
These are requirements for the whole human race, but the Lord didn't direct them to the Assyrians or the Egyptians of the time. We need to hear them for ourselves - and not try to deflect them to the Prime Minister or the United Nations or anyone else. The questions are relevant for them too, but the Lord is speaking to us - to us who profess faith in him, who gather in this church for worship.
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
For the sake of our whole community, let us hear and heed.
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