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.