Sermon: February 1, 2026
Readings: Micah 6:1-8 / 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 / Matthew 5:1-12
What is God–like? What is godlike?
God–like shows us who God is. Godlike shows how we live into that reality. The prophet Micah reminds us of what God is like and what faithfulness looks like when lived as a godlike life in relationship with God and with one another: “What does the Lord require of you? To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
These are not abstract virtues; they are the shape of life lived in relationship with God. Relationship with God and with one another are inseparable. You cannot claim faithfulness while neglecting the vulnerable and trampling on your neighbor.
Jesus not only embodies Micah’s words but also expands upon them while teaching on a hillside:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
These are not rules; they are promises. God’s kingdom is present, and God’s love embraces those the world overlooks.
Living godlike means doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God; this is the path of the cross. As Paul tells the Corinthians, this way looks foolish to the world. The world worships power, domination, and control; God chooses humility, mercy, and self-giving love.
And when the world’s values shape our laws, policies, and institutions, real people suffer. This matters now. Because when refugees and people of color are detained or imprisoned. When citizens are brazenly killed in the streets by those in authority. When families are torn apart, children are traumatized, and communities live in fear, it is not just a crisis ofpolicy: it is a moral crisis. Refusing to protect and care for our neighbor is a choice, and a complete failure to love mercy and walk humbly with God.
Faithfulness requires resistance. Our ultimate allegiance is to God’s kingdom, not to fear, nationalism, or systems that protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. God’s wisdom begins with love, revealed most clearly in the cross.
So when we are faced with choices:
Between judgment and grace, may we choose grace.
Between certainty and humility, may we choose humility.
Between contempt and love, may we choose love.
Because that is what God is like. And when we live that way, however imperfectly, we embody what is godlike.
May our lives bear witness to the God who continues to call creation into covenant, into a relationship that blesses the vulnerable, invites us to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly together with God.
