What Does God Want from Us?

I'm going to begin posting the sermon each week. Normally I'll try to have it up by Monday. Here is what I preached last Sunday.

“What Does God Want from Us?”
Micah 6: 1-8
Lifepath Church
January 18, 2009

What does God want from us? I’m going to take a gamble this morning and assume that all of you are here this morning because you really do want to know the answer to this question. I’m going to make the assumption, take a chance, go out on a limb and believe that you are not simply here because your parents made you come, or you thought it would be good for the kids, or somebody nagged you into it, or it was the only way to see your grandkids, or you work here and wouldn’t get paid if you didn’t show up (my church attendance is very regular these days). While these things might have been minor factors in your decision to be here this morning, I am going to take a gamble and assume that deep down inside we all want to know the answer to the question, what does God expect from us?

How does God want us to live? What is pleasing to him? Who does he want us to be? What does he want us to do? These questions have been answered in 100 million ways down through the centuries. Monks take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience because they believe that is the way of life God demands of them. Missionaries spend their lives sweating in third world countries because they think that is what God wants them to do. One person starts a hospital while another blows up a clinic and both believe they are doing something to please God. Some people take four wives while others never get married at all. Some people teach the illiterate to read while others burn books. Some people are pacifists while others declare holy wars and it’s all done in the name of serving God. It’s done because we want to do what is pleasing in his sight. The cynic looks at all the confusion and the contradiction and concludes that we can never really know what God wants us to do, so why try?

What does the Lord want from us? This is not a new question. People were asking this question two thousand and seven hundred years ago, right about the time of the prophet Micah. This is kind of a strange passage. It begins, “Stand up and state your case against me. Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints” (Micah 6: 1). That’s kind of weird. What we have here is a court case between God and his people. “He has a case against his people,” it says in verse two. And every court case needs witnesses and a jury and what-not. Who else is going to hear a court case between God and his people? “And now, O mountains, listen to the LORD’s complaint (verse 2).” The natural elements are being asked to listen to this controversy and decide the case. Perhaps that sounds a bit whimsical but the conflict between God and the people is not. The relationship between them is not working; the covenant agreement between them is frayed to the breaking point. God begins the trial by saying, “O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me!” (v. 3). He sounds like an exasperated parent, doesn’t he? Or a spouse that is at the end of his rope. “What have I done to deserve this? Is it me? In what way have I let you down? I work and work at this relationship and what do I get?” Does that sound familiar? Then God reminds the people of the past. “For I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery” (v 4). God is saying, “Look at what I’ve done for you. You were slaves. I freed you. You didn’t have a place to live. I spent 40 years leading you people through the desert. I fed, clothed, and protected you. And all you did was complain, complain, complain. I get you safely into the Promised Land. And as soon as I had established you there, what do you do? You disobey me. You don’t follow my rules. You worship other gods. What am I supposed to think?”

I want you to notice something. When I asked the question at the beginning of the sermon, “What does God want from us?” probably some of you sat back and thought, “Well, doesn’t this preacher know that we are justified by faith alone? I have faith that Jesus Christ died for my sins. That is the basis for my relationship with God. My relationship is founded not on what I do for God, but on what God has done for me. He saves me. I don’t save myself.” True. But this passage is not for people who are ignorant of God. It’s for the people he already has a relationship with. He doesn’t say, “I’m going to free you from slavery. I’m going to lead you through the desert to the place of salvation.” He doesn’t say, “I’m going to save you so therefore why don’t you act a little more nicely.” No, he says in effect, “I’ve already saved you. I’ve established this relationship with you. Why are you not living your lives based on this relationship?” God might as well be saying, “Look, I sent my son to die for you. He suffocated to death on a cross for you. I sent out missionaries to the four corners of the world who were tortured and martyred to bring the Good News. I led people into your life to tell you personally about the faith. For some of you it was your parents. For some of you it was a Sunday school teacher. For some of you it was a friend. But to all of you I brought the good news of salvation and helped you to believe it. I gave you forgiveness. I have you a fresh start. And what have you done with everything that I’ve given you? How have you acted in this relationship? I saved you. Why are you not acting like saved people?” You see, the conflict God has is not with them out there – the unsaved. It’s with us!

“Well…..what do you mean, God? I thought I was doing pretty well. I may not be perfect but I haven’t committed any crimes or anything. I’m no different from everybody else.” Exactly. The biggest reason why the Church is no longer seen by our society as being a particularly worthwhile institution is because they can’t see any difference between people who go to church and everybody else. Who do you see standing around the water cooler trading trashy stories? Is it only the non-Christians? Who is it that hollers profanity at the Little League umpires? Is it only the people who don’t go to church? Who is it that steps on people at the office? Who tells racist jokes? Who shoots the finger in traffic? Who? Is it only the atheists, the pagans, and the agnostics? In the day-to-day grind of living is there any real difference between those who are saved and those who aren’t?

At the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount Jesus says that those who follow him will be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. In other words our actions are to have an impact on the whole world. Four out of five people in this nation call themselves Christians. That’s a whole lot of light and salt. We should have a very well-seasoned and very light-filled society. What happened? Is it someone else’s fault? It’s so easy to blame everyone and everything else, isn’t it? According to a recent poll 89% of us believe our society is impolite. 73% believe mean-spirited political campaigns are to blame. 67% thought rock music is to blame. 52% think talk radio is to blame. 1% said their own behavior is to blame. 1%. That’s a busy 1%! We will blame anybody but ourselves, won’t we? That’s what the false prophets recorded in Micah say, “Don’t say such things….don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way” (Micah 2: 6). That’s what false prophets always say: “Don’t worry. Be happy. God is just pleased as punch with you. It’s somebody else who is to blame.” Four fifths of our society claims to be Christian, but it’s not our fault the world looks like it does. Well, when you live the service and shake my hand you don’t want to say, “I enjoyed your sermon. I just wish So-And-So had been to hear it.” If you do I’ll know you weren’t listening. I like it when you enjoy sermons and many of them are to be enjoyed but not this one. And it’s not for somebody else. It’s for you and me. It is with us that God has his quarrel. “O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me?” (Micah 6: 3) God is saying, “I have saved you. Are you acting like someone who is saved?”

Well, what does God want from us? What does it take? Or, as the people respond to God in Micah: “What can we bring to the LORD? What kind of offering should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?” (Micah 6: 6-7) What do I have to do? Put in $100 a week into the offering plate? Should I volunteer 20 hours a week at church? What’s it going to take to keep God happy? $10,000 a week and 168 volunteer hours? Sell all my possessions and give them to the poor? My firstborn child? What’s enough? It’s very natural when wondering what God wants from us to think in terms of money and works of service. Things. External things. But God doesn’t want external things, does he? What does he want? He wants us.

Listen to the prophet. “No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good….” (Micah 6: 8). You see, this word is not for people who don’t know God or have no history with him. It’s for those of us he already has a relationship with. He says we already know what he wants. “…The LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6: 8). He wants us to be a certain kind of person. But what kind?

The Bible says a lot about the kinds of people we are supposed to be. Let’s see if we can boil it all down. A father tells a story about his daughter. When she was a little girl she had a doll. It started off a new doll, bright, clean and well-made but his daughter took it with her everywhere. She played with it. She slept with it. And after a while the doll began to look pretty frayed. The eyes fell out. She lost most of her hair. Her dress was stained and ripped. But the little girl still loved it. And whenever she had to put it down to take a bath or eat a meal she would ask her mother or her father to hold her doll. And she would say, “Be careful, Daddy. Hold her very carefully. Watch her head.” And the father would look at that ragged, dirty little doll and think, “This thing is not worth the thread it takes to keep it together. It has no value. It’s worthless.” But he still held it very carefully and watched its head to make sure it was supported. He didn’t treat the doll according to its value to him. He treated it according to its value to his little girl. And to his little girl that doll was absolutely precious.

The basis for all the instructions in the Bible is that each person is absolutely precious in the eyes of God. That person you are gossiping about, that person you had to fire because she was incompetent, that person who cut you off in traffic – they may all seem pretty worthless to you. They may seem ragged, stained, worn out and beat up. But each one of them is more valuable than all the money ever made, more valuable than all the art in all the museums in all the world, more special than 100 million sunsets. In the eyes of God that person is absolutely precious.

And we are to treat them not according to their value to us but according to their value to God.
And when we do that, when we begin to treat each person with the value that God places on them, then we are living as God’s people. Then we are living saved lives. Then we are being the salt of the earth and the light of the world and all those unsaved folks out there will look at us and wonder, “Why are they different from others I meet?” But then, you already knew this. You know what the Lord requires of us. He’s been telling us all along. Do what is right. Love mercy. And walk humbly with your God.

Amen

A Dangerous Message

Lifepath Church supports several missionaries in places where Christianity is severely persecuted. Here is a portion of a Christmas update from one of them. It makes you realize how dangerous the message of Jesus is perceived to be by many nations.


Did Christians and Churches in the Middle East Celebrate Christmas publicly?

North Africa: 26 churches have been forced to shut down in North Africa, though more then half have reopened, allowing churches to celebrate a quiet, public Christmas.

Egypt: more than 8 churches have been rioted, vandalized, and many forced to close. In spite of these tragedies churches across the country celebrated a vibrant Christmas January 6th , Eastern Orthodox calendar (i.e. the 12th day of Christmas)

The Turkish area: an Anglican church was forced to move locations, but they were open in time of Christmas.

Turkey: despite legislative amendments to harmonize with European Union law there has still been strong discrimination against all minority communities, but disproportionately toward the Protestant church. No churches have been able to legally register as a place of worship, and a 1600 year old Monastery is under threat of losing its property and being razed. So the Armenian, Greek and Catholic Churches had a public Christmas, but the Protestant churches had to be more careful.

Iran: Public Christmas was illegal for all Christians. Including legally recognized churches (historical church communities), but especially for converts from Islam. Until today tens of Christians are being arrested for choosing to gather for Christmas.

Palestine: Prior to the problems in Gaza only a handful of Christians were given permission to travel to churches in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas, because of the current situation Christians in Palestine and Jordan chose only to observe silent services.

Regurgical Dance

The staff of Lifepath Church worked very hard on this Holiday Dance which was featured on a recent Sunday morning. We've had many requests to see the video, so here it is.

Christmas Pageants Rock

Lifepath's first Christmas pageant was a lot of fun. The church members did a great job creating all the costumes and the sets. This first picture is from the opening number which involved lots of dancing and pink hats.

There were also spies in this version of the Christmas story. That's Jane Blonde in the middle.

Here is the Angel Jazz Band. That's Gabe on the horn.

Here are my three fifth graders. It's a little sad to think this may be their last Christmas pageant.

Judith was in the angel chorus.

And here is Jake. Is this a mild form of child abuse?

What Is the Pastor Reading?

I tend to pick at half a dozen things at once. Here are the main things I'm currently working through.

It was time to read some R. C. Sproul.

I've read plenty of Calvin and studied quite a few theologians that come from the Reformed tradition. I've also spent a fair share of time reading the classic Reformed creeds. But I've never read someone modern who holds so closely to a 17th century scholastic version of the Reformed faith in its famous TULIP form.

Sproul is an engaging writer and a good teacher. If I can get some uninterrupted time, I should finish it in the next week or so.




This is a fine look at how to share one's faith. There are no gimmicks or fads. It's all about loving people and listening to God's guidance. I'm really enjoying it.

This book by Joseph Canfield is an unflattering biography of the editor of the Scofield Bible, which popularized Dispensational theology in the United States.








With so many faiths represented in the city of Houston, a pastor is well served to have a decent understanding of the major world religions. Huston Smith's book is considered a classic.





And finally, just for fun I'm reading a fictional account of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Normally I prefer history to historical fiction but this is pretty good.

The Ultimate Anti-Zombie Weapon

You know you want one.

My Buddy, the Pirate

Michael Wurl is my buddy. He and his parents, Gary and Jennifer Wurl, are member of Lifepath and very involved in the life of the church. He's now about 23 or 24 and I guess I've known him about 11 years.

Michael has always been a bit of a character. He recently graduated from chef school and he must be pretty good at it. He has just gotten a job to be an executive chef in Nigeria at a five star hotel. He'll be leaving in January and gone for the next year. I'll miss getting together with him and playing video games.

But if you ask Michael what he really wants to do, he'll tell you he wants to be a pirate. He just called me from Ireland where he has been doing a cooking internship. He announced that he had made the national television news and the national paper.

You can read the story on the Irish Times website found here. But I'll go ahead an post the text:

Student's sea paddle prompts rescue operation

An American student sparked a full-scale rescue today after paddling a mile-and-half out to sea in a tiny boat to photograph a lighthouse.

The man in his 20s, who is taking classes at the famous Ballymaloe Cookery School in Co Cork, set off in rough conditions from nearby Ballyandreen, using a stick as an oar.
The RNLI lifeboat crew at Ballycotton said the Texan would have lost his life in the choppy waters if he hadn’t been spotted by a local fisherman.

“A major tragedy was definitely on the cards,” said eagle-eyed Redmond Lane Walsh who saw the 10-foot punt, a half mile off Ballycotton Island, in the Atlantic.
“If he hadn’t been rescued when he was, there would definitely have been a bad outcome. No-one knew where this guy was and they wouldn’t have known if he was missing.”

Lane Walsh, a fisherman and RNLI volunteer, noticed the boat as he walked along the Ballycotton pier and quickly alerted his RNLI crewmates.
They launched the Austin Lidbury lifeboat, which took just 15 minutes to reach the frightened sailor, who was being pulled further out to the ocean.

“When we got to him he had no oars, no flares, no mobile phone, lifejacket or safety equipment and nothing to bale out the water,” said Mr Lane Walsh.
“The wind was picking up and the waves were building so the boat would have floundered. There was no way in which he could alert anyone to let them know he was in trouble.”
Apart from some seasickness and shock, the hapless visitor was uninjured and made his way back to his hotel.

“People need to use their heads and not treat the sea lightly,” warned Blathnaid Lane Walsh, RNLI spokeswoman, who is also Redmond’s wife.

She said the rescue highlights the invaluable work done by the Ballycotton RNLI as it celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
PA © 2008 irishtimes.com

Michael, I love you but you need to stick to cooking. No more adventures on the high seas!