God’s Desire
I like watching comedy specials on Youtube. Dry Bar comedy is a favorite of mine because I can trust that the comedy will be clean. Just last week I watched Michael Jr. on Dry Bar. Of course, Youtube was kind enough to decide that I had not had enough of Michel Jr. so they served another. This time from a routine at a large church. The central theme of this particular routine was
“Obedience over Sacrifice”
It was very funny…and poignant. I was left thinking about the message for several days.
Hmmm. Obedience and sacrifice are words that often have multiple meanings. While the meaning obedience is fairly clear and straightforward, I was stumbling over “sacrifice,” a word with several possible meanings depending on the context. I was clearly reading it in a New Testament context, thinking specifically about Jesus describing to His disciples the sacrifice of the widow at the temple who offered her two mites.
“Assuredly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more that all those who have given to the treasury: for they all put in out of their abundance, but out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.” Mark 12:43b-44
Sometimes, I think my lack of understanding must make God laugh! Realizing my struggle and knowing my desire to understand the meaning, God directed me to the answer. I was reviewing notes from a sermon that was almost a year old. The sermon was about Saul being rejected as kind and Samuel anointing David to replace him. Saul had just destroyed the Amelekites. Yet he had not “utterly destroyed” them as God commanded. Saul spared the King and the best of the livestock. When confronted by Samuel, Saul saw fit to blame the people he was supposed to be leading and justify the failure to follow God’s direction by saying that the plan was to sacrifice the livestock as a offering to God.
“So Samuel said
Has the Lord as great delight in
burnt offering and sacrifices:
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than to Sacrifice.”
1 Samuel 15:22
AHHHH, now it made sense!
Fast forward a month or so. My wife and I are listening to a sermon by Alistair Begg on the topic of discipleship. This topic is near and dear to our hearts as it is the central message of Follow by Faith Ministries. Alistair is a favorite of ours for his clear biblical teaching.
We are sitting comfortably in our office, taking notes and following along in our bibles. He, and we, turn to John 14:21, 25-56.
“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them it is he who loves me”
O B E D I E N C E
“And he who loves me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him…These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and [He will make his home in you].”
One more piece of the puzzle! Alistair then says; “Incidentally, we’re not kept by our obedience. Our obedience proves that we are being kept.” Now I had to dig a little deeper.
The New Testament is grounded on principles put forth in the Old Testament. Correct interpretation of Scripture uses God’s word to interpret God’s word. Asked obedience, to not be abusive, requires that the person being asked to obey have a clear understanding of what is expected. It also allows for a choice, and is followed by a consequence.
Example: IF you eat of the fruit of this tree, you will die! Simple, direct, easy to understand.
Choice: Eat or Don’t Eat
Consequence: Die of Live
The first rule broken. Disobedience. The consequence averted by the mercy of God. The first sacrifice required, a skin to cover their nakedness, to cover the result of the choice to disobey. This theme set forth at the beginning of creation ( expectation set forth by God in the form of spoken or written word, disobedience by those created in His image, sacrifice to cover the sin) continued until Christ’s obedience and sacrifice on the cross.
In Matthew 12:13, Jesus quotes Hosea 6:6:
“For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.”
The notes from the New King James study bible for this verse reads:
Mercy means “loyalty” or “devotion”. Knowledge of God does not refer to mere head knowledge, but to a genuine recognition of God’s authority that produces obedience to His commandments.
Jesus is making the point that keeping the rituals of obedience and sacrifice for rituals sake is not preferred. Instead, God desires that we are so moved by His sacrifice for our sins, His mercy, that we respond with complete devotion to Him. Responding like for like if you will.
In the final piece of this New Covenant, God now provides a means for all who choose to admit to and accept the truth of our fallen nature, to return to daily, hourly, minute by minute, second by second communion with Him.
“But the Helper , the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things and He will make his home in you.”
Our sinful nature, disobedience, is covered by Christ’s sacrifice… a once and for all sacrifice. The new covenant! No more pilgrimage to the temple with unblemished livestock, parading through the streets of the city shamefully showing our sins for all to see.
Now comes the part our fleshly human nature cannot accomplish on our own. Obedience.
This obedience is, in itself, a gift of our Creator, born out of His desire for communion with us.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10
Note that scripture says His Workmanship. This phrase means “a thing made”. You and I are “a new creation”. What was once “born of flesh” is now “born of the Spirit.” God’s desire for our obedience is accomplished by Him, by The Holy Spirit that He provided.
And now comes our sacrifice. A simple, yet difficult choice. Continue walking in the old ways of our own desires, relying on God’s grace and mercy, or walk daily in faith with intention. Intention that “Thy will be done.”
That we would think as God would have us think: “Taking every thought captive to Christ”.
That we would act as God would have us act: “ Be doers of the word”.
That we would speak as God would have us speak: “Speak the truth in love”.
The path to fulfilling God’s desire for our lives is simple. Obedience. Allow God to do the work in us. The path to fulling God’s desire for our life is NOT easy. Sacrifice
We must sacrifice our selfish desires for God’s plan for our lives. The God of our creation is, by nature, LOVE. His desires are pure.
Ask daily - “What would God have me ask?”
Seek daily - “What does God want me to seek?”
Knock daily - “What doors would God have me knock on?”
No list of rules. God’s desire for our lives is that we would simply seek to commune with Him. He will do the work in you. Be still and know.
“Until the day of Christ”