What Does God Want?

Well, we probably all wondered, what exactly does God want? What does He want of me?

We pose that question. What does God want us to do as we preach His Word? How do you present God's Word to a people that have so little understanding? And yet here God has called us. He's working with us. He's opened our minds to His truth. And I don't think we can sidestep that important question. What does God want of me? And if you had to come up with a passage in the Bible that asks that very question, is there a passage that maybe comes to mind?

It's a passage that points out three specific things that point to what God wants.

In fact, that passage is found over in Micah, chapter 6, verse 8. Maybe it's this passage that came to your mind because it's one of those passages that is probably one of the most comprehensive, maybe one of the most all-embracing statements throughout the Old Testament. And in the Minor Prophets in Micah, chapter 6, verse 8, very succinctly points to what God wants from each one of us. Here's what it says, Micah, chapter 6, verse 8. He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? Well, that's the question. What does God want of me? What does the Lord require of you? Well, he answers his own question here. To do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God. And so answering that question instantly was not an answer just for the people of the day. This is also something written for our benefit individually and I believe for God's church today as well. And so rather than just say, okay, God wants these three things. Am I just? Am I merciful? Am I humble? Yes. And then we walk away from that. I think as Mr. Petty said, are we really authentic in looking and putting some meat on the bones of what God really requires of us? Because he does expect certain things. Are we authentic? Are we realistic? Are we fulfilling these three keys? And oftentimes when we want to answer that question, we might say, well, let's see, for ancient Israel, what would that have looked like? In fact, a couple of verses before that, maybe this is what they thought those three things looked like. If you look back just a little bit, it says verse 6, burnt offerings. That must be what God wants. Or maybe it's year-old calves. Is that what God wants? Does God want thousands of rams offered as sacrifices? Does he want rivers of oil that we dedicate to? Is that what God's purpose? Is that what God requires? And certainly that was something that came to mind for the people of the day. But for us, we're much more sophisticated, right? So what were the things that maybe tend to come to our mind? Well, maybe it's keeping the Sabbath. That's what it's all about. Being at church, attending the holy days, don't ever let your lips touch a piece of bacon. Perhaps those are the things that come to our minds. Now, of course, we have to keep the Sabbath. Of course, we want to obey God's food laws. But wait a second. Is there more? When we take a big picture look at what this is talking about, the big picture of what does God require of me.

Now we're talking about more of the sense of why do I attend Sabbath services? Why do I obey God's food laws? What does God expect? What does he want of me when it comes to those issues? Because I can attend church and not grow a smidgen. I can keep God's food laws, never let a piece of him touch my mouth. But for some reason, I'm still a spiritual baby. Well, that's not what God wants. You see, it begins to point to the motivation. It begins to point to what is it that actually is just? What is merciful? What is walking humbly? So that we can better explain those things and how that looks in reality. How does that look in reality in my life? Because sometimes we can look at these things and we don't really, really maybe say, well, I don't understand every little bit of the Bible. I don't understand prophecy. I don't understand what's going to happen. After the third trumpet and how this is going to play out. And oftentimes we'll say, well, I guess I'm not doing what God wants because I don't understand. But do we have to understand everything in order to fulfill what God wants for us? And I think the answer is we don't have to know at all. In fact, we can't know at all. We can't know at all. I was reminded of this when I heard a discussion that Mark Twain was having, you know, many, many, many years ago. Someone asked Mark Twain, does it bother you that you don't understand some things in the Bible? You know what he answered? He said, it's not the things that I don't understand in the Bible that bother me.

It's the things I do understand that bother me. And I think that's where we need to be. We need to be, all right, I understand this, and so I need to apply this in my life. When I look at this passage and it says, I'm to do justly, how does that look in my personal life? And we could turn a few pages over. If you want to, let's do that. Let's go over to Zechariah chapter 7, just a few pages toward the New Testament. Zechariah chapter 7 verse 8, it talks about executing true justice. And oftentimes we think of doing justly, and maybe a court scene may play out in our minds. How does a court case and justice fit in my personal life, in the things that I do? Well, Zechariah talks about this in verse 8. Zechariah 7 verse 8 says, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah saying, thus says the Lord of hosts, execute true justice. What does it look like? Well, he starts to fill in some of the blanks. Show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.

But of course it goes on, it says they refuse to heed. And what we find is because Israel would not do justly, because they couldn't translate that concept into their personal lives, they ended up being carted off into captivity. And so, doing justly, does that look like doing what's right? Does that look like doing what's fair? Does that look like striving to live justly according to God's standard? See, we're not just talking about a formal sentence or a court case in that matter. In fact, if you turn over a page here in Zechariah chapter 8, look at verse 16. Here's a little bit rounder definition of what justice and doing justly might look like in our lives. Verse 16, Zechariah 8, these are the things you shall do. All right, just and acting justly is not just what's going on in our thinking, but it translates into our doing. Translates into our doing. Speak each man the truth to his neighbor. Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace. Let none of you think evil in your heart. Can I say that? See, I'm the only one that knows that answer. I'm the only one. Well, what am I thinking? What's going on in my brain? And he goes on, don't love a false oath. These are the things I hate, says the Lord. And so it comes down to what is our version of doing justly? What does that look like? And I think that's a wonderful opportunity we all have to actually consider that. What's my personal version of doing just? Now, you may have heard of the infamous Judge Roy Bean. Here was a character back in the late 1880s who claimed to be all the law west of the Pecos. And if you've ever read some of the infamous, maybe legendary, sometimes it's kind of hard to figure out was that really the way it was, or that they just add to the legend. But here was a guy who, because there was no judge, he became the judge. He became the notary public. He became the justice of the peace, tacked up aboard, and said, I'm the law all west of the Pecos. Of course, he poured whiskey at the same time in the saloon, which was kind of a makeshift courtroom and all those kinds of things that he's known for.

But one of the interesting things when it comes to this concept of doing justly, Roy Bean because he was the law, got a book, a blank book, and wrote in this book all of the laws that he felt were necessary to enforce. So he came up with his own rules for justice, and some of them are really amazing. On one of the pages of this book of his own law, he wrote, cheating and horse stealing is a hanging offense if catched. So don't get catched or they're going to hang you, right? So that was one of his laws. Of course, because of the pour and the whiskey and the saloon and the card playing and everything, there had to be some card playing laws as well. So he wrote down, a full house beats a straight unless the one holding the full is not straight or himself is too full. So he had his own versions of what just looked like in his courtroom, probably one of the worst cases. There was a circumstance where a guy named Patty O'Rourke shot a Chinese laborer. Of course, this saloon he had was near the railroad. So this Patty O'Rourke, a good German, no, actually an Irishman, it looks like he's going to get hung. Well, there's suddenly this mob of 200 people that just happened to be of Irish descent that threatened to lynch Roy Bean if he didn't free Patty O'Rourke. So he looked through his law book for justice. And do you know what he found, or I think what he made up and probably wrote down? He ruled. Homicide was the killing of a human being. But I cannot find a law that rules against killing the Chinaman. So his justice was letting him go. So the interesting part of the story is, what does my own justice look like? What does doing justly look like in my... Do I have a tendency to mirror Roy Bean, or what I think, and what I do? Or do I strive to live by the standard of God, executing true justness, justice doing justly? And when you compare what's written here in Zechariah, the same concept continues in the New Testament as well. If you look to Ephesians, Ephesians 4, verse 25, here's the kind of justice that should be executed in our lives. It's not like we get to make up our own rules. God set the standard. We've had a living, breathing example in Jesus Christ of what doing justly looks like. And Paul was inspired to write this, I believe, for our help, for our guidance. We don't look to our own book of justice like Roy Bean did, but instead we look to God's book of the law. And Ephesians 4, 25, put some meat on the bones of what I think God inspired in Micah to do justly. Ephesians 4, look at verse 25. It says, put away lying.

So doing justly means knock off the lying. That is unacceptable. There's no excuse for lying. Speak truth with your neighbor. Verse 26, be angry but don't sin. But I can justify that because my anger is righteous indignation. That's what I, I don't get mad. I just get angry righteously. So we come up with our own law book. Wait a second. He says, don't give place to the devil.

If you stole, don't steal any longer. But work with your hands. Verse 29, are we doing justly? Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification, what builds up, he says that it imparts grace to the hearers. And he ties all of those things to grieving the Holy Spirit, not submitting our lives, not submitting our thinking to God's Spirit so that whatever comes out is our own. And it's not the godly justice that that we're required to have. And so he goes on, verse 31, let bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking be put away with all malice. And so Paul begins to break down this concept of doing justly. And if we think about that a little bit and how that looks in our own lives, I mean, how impartial are we?

Doing justly means, can't be partial to an Irishman versus a Chinaman. That's ridiculous.

God requires of me to act fairly. And that means acting fairly here at church, with the brethren, acting fairly on the job, acting fairly in the community, in business, personal. It's all that we cannot show any favoritism. Can't be there. We need to strive to be just like God is just. And He shows no partiality. So do I show more courtesy, more fairness, you know, to someone that's important or we perceive as being important rather than, it's just a homeless guy. You don't have to be nice to them. How does that impact us? Well, we consider God's impartial, and He stamped His image on each and every human being. And so are we impartial? Are we accurate? You talk about court cases, we better get our facts straight. Do I live truthfully? Do I, okay, does it look like this? Do I exaggerate so that, yeah, I look pretty good. Put my suit and tie on and I dress up all right.

But wait a say, what am I on the inside? Do I exaggerate my actions more so that I look better than what I really am? We heard about authenticity. Is what you see what you get. You see, that's the kind of people we need to be. It doesn't matter whether we're at church or whether we're standing in front of people, whether I'm sitting at the potluck, whether I'm working on my job. This is who I am. This is who I am. Are we a just individual? And yeah, there's ties to being lawful as well.

We've seen some things play out on the streets of Charlotte. Do we have just individuals that obey the rules of the land? Does this give us an excuse? Because I don't like what's happening, you know, to loot, to steal things for myself. I mean, it happens everywhere. Down in Cincinnati, they had fireworks over the Labor Day weekend, and someone was shot there, and the crowd went crazy right at the end of the fireworks. And so people were running and scared and didn't know what was happening at first. And as our daughter was leaving, she saw people using that as an excuse to loot the concession stands that had gotten set up all around the area where they were firing off the fireworks. So something bad happened. Does that give us an excuse to do whatever we want?

You see, and whether I agree politically with someone, does that give us an excuse to disrespect others? Or does God expect us to respect those in authority? I think He does. And so a connection with righteousness, what our moral standard really is and how we reflect it. And so do my words, do my actions reflect God's truth in every situation. And that points to each of us asking that question. What does God want of me? What does the Lord require of me in the sense of acting justly? Because it all seems to point back. It's not just talk. It's not just a nice idea. We can talk a lot about injustice, but what do I do about it?

You know, what do I do about it? Biblical justice continues to point to the fact you cannot separate doing justly an action, an action. And so we can hate, you know, the things that are going on in our world, the injustice that's going on. We can hate the fact that there are so many homeless in our world. We can hate the fact that there is human trafficking and abortion and all of these different things that are out here. And I can talk about how much I hate it. And I can seem like a very caring person. But wait a second. Those are words. What am I doing about it? What am I doing about those things? Am I doing anything to ease the suffering of those that are going through some of these difficulties? Or is it just talk? You see, what does God want? He wants action. He wants us to do justly. And of course, Micah also connects that, under God's inspiration, of course, to mercy. That we're supposed to not only be merciful, but it's interesting he used an adjective to describe the kind of mercy we're to have. We're to love mercy. We're to love mercy. And Micah, in that whole section of Scripture, talks about how merciful God is. In Micah, as he discusses this concept of doing, if we go just a little bit farther from Micah 6, verse 8, where we began, chapter 7, he poses the question, God, who is like you? You are so awesome and so merciful. You pardon iniquity. You pass over the transgression. He points to the fact how merciful God is and the amazing attributes that our God has. And when you think about loving mercy, can we talk about mercy without thinking about the character of God Himself?

I mean, think about how that was exhibited in the Old Testament.

Mercy was constantly in front of the eyes of ancient Israel, wasn't it? Imagine them walking through the wilderness for 40 years. You know, each time they had to move, what did they cart before them? Well, they carted around the Ark of the Covenant, didn't they? And then they would set up and they would set up the tabernacle. And of course, the cover of that Ark was called the mercy seat. And God's presence, whether it was the pillar of cloud or the pillar of fire, it seemed to emanate from that mercy seat, representing the presence of God with them. And so He was there leading them, protecting them, watching over them. And it is always amazing to me to think of, you know, what was in the Ark? You think about the things that were in the Ark.

Well, there was man, huh? Anything else in the Ark? Well, we had the law. The law was in the Ark.

Where was the mercy seat? Covered the Ark, right? So the things that were inside, God's law was covered by mercy. God's law is covered by mercy. And so we have a compassionate God. We have an empathetic God who cares for us and loves us, treats people fairly. He's impartial, but sets the perfect example for us because we have a God who over and over again throughout Scripture delights in showing mercy. And He expounds on that over and over again. And He expects that kind of perspective from us. So as you think about loving mercy, what does our version of loving mercy look like in our life? You know, we write a book about mercy as we live our lives. And James chapter 3 verse 13 is one of those sections that boils it down a little bit. I think that that begins to show what that should look like in our personal lives. James chapter 3 verse 13. Here, James, I think is contrasting some of the things that even Christ wrote about. Christ was recorded of teaching. You might remember throughout the Gospels, especially in Luke, I think it's recorded where Christ talked about, well, if you love those who only love you, what credit is that to you? If you're merciful to those that are merciful to you, what credit is that? Even people who don't even know God do those kinds of things. And so here James, I think, expounds on that and talks about being merciful, as Christ pointed out, as God is merciful. So James says, Who's wise and understanding among you? This is verse 13 of James 3. Let him show by good conduct. Once again, we have a connection between what we believe and what we do. What does our mercy look like? What does loving mercy in my life? How do I exhibit that? Well, do I exhibit in my conduct? Verse 14, if you have bitter envy, you have self-seeking, you're in it for yourself. That's not where it's at. He says, Do not boast and lie against the truth. That's not what mercy looks like. Verse 15, This wisdom doesn't descend from above. It's earthly central. It's demonic. Don't kid yourself that way. He says, Where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. And I think you could even add more to this seeking. Self-righteousness, self-interest, by anything that we put self after seem to fit in this category. But the wisdom that we're to have, the attitude, the character we're to put on, he says it's pure. Verse 17, it's peaceable. It's gentle, willing to yield. In fact, he says, it's full of mercy and good fruits. And so we're not hypocrites. We're authentic. This is the reality. He says, without partiality, without hypocrisy. What you see is what you get. And we love mercy. So that in every circumstance, that's going to be what we exhibit. And so what does our personal version of loving mercy look like? I'd heard a story about Julius Caesar. The historian Suetonius records an interesting circumstance in his life. In his younger days, Julius was hijacked by pirates. And so he's taken captive. And of course, he put on a nice face for them, and kind of lived with them, and played with them. But he determined in his mind, he's going to get them. They are going to pay for this. In fact, Suetonius records the fact that he said to himself, I'm going to crucify them. So he lives with them, finally becomes Caesar. As time passes, becomes Caesar. He's going to fulfill that promise that he made to himself. He carried out his threat. But he said, I want to show mercy to them. And so as he began to crucify them, you know what his version of mercy looked like? He slit their throats.

That was, you know, the magnanimous Caesar executing mercy. I mean, how ridiculous is that? And so he would claim to be this wonderful, magnanimous, merciful person. And that's what mercy looked like to him. We know we can't be anything like that. But I think what we begin to see, I hope we see, I've got to ask myself, yeah, I want to be merciful, but what does that actually look like? How do I live it? How do I do it? It certainly doesn't mean we allow injustice, because God hates injustice. No way. Unacceptable. But how often do I want mercy? Well, I want people to be merciful. I want them to be understanding to me, because boy, did I mess this up. I want mercy. But then, boy, do they deserve the consequences. We ought to give them absolute justice. And so do we look at mercy differently? Does it look differently for me? I want them to pay consequences, but please give me mercy. We can't be like that. Can't be like that. And as you consider this concept of loving mercy, it also means that mercy is going to be uncomfortable for me sometimes, because I want those consequences for them to be paid. But it's going to cost me yeah, maybe somebody's going to insult me and I'm going to have mercy on them. I need to have mercy on them. Do I take it? Do I forgive? Am I going to be merciful for the umpteenth time? Because that's what loving mercy looks like. And that looks like reaching out to others, especially those James talks about what is true religion? What does true loving mercy look like? Watching out for the lonely, watching out for the neglected, watching out for those that may have the struggles and the addictions and the difficulties without ever expecting anything in return. I do these things because it's who I am. It's who I am. I am striving to put on Christ, and this is who I am. And at times, like Christ, it's going to be a heartache. It's going to be hurt. But he took the penalty and exhibited what true mercy looks like. And he gives us the mercy because we don't get what we deserve.

Because that would be something totally different. And if I really do love mercy, I know God's merciful because there's no other way to stand before Him. And so I must strive to exhibit that kind of mercy to those around me. All right, let's look at the third aspect. The third aspect mentioned back there in Micah 6 was to walk humbly with your God. To walk humbly with your God. What does that kind of humility look like? I've always taken aback when I read that passage because it's not just being humble. But he says, walk humbly. Walk humbly. So what does walking humbly look like? A passage that came to my mind was one that's in the New Testament. 1 John 1.5.

1 John 1.5 maybe helps us to see what that kind of walking humbly looks like in our own lives. In fact, as you're turning there, I was thinking of that passage, and I believe it's in Isaiah 57, where God's describing, in a way, inspired to describe Himself, where He talks about Himself being the high and lofty one. You remember that passage? He inhabits eternity, a really cool passage. But He also says there, I dwell in the high and holy place with Him who is comfortable with Him who is contrite.

So God is imagining us in the kingdom of God dwelling with Him. And He says He's dwelling with, maybe for our circumstances today, walking with those that are contrite and humble, fellowshiping, sharing with them. And here in James 1.5, I think that message even comes more to life. It says, this is the message we've heard from Him and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and we don't practice the truth.

So there's that authenticity coming out again. Practicing what we preach, living what we say we believe. We say we have fellowship with God, then we better be walking it. In other words, we better be living it. We better be putting it into practice. Verse 7, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another.

We're walking humbly with our God. And so we're sharing, we're participating in His family, in His purposes. So we walk in the light as He is in the life. We have fellowship with one another. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. We live in a repentant attitude and we are humbled before our God. And of course, when you see that big picture, I recognize I didn't make myself. God created all things. God made all things. And when I really take that to heart, that can only mean everything I am, everything I have comes from God.

And I understand it's His authority. He has the authority to lead me. And I need to surrender. I need to give up because He's in charge. He's in charge. And if I don't keep that in perspective, then, well, like my mom used to say, I'm too big for my own riches. Right? But God made everything. God, I am because God created all. He created all. And so, can I pray and ask God to continue to open my mind, continue to open my eyes, because all too often pride gets in the way of my own relationships.

My own pride keeps me from growing spiritually, being too big for my own britches, you know, makes me think I'm doing this. Boy, am I, look how good I am, look how strong I am. I can't do any of this without God's help. God, God deserves all the credit because without Him I am nothing. And so, can I praise Him and honor Him for His blessings and for His presence in our life in the church within each of us. And I think it helps us then to be authentic and recognize I got to look at my own self.

I got to look at me, pay attention to my own faults more than I worry about the flaws and the difficulties in others' lives because we're all in this together. And so, if I think I'm, wow, I came up with this awesome new spiritual thought. It's like, oh, come on, give me a break. Right? Nothing new under this. I'd say, wow, aren't I good? We think we're so, whatever the case of, look how this world focuses on beauty and intelligence and all of these great, wonderful attributes.

Where does any of that come from? I mean, we know that's not something we earned. God gave us what we have. And so, we've got to make sure we don't fall into that concept, though. They're one of the beautiful people. Well, that's that's the way of this world, right? But boy, the beautiful people, it's all an image, isn't it? That's just what it is on the outside because, you know, Brad and Angie are getting a divorce.

What? Oh, that's a facade. That's an image. But we can't be like that. I walk humbly with God by making sure I don't value myself over anybody else. I respect life. That's what we need to strive. I respect all people. And so, walking with God means doing just that, being imitators of God.

Walk in love. Walk circumspectly. Have His attitude. And so, the fastest way to walk with humility is to walk the way that Christ walked. And 1 John even says that. Live the way that He lived. Walk the way that He walked. Meaning, what was His life like? What was His attitude? What was His perspective? What was His relationship with others? And so, as we put all these things together, I think these, especially this third one, walking humbly seems to kind of hold the key in some ways to acting justly and loving mercy. That when we have the walk of humility, it helps them to define these things, recognizing that apart from the song that we heard Gail play, apart from the grace of God, apart from God's forgiveness and mercy, I don't have anything. And so, in humility I walk, recognizing we're all walking the same ground. We're all on the same level. See? By God's grace and His mercy, that's the way that it is. And so, that's the perspective that we need to have. In fact, I heard an interesting poem that kind of paints that picture a little bit. It's a poem that was by a guy named F. B. Meyer, and he's no relation, but he was a pretty talented individual. He wrote the poem called A Discovery. A Discovery. And here's what he wrote. In fact, this is one of those poems that have extra lines to kind of hopefully portray the idea, so I'll have to try to imagine this with me as I read it. It goes like this. I used to think God's gifts were on shelves, one above another. And the taller we grow, the easier we can reach them. But he wrote, now I find that God's gifts are on shelves, one beneath another. And the lower we stoop, the more we're like him. And I think that kind of points to this whole concept of justice and mercy and humility, and where our mindset needs to be. Am I really doing what God wants?

What does God want for me? And I think that's where it can be so helpful. If we may actually make a list. Make a list for our own personal lives. How am I doing justly? What does that look like in my life? What actions have I done? Because we have to take credit where credit is due. God has been working in our lives, and he has done miraculous just things in our lives. And he gets the credit for those things. But are there other areas that I need to strive to be more just in this way? What does that look like for you? Have I loved mercy? How can I love mercy more in my life? What would that look like? How do I demonstrate that kind of mercy in the people that I touch every day? How does that look? And how committed am I to walking humbly with God? Not just walking, but walking in humility with God. What are the ways? Maybe we could write down some of those ways that we can actually fulfill this particular commandment of God and the things that He has required of us. And I hope we can do that. That we can really step back, ask ourselves, how authentic are we in fulfilling these things, and make it our goal to effectively, and more effectively, more effectively fulfill these things that God wants of us. Because He wants us to do justly. He wants us to love mercy, and He wants us to walk humbly with Him. That's what God requires of us.