What Does God Want? (May 2012)

Lakeside Visitor Article May 2012
Talking about God in human terms, as we've been learning in the past several months, tends to leave us all wanting, does it not? This month I want us to look at how our view of God is colored by expectations placed on us by others versus the expectations of God. (As with all of these articles, and every post I make, by sheer volume of the material, there is no way to be exhaustive in what's covered here but the desire is to encourage thought and personal research, not simply a shift of opinion.)

God Wants Me...
When you think about what God wants, what comes to mind?

Some people hold that God "wants me to give up on everything, and everyone, that I love if I'm going to follow Him," and that affects the way we see God. Jon Acuff wrote an article that tries to answer this phenomenon. That kind of view sees God as a hard-nosed taskmaster who gives us a laundry list of "don't do this, don't do that" stipulations that put us squarely in one of two camps: Loved or Hated. Well, you know as well as I do that this kind of treatment leads to wilting or rebellion, and that's why it's a problem. If we are beat down by God, we're not understanding God rightly. If we're pushed to rebel against God because of this, we are actually rebelling against the wrong idea of God that we have, not the true God.

Those who have heard God portrayed as the joy killer might believe that, under the piercing gaze of God, all that is needed for God to remove from them their passions, hopes, dreams, loved ones, thoughts, and enjoyments is to care about them in the first place. After all, Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:37-39). 

And so our understanding of God is maligned because we don't understand the emphasis Jesus placed on loving God with all of us. We start to think like this:

 I care about __________ ... = God takes it away. Then I can be truly free to love only God.

Does loving God leave no room for loving anyone else? Parents, does loving your spouse mean you couldn't possibly love your kids too? I want to be clear here: this is not the God I serve because it's not the God I read about in the Bible. This is not the God of scripture (either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament), the God who became flesh and died for the ones He loves. We cannot allow people we know and love to believe this myth by passively rejecting the call to fight back with the light of truth.

To be sure, many well-meaning Christians have done the image of God wrong by propagating this very message. I am not saying that all of them were malicious about it, but watch this video and then let's look at some passages that will hopefully clear up the issue in our minds.



 This song comes from Micah 6:8 - "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" But what about the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 6, and the instruction to keep and follow them, you might ask? What's important? What can I remember, and what can I ignore? It can get a little confusing and lead us to wonder, "God, why don't you just tell me what you want from me?"


God Wants Me?

Do you understand that the entirety of scripture is a call from God to turn to Him? That's it! And no, I'm not saying you don't need to read the Bible anymore since I just gave you all you need to know. All of scripture is example after example after example of people doing this right, and then doing it wrong, and then doing it right again, then doing it wrong again. We don't need to freak out at our questions and doubts about God, because we're not the first or last to do it, and we're not alone. We are in good company when we seek out how to turn to God!

Alright, check this example: say you're talking to your girlfriend/boyfriend and they say, "All I want is for you to love only me, and then we can get married."

So you say, "Cool, done" and you get married but you don't get to know each other or spend time together or invest in the relationship.

So they say "you don't really love me" and you say "I do too - I told you I would, so I do."

But why isn't it believable? Why would they have reason to doubt you love them? Because there's no evidence. In the same way, when Jesus tells us to deny everything and follow Him, that may or may not mean, "literally," everything about yourself or your life.

Look at this passage of scripture (John 6:28-40):

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
 ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
 ³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
 ³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
 ³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
 ³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 

Jesus came down from heaven not to do His will - not to be spared the suffering He would endure for our sakes - but to do God's will: God's eternal, redemptive will, finally and completely. Jesus says our work is to believe in Him because He's the bread of life the manna was foreshadowing. But just like with Jesus, belief isn't a tangible thing, nor are the words, "I love you." Our actions are the tangible evidence that what we say is true.

So what does God want from you? God wants you! God in the flesh, the person of Jesus, said to believe in Him and you won't be driven away. Yes, OF COURSE, God wants you!

God Wants ME!
Throughout scripture God tells us to turn away from our sin to Him, because He doesn't want us to be separated - He wants us to be with Him!! That "US" is important, because we make up a family that supports and compliments each other, but YOU are a part of that "us." God wants you! Look at Ezekiel 18:30-32:

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

And just because God knows we're fickle and forget stuff, He keeps telling Ezekiel to say it again (33:10-11):

 ¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

You see, sin is a very real, very final downfall to us. But God knew that and so the first step isn't to clean up our act and then God will accept us. The only thing God wants for us to do is turn to Him - the rest of scripture talks about obedience-driven behavior that we're empowered to do BY GOD so the people God designed us to be can slowly show more and more righteous behavior. It's a process called sanctification, and it's the work of God in us, not some work we do so God will love us. Listen to how Jesus finishes the passage above in John 6:

³⁹ "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Jesus has conquered sin and death, and Jesus has completed what is required by the perfect law of God.  There is nothing else to do to find favor in God's eyes, but turn to the Son who already gave all.