Words to Live By: What Does God Really Want? - Micah 6:6-8; Romans 12:1-2, 9-13
a sermon by the Rev. Dr. Fred A. Holbrook, June 16, 2024
What does God really want? What will please the Lord? We may give ten percent of our income to the Lord’s work. Is our treasure what God really wants above all else?
We may show up at worship every time the doors open or the livestream starts. Is our time what God really wants above all else?
We may be part of Lectio Divina or women’s Bible studies or serve as church officers or sing in the choir or work with children and youth. Though these are vital, is these what God really wants above all else?
Honestly, God wants nothing from us. No “thing” will satisfy the Lord. The prophet Micah asks in chapter 6, verse 6: “What does the Lord require of you?” Then he lists four offerings that grow in intensity and magnitude. “What does the Lord require of you? A burnt offering of one single calf? The sacrifice of a thousand rams? The offering of ten thousand rivers of oil? The sacrifice of our firstborn child? What does God really want from us?”
Professor Jim Mays in his commentary on Micah says, “It’s you, not some thing, that God wants.” Jim Limburg in his commentary says, “The worshiper’s question [“What does the Lord require of you?”] had been based on the false assumption that God wanted some thing. The answer makes clear that what God does want is me! God wants you and me!! God does not care to have our sacrifices over our selves.”
What God really wants is you and me, dedicated to God’s purpose and living it out in three “crystal clear” ways. “Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.” One person called this “the greatest saying of the Old Testament.”
The first way we honor God is to do justice. Justice is dynamic. It is something we do. The prophet Amos describes justice as flowing, moving like a mighty, churning river. Earlier in Micah, this prophet gives examples of when justice isn’t working: the powerful oppress the powerless, laborers are exploited, judges in the court system are corrupt. To do justice means that we will strive for equality for all, especially the powerless.
Some of you may recall the TV show, Extreme Makeover. It was hosted by Ty Pennington and involved the rebuilding of a home for someone whose life was in turmoil—a returning veteran who was an amputee; a woman with a special needs child who was wheelchair dependent; a blind man, his wife, and five children. Every time I watch it, I have to have a box of tissues nearby, especially at the moment where the family’s view of the new house is blocked by a massive bus and Ty, his team, and the crowd surrounding the family shout, “Move that bus!” Whew! That is justice being done.
I recently read the story of a man who was unhoused and living in the woods. He had nothing to eat. He walked into a bank and told the teller to give him all the $5 bills. Then he went outside, sat on the guardrail across the street, and waited for the police to arrest him. He wanted to be incarcerated because, at least in jail, he would get three meals a day and have a place to sleep.
The judge, aware of his circumstances and having discovered that the man was an unemployed welder, offered him an alternative. He could use his skills as a welder with a trucking company or go to jail. The man accepted the work. Now he has a job, health care benefits, an apartment, and three meals a day. That is justice being done.
Eighty years ago this coming Wednesday, Opal Lee was 12. Her parents had bought a home in Fort Worth, TX. But as an African American family, they were unwelcome in that neighborhood. Five days after they moved in, a mob of over 500 white people destroyed the home, burning the house and everything in it to the ground. The family quietly moved to another part of the city where they were welcome. Her parents never spoke of it.
But Opal did not forget. She is known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth.” In 2016, at the age of 89, she began a walk from Fort Worth to Washington, D.C. to campaign for June 19th, Juneteenth to become a national holiday. It took five years, but it happened in 2021.
Then Opal turned her eyes towards Fort Worth and the plot of land where her family home had been destroyed. At the age of 97, Opal wanted to purchase the land. Trinity Habitat for Humanity owned it. She asked the executive director if she could buy it. “No,” he said. “But you can have it. It is still yours.”
Opal said she wanted to dance a happy dance, but the community had more in mind. Habitat built a new 3-bedroom, 2-bath home on that land and gave it to her, free of charge. It was dedicated this past week, just in time for Juneteenth.
Walk-In Ministry, Shower Ministry, CEDEPCA in Guatemala, Fair Trade Equal Exchange Coffee and Tea, mentoring a child, coaching a ball team for kids who are undeserved, supporting AFOI (Assisting Families of Inmates) as it serves families of those who are incarcerated with evidence-based programs providing meaningful visitation, family support, and children’s services—that’s justice being done. God wants you and me to do just that—to do justice.
Micah then says we are to love kindness. To love kindness echoes the prophet Hosea’s concept of hesed. Even though, when we pronounce this Hebrew word properly our neighbor will get wet, this word is full of meaning. In human relationships, it means loyal love, like that between spouses or partners or two dear friends. When used of the relationship between human beings and God, hesed means love-loyalty. This loving kindness is vital in our relationship with God and one another.
Loving kindness is going the extra mile. Loving kindness doesn’t care if it’s tax-deductible or not. Loving kindness is not doing something for someone else because they can’t, but because we can.
In June 2016, a massacre occurred at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Forty-nine lives were lost and 53 injured in this predominantly LGBTQIA+ safe establishment. Then President Obama, in his speech from Orlando said, “We need to demonstrate that we are defined more…by the way the victims lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us.
“We will draw inspiration from heroic and selfless acts – friends who helped friends, took care of each other and saved lives. In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another.”
Free tickets were provided by JetBlue for any family members of victims. A grandmother who lost a 20-year-old grandson was on one of those flights. A flight attendant invited the passengers to sign a condolence card. They went far beyond that when they wrote messages, pages and pages to give to the grieving grandmother. Upon arrival at the gate, Kelly Davis Karas, the JetBlue attendant, announced, “JetBlue stands with Orlando.” A moment of silence was held for the 49 victims and their families. Every single passenger greeted the grandmother as they deplaned. No one rushed. Everyone showed loving kindness.
Kelly shared, “I am moved to tears yet again as I struggle to put our experience into words. In spite of a few hateful, broken human beings in this world who can all too easily legally get their hands on mass assault weapons — people ARE kind. People DO care. And through our customers’ humanity today, I am hopeful that someday soon we can rally together to make the world a safer place for all.”
How are we doing? A music festival in Las Vegas, NV; a Walmart in El Paso, TX; Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL; King Soopers Supermarket in Boulder, CO; Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX; Tops Friendly Supermarket in Buffalo, NY; a bowling alley and a bar and grille in Lewiston, ME.
Friends, we should never give up. We know what God wants. An act of loving kindness, even in the face of horrific tragedy. This is what God wants.
The third way the Lord expects us to live our lives is to walk humbly with God. The word translated “humbly” has more of a sense of “circumspectly, carefully.” The New English Bible says, “Walk wisely with your God.” The key word is “walk.” In Hebrew the word for ethics is halacha which means “walking,” “the way to walk,” “the path.” This means that our values, our moral fiber, our ethical posture ought to be clearly demonstrated, not only in our talk, but in the way we walk, the path we take day by day.
A recent blogpost included six ways to walk humbly with God.
1. Remember who’s in charge—and praise God!
2. Pray for a humble heart.
3. Pay more attention to your own faults than to the flaws of others.
4. Don’t hide behind your dignity—it’s pride’s favorite hiding place.
5. Try not to watch yourself worship. Give all your heart and mind to God.
6. Serve others. The fastest way to humility is the way Christ chose. Mark 10:45 says that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve…” Philippians 2 says that Jesus humbled himself. So must we.
Last week we looked at the summary of the Ten Commandments that Jesus shared when he said, “love God” and “love neighbor.” Another summary of the law is found in Matthew 7:12. It is the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I love Peterson’s translation of this verse: “Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them.”
As I shared back in September, when I was getting ready to leave for college, my pastor, Jim Van Dyke, had me memorize Romans 12:1-2. His prayer was that these words would be the theme verses for my college years. I love the entire chapter, particularly verses 9-13. They are filled with images of those who are doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.
What does God really want? The bottom line is: God wants you and me. God wants us. God wants us doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly. This is a superb focus for Father’s Day and a prayer that each parent should lift up: that we may do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
Richard Foster, a wonderful Quaker author, wrote The Challenge of the Disciplined Life: Christian Reflections on Money, Sex, and Power. The original copy was named Money, Sex, and Power but it did not fare well on Christian bookstore shelves where it was quickly banned because it had “Sex” in the title. So Foster renamed it The Challenge of the Disciplined Life. The premise of the book is that striving after money, sex, and power can destroy our Christian walk. This ties in perfectly with what God really wants from us.
God really wants us to use our money and our resources to do justice and treat others fairly. God really wants us to approach our relationships with loving-kindness, not abusing sexuality or hurting others through our demands on them. And God wants us to replace a drive for power with an attitude of deep humility and service. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. This is what God really wants.
Let us pray: Help us, O God. We stand ready. Help us. Amen.