INTRODUCTION: Apparently, people have always needed to know what God wants from them. It's true that He has revealed what He wants ... and expects. But people have attempted life on their own terms, and what God wants of them gets "lost" in the darkness of human wisdom and striving. Then comes another reminder (sometimes in a deafening or dreadful way) of what God wants of us. My purpose this morning is simple: I want to think about this matter of what God wants from us. 

BODY

I. HE WANTS OUR ATTENTION.

A. People forget God!

1. Deuteronomy 8:11-14,17 - ""Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, {12} "lest; when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; {13} "and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; {14} "when your heart is lifted up, and you forget
the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage....then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'"

2. Psalms 50:22- ""Now consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces, And there be none to deliver:"

3. Perhaps they remember His name, His existence: but in practice in fact they forget Him. Deuteronomy 8:11- ""Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today,"

B. Listen to God!

1. Matthew 4:4- "But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'""

a. this verse comes out of great human need ... such need as can cause one to "forget" God.

2. Matthew 17:5- "While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!""

II. HE WANTS OUR LOVE

A. That fact has always amazed me

1. Why would omnipotent God want a puny human's love?

2. I'm not alone in my amazement!

a. Psalms 8:3-5- "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, {4} What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? {5} For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor."

B. He wants our undivided, unreserved love!

1. Deuteronomy 6:5- ""You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." 

2. Matthew 22:37- "Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'"

III. HE WANTS OUR OBEDIENCE

A. Certainly, the obedience grows naturally from our love.

1. an important point of understanding 

a. Psalms 51:16-19- "For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. {17} The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart; These, O God, You will not despise. {18} Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. {19} Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness, With burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar."

2. Love is the underpinning for obedience.

a. Mark 12:33- ""And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.""

3. Did God command sacrifices and offerings?

a. Absolutely! but obedience with our heart, willingness, understanding was not the obedience He wanted.
b. Obedience without conviction, commitment, concurrence is cold "ceremony" ... 
c. Romans 6:17- "But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered."

B. So, God wants your ...

1. John 3:16 belief in Christ

2. 2 Peter 3:9 repentance of sin

3. Colossians 2:12 burial with Christ in baptism

4. Are these "things" expressions of love for God? I can only answer with scripture.

a. 1 John 5:3- "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome."

IV. HE WANTS YOUR LIFE

A. God should control our lives.

1. Galatians 2:20- ""I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

2. Colossians 3:1-4- "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. {2} Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. {3} For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. {4} When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

3. God does not want an on again, off again, relationship.

4. God does not want a sort of wise warm (nominal) relationship ... He wants all of you.

B. The practical expression of this?

1. Romans 6:22- "But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life."

2. Ephesians 4:22-24- "that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, {23} and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, {24} and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." 

3. Philippians 3:13-14- "Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, {14} I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." 

V. HE WANTS YOUR "COMPANY"

A. Surrounded by angels, He wants you there with Him

1. Once again, I find a certain amazement in this.

2. But the testimony of scripture supports.

B. Look at what God has for us.

1. John 14:1-2

2. Psalms 116:15- "Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints."

3. Note, though, this homecoming is for people who have responded to what God wants from them!

a. Revelation 14:12-13- "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. {13} Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.""

CONCLUSION: My purpose in these thoughts is simple. And the thoughts are simple enough for all of us to understand. What I really hope, though, is that we will grasp these thoughts as ours ... and act on them. 
 
 

Copyright 1999 by Grady Scott may be reproducted for non-commercial purposes at no cost to others.