What God Really Wants

1. What God Really Wants Micah 6:1-8

3. Picturing the Situation • You have been: • Faithfully Attending Church • Giving Generously to the Church • Seeking God’s Favor during a Serious and Life-threatening Crisis • Repeatedly Assured by Local Pastors and Friends That Everything Was Going to Be Okay

4. Suddenly God shows up! • And He says: “I am not pleased with you or your worship.”

5. Putting God on Trial • What have I done wrong? • What kind of demanding and unreasonable God are you? • What in the world do you want from me, anyway?

6. Setting the Scene: Who is Micah? • An Old Testament Prophet • His name means, “Who is like Yahweh?” • A Spiritual “Outsider” Who Denounced the Injustice of the Ruling Class and the Wealthy, as well as the False Prophesies of Contemporary Religious Leaders in Jerusalem

7. Setting the Scene: Who is Micah? • He is preaching during a time when the Assyrian army is threatening to destroy Jerusalem • He connects the sin of Israel with these recent and disturbing international events • He serves as God’s prosecuting attorney

8. The Court Case against Israel (1-3) • Micah brings God’s case against the Israelites • He calls the ancient mountains to be his witnesses for the trial • God is the plaintiff and Israel is the defendant

9. God’s Opening Statements (3) • What wrong have I [God] done to you [Israel]? • How have I burdened you?

10. Different Views of God

11. Key Question: • How do you see God?

12. 1 John 5:3 “This is love for God: to obey His commands. And his commands are not burdensome.”

13. A Brief History of God’s Covenantal Faithfulness (4-5) • I brought you out of Egypt, redeeming you from a life of slavery!

14. A Brief History of God’s Covenantal Faithfulness (4-5) • I gave you great leaders like Moses, Aaron, and Miriam!

15. A Brief History of God’s Covenantal Faithfulness (4-5) • I blessed you through the attempted curse of a pagan king and godless prophet!

16. A Brief History of God’s Covenantal Faithfulness (4-5) • I brought you through the Jordan and into the promised land!

17. A Brief History of God’s Covenantal Faithfulness (4-5) • I fed, watered, clothed, and led you through a barren wasteland for forty years, miraculously revealing myself to you!

18. Key Question: • How has God demonstrated His faithfulness in your life?

19. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • How can I [Israel] worship You [God] properly?

20. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • Shall I bring burnt offerings?

21. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • Shall I bring a yearling calf?

22. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • Shall I bring thousands of rams?

23. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • Shall I offer ten thousand rivers of oil?

24. Israel’s Defensive Defense (6-7) • Shall I offer my firstborn child to pay for my sin?

25. What It Might Look Like Today: • Shall I tithe each month?

26. What It Might Look Like Today: • Shall I tithe each month? • Shall I pledge extra money for the church building fund?

27. What It Might Look Like Today: • Shall I tithe each month? • Shall I pledge extra money for the church building fund? • Shall I sell my house to help finance an orphanage in Zambia?

28. What It Might Look Like Today: • Shall I tithe each month? • Shall I pledge extra money for the church building fund? • Shall I sell my house to help finance an orphanage in Zambia? • Shall I give a billion dollars to help flood victims in Bangladesh?

29. What It Might Look Like Today: • Shall I tithe each month? • Shall I pledge extra money for the church building fund? • Shall I sell my house to help finance an orphanage in Zambia? • Shall I give a million dollars to help flood victims in Bangladesh? • Shall I leave everything, including my family, and become a missionary in the jungles of South America?

30. God’s View of Such Sacrifices “With such offerings from your hands, will [I] accept you?” says the Lord Almighty. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offerings from your hands.” —Malachi 1:9-10

31. Paul’s View of Such Loveless Self-sacrifice: “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” —1 Corinthians 13:3

32. God’s Closing Statements:An Invitation to Transformation (8) • I’ve already told you what I really want and find acceptable. • I want you to enact justice! • I want you to love being merciful! • I want you to walk humbly and wisely before Me!

33. 1 Samuel 15:22 “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

34. Key Question: • What do you think God really wants from you? • Above all else, God wants your heart! • Everything else will naturally flow from this. • Will you give Him your whole heart?

35. Davey’s Sordid Story

36. Psalm 51:16-17 “You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”