So What Do YOU Want?

The following is from Montrose Baptist Church's AM worship service on January 31, 2010.

We all go through times in life when it seems that everyone around us wants something of us. Work wants your time and energy. Your spouse wants your attention and affection at home. Your children want your time, attention and affection. The church needs your service. The community needs your support. And then there is God.
I believe there are times in life when we want to scream in frustration, “what do you want?” With so many expectations and pressures, it gets overwhelming. And on top of everything else- in addition to the job, the family, the community, the church- then there is God with His desires to.
So before we reach the breaking point- the frustration of trying to determine God’s expectations and desires for us on top of everything else, I would invite you to look with me this morning for a few moments in God’s Word and we can find the answer to that question “What do you want?”

Read text. (Colossians 1:1-14)

Paul in the greeting and opening of his letter to the church at Colossae remained consistent with his format for other letters. He begins with a salutation and greeting and then moves into an explanation of the overriding reason for his address.
He explains that they have been given reason to celebrate the church’s faithfulness and love, and through that joy, they have ceased to pray for God to reveal his will to His people.
Now, if we kept proceeding through the text, we would discover that Paul explains some of the benefits, the rewards for understanding and practicing the will of God. Through their understanding, they would have the opportunity to live in a way pleasing to God. They could evidence spiritual fruit, grow in their intimacy with Christ, and be continually strengthened by the power of God. Through understanding His will, they would also live a life of thanksgiving, patience, joy, and hope of the eternal inheritance that awaits them.
Now, that is a pretty heavy list. I believe that describes everything that we desire in life. Through understanding and following God’s will, we can find fulfillment, peace, joy and hope.
Now, the only question is, what is God’s will? We could talk about His plan for the last days. We could discuss His will that all the world would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We could talk about various aspects, but I want to make certain that it hits home this morning.
Instead of asking simply asking the question, “What is God’s will?,” let’s rephrase it and ask, “What is God’s will for me?”. What does He want?
I believe that as we investigate Scripture, we can summarize God’s desire, His expectation from His people in four words. First, He desires…

1.) Authenticity
“The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, ‘Who sees us? Who will know?’” -Isaiah 29:13-15
When God spoke to Isaiah, He provided an urgent message that communicated His desire and expectation for His people. In fact, we find His desire, we understand His will through His judgment and condemnation of those whose words and actions were not consistent.
What we should notice through this passage is the fact that God expects authenticity from His followers. He demands, requires, expects that our relationships will encompass more than mere words.
Listen, most of you will not flinch, will not disagree, in fact some might even “Amen” the statement that God expects more than words. God expects our words to match our lifestyles. He demands that we be real about our relationship with Him.
If we play the part of the faithful, obedient Christian on Sunday, it ought to be consistent with the way we live on Saturday. If we are going to talk the part of the faithful, obedient believer, it must be backed by action.
I’m afraid that there are far too many people that have rejected the cross of Christ because they see inconsistency and hypocrisy in the lives of believers. They notice when we are not real.
Certainly, many of you have images in your head of those people that come to church on Sunday and then cuss like a sailor, drink like a fish, and run around on the “old lady” during the week. Obviously, that is hypocrisy. Obviously, that evidences a lack of authenticity.
But the fact is that most of you are not guilty of this. And that isn’t all this passage spoke to anyway. So let’s bring this a little closer to home for the average believer.
As we are talking about God’s desire of authenticity, we must realize that He was first calling out inconsistency in their attitudes toward Him. He said that “they honored [Him] with their lips but their hearts were far from [Him.]”
Part of God’s desire of authenticity is simply this: if you sit in His sanctuary and sing His praises, if you talk about how great and mighty God is, if you project the image that you and God have a close, intimate relationship, it better be the truth.
The fact is that week after week, in churches all across America, Christian people file into their pews, play the part of the faithful believer, sing with gusto, “Amen” the sermon, and then walk out the door and do nothing to facilitate and grow a relationship with Christ during the week.
But why? The answer is simple. Their hearts are “far from Him.” There is inconsistency between their lips and their hearts. That is what angers God.
One of God’s primary concerns, desires, requirements from His people is authenticity. But there is more. He also desires your…

2.) Affection
“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:5
God desires that we love Him. He desires our affection and adoration.
I firmly believe that God desires to hear an “I love you” from His people from time to time.
Let me ask you a simple question. How many of you in this room dislike hearing someone tell you “I love you”? Now, I am not talking about a required, trite, inconsiderate statement without feeling, but a real, “I love you. I’m proud of you. I’m glad you’re mine!”
I believe that is a fundamental desire of every person. We want to know that we are loved. We want to be admired and respected. We want to be adored.
So why is God so different?
I’m afraid that we assigned an identity to God that just is not true. We’ve addressed Him like some inanimate being whose only emotion is anger. There are those that have hijacked the God of Scripture and turned Him into a hate-filled, vengeful monger.
But that is not the God I serve. That is not the attitude of the God I love. Rather, we must realize that, while He is the supreme being, while it may seem at times to our minds that He is far-off and inaccessible, He is not. Nor is He emotionally mute.
You and I were created with a design and purpose. We were created in a Person’s image. Genesis 1:27a says, “So God created man in His own image…”
While that does not make us equals with God, it does mean that there are some similarities. And I believe that feeling, understanding, emotion is one of our similarities.
John 11:35 tells us, “Jesus wept.” Genesis 6:6 says, “The Lord was grieved that He had made man on the earth, and His heart was filled with pain.” We are told in Psalm 45 that He “loves righteousness and hates wickedness.” Luke 10 tells us that Jesus was “full of joy through the Spirit.”
If God is capable of feeling all of those emotions, do you think that He is also touched and overjoyed when one of His children thinks to tell and show Him their love?
God desires our affection and adoration. He deserves our love. If anyone has ever deserved and earned our love it is Him. And so as we communicate it, we must remember that love is a verb. It is not just a statement, but an attitude, and a lifestyle that evidences that affection.
God expects authenticity. He desires our affection. He also commands our…

3.) Attention
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” -Deuteronomy 6:4
While God wants our authenticity, while He desires our affection and adoration, He also commands our attention.
This passage is actually the first half of the Shema. It is a cornerstone doctrine in both Judaism and Christianity. It established a monotheistic God. While He may reveal Himself in three Persons- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, He is still one God.
When God’s instruction was delivered to Israel by Moses, look at how this pivotal point was introduced. It was a command to give ear. It was a bidding to listen intently to what followed.
While that may have been thousands of years ago now, God’s expectation, His desire is still the same. God wants His followers, His children to recognize and respond to the sound of His voice. He desires for us to be attentive and obedient to His instruction.
I believe that an analogy of a Father with His children is an accurate way to understand God’s expectation. For the adults here this morning, when you speak to a child, particularly your child, what do you expect?
You expect them to stop what they are doing, listen to what proceeds from your mouth, and to respectfully respond and obey. That is exactly what our Heavenly Father desires from us. When He speaks, whether through specific revelation or through the revelation of His Word, He expects that we are going to hear His voice and respond respectfully.
I’m afraid if we are completely honest in our assessment of the modern church in general, it seems that most Christians grant little attention to God.
Now, I am not talking about hanging on the preacher’s every word. I am talking about seeking to hear and respond to God’s voice.
We must understand that the vast majority of the church is almost indifferent to God’s voice and Word. Did you know that in a recent survey sixty percent of Christians interviewed said that they read their Bible one time or less in a week? Now, that survey didn’t specify where they read their Bible at. That includes in church services. The majority of Christians may have only opened their Bible during the sermon or in a class at church.
If that statistic is accurate, that means that more than half of our own congregation has not opened their Bible in the last week- including here.
How can we claim that we are attentive to God’s will and His voice if we don’t even bother attempting to hear or read it?
We must be attentive to His Word. Just think about the points that we’ve discussed thus far. We established that God wants our adoration and affection. But do we really love someone if we refuse to give them time? What kind of affection would you be showing your spouse or family if you said, “I love you” in passing, but refused to ever spend time with them or listen to a word they say?
That is what we are doing to our Heavenly Father. We are saying, “I love you, but I don’t have time for you.”
God expects our authenticity. He desires our affection. He commands our attention. And lastly, He bids our…

4.) Allegiance“Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only and take your oaths in His name.” -Deuteronomy 6:13
We must realize that our God is a jealous God. He demands that we be faithful to Him. He bids our allegiance.
We serve a God that does not want us to be tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of the imagination. He does not want to be the discarded, only acknowledged when it is convenient for us kind of companion. He wants to know that you are faithful to Him. He desires our allegiance.
Let’s face it, we are good at pledging our allegiance.
We have our pledge of allegiance to the American flag. We declare our faithfulness to our nation. And we are good at keeping it. I doubt seriously that there is any person in this room that harbors a desire for our country to fail.
In many instances, we form an allegiance to our workplaces. We are faithful to them. Just to give you a little example, when I worked for Sara Lee, there was not a time when a loaf of bread from a competitor entered our house. One of the things that was expected of salesmen was an allegiance to our company’s product.
Likewise, if you worked for a Chevy dealership, I doubt that you drove a Ford. If you worked for Pepsi, you wouldn’t be drinking a Coke in the cab of a Pepsi truck. We are good at keeping certain allegiances.
We even make those pledges of faithfulness and fidelity to our spouses. It is part of the traditional wedding vows. It says something to the effect of, “promising to cherish, honor, and keep yourself only unto that person as long as you both shall live.” And in most cases, we are faithful to uphold and keep that allegiance.
Yet, something is different when it comes to the place of God in our lives. While I doubt any of you have ever went through a time when you denounced Christianity and became an atheist, agnostic, or Satanist, there are plenty of times when our allegiance is not with our God.
Rather, we pursue every thing else. We allow money, fame, power, pleasure, comfort, security, notoriety, people, and passions to take His place. In fact, I would suggest that God is the person to whom we are typically least faithful.
God desires, He bids our allegiance. He wants to have sole ownership of your heart.
There is a song that many of you have probably heard that makes a formal declaration of our allegiance to God. It says, “I pledge allegiance to the Lamb, will all my strength, with all I am, I will seek to honor His command, I pledge allegiance to the Lamb.”
We must be faithful. We must pledge our allegiance to our Father.
So what is it that God truly desires from you?
He wants your authenticity. He wants you to be real- to truly be His in both speech and conduct. He wants your affection. God desires and deserves our love and adoration. He is calling for you attention. When He speaks, He expects that we will listen. And lastly, He desires your allegiance. He wants to know that you are His and His alone.
So in short this morning, God wants your all. He wants your heart, your mind, your soul. He wants to be your everything.
So what have you given Him?