What’s the worst summer job you’ve ever had? Mine was working for a home cleaning company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Because I didn’t have a car of my own to drive to palatial homes overlooking Lake Michigan to scrub bathroom floors and dust antique furniture in relative peace, I had to work directly for the company owner. I cleaned his house, watered his plants, and drove him to appointments. That doesn’t sound so bad but this man constantly changed his mind about what he wanted done making the day stressful. For example he might say, “When you come in tomorrow I want you to water the roses.” And so first thing the next morning I would unfurl the hose and drag it to the farthest corner of the garden only to have the boss sneak up behind me and bark: “What are you doing? I want you to vacuum the living room!” Although there was no sense arguing I often found myself muttering: “What do you want from me?”
Is that a question you’ve ever asked your boss, your coaches, or your teachers? It’s a good question because if you don’t know what they want from you, you can’t make them happy. And if they’re not happy with you, you’ll never get that promotion or the chance to play in the big game or achieve the good grades you want. There is, of course, someone else to whom we should put that question: God. “What does God want from you and me?” If we don’t know the answer, we will end up forever miserable, for God has promised to punish all those who do not please him. Thankfully we don’t have to guess what God wants from us, the way you might have to guess what Christmas present will make your nephew happy. In our Old Testament lesson the prophet Moses tells us clearly what God wants from you and me. Nothing! Everything! Let’s make some sense of these seemingly opposing thoughts.
Our text from Deuteronomy is a speech that Moses gave to the Israelites after 40 years of wandering in the desert. Do you remember where that journey started? Egypt. The Israelites had lived there for 400 years but when the pharaoh started using them as slaves, God sent Moses to lead them out of that land and back to Canaan. That journey from Egypt to Canaan should have taken at most two years, including the eleven-month stop at Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments and to build the tent-like church called the tabernacle. So why did it take the Israelites 40 years to cover 400 km, the distance between St. Albert and Canmore? Do you remember what happened when Moses sent 12 spies into the Promised Land? They brought back a positive report: “Canaan looks like a great place to live. However,” ten of the spies continued, “we’ll never live there. The inhabitants are much too strong.” Because most of the people agreed with this assessment and disregarded God’s promise to be with them and to give them the power to conqueror the land, God finally said: “Have it your way.” And every adult who sided with those ten spies was doomed to wander the wilderness until each died. That took forty years.
When the kids who had seen their parents die within sight of the Promised Land became adults, it was their turn to cross the Jordan River and take what God had promised to give them. But they must have been hesitant. Would all go according to plan, or would they inadvertently make God angry as their parents had done? What did God want from them anyway? That’s the question Moses answered in our text. In one sense God wanted nothing from his people. Moses said: “To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today... the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing... He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes” (Deuteronomy 10:14, 15, 17, 18, 21).
God didn’t expect anything from the Israelites and he doesn’t expect anything from us because there is nothing we have that he doesn’t already own. The earth and all that is in it – palm trees, mountain lakes, thoroughbred horses that love to thunder down race courses, diamonds that sparkle on your fingers – it all belongs to God as do the skies and the stars above. So your offerings don’t make God richer. Your prayers don’t give him information that he doesn’t already have. Your hymns of praise don’t top the splendid music that pours forth constantly from angels. No, God doesn’t need anything from us; instead he gives us everything that we have and everything that we are. He does so for no other reason than because he feels like it. Due to our sinfulness there isn’t anything attractive about us to God. Just as none of us would think it chic to hang a shattered big-screen TV in our living room, God should not want to have us hanging around his place, we who are in the habit of shattering relationships with our unkind thoughts and words.
Of course I don’t want to give the impression that God doesn’t really like us – that he just puts up with us the way you might grudgingly give room and board to a stray dog that ended up on your doorstep. God loves us very much just as he loved the Israelites. His point, through Moses’ opening words, is to get the Israelites and us to realize that whatever blessings we enjoy are gifts of his grace. We can’t earn God’s love or favor.
That’s something the rich ruler in our Gospel lesson didn’t understand (Luke 18:18-27). In essence he asked Jesus: “What does God want from me?” When Jesus answered: “Keep the commandments,” the man was bold enough to suggest that he already did that. Surely there must be something more God wanted from him? When Jesus then told the man to give away his possessions and follow him, the ruler went away sad. He loved his “stuff” more than he loved Jesus. That’s when Jesus said those curious words: “It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven” (Luke 18:25). At this the disciples remarked with alarm: “Who then can be saved?” (Luke 18:26) Do you remember Jesus’ response? “What is impossible with men is possible with God” (Luke 18:27).
What does God want from you and me to get into heaven? Absolutely nothing because we don’t have what God wants: clean hands and a pure heart. We don’t love God more than money or more than ourselves, for example. Therefore we need God’s forgiveness. God gives us that blessing in Jesus. How different Christianity is from all other religions! They all say you must do something – give money to the poor, pray several times a day, be kind to your neighbor, and then maybe, just maybe God will be happy with you. The Bible on the other hand says, “Relax. When nails were pounded into Jesus’ hands at the cross, those blows splintered open the doors of heaven to us. God doesn’t need anything from you.” In fact if you continue to insist that you can or must contribute to your salvation, you’re spitting on God’s gift of grace. But he’s gotten everything he needs from Jesus. Put your faith in him, not in yourself like that rich ruler did.
While it’s true that God wants nothing from us it’s also true that he wants everything from us. Listen again to Moses. “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?... 20 Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him...” (Deuteronomy 10:12, 13, 20).
Confused? How can it be that on one hand God wants nothing from us and on the other hand he wants everything – our heart and soul in true devotion to him? The better question to ask is why wouldn’t we want to give God our all considering what he did for the Israelites and for us? He had rescued the Israelites from slavery and brought them safely to the Promised Land. He rescued us from sin and has given us eternal life. He has also promised to give us exactly what we now need for each day – the right amount of food and the right amount of strength. Holding fast to the God of the Bible and his Word then is like holding firmly to a life preserver after a shipwreck. If you don’t hold fast, if you let go, you’ll drown – not enjoy more freedom because you now can swim with both hands. But that’s of course what Satan wants us to think. He would have us swim as far away from God’s Word as we can. So take to heart these words of Moses: “…observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good” (Deuteronomy 10:20).
So what will your life look like if you’re giving God everything you have? It means that you will pay attention when you come to Sunday worship because you’re eager to learn God’s will. The opposite attitude would be to continuously check your watch or willingly daydream as if church is keeping you from something more important. Giving God everything also means serving your neighbor. So when someone at work or school pours out their heart to you, you listen intently putting their needs before your schedule. Giving God everything also means giving him your fears and your worries – trusting that he will deal with them. Do you see what a blessing it is to cling to God?
I didn’t enjoy my summer job with that boss who kept changing his mind about what he wanted from me. Thankfully God is not like that. What he wants from us is clear. He wants our heart and our love. He wants us to live according to his commands as we honor our parents, turn away from sexual temptation, and let go of our resentment towards others. He wants this from us because he has given us his love and his forgiveness. He’s also pledged himself to us and to our future. Keep clinging to the God of the Bible as to a life preserver and he will bring you safely into heaven’s harbor. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
1. When did Moses speak the words of our text?
2. 40 years to cover 400 km! Why did it take so long for the Israelites to get into the Promised Land? What warning does this truth give us who are eager to enter the Promised Land of heaven?
3. Refer to the sermon text on the back of this bulletin. Why can we say that God wanted nothing from the Israelites? Why is it also true that God wants nothing from us?
4. Read the passage below. How does it help you understand how dangerous it is to insist that God wants something from us in regard to our salvation? (Galatians 5:4 “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”)
5. Refer to the sermon text on the back of this bulletin. Why can we also say that God wants everything from us?
6. Moses said that God gave us his laws “for our own good.” So clinging to God and his Word is like clinging to a life preserver. Think of two more similes to illustrate the same point. “Clinging to God and his Word is like…”
7. Motivated by God’s love for you, how will you this week better give God everything?
