Not just a part

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20    Psalm 50:1-15    Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-19    Luke 12:32-40

A story is told about a king who was convicted of his sinful lifestyle through the preaching of the Gospel. In an attempt to illustrate the surrendering of his life to Jesus he began to remove his traditional regalia and to place them in the offertory basket. After he had removed every symbol of his authority, he stepped into the basket himself. The wise king knew that God did not want just a part of him…God wanted the whole of him…God loved him, not his things however costly or important they may have appeared to be.

In our Psalm for today, the Almighty God chastises His people. They had it all wrong, He said. “O my people, listen as I speak. Here are my charges against you, O Israel: I am God, your God! I have no complaint about your sacrifices or the burnt offerings you constantly offer. But I don’t need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens. For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine.”

In Isaiah, the Lord says exactly the same thing: “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices? I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony?”

Isn’t it amazing that while these words were written thousands of years ago to a very different group of people at a very different time in history, they still speak so clearly and directly to the Church today. How often have I heard people arguing about the form of worship in the church…what type of music to sing, what kind of clothes to wear, and what of ceremony! Prayer Book or no Prayer Book. Vestments or no vestments. Expository preaching versus topical preaching. Not that there’s anything wrong with these things…but when these things become the main focus they become divisive and destructive…and the people of God miss the point entirely.

God is not interested in the what and the how and the when…He is interested in you…and every other individual on this planet. The Scriptures tell us that it is not His will that a single person die in their sins, but that all come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God wants us to focus on our relationship with Him. Possessions and rituals do not impress Him. What impresses God is our faith in Him and our faithfulness to Him and His Kingdom cause. Jesus tells us that wherever our treasure is, there our heart will be also…in other words, our focus determines our direction and our dedication in life.

All the current problems in the Church can be traced back to the all too human tendency to focus on things, rather than on God.

This should not be too difficult to understand, because we see it all too clearly in our relationships with others…with our friends, our family, our children, and our spouses. When we focus on things rather than on the person a rot sets in. For instance, the mostly absent, workaholic husband tries to compensate by buying gifts for his wife and children...and that works for a while…until the wife finds tenderness in the arms of someone else…or a child commits suicide leaving a note behind saying they feel empty and life has no meaning.

Focusing on God makes so much sense because it helps us gain perspective. When we focus on God we understand that the entire universe was formed at His command, and that what we see now did not come from anything that can be seen. Scripture tells us that He upholds all things by the word of His power. God is the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists. But not only that…He also reveals in His Word that He is a good God…a kind, benevolent, merciful, compassionate, loving, forgiving God…a Father who knows all our needs and who is a giver of all good things and who is well pleased to give us His kingdom…one who works all things, both good and bad, together for the good of those who love Him.

When we focus on God…on His attributes…on His greatness…His holiness…His power…His justice…then the things of this world fade into the background where they truly belong. Life can throw anything at you and while you may be shaken, bewildered, hurt, or confused, you will not be overcome if you have your eyes focused on the Lord. That’s what it means to build your house on the rock…storms will come…winds will blow…floods will rise…that’s just the nature of life in a fallen, broken world…but we can weather it all when our focus is singularly set on our God.

That’s what the word “faith” means…it is to place God at the centre of your life…it is not blind, as some say…in fact, it is the exact opposite. It is true and real sight. In fact, blindness comes when you set your focus on anything other than Him. Abraham believed God in spite of not being able to see. In stark contrast, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Herodians were all focussed on what they could see…rituals, ceremonies, politics…and Jesus declared them blind. They were unable to see God even when He stood right in front of them because their eyes were focussed elsewhere. One could describe this in terms of an eclipse…things move in front of God and rob us of seeing the fullness of His glory.

Yes, we can go through the motions of religion. We can out give everyone in the church…we can attend the most prayer meetings…we can read the Bible cover to cover year after year…we can feed the hungry and clothe the poor…we can even sacrifice our lives for the sake of others…but if our focus is anywhere else other than on God we will be just like the Israelites described in the our Psalm and our Old Testament reading for today. Our focus determines where our heart is…and if our heart is not with God we have missed the point entirely.

Dearest beloved brethren…where is your focus?

As you come before the throne of Almighty God once more today…as you come to His table to receive the graphic images of His self-sacrificial love in the symbols of bread broken and wine poured out…ask Him to show you where your focus lies. And as the offertory bag is passed around, think about what the king did in our introductory story…but please don’t try to climb into the bag…instead climb onto His great big Fatherly lap and ask Him to help you gaze on His kindness, His love, His faithfulness, His benevolence, His beauty, His greatness, His goodness, His forgiveness, His mercy, and His glory. Find your rest there…and stay there…God does not want just a part of you…He wants you.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2019-08-05