When my younger daughter was small, she would ask questions that we came to call “Mel questions.” The question would seemingly be an easy one to answer, but we would be mistaken. Mel would ask the question, and we would answer it.
But then, she’d say, in a frustrated tone, “No, . . .” and ask the question again, sometimes with a slightly different inflection. We would try to answer again, but again, it wouldn’t satisfy her and she’d ask again, restating it in a slightly different way.
This would go on for several minutes, until we would finally throw our hands up in the air, equally as frustrated as she was, and we’d finally have to tell her, “Sweety, I have tried to answer your question. Now, I’m not sure any more what you’re asking, so I don’t know the answer. I just don’t know.”
Thankfully, she has outgrown that phase of her life. I have a two wonderful daughters and a son, and each of them is different and loving in their own way. But, as any parent can tell you, as much as we love our children, sometimes we can really get frustrated with them, and them with us.
I was reminded of these events when I was thinking about the idea, “What does God expect from us?” There are numerous passages in the Bible where that question is asked. God answers the question in a short, reasonable and easy to understand way, but we still seem to ask Him, “No, what do You really expect from us?”
“He Has Showed You, O Man”
The clearest example of this is found in the Old Testament book of Micah. In Micah 6, God brings a charge against the people of Israel (v. 2). God asks the people, “What have I done to you? How have I burdened you?” (v. 3). God then reminds them how He brought them out of Egypt and provided guidance through Moses and his brother and sister.
In response, the people ask a question of their own. “With what shall we come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (vs. 6-7). In other words, the people seem to be complaining about God’s exceedingly high expectations. They claim to be observing the rites and ceremonies God has given them to do, but that doesn’t seem to be enough. So does He want more?
God’s response is completely different from their expectations. In v. 8, God tells us, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That’s what God wants. He doesn’t want us to go through rites and ceremonies if our hearts aren’t in them. Rather, He wants a relationship with us, and He wants that relationship to transform the way we deal with each other.
He wants us to act justly. That is, we are to treat one another with respect and fairness. We are to do the right thing for each other. In Proverbs 6:16, the Bible tells us, “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” This is the antithesis of acting justly. If we are to act justly, we can’t afford to look down our noses at those we deem less worthy. We must be honest and honorable in the way we act toward each other. We must be aboveboard in our dealings with one another.
He wants us to love mercy. Justice without mercy is harsh, demanding. Mercy takes into consideration the circumstances and allows the expression of love toward those who seek justice. A person who deliberately breaks an expensive plate glass window and a person who, as a result of an intended action, inadvertently causes an equally expensive window to be broken have both committed the same “crime.” One is unrepentant, while the other expresses remorse and a willingness to atone for the wrong done. Justice demands they pay the same price for the action that led to the harm. But mercy takes into account the intentions, the aftermath and the overall cause of the events. Mercy can take away the harshness of a penalty.
And God wants us to walk humbly with Him. He wants us to experience Him, to fellowship with Him. Notice it’s not walk humbly before your God or walk humbly after your God, but to walk with Him. The humility comes from the recognition that God is God, that He is Other, holy, just and merciful. But the invitation is to walk with Him, to learn and to ask questions and to hear His voice and know Him in an personal way.
That’s what God expects from us.
“What Must We Do to Do the Works God Requires?”
One other time in the Bible is the question asked directly about what God expects from us. This question occurs in the New Testament, in the Gospel according to John. In John’s account, the miracle of the fishes and loaves has just taken place—Jesus had used five barley loaves and two small fish to feed over 5000 people with enough leftovers to fill 12 baskets. John tells us, “Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make Him king by force withdrew again to a mountain by Himself” (John 6:15). What happens next is Jesus walking on water as the disciples crossed the Sea of Galilee. When they reached the other side, Jesus and the disciples discovered the people had traveled around the lake to meet them at Capernaum. Having had their bellies filled once, the people were looking to do it again.
In the exchange between Jesus and the people, Jesus is asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” (John 6:28). Jesus’ response is: “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent” (John 6:29). What then follows is Jesus’ discourse on how He is the bread of life.
What does it mean “to believe?” In our western culture, we understand the phrase to have an intellectual understanding that something exists and we accept that as truth. While it is important that we have an intellectual agreement that Jesus is the One God the Father sent, God expects more from us than that. The word we interpret “believe” is better translated “faith.” More accurately, then, Jesus’ answer should be that the work of God is this: to faith in the One He has sent.” Since we seldom use “faith” as a verb in English, we instead substitute the word believe.
To faith in something is go beyond the idea of intellectual acceptance and to make it a life commitment. To faith in something or someone is to commit oneself to full adherence of that idea or person. To faith Jesus as the One God sent is to accept as true that He is the Firstborn, the Son of God, fully divine, fully human, tempted as we are tempted yet without sin, Who lived and taught the words recorded in the Gospel messages, and, when the time was right, died for our sins and, on the third day, was resurrected to sit at the right hand of the Father. To faith in Jesus is to accept His teaching as true and to commit ourselves, by and with His help, to live according to His teachings and His ways. He demonstrated to us how we are to relate to the Father, to Him and to one another, even how to relate to ourselves. As is true in the Old Testament, God expects us to have an experiential relationship with Him through our faith in His Son. We accept that God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Christ, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things . . . by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20).
But There’s More
These two preceding passages are easy to understand and find. But there’s more that God expects of us. Below are a few of the other things He expects of us. They go in line with the two main themes of justice, mercy, humility and faith, but they are important enough to be mentioned as well as extensions of what God wants from us.
- The least of these brothers of Mine – Matthew 25:31-46
In Matthew 24, Jesus’ disciples ask Him about the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming. He spent the rest of the chapter answer the questions, and then He concluded the discourse with three parables. The first parable is about ten young women who are to herald a bridegroom to his wedding. Unsure of his coming, some of the young women didn’t bring enough oil for their lamps, with consequences that prove most distressing.
The second parable is about a master who leaves for a period and gives some talents (money) to his servants. One receives ten talents, another five and the third is given one talent. When the master returns, he asks for an accounting of the talents given. He rewards two of the servants who used their talents wisely, but comes down hard on the servant who squanders his talent.
The third parable is the separation of the sheep and goats. (I’ve always used this parable to prove that God is left handed since He sends the goats on His left away—He wants to have room on His left. But that’s not really the point of the parable.) God tells the sheep on His right, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). He then explains that the sheep ministered to Him when He was needy.
The sheep are confused, and ask when they did this ministry. The answer is, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the last of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me” (Matthew 25:40).
The goats are sent away for failing to minister. Perplexed, they also ask when they didn’t minister to the Lord. The response: “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me” (Matthew 25:45). The goats are then sent into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.
The point of the parable is to say that God expects us to minister to the unlovely—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger among us, the poorly dressed, the ill, those in prison—and in so doing, we will be ministering to Him. It is an extension of the Golden Rule, the act of mercy mentioned in Micah, the faith mentioned in John. We are expected to treat all people humanely and seek to meet needs as we are able. We are to show compassion and acceptance of the individual, regardless of their lot in life. Paul wrote of the Macedonian churches that “they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints” (2 Corinthians 8:3-4). This gift of generosity came out of their severe poverty, but also from a generous heart. The reason they were able to do so is, “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will” (2 Corinthians 8:5). In other words, there really is no excuse for withholding when a ministry opportunity arises.
What does God want of us? He wants us to minister to those in need of ministry.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty