Ron Dunn Podcast - What Does God Require

Episode Date: July 22, 2015

Pastor Ron Dunn preaches a message from Micah 6:6-8, called "What Does God Require?"

You are listening to the Ron Dunn Podcast. Ron Dunn is a well-known author and was one of the most in-demand preachers during the latter part of the 20th century. He led Bible studies all over the United States, Europe, and South Africa. For more information and resources from Ron Dunn, please visit rondunn.com. Micah chapter 6, and I want to read verses 6, 7, and 8. And these are some of the greatest verses, not only in Micah, but in the entire Word of God. Many Bible scholars believe that this is the high watermark of the Old Testament.

As a matter of fact, Micah 6, 8 was what Jimmy Carter had read at his inauguration. This is a very powerful and potent passage of Scripture. And it opens with a question. Now, if you go back and read the first five verses, you'll see that the Lord has a controversy with His people. He's brought an indictment against them. There is a lawsuit against them. It's because of their ingratitude for what God has done

and their forgetfulness of what God has done. Actually, they're living out of balance. And so the question is paused by the people. And I want you to notice that it's in the first person plural, singular, but it is the voice of the people. They're responding to what God has said in the first five verses. With what shall I 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? Then the prophet answers, he has showed you, old 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. Now, here is the question that they're asking. With what shall I come before the Lord? That Hebrew word is a very intensified word. It means to come close and to stay close. In other words, the question is, how can I maintain my spiritual communion with God? How can I approach God and come close

to Him and stay close to Him so that my life revolves on the proper access. How can I approach God? What does it take? What does God require for me to do in order that I may come and live in His presence with favor and acceptance and blessing? And he says, and bow down before the exalted God. And the idea there is approaching God with gifts and hoping for a favorable reception. In other words, God says, I have a controversy with you because you're not living up to my expectations. You're

not living up to what I have done for you. And he reminds them in those first five verses of the things that he has done for them. And so they almost in innocence, they say, well, what shall I do? How shall I come into the presence of God? And what gifts shall I bring that will be acceptable to him

and where I can live in constant favor and communion with the Lord? That is the question. Actually, what they're asking in a sense is, how do I worship God? How does my life become a life of worship so that I am in favor with the Lord? Now, I want us to look at this question tonight and let me just offer three things concerning the question that is asked. I think it is a question that all of us ask. I think it is a question that we all need to ask. But the first thing that strikes me about this question is that it is a surprising question. They're basically asking God, Lord, how do I worship you? When I come to worship you, when I come to live in your presence, what am I supposed to do?

What do you want me to do? What shall I bring that will find favor in your sight? I say that's a surprising question because of who asks it. It's the people of Israel who ask it. Now, if there's anybody in the world who ought to know how to worship God and how to approach God, it should have been Israel. Because God had detailed to them, and you can read it in the book of Exodus and Leviticus and other places in the law, God had detailed to them and repeated it over and over and over again,

this is what I require, this is what I want you to do, this is how you are to worship. And yet, here are these people coming as though they've never heard a word, as though they are totally ignorant of all of this. And they're saying, Lord, what do you want from us? How are we to come into your presence? How are we to approach you? How are we to worship? Now, the other interesting thing about this is that not only are they the ones who should know this, but they are worshiping God even while they're asking this question. They have not abandoned the ceremonies

and rituals that God outlined for them. No, no, not at all. You see, here is the ironic thing. In the very midst of their worshiping of God, they've lost what it means to worship God. In the very midst of doing the things that God has told them to do, they have lost God. It's not that they aren't going through the acts of worship. They are. And yet those acts have become empty and meaningless. And they sense, not only, I think, the emptiness of their own heart, but they sense because God has already accused them that even though they're doing all of these rituals and performing

these ceremonies, yet it's not what God is after. It's a surprising question. Now I mentioned, I think it was last night, that when I was growing up that there was only one way to do church. You know, there's just one way to do church, the traditional way. And what has happened in the 80s and the 90s is that now there are a hundred different ways to do church. And there are a hundred churches doing church a different way. And I've been in churches that have abandoned one way of doing church to start another way of doing church

hoping that somehow this will catch fire that there are churches who are seen to be dead and the pastor recognizes it and so they say we've got to start doing church a different way we've got to abandon the traditional ways, the traditional methods, and come up with a more contemporary method of worshiping God. Now, I've seen churches split over this. You know, we've been having a great controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention

for the last 13 years over the inerrancy of the Word of God, although that's kind of a subject, a subterfuge. I think it's been as much over controversy of who's going to run things as anything else, but which is always the bottom line. But you know, I haven't, I don't know, there may have been some, but I don't know of a Baptist church that has literally split over that issue. Now, there have been some who have pulled out, you know, the whole church and have, you know, they've joined some other kind of organization. But they still remain a part of the Southern Baptist Convention. But I do not know a single church that has split over that. But I could name tonight a dozen churches

that have split over the way you ought to worship. I've seen pastors lose their job, run off, terminated because they tried to change the way the church was worshiping and their concept of worship. Now, I'm not saying that's right or wrong. What I'm saying is that we have fallen into a terrible trap of believing that it is the gestures and the ceremonies and rituals of worship that bring God into the place. It's not.

It's not it's not some of the greatest churches that I've been in some of the most spiritually warm and alive churches I've been in just as traditional as you could get I mean if you brought an overhead and a chorus in there

they'd run you out I've been in other churches where they were contemporary and they had the overhead and they sang choruses and they clapped and they had just as much of the churches where they were contemporary, and they had the overhead, and they sang choruses, and they clapped, and they had just as much of the power of God? How do you explain that? Well, you say there may be different explanations, but the main thing is this, that we have come to the place, and that Southern Baptists who ought to know better than anybody else on the face of the

earth, and we've always claimed this, that we know really what worship is. All of a sudden, we don't have any idea what worship is. And we're fighting over what are the ways of worship. And I'm in places where if you don't raise your hands and clap, then you're a dead church. And sometimes I hear somebody say, well, our church is finally learning how to worship. What they mean by that, that they have gained new emotional freedom and new physical freedom, and they can jump up and down and shout and do all of that stuff. And they say, we're learning to worship. No, you're learning some new gestures of worship, but you're not learning to worship. It is not the gestures and the mechanics that make worship worship, you see.

And we've fallen into that trap that if somehow God is not present in our services, manifestly present in our services, and is not doing things in our services, that the solution is to change. Let's put the choir over here instead of over here. Or let's put the choir over here instead of over here. Or let's rearrange it. Let's put the pulpit in the back, and let's have the sermon first and the music last. Or let's do this or let's do that.

We change things, so, well, this is what is going to bring the fire of God back into our worship. That's a grave mistake. It is not the gestures, not the mechanics, not the rituals, not the ceremonies that make worship worship. And so I say it is a surprising question. After all these years, why are we finally fumbling around in the dark and saying we don't know how to worship God? We ought to know how. If anybody ought to know how, it ought to be us.

Secondly, it is a personal question. It is a personal question. It is a personal question. Now, this is extremely important. Actually, notice I mentioned that verses 6 and following are put in the first person singular, although it is the entire nation speaking. He says, With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? And the answer is given in the first person singular. He has showed you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? In other words, this question is a personal question. This matter of worship is a personal question. This matter of worship is a personal matter. It really is not a matter of whether or not everybody in the whole congregation has had a wonderful time. It is a matter of whether or not I have touched God and God has touched me, whether or not I have had a personal

encounter with God that's what worship is and you you can't meet God in worship and somehow not be changed you just can't do it I mean when you have an encounter with God in worship there's going to be a change in your life somewhere along the way every time you come to meet God in worship and you do meet Him in worship, in some way God changes you. God touches you so that you are forever different in that particular area where God has touched you.

It is personal. It's not enough to go away and say, man, the music was great today and the sermon was magnificent and why didn't we have a great crowd? No, real worship is when I go away, and I say, God spoke to me today, and I met God today, and I was blessed and ministered to by the Holy Spirit today. It has to be personal, and we recognize that, and so here we are. We're trying to really get in touch with God,

and this fellow makes some suggestions. I like this. He says, with what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? And then he gives some examples, three examples. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? Now that is what I would call the expected offering. That's what would be expected. That's the normal. Shall I come before him with burnt offerings? But this fellow is really enthusiastic. I mean, this guy really wants to worship God.

And he wants God to know how serious he is. He'll do anything. He'll do anything, whatever it takes to meet God and worship God. So he goes beyond that to what I will call the extravagant. And he says, will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams with 10,000 rivers of oil? Now, I don't know if the Lord be pleased with that, but the pastor will be and the budget committee be. I mean, here, this is a man, only a very wealthy man could make this kind of offering, but this guy is not cheap. I mean, this guy is trying to show his sincerity. I mean, he's trying to impress God with his intention. He said, Lord, listen,

what is it going to take for me to worship you? What is it going to take for me to live in your presence and in acceptance and favor? I'll be happy to bring the tenth. And if that's not enough, I'll bring 90%. I'll give that. I'll do something great. I'll do something spectacular. But he doesn't stop there. Oh, no, this man is really enthusiastic, and he goes now to what I will call the extreme. He says, shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Well, that ought to impress God. I mean, you cannot doubt the sincerity of this fellow.

He's willing to do what is expected, what everybody else does, but he's willing even to be extravagant and do what nobody else can do. Not only that, he's willing to take his firstborn child and offering on an altar of sacrifice as a burnt offering to God. Now that ought to get, I mean if anybody ought to get into the presence of God, if anybody ought to make an impression on God. If God can be bought, friends, that's the price. The amazing thing is that nowhere in the Bible does God ever suggest any kind of sacrifice like that. Now, there were religions in that day that believed in that. For instance, those who worship the fire god Moloch. They would sacrifice their firstborn.

For instance, here is a young couple. Maybe they have a little baby boy, and they're building their firstborn. For instance, here is a young couple, maybe they have a little baby boy, and they're building their first home. And what would often happen is that as they're building their home, they want to ensure their God's blessings upon their home, and they would take that child and sacrifice him as a burnt offering, and then they would take the ashes of that child and put it in an urn and place that in the corner of the home that they're building and covering up. That's where the phrase cornerstone came from. They were laying the cornerstone to ensure their God's blessings on their future children

and on their life together. And there were those who did that. They would lay that cornerstone. Now you can't fault those people in their enthusiasm and in their sincerity. And so it's a personal question. What does it take? Man, I'll do anything.

Notice this guy, I mean, he really prefers to do something sensational. Give me some great thing to do. Oh, well, that impresses all of us, actually. I mean, I'd be impressed. Well, you can't deny it. That guy's a great Christian. He doesn't give 10%.

He gives 90%. That man, boy, he knows God. He's close to God. So we put him on the head of the finance committee or something like that. Who can deny that this man is a sincere seeker after God? It's a surprising question. It's a surprising question. It's a personal question. But finally, it's a question that has already been answered. Notice what Micah says,

He has showed you, O man, what is good. The word good there is intrinsically good, and what the Lord requires of you. God does require something. If I am going to live in constant fellowship and communion with Him, if I am going to find favor before Him in my daily walk, God does require something. Well, what is it that God requires? I mean, man, I've run the gamut. I've offered even to give my firstborn as a sacrifice. And you mean

God's not satisfied with that? The answer comes back. He says, God has already showed you, oh man, what is good, what is required, what doth the Lord require? All right, what is the answer? What does God require? With what shall I come before the Lord? And what shall I bring and bow down before the exalted God? What does God want me to bring to Him? What great thing can I do? What great gift can I bring to the Lord that will ensure His favor and ensure my meeting Him in worship?

What is it that God wants out of me? And here is the answer. To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Now, I want to tell you something, folks. That is what God requires. I mean, you can give the 10th and the 20th and the 30th and the 90th. You can bring 10,000 rivers of oil and 1,000 rams. You can even offer your firstborn as a sacrifice.

But that means absolutely nothing to God. You can raise your hands and speak in tongues and roll on the floor and bark like a dog, growl like an animal, laugh like a hyena and do all of that sort of stuff, be slain in the spirit, but that doesn't mean a thing to God. You know what God wants from you? He's not necessarily interested in you rolling in the aisle. What He wants from you is to do what's right and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God. Let's look at those three things. First of all, he says, what I want from you is to do justice. Now, justice is a norm. It's an established standard. In other words, justice is a norm of practice that has been established and that regulates all my activity, and I never deviate from it. In all my decisions, in all my behavior, I am directed, I am regulated by a standard of what's right. And what God wants is for you just to do what is right. Now let me show you something. I want you to go back to Exodus chapter 33 for a moment, or is it 23? Anyway, we'll find out when we get there. I'll know immediately if it's the right one. Where is Exodus?

That's 23. Now, in Exodus 23, what you have is God is giving the rules for the judges. This is the way that they are to judge and the standards by which they are to judge. And in chapter 23, he's telling them the things that endanger justice. Now here are judges who are sitting on a case, and there are certain dangers that might cause them to find falsely. We'll just look at three of these. Number one, he says in verse 2,

Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. In other words, don't let the pressure of the majority make you compromise your standard of what is right and wrong. You do what you know to be right and just. No matter whatever else. No matter whatever else anybody does. And how much pressure do you and I feel from the majority. To lower our standards and to do less than what we know is right.

But he said do not, do not be impressed. Do not be carried away. Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. Look at verse 8. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous. In other words, he's saying don't let the power of money sway you in what is right and what is wrong.

You know, it is a shameful thing to say, but I've almost gotten to the place where I don't like to do business with people who insist that they're Christians, and that's why I ought to do business with them. Do you know what I'm saying? I mean, a few years ago, we bought a car for our son. A used car. It was a Christian man who sold it to us.

And he said, I'm a Christian. And he said, everything I'm telling you about this car is true. And he told us all this stuff. Well, I think we got it home before it broke down. I mean, nothing that he said about that car was true. And so I've gotten to the place where if somebody says, listen, you know, I'm a Christian, I'll give you a good deal. Well, you know, I kind of grab hold of my pocketbook

and I go find a good honest lost man. Am I telling the truth or not? What about a man who teaches a Sunday school class on Sunday morning, teaches the Word of God, but on Monday, let's say he's a salesman, and in order to make a sale, in order to make money, he will fudge about the truth of his product. What's he doing? Is he doing justice? Is he doing what's right? No, he is letting the power of money interfere with his doing justice,

you see. Now here is another one. Boy, this is kind of rough here. God's harsh. Look at verse 3. And do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit. Boy, that is not politically correct. He says, now, here you are. You're a judge, and you're sitting in judgment. Let's say this poor man has brought suit against this big corporation, and everybody knows how crooked big corporations are,

and they got plenty of money. Now, I know as a judge that this man really, this man, this poor man over here, really doesn't have a case, But I feel so sorry for him. Oh, he is, boy, he is poor. And this big corporation over here is not going to miss that little bit of money. So he finds in favor of that poor man, even though it is not the just verdict. He says, your standard of right, your standard of justice is to be so strong

that it ought not to be influenced even by your pity for someone who is poor. You do what's right. That's what God wants. And folks, can you imagine the change if we just, everybody did what was right? And you could trust a person when they said something. I believe it's in Psalm 15. He's talking about who shall dwell with the Lord,

and he lists several characteristics there. And he says, one of those characteristics is a man who swears to his own hurt and changes not. What that means is that you, well, let's just say that I have a 64 and a half Mustang. And somebody comes to me and says, I'll give you $1,000 for that. Sounds like a lot of money, and I really don't know the value of this car. It was handed down. I say, okay, I'll sell it to you for $1,000.

Going to come by the next day with the money. In the meantime, I learned that things were $10,000. Now, what have I done? I've sworn to my own hurt, haven't I? What do you think I ought to do? Of course, what that other guy ought to do is to back out and say, I'm a sorry rascal for offering you that little bit of money. What do you do? A man who swears to his own hurt. He gives you his

word, finds out later that that's going to hurt him, but he goes ahead and does it while he gave word. Man, a woman of integrity. God says, no, I don't care about all of these things you're doing here. What I really want to see is you just on an everyday basis in your dealings with people to do what's right. Secondly, he says, I want you to love mercy. Now notice he doesn't say love justice and do mercy. He says do justice and love mercy. I don't know that I love justice. I mean, you know, if I swear to my own heart, to my own hurt, and I have to keep my word,

I don't love that, but I must do it. But notice that he doesn't say you have to love justice. He said you do it. But he says you love mercy. Mercy has the idea of alleviating the need of somebody else, of relieving the hurt or the burden of somebody else. Love, in that Hebrew word, has the idea of inclining towards it or pursuing it. In other words, he says, what I delight to see in the heart of my people

is that kind of attitude that is always on the lookout to help somebody. You know, several years ago, Pastor and and i not this pastor but another pastor and i were it was after a morning service and we were going to lunch and we were at this stoplight and just about the time stoplight was going to turn green, this pickup truck went through the intersection, and it had a mattress in the back, and that mattress slid off. So we had to stop in the middle of the intersection and get out, and we sat there while he was, and I kept saying to the pastor, I wish that guy would move so we can get on. Why doesn't he? Why doesn't somebody help him? And we're sitting there, you know, we're just sitting there watching him.

Why doesn't somebody help him move so we can get on to lunch? Well, I don't think that was a good example of loving mercy. Now, let's go back to that poor man. First of all, I've got to do justice about this case. I'd like to find in favor of this poor man because he needs the money in this big corporation. They've got millions and millions and millions. They wouldn't miss it. But I've got to do what's right, so I find in their favor. And then I step down from the judge's seat, and I walk down to that poor man, and I reach into my back pocket, and I say, how much do you need?

Let's see what we can do for you. So you see, there really is no conflict between doing justice if you love mercy. Isn't that what God did? A just God and yet love mercy? Being on the lookout for someone in need and being willing to help that need, relieve that burden, alleviate that need. And then thirdly, he says, walk humbly with thy God. Now, if he didn't add those words, all of this would be just an exercise in human effort and activity. And we would never be able to do it. But if you walk humbly with your God, walking with God implies, of course, that companionship.

It really implies going in the same direction. Amos said, can two walk together except they be agreed? Of course not, they can't. And so he says, this is what I'm looking for. I'm looking for people, this is real worship, this is real worship, is people who do what's right, and they love mercy, and they walk with their God. And when you walk with God, some of God rubs off on you, and you're able to do this justice, and you're able to love mercy. It is only a man or woman who truly walks with God who is able to do what's right

and to love mercy. The word humble there, walk humbly with thy God, is an interesting word. It means to stoop, to bend over. Last Christmas, around the Christmas holidays, Kay and I went out to dinner with a couple of friends. When we finished the dinner, we got up from the table, and I was heading for the cash register, and I was pulling some change out of my pocket and

I did so I dropped a dime I don't have a dime that's really a penny but I dropped a dime and I just kept on walking and my friend said Ron you dropped a dime I said yeah I know he said aren't you gonna pick going to pick it up? I said, no, sir. I don't bend over for anything less than a quarter. There was a day when I would have stooped over and picked up that quarter. But after a while, you've got only so many stoops left in you. And I'm at the place now that when I bend over to do something, I look around and see if there's anything else that needs to be done while I'm down there. And I just left that quarter on the floor.

I'm not going to bend over and pick up that dime. If it was a quarter, that's my standard. That's my limit. I don't stoop for anything less than a quarter. I always like to see who's going to come up here and pick up this dime first. Nearly anybody will stoop over and pick up a dime. But some of you who will stoop over to pick up this penny off this floor would never stoop to walk with God.

Never humble yourself to walk with God never give up your rights and your high and mighty ways to bend over and humble yourself to walk with God this is true worship folks this is really what it's all about. I love great music. Thank God for your music. And this is one of the things that I love coming here for is the music, the choir. And I love great congregations and I love to hear great preaching. And I'm sure God enjoys that. But you know what God is really looking for? What really He requires of us is that you just, I mean, you don't have to do something sensational. You don't have to do something big and spectacular. Just do what's right.

Just do what's right. Be on the lookout to see how you can help others. And humble yourself to walk in God's ways. That's true worship.

This is what the Lord requires of all of us. Would you bow your heads now with me for a moment as we pray? I'm going to end if we could just have a moment or two of quiet meditation. And end our service in this way. Just meditating on what God has said to us tonight. And I trust that he has said something to you. This is what the Lord requires. Is this your worship? Doing justice,

loving mercy, walking with God. These are the real issues of life. What's going to change this nation? What's going to change the world? What do you think this world needs? You say, well, it needs God.

Yes, it does. But I'm talking about on a practical level. Does this world need more church buildings? Does it need more church buildings? Does it need more choirs to solve the problems of this world? You know what would solve the problems of this world? Men and women doing what's right, doing just, and showing mercy to one another and walking with God.

This is really what is important. Father, I pray again tonight that the word of God would be sharp like a two-edged sword and pierce to the very innermost being of our hearts. Lord, we're understanding that the forms of worship and such as that are not to be thrown out. They're not meaningless. And Lord, you're certainly not saying to us that we ought not to sing and ought not to clap and ought not to shout, all of that. But what you are saying to us is that just because we do that, that doesn't mean we're worshiping you. That true worship is not a matter of these things. to your throne, to your altar, is justice and mercy and humility.

So I pray that you will seal your word to our hearts tonight, and it'll make a change in the way we live. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. For more Ron Dunn materials, sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from his study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.