What is it that God desires most from us? What is it that God wants most from us?
Abstain From Sexual Immorality
What is it that God desires most from us? What is it that God wants most from us? God isn’t just concerned with sin in our lives but sexual immorality appears to be sin of the worst kind. That’s why the Apostle Paul didn’t say walk away from it, but “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Cor 6:18). Run just as fast as your feet can take you! When we commit any kind of sexual immorality (adultery, pre-marital or same-sex, etc.), we sin not only against God, but we sin against our own body! This sin is the only sin that is mentioned in Scripture that is against our body. What does that mean? It means we hurt ourselves, not only spiritually, but there are physical circumstances involved too. There can be an unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmissible diseases, on top of the crushing weight of sin and guilt and destroying families and wrecking relationships. The Word of God is crystal clear about what God’s will is and “this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” (1 Thess 4:3-5).
Grow in Holiness
One of the great lessons from Scripture taught in the Old Testament but also in the New Testament Church was the Apostle Peter’s admonition: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16). Of course, “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” (1 Sam 2:2), but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to be holy. We will never be totally holy this side of the Kingdom, but it should be our desire and that’s God’s desire too, for He is holy. We will never be sinless in this life…but we should be sinning less over our life. To be holy is not only God’s desire and command to us but it is what pleases Him. Shouldn’t that be enough reason to strive to be holy?
Repent and Believe
Jesus summarized the command which God commands all men and women everywhere and that is to repent and believe the gospel. (Acts 17:30-31). Time and time again in the early church the cry went out, “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). This is just what Jesus proclaimed from the beginning, saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). What does God want from you first? It is to repent and believe the gospel.
Rescue the Perishing
How much clearer can it be when Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20a). Here is an imperative command from the King of glory, and yet less than 5% of believers actively share their faith. God’s Word says that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). Since God is not willing that any should perish, should we not also be willing to be used by God as a means to rescue our family, friends, co-workers and even strangers? God want’s the desire He has for lost sinners to be in our hearts too. You can’t even spell the gospel without “go!”
Glorify God
One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 115:1 which gets down to the most basic thing God desires from us and it is that He is most glorified. The Psalmist wrote, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” The glory must never, ever come from us because we have nothing to glory in but the cross of Christ (Gal 6:14). If anyone says of you, “You are great…you are wonderful” or “You deserve a lot of credit pastor,” then answer them as I would here. I tell them that the moon is so very beautiful on a star-lite night, and especially when it comes over the horizon. That’s when I say, “The moon is a huge, dead piece of lifeless rock. It is totally baron of life. In fact, it is hostile to humans and you can’t even see the moon without the sun’s help…”
The sun gives the beauty to the moon. The moon is not the source of its own beauty…the sun is, so we must always deflect the praise back to God when we reflect the good works of God. We must acknowledge Him in all our ways (Prov 3:5-6) so that it is He Who receives credit and people will know that it is God Who is doing in us and through us. If not for Him, there is nothing good in us at all. That’s why He alone must receive all the glory for any good we do.
Conclusion
Shouldn’t we want to please God and do what He commands, and even more so, do so gladly for the debt for which Christ paid? Why wouldn’t we seek to please God more? We seek to please our spouse, children, friends, and others, so why do we not strive on our hands and knees to please God more? God can use us as a means to His end. We do the proclaiming and He does the saving. We are not called to save people but to show them how they might be saved by God. This gives God glory…and this is what God desires; that we enjoy Him forever and to glorify Him, even if it’s at our own expense.
One final warning; if you have never repented and trusted in Christ, right now, and every second, you are in real mortal danger of hell fire. We are all one breath; one heartbeat…one accident away from eternity then it will be too late to repent. Today is the best day to believe (2 Cor 6:2). Please don’t put this off because your tomorrow is no guarantee. If our Lord Jesus Christ came today, you will face God’s judgment after death (Heb 9:27) or at the Lord’s appearance (Rev 20:12-15), whatever happens to come first…and either could come at any moment!
