13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

Matthew 9:13

7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Matthew 12:7

It’s interesting to note that Jesus quotes Hosea here, and that the word ”mercy,” in the original Hebrew translates to “steadfast love.”

So, in effect, Jesus is saying, “I want steadfast love, not your sacrifices.”

God doesn’t want our “sacrifice” of observing of rules and rituals, or our sacrifice of our time and money. And He definitely doesn’t want our service, if it means neglecting those that need Jesus. He wants our steadfast love.

It’s from that very love that we serve and live for God’s own glory. It for that love that we seek out people far from God to bring them to God. It is that love that causes us to love others in the same way Jesus loves us, rather than condemn others as we see fit.

The beginning of Judges sets us up for a period of time in history when God’s people continually turn from Him to serve other gods and serve their own interests. Every time this happens, Israel finds itself in slavery to another nation, and God sends a judge (basically a hero) to deliver Israel and turn their attention back to God.

God commanded Israel to remove the Canaanites (non-Israelite peoples) from their land completely. There was no other option. Instead of completely removing these other idol-worshiping nations from their presence, only minor attempts were made (or not at all) to drive out the inhabitants of the surrounding land.

But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem…Manesseh did not drive out the inhabitants…Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites…Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor…

Judges 1:21, 27, 29, 30

And this just keeps going. The tribes of Israel failed to see how important obedience to God was. They only partly removed from their presence what would soon be their downfall.

When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.

Judges 1:28

It was difficult to drive the Canaanites out, but God said He would fight for them. They half-heartedly did what God commanded them.

You have not obeyed my voice…so now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in you sides, and their gods shall be a snare to  you.

Judges 2:2-3

Here is where it gets terrifying. For the people of God, the Israelites, this part is unreal. For the New Testament reader reading this aloud in the synagogue, his listeners would have been taken aback to hear this next part, as I imagine gasps filling the room as he uttered this next part:

And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Judges 2:10

Of course it gets worse. Slavery, bondage, persecution—all of this happens as a result of Israel’s disobedience to God’s command.

And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.

Judges 2:12

Here’s the takeaway from this—are you being obedient to God or half-heartedly following him?

Christians can’t remove sin from their lives if they don’t completely remove it from their presence. The Israelites fell into slavery and bondage because they didn’t completely remove from themselves what would eventually ensnare and capture them—the Canaanites.

Christians fall prey to the enemy when they don’t completely remove themselves from temptation and sin and surrender their lives to God.

Obedience to God is our first step. Complete obedience. The second step is completely removing from our lives anything and everything that draws us away from the presence of God.

The last step is simply finding your joy in Christ, and allowing him to be your everything.

I know of no other way to triumph over sin long-term than to gain a distaste for it because of a superior satisfaction in God.

- John Piper

- John Piper, Desiring God

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Romans 13:14

We are souls created for passion. We sing passionately, we eat with passion, we watch and talk about movies passionately, we love passionately, we passionately play our sports, and we even sleep passionately.

There is something about the human soul that God divinely created that has a drive and desire to do everything with a heartfelt passion.

That passion, unfortunately, is spent on vain and useless pursuits compared to the light of eternity. Instead of investing our passions in something worthwhile, we somehow manage to find an inane way to waste our time and talents on the created rather than the Creator.

These are the “provisions of the flesh”—we have human desires that we satisfy with human means, wasting our God-given passion on vain pursuits that, in the end, lead to death.

Every single day when you wake, what are you “putting on?” The natural tendency for us is to wake, shower, eat, and go about our lives, leaving the natural, selfish self on when we wake.

Yet, when we consciously surrender ourselves to God day by day, “putting on” the righteousness of Jesus in our time with Him, we want to make the choice to serve God instead of  ourselves.

Rally your focus on glorifying God. How do we do that? I love what theologian and pastor John Piper says,

“God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”

- John Piper

Be satisfied in God. That means asking God to make His presence more satisfying every day, and begging God to make you crave Him in every moment, allowing nothing else to satisfy that craving except the very soul-satisfying presence of God. Only God can truly satisfy that soul craving that every human has. Everything else in life only tickles the tongue, stirring a greater desire to experience the source of what we tasted. While God is the giver, we experience his gifts on a daily basis.

What if we desired the Giver over the gifts? What if we realized that the life God gives is great, but God himself is greater? What if our desires paradoxically shifted from the natural to the supernatural?

That’s passion.

4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Facebook is the only place I know of where I can get invited to a cocktail party and get poked by a zombie at the same time, all the while receiving electronic “gifts” (more accurately, pictures of gifts) from users that actually paid for them. Friends and Facebook-ers can rally together in groups to support everything from church events to world hunger to seeing whether an onion ring can get more fans than pop star Justin Bieber.

But Facebook isn’t the only “www” phenomenon to captivate Internet users worldwide.

The microblogging software giant Twitter has now become the most popular pastime of Internet users across the globe. Users can report on what they are doing, make a generic statement about life, quote music lyrics, or simply just say whatever they want—as long as it’s less than 140 characters in length—all in real time.

Social networking is great. I love it. It allows conversation to happen when it otherwise may have never taken place.

But it’s not without it’s dangers.

Social networking does wonders for the Christian’s pride—in the worst sort of way. They get caught up in the feeling of having people on a virtual friends list that it does something in them to puff them up. This person often asks people to follow them on Twitter, be their friend on Facebook, and a part of their pride is fueled by having someone “pay attention” to what they have to say by adding a number to their followers.

It’s a personal danger for me as much as it is for anyone else. The Christian needs to a take a step back and evaluate why he does what he does. He needs to recognize the feeling he gets when a follower is added to his list. What happens to his pride?

Sites like Twitter and Facebook can quickly transform from a place of general expression to a life complaint forum, where the user literally removes the filter from between the brain and mouth (or more appropriately, the fingers) and says whatever comes to mind.

Christians have to be mindful of how they express themselves on the Internet. Is it beneficial for others to hear? What happens when everything the Christian says via social networking is full of negativity, complaining, and dreary, sentimental self-loathing?

I’m not condemning social networking in any way. This is coming from a guy who frequently uses a blog, Twitter, and Facebook account. But as Christians, it’s important for us to evaluate why we do what we do from time to time. Christians need to leverage every bit of technology they have for furthering the gospel and message of Christ, not for expressing self-pity and stimulating their egos.

Take it in. Pray about it. Evaluate what you say before you say it. It might just change what you say next time.

But there is one debt that Christians owe continually, and should pay back over and over:

8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

Even the apostle Paul knew that we need to stay out of debt. But there is a recurring debt—the debt of love. We don’t simply owe one person a little bit of love, as if only one person ever loved us. Instead, because of the enormity of God’s love for us, we are now compelled to pay that debt off in turn by loving everyone else.

Christ-followers are called to a life of love. What does real love look like? Check out 1 Corinthians 13. The entire chapter defines what love is.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-6

When I stack my life up against the model of genuine love found here, I fall so short. But this is the lifestyle of love that I owe to everyone in the world, people created in the very image of God himself. It’s something to strive for every day, only by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We can’t truly love in our own strength—only in His.

Promo: Our God is Love (Live Album) from NewSpring Production on Vimeo.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

BCoop gets the cred for this one: Are you trying or training?

You could say you’re running a marathon in a few months. You could also not prepare for that marathon. You could even try running that race come race day.

You could also fail. Miserably.

OR…

You could train for that marathon. You could set goals, run every day, build your stamina up, and feed your body what it needs to thrive under the kind of pressure a marathon will most definitely put your body under.

Simply trying isn’t enough. Training is where it all goes down. When you train yourself, you get yourself ready for the actual event so you won’t crumble under pressure.

We’re all running a race. The difference between the runners is that some are simply trying to run, while others are training to run. How do you train yourself spiritually? Be self-controlled. Set goals for yourself. Feed your soul what it needs to thrive on every single day—God’s word.

Are you trying or training?

Have you ever had similar thoughts about someone? I heard people say things similar to that throughout high school, usually directed at someone who was getting smashed at a party or just swearing up a storm while making fun of someone behind their back.

In the South, the term Christian carries little weight anymore. The common notion is that if you attend church on a semi-regular basis or said some kind of prayer once (which is more like a good-faith mantra) and don’t do anything “bad,” you’re a Christian (while not one time having the intention of surrendering your life to Jesus).

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

One characteristic of the authentic Christ-follower is the continual pursuit of being obedient to God:

24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

John 14:24

No, we are not perfect. We are all human, and struggle to live obedient lives. But the benchmark of the Christian is the drive and desire to be obedient to the heart of God in everything he or she does.

Do you have in you a drive to obey God in every aspect of your life?

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

John 15:5-7

If someone who calls himself a Christian is following hard after the heart of his Creator, then he will produce fruit. That basically means he will have a life that consistently produces actions and behaviors that mimic the character and nature of God.

What is your life producing every single day?

16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

Matthew 7:16-20

You tell an apple tree by the apples on the tree. You know a fig tree by witnessing the figs on the branches. Fruit is the product of the tree’s life and growth. Not only that, but if the tree is unhealthy (poor soil, lack of water and nutrients, etc.) the fruit will be bad. The product of the Christian’s life is his fruit, or the actions and behaviors that stem from a living relationship with God.

The “healthy tree,” or genuine Christian, is the one that will produce actions consistent with the love of Jesus Christ. If He is our vine/tree, then we have a healthy source from which to grow. But if we aren’t rooted in Christ, then we can’t produce anything of worth.

10 If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

John 15:10-12

So what is the overall theme here? Simple: it’s love. We can’t live a life of love until we first experience God’s love. We can’t produce anything of worth, or live lives that carry any weight to them until we are found completely in Christ, surrendered wholly to Him.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

We are far too easily pleased.”

- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory