Sermon(Is 43:22-24): Have delight in God

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025256050

 

>> “22 Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel! 23 You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. 24 You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities. (Is 43:22-24)” <<

 

It would be pleasant if someone else thinks me to be a good man and likes me. Especially, if an opposite sex whom you like likes you, you will feel like you've got the whole world. However, if someone else hates me and feels burdened to see me, I would feel really bad. You call it a one-sided love if you love an opposite sex, who, however, does not love you. When a one-sided love deepens, it causes lovesick. Love is a good thing, but it is not easy to keep it long; and the wound of the loss of love deepens as much as the depth of the love the two enjoyed.

 

In general, people, when they desperately need God's help, confess that they love and fear God, and frequently attend divine service with all their heart; but once they have passed the crisis, and everything goes well, they feel burdened about God. But, frankly speaking, it is not easy to worship God and to live with him. We can not deal with God flippantly for he is too noble and holy. It's not easy to have a noble man as a guest in the house. God is so high that we can never be rude to him. In the Old Testament, two men were killed by God on the spot when they used unlawful fire during worship of God. They aroused God's anger. So we have a hymn that says, "Nearer, my God, nearer to thee! Even though it be a cross that raiseth me." It implies that it is hard for us to serve a high and noble One in close distance.

 

However, from the Bible, we know that those who kept God near them were much blessed. Enoch was raised to heaven without death after he had lived in good relationship with God. Noah was a righteous man before God, and he was favored by God to live together with his family when the great deluge broke out, while all the other people were drowned. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob built altars and worshiped God wherever they went, and their descendants won God's favor to occupy the land of Canaan. The ark of the covenant is a sacred object that symbolizes the presence of God. David was too wise not to know that it is a great blessing to serve God near him. Therefore he tried to bring the ark laid outside his castle into his castle. The ark ought to be carried by Levites on their shoulders, but they carried it in a cart pulled by a cow. But on the way, the cow moved roughly, so the ark was about to fall down. Then Uzzah held the ark, and at the moment God killed him. So David was terrified and did not carry the ark anymore, but placed it in the house of Obed-edom. But God blessed very much the house of Obed-edom who kept the ark with all his strength, while the ark was there three months. David, who wanted to be the most blessed man in loving God and in receiving his blessings, risked his life again to bring the ark into his castle. This time he followed the law of God. He ordered Levites to carry the ark on their shoulders, and offered two oxen to God when they had moved six steps. He thought it a sinful act for sinful men to carry the ark, the symbol of the presence of the holy God, six steps, so he offered two oxen (as a sin offering). "Oh, my God, accept these fat oxen and forgive us for having moved the ark six steps!" Eventually, David succeeded in bringing the ark into his castle.

 

For David, it was definitely not a simple matter to have God close to him, and sometimes he even felt a threat to life, nevertheless wanted to serve God near him at all costs; because to be near God is indeed somewhat difficult and dangerous, but it is worth great while, that is, it grants believers a special blessing secular people can't obtain. What's the blessing? When David served God in close relationship with him, God was David's protector and his God. God blessed David, so David always won the battle, and his kingdom grew stronger and stronger, and his cup overflowed with richness, and he did not want in anything. It was David who was most blessed in the world. So a wise man is he who takes delight in God and lives near God, serving him, like David.

 

David was such a wise man, but the Israelites in the text of the Bible today were very foolish. Whenever they thought of God, they got angry and irritated. "You have been weary of me, O Israel! (v. 22)" They disliked God. You feel bad if somebody hates you without cause. Much more God did when Israelites who had been much blessed by him didn't like him. My brethren, you can gain God's blessing only if you take delight in God and love God. On the contrary, you can never be blessed by God or will lose what blessings you have already gained if you feel disgusted at God. Can you be gracious as before to him who, as a betrayer, hates you although you have had mercy on him and helped him so much? God never forgives those who dislike him, but makes them pay for their sins. After all, Israelites, hating God, perished.

 

The reason why people feel burdensome about God and why they want to stay away from him is that they do not know him well. God is extremely holy and dignified, so he severely punishes those who profane his holiness or defy his authority, but he really loves us. "You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you. (Is 43:4)" My brethren, God loves you and considers you more precious than any other creatures. Didn't he say so in the Bible? Therefore you have access to him whenever you would. God will never hate and reject you. When you come to him because you love him and like him, your sins can't be in your way to God. "I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins. (Is 43:25)" God declares that he will pardon his beloved sons and daughters and blot out their sins from his memory lest they should hesitate to come to him after they have committed sins. God pardons all your sins for the sake of himself because it is more profitable to him for you to love and worship him than for you to live as an enemy of God thanks to your sins. Therefore if you have committed a lot of sins, pray God to forgive your sins, and live a life of close relationship with God. Is the prayer for the forgiveness of God too hard for you, so you live as an enemy of God?

 

People keep away from God because they feel burdened of offerings for God. However God says plainly: "I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frank incense. (v. 23)" My brethren, you are not excluded from salvation just because you've offered little to God. Offer something to God in love for him and gratitude for his grace even if it is just a cent. You can't find lines in the Scripture that say of a cut-off (or a minimum) amount of money for salvation. If the offering is a problem to you, it lies not in God but in you. Your excessive greed is the problem. The problem is your unbelief, by which you do not commit tomorrow's problems to God, or by which you strive to pile up tomorrow's bread today. Some people save enough money to spend for 200 years, nevertheless, they are really stingy to God. From the text of the Scripture today, we find that Israelites, when offering sacrifices, were painful because their livestock consumed then. Some of them, perhaps, even didn't attend the worship of God to spare the expense of the sacrifice, like those who renounce their parents not to give them an allowance. "You have not bought me sweet cane with money, or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices, But you have burdened me with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities. (v. 24)" They gave up the worship of God to save money for sacrifice, so that their sins committed at other times were not pardoned but were inscribed deeply in the memory of God. My brethren, God does not like your stingy heart. You may go to church empty-handed if you so poor that you can't offer any money to God. God knows how you are living these days. Grateful praises and prayers that you, a poor man, offer up to God at the time of the worship of God without making any contribution (giving any money) to the church more please God than the money offered up by a haughty and stingy rich man. "I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. (Ps 69:30-31)" Jesus also said that two coins of a widow were worth more than rich people's large contributions. Nevertheless he said, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Mt 6:21)" This means it is hypocrisy that a rich man praises God only with his mouth without spending his money for the kingdom of God.

 

We obtained eternal life by the grace of God. So we must love and fear him. This is the responsibility of those who won the salvation. We should worship him in spirit and truth (Jn 4:24). We should honor him by property, or by money, too. God rebukes those who neglected that: "You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings, or honored me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, or wearied you with frankincense. (v. 23)" What is our duty, we as human beings? We can find it in the purpose why God created us. "..., every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. (Is 43:7)" We glorify God when we imitate God's character and live a good and righteous life as his children, therefore, are highly commended by people. God is exalted and glorified when his greatness is known to all people through us. We are created to reveal God's glory. And we must worship and praise him also by taking part in the worship-service of the church.

 

My brethren, never stay away from God, thinking that to serve him is burdensome. We must be holy to serve the holy God, therefore we take a little pains to serve him. And it can be a little burdensome indeed for us to take time to worship God while working in the world, and to offer up money to him. But such pains and burdens can never be for nothing compared to the blessings we will receive when we serve him in close relationship with him. God promised to give you following blessings if you have delight in him and live a life of worship of him in close relationship with him: “And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, within the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you his good treasury the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall tend upward only, and not downward; if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day, being careful to do them. (Deut 28:10-13)” These worldly blessings are precious, but those who delight in God and fear him live a life of companionship with him. You can have infinite pride and delight if you experience a wonderful Christian life: the most high God knows you, a lowly man, and he hears your prayer, and he is your God. Isn't it a great honor for you to have a personal acquaintance with the holy God? How wonderful, for he is my spiritual Father who protects me and satisfies all my needs in time!

 

May all of you live a good Christian life, delighting in God and fearing God, so that you are much blessed by God like David.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                   - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -