Pleasing God Podcast
Pleasing God Podcast
Living Faithfully: Embracing Challenges and the Golden Rule
Ever wondered why living a Christian life isn't as easy as it seems? Discover the truth behind this misconception as we dissect the inherent challenges of pursuing righteousness and obedience to God in today’s world. In this episode, we take a deep dive into Micah 6:8, evaluating the moral and ethical obligations outlined by God: to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with Him. We argue that external acts of worship and sacrifice fall short if our hearts and attitudes aren't aligned with God's will. Learn how true goodness and hope stem from Jesus Christ and the gospel, providing security even amidst the trials of a faithful Christian journey.
We also dissect the Golden Rule, exploring its profound impact on our everyday interactions. Understand how treating others as they would want to be treated requires understanding and empathy, going beyond mere fairness. Through practical examples, we illustrate the essence of loving kindness and selflessness, inspired by Jesus Christ's ultimate example of selfless love. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of walking humbly with God, focusing on obedience and humility rather than trying to impress through actions. Reflecting on 1 Thessalonians 4:3, we encourage you to ground your identity and actions in what God has done for His glory and our good. Tune in for an insightful conversation designed to equip you to live faithfully for the glory of God.
Stock Music provided by wolfgangwoehrle, from Pond5
Hi and welcome back to the Pleasing God podcast, a podcast focused on helping Christians to think biblically, engage practically and live faithfully for the glory of God.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, jonathan Soule. On this episode, I want to talk about a reality we all face, something that every one of us Christians can relate to, and that's that living the Christian life is hard. There's no doubt about it. There might be times where it seems maybe a little easier, but it's hard. Living as a Christian in our world today and seeking to live faithfully, live obediently, live, you know, against our flesh, and seeking to pursue righteousness, it's not easy. So first, I'd like to just any idea that the Christian life is an easy journey is false. It is certainly hard and I'm certain you know, as you're listening now, you can say, yeah, I agree. And it might've been hard for you even today. By the time you're listening to this, you've maybe been struggling or maybe you're in the midst of a great trial, whatever it might be, and we all can admit, first and foremost, living as a Christian, living faithfully, is hard. Now, that doesn't mean it's not rewarding or it's not worth it or anything of that nature, but we recognize and we want to be honest, it's not easy. God doesn't call us to do simply easy things.
Speaker 1:And so, while we talk about how hard the Christian life is and the challenges that it brings, I'm reminded of a passage in scripture, a very famous passage of scripture, where, and found in the book of Micah, micah, chapter six, mainly in verse eight, asking what the Lord requires of his servant. Micah six eight he has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Now, that's phrased as a question, and I want to just kind of unpack this one verse as we think about the challenge and the difficulty of the Christian life. Now, it would be wrong for me just to go in and start taking apart this verse and saying, okay, here's what we're to do as Christians, what God requires of us Do justice, okay. One Then love kindness or love mercy. Two Walk humbly with your God. Now, seeking to live those things out are very difficult and challenging. And one it's not easy and, if we're being honest with ourselves, this is an area of weakness. One of these three are probably a strong area of weakness in our lives, but that doesn't negate the fact that we are to live this out. This is where the Christian life is hard. The moral, ethical obligations are not easy. So, as we think about the challenge of the Christian life and to seek to live out what God requires of us, according to Micah 6, 8, how do we do this? How do we do this? Well, well, let me just explain a little bit of the context of why this is being written and how this passage comes to us.
Speaker 1:There's questions coming from Micah. Basically, what should I do for the Lord's pleasure? What should I do that would be pleasing to God? He says shall I come before the Lord and bow myself down before God on high? Do I lay prostrate before God? Is it my worship that God wants? Maybe he says should I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of your own? Is it my sacrifice that the Lord wants from me? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams and 10,000s of rivers of oil? Is it the abundance of giving to the Lord that pleases God, he says. Ultimately, he says shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? Well, that's certainly pointing to something about a firstborn dying For my transgression. The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Do I make the sacrifice, the sacrifice of my son, for my sins? What is it that the Lord requires that would be pleasing to the Lord? So he's asking these questions because he's saying none of these things are enough, none of these things are meaningful enough. Or in another way we could say it we could come before God and give worship, we can give sacrifice, we can give out of our abundance, we could give all that we have, and that would still not be pleasing to God. If our heart is not in the right place, if our attitudes are not where they should be, all of those other things are external things. We don't earn God's favor, we don't earn God's pleasure. And so he's asking these questions. And then it's the kind of rhetorical question back, and so let's take this apart.
Speaker 1:In verse eight he has told you oh man, what is good. This is important when we think about the difficulty of the Christian life and the challenges that we face. I think oftentimes we get mired in the difficulty, we get kind of sidetracked by the trials and the challenges and we forget or we try to be a moralist right and we try to just do justice, love, kindness and walk humbly. And we forget this first part. He has told you, oh man, what is good. So let's ask the question what is good? What is this good that God has revealed or told to Micah and, ultimately, to us? The answer is found in Jesus Christ, the answer is found in the gospel, and we have to start there.
Speaker 1:Especially when we're thinking about living lives of obedience, the challenges of the Christian life, we must first and foremost remember that God has told us what is good. He has revealed himself and he has revealed his will, and ultimately, he's revealed himself and his will in his son. And Jesus is goodness par excellence. The goodness of the gospel is good revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ, is our hope, is our security, is our standard of goodness. And so, before you get in, this is a challenge that I think we all need to be mindful of and to catch ourselves in our own lives that the implications or the applications of the gospel must flow from the gospel in our lives. And so what do I mean by that? It is gospel first. So often I think, if we would just look at do justice, love, kindness, walk humbly with your God, we can try to do that without gospel, and that is law, that is legalism, that is let me do this in the strength of my own. Might Now remember how I started this podcast.
Speaker 1:The Christian Life is Hard, it is impossible when we don't get gospel right and when we don't get gospel priority. We don't get gospel right and we don't get gospel priority. The gospel is not just my sins are forgiven. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. It is what is good in and through Jesus Christ, and so, recognizing that the source of our power, the source of which we can walk in this way that God calls us to do, is through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:My sins are, I've been set free from my sins, I have been. You know, I'm no longer the natural man, as Paul would talk about, but the spiritual man, or in John, chapter 3, as the spirit blows as he wishes, the spirit has come and renewed and regenerated, caused me to be born again. And so in that work of regeneration or new birth, that's kind of the Ezekiel 36 passage, talking about taking the heart of stone and replacing it with the heart of flesh so that God's people will walk in his ways and his statutes. So we must first, through the gospel, be enabled to live out the implications or the ethical demands that flow from the gospel. But we must recognize these ethical demands or these moral behaviors flow downstream from the gospel. We don't do good to get gospel, we do good because of the gospel. And in doing so we also recognize we have been enabled to do so. The heart that was dead has been made alive. Paul says you, who were once dead in your, has been made alive. Paul says you, who were once dead in your trespasses and sins, have been made alive, for by grace you have been saved through faith. So we recognize, first and foremost, when we start talking about the challenges of living out the Christian life and walking in faithful obedience, it begins with gospel.
Speaker 1:So, believer, listener, right now, preach the gospel to yourself. Do so early and often in your Christian life. Now, that's not a license to do whatever you want, no, but that's what's going to. You know you speak your identity to yourself. I am in Christ, I am a new creature. Even when you're having your bad days, I am in Christ. And I am a new creature. Even when you are feeling really low about yourself, you are in Christ, you are a new creature. When you are drowning in your sins and you feel like there is no hope for you, you are in Christ. You are a new creature for you. You are in Christ, you are a new creature, and in understanding that, that is what you know, helps us, enables us to walk in this newness of life that has been given to us.
Speaker 1:So, sins forgiven, I belong. I'm among the ransomed, the redeemed. My name is written in the book of life and it's written in blood. There is no eraser for that. It has been secured and sealed through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has been given to me as almost a deposit, as a security of our inheritance to come. I am counted among the redeemed, I am among the beloved of God. That never changes, no matter your conduct.
Speaker 1:And so he has told you oh man, what is good? The gospel is good news to all who believe. The forgiveness of sins, a permanent place with Jesus Christ in heaven for all eternity. That is what's good, and so, as a result of gospel, priority in our lives. How, then, shall we live? Well, what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. So let's look at these three things that Micah says for us and just kind of break them down and think about them. We're looking at them biblically. Them down and think about them. You know, we're looking at them biblically. Let's, you know, engage with them practically and then, so that we can walk faithfully as disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, seeking to please God, what does it mean to do justice?
Speaker 1:Well, this has been maybe a hijacked term in recent times. We get a lot of cries of social justice, statements about oppression and oppressors, and what I tend to see happening, especially in our cultural world today, in our political, social climates, is that there are certainly problems climates is that there are certainly problems. There are certain, there's certainly injustice in our world, but what I see happening and it happens among a lot of Christians too is that these problems are real, but then there becomes over-corrections to problems and all they do is kind of pendulum swing or create another problem and there's a divided spectrum of people when it comes to issues of justice. What's the Christian responsibility when it comes to justice in our community, in our world? And you could go as far as you know a woke left position or even just, you know, denying the fact that there is injustice and just saying you know this is a made up term. I think both are just kind of wrong and oftentimes both sides are dismissing one another because they're not actually listening to each other. They're hearing what they think the other people are saying, and maybe listening would help us all.
Speaker 1:So, when you think about doing justice, what does that mean? Well, I mean, in a sense it's talking about treating people fairly. In a sense, it's talking about treating people fairly. When you think about due justice and he's not saying due justice to God, but he's talking about the horizontal relationships Because of the vertical, what is good in the gospel are horizontal relationships this means, again, treating people with fairness, with equity. Now, not everybody is equal, no, that's. I mean people are different, but we are to treat people with equity and we are to show mercy towards our fellow man, we are to act justly, and I think this is just simply treating others fairly. We think about the golden rule do to others as you would have them do to you. It's not a bad starting ground, but I think of that as just a starting ground. Not a bad starting ground, but I think of that as just a starting ground.
Speaker 1:I would argue that the golden rule is the minimum standard of conduct, and Jesus is saying let this be at least what you do Do to others as you would have them do to you. Treat that person fairly because you want to be treated fairly. Don't discriminate, don't treat somebody different based off of their appearance, their intellect or anything like that, but be fair in your dealings. Now, that does not mean everybody gets a trophy, or everybody gets the job, or everybody gets that position. No, that's an injustice. But you are to show fairness in your dealings with people, even the people that don't like you and that you might not like either. Do justice, balanced treatment. But as the golden rule is the minimum standard of conduct, I would say, to take it one further do to others. Do to others as they would want done to themselves. And so what that means is don't just do for someone.
Speaker 1:Say you're, we think about love languages. Say you're a person who loves acts of service or maybe gifts gifts is a better one, because I can't relate and you're somebody who loves to receive gifts. Well, that's the way you feel loved. You tend to then show your love to someone else, by the way that you receive love. So if gifts are your thing, you might do to others as you would have them do to you. And you're like man, I love gifts. So I'm going to give that person a gift to tell them how much I love them.
Speaker 1:But that person may be more like me and would prefer quality time. And they said, well, thanks for the gift card or thanks for thinking about me, um, but I would really just like to hang out with you. And I think, as for me, like, instead of bringing someone a gift and say, hey, you know, do you want to spend some time together? You want to go hiking or you want to go do something and just hang out, and that person's like, well, this is fun, but you know where's my gift? And while they can recognize and enjoy the time together, they're talking different languages.
Speaker 1:And so when we say, do to others as you would, as they would want done to themselves, that's when you learn and recognize someone else and you say, hey, I'm gonna spend some time with you because I know that's meaningful to you. That might not be my thing, but that's even a different level of sacrifice, that's a different level of kindness and fairness. I think it's a bit different from justice, but it's thinking carefully and knowing that person and knowing that person. And so, again, thinking about this first kind of command here to do justice, treat people fairly, treat people the way that they deserve, want to be treated, and if you fulfill that, your relationships will be meaningful, they will be good, they will be long lasting and you will be known as a person of equity, fairness, somebody that's seeking to do justice.
Speaker 1:Okay, to love kindness. Well, what does this mean? Another way I think it's translated is love mercy, but somebody that finds true joy. Or another way, steadfast love, but that finds selfless joy in doing good to others, and this is truly a statement of selflessness. When we think about loving kindness, it's that we are good to others, not because we're going to get something out of it, but we are good and loving and kind to others because we love to be kind to others.
Speaker 1:Now let's circle this back to the gospel, because, remember, the gospel is what motivates us. The gospel is the starting ground here and we have to look at God. We have to look at the example in his son. Jesus loved kindness, jesus loved mercy. In Hebrews we're told that it was for the joy that was set before him that he endured the cross. He looked beyond what was hard, to what was going to be the eternal reward, and that with great joy he endured the shame of the cross. He loved kindness, he loved mercy, and he spilled that and poured that out and demonstrated that on the cross. And so when we think about loving kindness, we can show this in so many ways.
Speaker 1:Here's an example you go out to eat and your order is messed up. Your food comes out cold. They just totally screwed the whole thing up. You got an opportunity in that moment to love kindness, to show mercy. How do you treat your server? How do you treat your waiter or waitress when things aren't well? Well, think about this verse. Think about that you're a representative of Jesus Christ. When you're out there or when someone says something to you, that is just completely wrong. They mischaracterize you, maybe they malign you and you have to engage that person. What are you going to do? Are you going to do justice and love kindness? Are you going to show fairness to that person? That's not easy. Remember how we started. The Christian life is hard, because living a selfless life is a challenge. Maybe you are raising children and they're getting to the point where they're starting to get under your skin over something. Or maybe the culmination of things, and you're ready to just lose it In that moment.
Speaker 1:Think on Micah 6, 8. Love kindness, six eight. Love kindness, love mercy. Preach the gospel to yourself. Show steadfast love, have an abiding love for others. This is cultivated through practice. It doesn't just necessarily, I mean the fruit is cultivated, it doesn't necessarily just poof all the way happen. Practice this discipline, practice this moral behavior. Remind yourself of Christ and what he has done, and remember that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory, that can carry these things out. So do justice. Love kindness, love mercy that means be merciful. Think about the Beatitudes Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Show mercy, receive mercy.
Speaker 1:And the final one, he says, is to walk humbly, walk humbly. I said. You know, for some of us we might struggle with one of these big time. I think this is one that would be challenging for me. Walk humbly. I need to remind myself often, daily. I need to walk in humility. And where do I go when I think about humility? Philippians, chapter two. Again, it's Jesus. I go back to Jesus. It's not my performance, it's not me do better, it's Jesus.
Speaker 1:Paul says have this mind among yourselves, which is yours also in Christ Jesus. And then he goes on to exemplify and describe in the Christ hymn, the humility of Jesus. In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. And Jesus, look what he did, look who he is. And it's humility to exaltation.
Speaker 1:And so we are to walk humbly. We are to walk humbly in this world. We are to be people of meekness. We're not to be people that say, oh, look at me, look at my platform, look at my following. You know, it's the proud people that when they're following or their crew or whatever it is, starts to dwindle, they get upset. It's the proud people that always have to stand out in front. It's the proud people that when they're denied opportunity or it doesn't happen for them, they're upset because it's not them doing the thing. The humble people said hey, we're on team Jesus. Humble people say it's not about me and mine, it's about him and his. And ultimately, whenever these things are done, it is for the glory of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:And he concludes this line when he says to walk humbly. He says with your God. It's a recognition of who God is and, in light of who God is, who we are. God is so big. God is the great creator. He is and he knows each and every one of us. That's an amazing truth. But when we think about the vastness of God, that should humble us. We are but dust. Peter says what is your life but a vapor? Here one day and gone tomorrow. We're just a little grain of sand on this beach of eternity, and God is the one who has created all of it.
Speaker 1:Remember this, christian you've never impressed God with anything that you've done. I've never impressed God. It doesn't matter if I write books or if I preach thousands of sermons or record a bunch of podcasts, or whatever it might be. God is bigger than this. We don't. Oh God, look what I did today. He knows the end from the beginning. He's appointed our lives. We're not impressing him. Let's walk humbly with him, seeking to please him, because God is pleased in us, especially when we are seeking to live lives that are obedient to him.
Speaker 1:But we ultimately need to remember that God is pleased in us because he's pleased in his son when he looked down from heaven and said this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. He did it at Jesus' baptism. He did it on the Mount of Transfiguration. He says listen to him, god is pleased in you because you have the righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to you by faith, so walk humbly. It's not that we're something, but we are recognized that who we are is because of what God has done to us, through us, for his glory and our good. So he has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you?
Speaker 1:But to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God. Think about ways in which you can practically live out this truth this week. Remember gospel first Treat others with fairness, because it's not based off of them that you're being fair. It's because God has called you to do that Love, mercy, love to be merciful, love that you have received mercy and walk in your days with humility with your God, knowing that what God says about us is true, what God says about himself is true. We submit, we accept that and we walk in manner pleasing to him, for his glory and our good. I want to thank you for listening to the Pleasing God Podcast. If you have any questions I would love to hear from you. You can reach out at questions at pleasinggodpodcastorg, and remember 1 Thessalonians 4.3,. This is the will of God, your sanctification.
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