Sacrifice, Obedience and Calling

Two Sundays ago, my friend Jesse preached on life being about God's vision and not our own. I really liked it, but I had to do some working through it on my own. The day after, God pointed me to a few scriptures and then I started to get it. Let me set it up for you...

Jesse read 1 Samuel 15:22, which reads:

Has the Lord great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Basically, here God is saying, I'd appreciate it if you obeyed me rather than making sacrifices...keep this in mind...

So, Jesse's talking about living in God's vision and our gifts sliding into it, rather than God fitting a "calling" into our gifts, or even God fitting into our "calling." Let me explain a bit. What do you think of when people ask you about your calling? I (and Jesse) think about what we're good at, where are gifts lie, and then define a calling from those points. However, this can be limiting. Are we to totally throw away the context God has placed us in because we are so sure of our calling? What if context supersedes calling? I know from personal experience that I have denied serving my community because I felt "called" to the nations. This has definitely changed for me. But, I use it as an example. The idea is that God has given us gifts, and those slide into His vision, rather than God sliding into our vision.

Ok, so that's how Jesse sets up the talk. Then, he starts talking about sacrifice vs. obedience. Sacrifice, he said, is something we do of our own choosing; it's individual and singularly directed. To help myself, and hopefully you, understand this, I drew a diagram...

Now, obedience is a cooperation between you and God...
Now, the idea in 1 Samuel 15:22 is reprised in Jesus' words in Matthew 9:9-13 and 12:1-8. Here's some recap and context...

Matthew 9:13-"Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
Context: Jesus was chilling with the tax collectors. Some Pharisees came up and told Jesus, "Dude, you shouldn't be hanging out here with these people if you're holy and all." The above phrase is how Jesus responds.

Matthew 12:7-"And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless."
Context: Jesus and his disciples are plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath because they are hungry. The Pharisees show up and are like, "Dude, Jesus, no work on the Sabbath." And Jesus is like, "Don't you know David did what was not lawful? God doesn't punish priests who profane the Sabbath. I'm here and you should learn what the above phrase means, because I'm Lord of the Sabbath."

What does this all mean. Translated into Jesus's time and phrasing, this would mean God does not desire living by your own volition and choosing to worship God and/or allowing God to work in your life when you feel like it, nor should you be legalistic and ridiculous. Rather, God wants mercy. Dictionary.com defines mercy as:

compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy or other person in one's power; compassion, pity or benevolence.

Jesus doesn't desire mindless, self-selecting rule following or condemnation. (A sacrifice, if you will, since the practice of sacrifice at this point, particularly on the part of the Pharisees/Sadducees, was legalistic and a self-chosen practice to make one feel important or superior. This is strikingly similar to how we elevate our selves by prizing our gifts and asking god to squeeze into them.)

Rather, His vision is mercy: allowing God to direct you, to say, "Go on, help that guy"; "Forgive her"; "Love my people"; "Obey my voice"; "Go where I lead"; "Listen, my child." Overall, this just got me thinking about how to live life. Our culture has told us that obedience equals oppression and conformity; it's a forced procedure rather than the cooperative practice that God intended. So, if we're living in obedience and mercy, what does that mean?

It means going where God leads, even if/when it's uncomfortable. It means realizing it is not my world or life, but His. It means losing my life to the glory of Christ to find it. It means following God every step of the way, using those weak muscles, fumbling a bit and relying on God. He hasn't let me down this far. Why would He now?

For more on this topic, please see my friend Jesse's blog: sudirgo.wordpress.com and read "Vision is Not About You" and "An Everyday Kind of Calling."