It’s a popular phrase today, “I deserve”. People all over saying “well I deserve this or I deserve that”. We all feel like there is something we all deserve, that we are entitled to. Whether it’s to be treated a certain way, or to have a good life, maybe we deserve a raise, or just to be heard. But what about God, what does He deserve? Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives we seldom think of what others might deserve and probably never even think about what God deserves.
What does God deserve today? “Well He’s God He always has what He wants.” Not true. Surprisingly, and sadly, God doesn’t always get what He is so deserving of. Well, that should change. We want to focus in on what we think God really deserves. In this multipart series we will be looking at things we believe that God is deserving of.
Part 2: God deserves a PEOPLE.
All throughout the bible God has always wanted a people. A people that He can call His own, a people that He can show Himself mighty through. A people He can look down on and say “That’s my people!” A people that the nation’s would recognize completely as His. After all He has done, doesn’t God deserve a people of His own? A people that chose Him because of who He is, not because of what will happen to them if they don’t. A people who are not afraid to let God be fully on display in their lives.
God has a people, right?
You may say to yourself, “Well God has a people. The church is God’s people. Churches all over the world are full of God’s people right?” Churches all over may be full of people, but how many churches are full of people that actually resemble God? They may resemble a certain denomination, or religion beliefs, or beliefs of man, but with just a trace resemblance to God. Are those really the people of God? Are they really the people that God deserves? I don’t know, they kind of look like Him but they also look like a lot of other things. God’s people should have a distinct voice, a distinct sound, a distinct look that Heaven identifies with.
God has always desired a people that were truly His people. A people He can display and reveal Himself to. God wants to be on display not only to His people but through them, so that the world can see and know He is God. If we call ourselves God’s people, what are we displaying? Are we displaying a powerful amazing God that has transformed our lives, rescued us and revealed Himself to us. Or are we displaying our hurts, our frustration, our anger, our sins, our religious bias. Are we on display, or is God?
This isn’t saying that church has to be full of perfect people, but at least be full of people that somewhat resemble God. Shouldn’t Gods people actually love Him, worship Him, be proud of who He is and not embarrassed? Shouldn’t they be zealous for Him, excited to talk about Him? To at least desire to really know Him and make room for Him in their lives. They should be willing to take on His identity and not be set on maintaining theirs.
God deserves a people who have really looked up and seen who He is and say, “You are what I want! I now belong to you and nothing can change that.” A people that go to church every week not because of obligation but because they can’t wait to spend time with their God. God deserves a people who have made up their minds about who He is and decided He’s the one.
does God recognize you?
There should be no doubt whatsoever. God should be able to look down from heaven and see people that 100% belong to Him, that look and sound like Him. He should be able to at least see something familiar, something recognizable to Himself. He should be able to look down and say without a doubt “Those are my people. They are just like me, they have my DNA.”
We can actually see God at work in their lives, there is concrete evidence of God’s power and real transformation.
God deserves a people that have His heart, His words, His will, His purpose, His desire, His love. We should be able to see them and say, “Yeah they are definitely God’s people”, not because they are really nice, morally correct people that don’t cuss, or drink and help the poor. Not because they live just a little bit cleaner lives then everyone else. But because they resemble someone other than themselves. We can actually see God at work in their lives, there is concrete evidence of God’s power and real transformation.
Most churches are full of people that have never truly let God in enough for us to see any evidence. They do just enough to get by in the hopes that trying to be a good person will be enough. Most churches just resemble really nice people trying to be good.
the church is failing
Sadly, Gods people barely resemble God. God shouldn’t have to look down and see what He sees. People who barley care, don’t even know Him, are confused about him. People who are just as angry and as mean as the world, sometimes meaner. People who are full of sin and unwillingly to change. People that defend themselves and their bad attitude all in the name of God. People who just squeeze Him in to their busy lives on Sunday and then barely notice Him all week. No wonder the church gives God such a bad name, they are nothing like Him. No wonder people want nothing to do with the church or God. He isn’t being represented very well.
There’s a whole generation who really want nothing to do with church , and honestly who can blame them. I think people are tired of weak, useless religion full of hypocrisy. People want God, just not the God the church is offering. People want to be spiritual they want to encounter God, they just don’t want empty religion. In fact one of the most searched for key phrases on the internet is “spiritual not religious”. People are definitely looking, sadly, the church is failing at offering them something real.
is it getting hot in here?
Today, churches are full of people not really interested in God, just interested in not going to hell when they die. Lots of people don’t want to go to hell, but how many people really want to know God? How many people really desire to get up everyday and have a real relationship with heaven that isn’t self-seeking or manipulative? How many people want to look like and sound like Him and be willing to give themselves away completely to God so that others can have a clear image of who He is? To be swept away in Him till our identity is in Him and not in us, or the world. Till we are so distinct that there is absolutely no question as to who we belong to.
But in all fairness most people think that getting out of hell is their only option, they have never been given the option to really encounter and know God. They’ve just been told say a prayer and don’t act like those worldly heathens out there. They think “Well, that’s its I said a prayer, I was baptized, now I guess we just sit and wait for one day to come when we can be with God.” That’s all they know, they don’t know there’s is more. They have been offered something that barely resembles God, offered only a small fraction of who God really is.
Well you say “I’m not perfect but God still loves me.” Sure God loves you but he deserves better than what you’re giving Him.
The church looks a lot like the world. Or worse they look a lot like religious people full of worldly desires and struggles.
don’t leave the way you came in
God doesn’t deserve a bunch of slouches, maybe we were slouches when we came in but we have the amazing opportunity to be transformed into something truly resembling God. God deserves a people that are distinct that stand out from everyone else. Today there is not much distinction in the church. The church looks a lot like the world. Or worse they look a lot like religious people full of worldly desires and struggles. It’s hard to tell them apart. There is more evidence of the world in the church than God.
Like we’ve said in this post, today if many of the prophets of God and the prophets of baal were to go up on the mountain and fight like in 1 Kings 18:20-40, it would be hard to tell them apart. They would both be full of the same things. What really needs to happen is a third group needs to arise with the real heart of God and put the other two groups to death.
“People need to stop blaming everyone else and cry out and pray until something inside them truly changes”
There needs to be a distinction of the people of God. They need to have the heart of God and not a heart for everything else but God. People need to break away from the current religious systems and start pursuing and running after God for real. Break away from religion that judges and condemns everyone and changes nothing. Religion that better resembles darkness and keeps people from truly experiencing God.
People need to stop blaming everyone else and cry out and pray until something inside them truly changes. To stand at the altars of churches all over and say “I’m not leaving til something in me breaks, until God comes down and truly changes my life.” And if your church frowns upon you trying to reach God, find one that doesn’t. It’s time to stop playing church and cry out until God comes down and transforms our lives. It’s time for us to allow God to change us into something that actually resembles Him.
Churches need to stop resembling Matthew 23:15 and start resembling God. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of well meaning people that are really trying hard to serve God, but in their current church it’s almost impossible.
God’s people should be distinct
Gods people should have a distinct voice, a distinct sound, a distinct look that Heaven identifies with.
I remember once there was a traveling group that was at our church putting on a big production. One of the girls in the production was staying at a couples house that I was friends with. On Sunday we all rode together to church and I was just so taken with this girl, so drawn to her, not because she was a girl, I wasn’t attracted to her that way, but because there was just something so different from her compared to everyone else, including myself. She radiated with something else. She talked differently, you could tell she really had a relationship with God and it was this relationship that I was drawn to. Sadly I had never met a christian like this prior.
Even sadder, is in the midst of thousands of people in that church that day, she was probably one of only a handful that were actually recognizable to God. There was a distinction between her and the rest of us.
Gods people should have a distinct voice, a distinct sound, a distinct look that Heaven identifies with. There is a time coming where it won’t be so easy to be a real christian. A distinct group will arise that doesn’t look like the world and doesn’t look like the church but actually resembles God. You will have to choose to stay with the status quo of christianity, or to really pursue God with all that you are, most likely at a cost.
Today most people say they are Christians but few have any real resemblance to God.
in conclusion
God deserves a people like that girl, that when you’re around them there is just something beyond them that is drawing to you. People who have stopped putting themselves on display and allow God to be recognizable to the world. People that are so distinctly different, there is no doubt that God exists.
What does God say when he looks down today and scans the earth. Are you recognizable to Him? Does He say “Yep that one is mine, they look just like me, they sound like me, think like me. They love me with all their heart and are happy to just be near me.” Or does He just pass by because there is nothing He recognizes? Today most people say they are Christians but few have any real resemblance to God. God deserves better than this, God deserves a People that are truly His.