"To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice." - Proverbs 21:3
" But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." - Matthew 9:13
" But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. " - Matthew 12:7,8
" For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." - Hosea 6:6
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Different people will give you different answers to this question.
Love your neighbor, do unto others, follow the ten commandments, tithe, go to church, do ministry etc... It may well depend on what THEY want from you... your money, your time, your support....
Here's our bottom line : He just wants you to grow up right....
.... and every individual has his/her arc of maturity that they follow till the end of their lives.
For the elect, the arc bends towards an ever increasing knowledge of the Lord and increasing spiritual wisdom. For others, the arc bends towards satisfying their own desires... YOLO... so make the most of what you got!
What should people live for?
In the book of Ecclesiastes, the wisdom of Solomon mourns that "vanity of vanities, all is vanity." As things were, so they are -- most people are born, they go to great lengths to make something of themselves, and then they die and are forgotten. What is the point of living? Just to make more babies & rinse and repeat?
No friends, we are created to come to a full knowledge of the glory and power of God, to fellowship with Him, and ---enjoy--- Him ---eternally.... and the process of getting to know Him starts right here on planet Earth!
If you asked people their opinion of the LORD as He is revealed in the Old Testament, the picture you will get is of a legalistic, vengeful, exacting deity.
BUT THAT IS A MISUNDERSTANDING!
David could never have sung the praises of a legalistic deity... instead he sang of God's "che-sed", His loving kindness, and mercy everlasting to His creation. Our texts this week (just a couple from many others we could quote) draw equally from the Old and New Testament, and THEY SAY THE EXACT SAME THING!
How could the Israelites/Pharisees have got it wrong?
Wasn't Sabbath observance EXPLICITLY mentioned in the Law as being MANDATORY to avoid being cutoff from Israel? How could the disciples pluck corn on the Sabbath? How could a Holy God hang out with sinners? ( the context around Christs words to them ).
Yet they were yelled at (in Hosea and Proverbs as we see as one set of examples from the OT, and one set from the NT) by God essentially saying... YOU MISSED THE POINT GUYS!!!!
But but but, we're keeping the Law, and judging those who don't... wait, there is one further caveat... we must exercise ----righteous judgment---- !!! Aha...
What is more important... the life of a man or animal, or the Law of God?
We will give you Christ's viewpoint right up front...
"And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days."
-Mat 12:12 ... Christ heals a mans hand on the Sabbath day
"The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?"
- Luke 13:15,16 Christ heals a woman possessed
Its not one isolated precedent, the same judgment was delivered in multiple cases (we have referenced 4 separate occasions in this discussion alone) with HIS arguments so that we would not mistake it.... and Christ connects it with the words of the LORD in Hosea, echoed in the Book of Proverbs.
RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT Values what God Values.... all life, and its preservation.
The Sabbath was GIVEN to PROLONG life by mandating a day of REST... yet it was turned into a curse by misinterpretation.
The LORD would rather we HEALED on the Sabbath than sacrificing our time to Him!
Not that our sacrifices do not please Him, but that mercy and righteous judgment, please Him MORE!!! Make no mistake... He honors sacrifice... to those that preach sacrificial giving... yes, those giving are ---indeed--- going to be blessed -- but if you are doing that just to line --your-- pockets... that money will do you no good ?.
But to those sacrificing some or all, if there be a hint of bitterness in you as to why you are doing it -- STOP IT AT ONCE!!!
He prefers CHEERFUL giving instead of SACRIFICE, and Mercy instead of Justice... and tells us to PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THAT MEANS!!
If we would just focus on the people next to us, and be kind to them --- forgiving them when they fall short, and accepting their forgiveness when we do... the world would be a better place... and there would be no need for religion...!!!!
And to prove that... and connect it with all we have been discussing about Spiritual things thus far in our journey ...
We leave you with the words of the prophet Isaiah, who looks forward to the day when all mankind "GETS" the LORD.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
But with ---righteousness shall he ---judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
And ----righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and ---faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:
-----for the earth shall be full of the ----knowledge of the LORD---, as the waters cover the sea.----"
--Isaiah 11:1-9
Hasten the day O Lord we pray... !!!
Hallelujah!