Indianapolis First Friends Meeting
Meeting for Worship June 10th, 2018
“What Doth the Lord Require of Thee?”
By John Moorman
This is the second First Day message while our pastor Bob and his family enjoy a well-earned vacation. A while back, I volunteered to give this week’s message. I thought that I had something in mind that I had given in Texas many years ago. However, after much thought and prayer the following came to me instead. It is a view of scripture and history from a high vantage point, not a deep diving into specific verses and chapters.
The title of this week’s message is; “What doth the Lord require of thee?” In this short time today, I will summarize a large period of history and its related scripture to arrive at a what I feel is a reasonable answer to the question above. Throughout my message, I will be using the Message Bible in quoting from scripture. I feel that it best captures the language used when scripture was being placed in written format.
In early Jewish history, as indicated in scripture, the sacrifice of animals played an important role in the religious life of the community. Animal sacrifice was a part of their daily lives and was a way to indicate to God that they were repentant of sins and sought God’s forgiveness. Animal sacrifice was also prevalent as a part of the cultural life of communities that they were acquainted with.
For those following the Jewish faith, it was not a simple animal sacrifice but consisted of many levels of animal sacrifice and the use of oil as a part of some of these sacrifices. The following are brief statements of each type of sacrifice and its purpose.
1. Burnt Offering – To propitiate for sin in general, to signify compete dedication and consecration to God.
2. Communion or Peace Sacrifice – The peace offering expressed peace and fellowship between the offender and God. The restoration of communion.
3. Sin Sacrifices – To atone for sins committed un-knowingly, especially where no restitution was possible.
4. Trespass Reparation Sacrifice – To atone for sins committed unknowingly, especially where restitution was possible.
5. The Daily Burnt Sacrifice: Th standing or perpetual sacrifice. Daily sin offering for the people. The first liturgical sacrifice of the Sinai Covent.
6. Remembrance Sacrifices – To relive the Exodus and Sinai experiences in every generation.
7. The New Moon Sacrifices – To begin a new month in the lunar calendar.
Each sacrifice had specific rules about what animals were to be sacrificed and who received parts of the sacrifice.
An example of scriptural verses concerning animal sacrifices is quoted below:
Leviticus Chapter 6 Verses 24-30 (Message Bible): “God spoke to Moses: “Tell Aaron and his sons. These are the instructions for the Absolution Offering. Slaughter the Absolution Offering in the place where the Whole Burnt Offering is slaughtered before God -The offering is most holy. The priest in charge eats it in a holy place, the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who touches any of the meat must be holy. A garment that gets blood spattered on it must be washed in a holy place. Break the clay pot in which the meat was cooked. If it was cooked in a bronze pot, scour it, and rinse it with water. Any male among the priestly families may eat it; it is most holy. But any Absolution Offering whose blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Sanctuary must not be eaten. It has to be burned.”
These instructions are direct and concise.
Chapter 7 of Leviticus contains further instructions on other types of animal sacrifices.
This approach to appealing to God for the forgiveness of sin and other errors and misdeeds by individuals and the Jewish people as a faith community, continued for many centuries.
One of the joys that I find in reading scripture is to see God’s will being acknowledged differently as the world in which the Jewish people live changes around them.
As time and scripture records God’s continuing relationship with Judaism, it is almost as if God sees that the Jewish faith in its best affirmation, is ready for a new relationship with God. Thus, the following found in Micah, which was our scripture reading for today.
This is from the Message Bible:
Micah Chapter 6 Verses 1-9
“Listen now, Listen to God:
Take your stand in court. If you have a complaint, tell the mountains; make your case to the hills. And now, Mountains, hear God’s case; listen Jury earth-For I am bringing charges against my people, I am building a case against Israel.
Dear people, how have I done you wrong? Have I burdened you, worn you out?
Answer!
I delivered you from a bad life in Egypt;
I paid a good price to get you out of slavery.
I sent Moses to lead you-
And Aaron and Miriam to boot!
Remember what Balak King of Moab tried to pull, and how Balaam son of Beor turned the tables on him.
Remember all these stories about Shittim and Gigal.
Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present.”
How can I stand up before God and show proper respect to the high God?
Should I bring an armload of offerings topped off with yearling calves?
Would God be impressed with thousands of rams, with buckets and barrels of olive oil?
Would he be moved if I sacrificed my firstborn child, my precious baby, to cancel my sin?
But he has already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.
It is quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and do not take yourself too seriously-take God seriously.”
As Bruce T. Dahlberg notes in his introductory chapter to the Book of Micah in the Interpreters One-Volume Commentary on the Bible;” The name Micah is an abbreviated form of Micaiah meaning “Who is like Yahweh”. Except for his home and the general period in which he flourished details of Micah’s life are unknown.” He was a contemporary of Isaiah.
The above scripture reading is in the form of a question and answer session between God and Micah. God is stating that he is tired of animal and oil sacrifices. There is more to the relationship of humans to God than just animal and oil sacrifices. God requires a total claim to the whole of man’s life. God requires a total claim to the whole of man’s life. As stated in the passage above; you already know what it that I require of you in your life, what to do and what I, as your God, are looking for in your daily activities. So- as the scripture states: ““Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and do not take yourself too seriously-take God seriously.”
What does this imply? Be fair and just in dealing with others, if you have wealth or power do not use it unfairly. In love be compassionate, do not take advantage of those you love and be loyal even if that loyalty may cause you personal hardship. Be humble of your talents and skills remember they all come from God. Take God’s commandments seriously. Take God’s commandments seriously.
As mentioned earlier, Isaiah was a contemporary of Micah. Commentary like what we have just discussed is found in Isaiah. In Isaiah Chapter 1, Verses 16-18 we find the following; “Sweep your lives clean of your evildoings, so I don’t have to look at them any longer. Say no to wrong. Learn to do good. Work for justice. Help the down-and-out. Stand up for the homeless. Go to bat for the defenseless.”
This way of seeing what God required of humankind brought new obligations to those of the Jewish faith, obligations that required a changed approach to life. No longer could sin be simply done away with an animal/oil sacrifice, although this did not bring an immediate end to such sacrifices.
Like all of us throughout history, those of Jewish faith were found full of shortcomings. The prophets were a constant reminder of this and the need to alter their lives to remain as God’s people.
With the coming of Jesus, the picture is altered. While Jesus was a Jew his messages in many forms (parables, talks, personal examples) did not fit the Jewish concept of their Messiah. With his death on the Cross and his resurrection, a new religious faith was born. As Quakers, we are a part of the Christian faith tradition. As George Fox stated; “There is one even Christ Jesus who can speak to thy condition”.
What does Jesus have to say about what God requires of us? Along with his many parables and messages indicating how an individual should live and interact with his/her fellow beings, the following two sections from scripture found in Matthew Chapter 22, Verses 36-39 and Mark Chapter 12, Verses 28-31 give us, Jesus’s answer.
I will quote from Matthew Chapter 22, Verses 36-39 again from the Message Bible: “When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?
Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: “Love others as well as you love yourself.” These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hands from them.”
In this context, Jesus is indicating we must love God with our whole being. This love must be shown in all our thoughts and actions. This is a constant love, one that is never ending. How we express this in our prayers and daily living enriches our lives and the lives of those with whom we come into contact.
The second peg; “Love others as well as you love yourself” is to me the hardest commandment of all. As a human being each of us is full of imperfections, doubts, questionable desires, motives, and other failings. The challenge given us is to accept ourselves for who we are, remembering that each of us is a loved child of God.
The process of accepting our self as we are is not easy. We must avoid narcissism as that is not a proper way of loving ourselves. It is dangerous as we have seen throughout history and in the present.
We must understand our faults and continually work on self-improvement. It means coming to terms with those aspects of yourself that you cannot change. We can be beautiful inside even if our outside presence is not what we desire. Too tall, too short, bald head, no musical ability, could not boil water etc. You are still a creation of God and were made in God’s image. Accept yourself unconditionally and respect who you are. This makes it much easier to love others who are not perfect either.
With self-respect, a positive self-image and unconditional self-acceptance you will then be able to love others in the manner indicated by Jesus.
Many translations of this part of scripture indicate that you should love your neighbor as yourself. This begs the question of who is my neighbor? This question is one reason I like the Message Bible interpretation of scripture. As I indicated above it states: “Love others as you love yourself”. In Jesus’s time individuals did not travel much, if any, beyond their hometown. They attended worship at the local synagogue they understood Jesus’s command to love those with whom they were familiar. Through other teachings of Jesus, we understand that his commandment is unconditional and refers to all with whom we meet.
As we enter this precious time of unprogrammed worship, center your thoughts on the queries listed on the back page of today’s bulletin. What concerns, and answers do these queries bring to your mind and how do you propose to address them?
If you are convinced that you have been given a message to share, stand up and share it. If it is addressed solely for yourself to further think over and ponder rejoice and keep it close to your heart.