Theodor Seuss Geisel, known for his works such as Green Eggs and Ham, and The Cat in the Hat. He also wrote a story about a character named The Zoad in the Road. I’ll read it to you…
Did I ever tell you about the young Zoad,
Who came to a sign at the fork of the road?
He looked one way and the other way too.
The Zoad had to make up his mind what to do.
Well, the Zoad scratched his head, and his chin, and his pants.
And he said to himself, “I’ll be taking a chance
If I go to Place One, that place may be hot,
So how will I know if I like it or not.
On the other hand, though, I’ll feel such a fool
If I go to Place Two and find it’s too cool.
In that case I may catch a chill and turn blue,
So Place One may be best and not Place Two.
Play safe,” cried the Zoad, “I’ll play safe, I’m no dunce.
I’ll simply start off to both places at once.”
And that’s how the Zoad who would not take a chance
Went no place at all with a split in his pants.
That story might describe a lot of people in their relationship with God. They’re not really sure that walking His way is the best, so they try to walk down two roads at once. Most people are willing to give God a try, but just in case He doesn’t work out, they want to have something else to fall back on.
It’s like after the gospel reached into Norway, still some people put their pagan gods on the outside of their church buildings, just in case the Christian God they worshipped on the inside didn’t work out.
God desires that His people devote themselves to Him. Today, we will briefly look at moments in history of those calls to devote to God.
Joshua challenged the people of his day, “Choose this day whom you will serve, (Joshua 24:15).
Elijah questioned the people of his day, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).
Jesus also made it very clear: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).
Since God has delivered us through Jesus death and resurrection, we must commit to God and serve Him, because it’s impossible to love God and love a rival objective or object.
“Why should we choose to serve God? Why should we choose to center our life solely on the LORD? Why should we worship Him?” We can compare ourselves to how God redeemed the people and freed them from bondage in Exodus 20:1-3. He gave them three reasons to choose to live for Him and this also applies to us today.
Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.”
First, God is the “I am” the only God. Second, God redeemed us. Third, God will not accept divided loyalty. The principle simply stated, to know who God is, what He has done and then to rebel is an assault to God. We owe Him our devoted loyalty because…
He is YHWH, the great “I AM,” the Self-Existent One. He is life, and everything is dependent on Him. He is the fountain of all being and all power.
In Exodus chapter 3 God identified Himself to Moses. In the bible timeline, earlier, Moses wasn’t so sure about leading God’s people out of Egypt. He was afraid they wouldn’t listen to him, so God said to Moses, “Just tell them: I AM who I AM. Tell them I AM has sent me to you. Tell them the LORD, YHWH, the God of your fathers has sent Me to you.”
He is the great I AM. the LORD, YHWH, He is everything we need. That’s reason enough to live for Him, and only Him. It’s because of who He is.
HE IS THE LORD.
God communicated that He is God and that was reason enough for His people to follow Him. God even noted their ancestors. He is the author of their very existence, the ground of their very being, and the source of their very life.
God gave a second reason. And that’s because of who He is. That’s because He is not only the LORD…
The Lord is OUR God by His choice. The Lord’s supper declares a covenant relationship with the Lord through faith in His Son. God is not only Life; He is Love. And He has chosen to be in relationship with us. He has chosen to be OUR God!
HE IS THE LORD, “YOUR GOD.”
Pastor and author, Stu Weber, wrote about one of his sons in The Leadership Journal:
“My youngest son is the third of three boys. The first two are high-powered; the third is not any less high-powered, but he’s the third out of three. By the time you’ve had a brother who’s All-Conference this and another brother who’s All-Conference, there’s not much left for you to do.
“As a father,” Stu Weber said, “I worried about our caboose. He is the most sensitive of the three. To encourage him, I spent a lot of time with him in the outdoors—camping, hunting, and fishing. While spending time in the outdoors a pocketknife is an essential gear—the man with the best blade gets the job done. So, whenever you’re setting up camp, you’re always looking for the knife.”
Weber said, “My son Ryan had a pocketknife that became his identity.” His older brothers always had to ask him to use the knife as they were setting up camp. That became his status in the tribe. He was the man with the blade.”
Stu said, “My birthday came around one year, and my family was planning a party for me.” Earlier in the afternoon Ryan walked into Stu’s office at home where Stu was studying. At first Stu didn’t hear him; he felt him—he could sense his presence—and he turned around.
Ryan had chosen this moment, because he wanted to give his father a birthday present, but not at the birthday party. Ryan wanted it to be just him and his dad. Stu said, “He handed me a present, and I opened it—it was his knife.” (Stu Weber, “What It Takes to Reach Men,” Leadership, Fall 1994, p.128)
The greatest response of love is to give yourself to another (John 15:13). Our Heavenly Father loved each of us so much, there’s nothing else we should rather do than give our identity back to Him.
For some people, their identity is their work. Their identity is their families, or their status. But God wants you to find your identity in Him, because He is God and He loves you so much.
At best we can only waver and wabble when we do not exclusively love and follow God.
We must honor the Lord, and only Him, 1st, because of who He is – He is the LORD. 2ndly, because of who’s He is – He is our God. Finally, choose to serve the Lord, and only Him, because of what He’s done…
HE HAS SET YOU FREE!
He has brought each of us out of slavery of sin. He has taken us out of the bondage to sin. That is what it means by the terms; God is life; God is love; & God is our Redeemer!
Verse 2 says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
For 400 years, the children of Israel were slaves. Then in one night, God mightily set them free.
It was a powerful deliverance. The caparison is what God spiritually did for us when we trusted Christ as our Savior. We were in bondage to sin, the world and Satan, but God set us free from that bondage through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross. “Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Romans 8:2
We are no longer bound to any other power over us, and we are free to choose to serve, love and honor God.
There is a story about Abraham Lincoln. He purposely went down to the slave block to buy a slave girl. As she looked at the white man bidding on her, she figured he was another white man going to buy her and then mistreat her. After he won the bid, he walked away with her, and said, “young lady, you are free.”
She said, “What does that mean?”
“It means you are free.”
“Does that mean,” she said, “that I can say whatever I want to say?”
Lincoln said, “Yes, my dear, you can say whatever you want to say.”
“Does that mean,” she said, “That I can be whatever I want to be?”
Lincoln said, “Yes, you can be whatever you want to be.”
“Does that mean I can go wherever I want to go?”
He said, “Yes, you can go wherever you want to go.”
The girl, with tears streaming down her face, said, “Then I will go with you.” (Steve Brown, Preaching Today, #58)
What else would she do? This man had set her free; and she wanted to follow him because there was nothing else better in the world for her safety. To follow any other master would only put her back under oppressive bondage. God has set us free to have the ability to choose to follow Him!
One principle reason we celebrate communion is the underlining understanding that participating in communion means that you are His and you are committed to Him because – He is the LORD; – He is YOUR God; and because of what He’s done – He has set you free. Participating in this table reminds us that we are committed to live for Him in all we do.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;
24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.
Our tradition is to take a special offering following our participation in the Lord’s Supper. This offering supplies for the needs for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a voluntary offering and we ask that you give as you are led. We base our giving on the Scriptural text:
I John 3:17-18; 23–24 “But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in Him? …let us not love with word or with tongue, but in-deed and truth. Now this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. And the people who keep His commandments abides in Him, and He in them. And we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.