What Do You Want

I know that many people are excited about this evening’s Holly Jolly Christmas party’s White Elephant Gift exchange. We have seen some real hot items exchanged over the years. We have seen a real snowball from the snow of 2015, a jar of lint, old cassette tapes, an eject button, vintage ornaments, odd tools, bullets, gift cards, and more.

According to a recent survey of what Americans really want for Christmas, cash is king (along with gift cards). Coming in after that is clothing and accessories and an experience or trip. Also, most Americans (according to this 5,000-person study) said they would rather donate to charity than receive a gift.[1]

We All Want Something

We have been looking at the First Words of Jesus this Christmas season and this week’s message follows the same theme. This time we will turn to the Gospel of John where we notice that the first red letters are “What do you want?”

John 1:35–39 NIV

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

I want to focus in on the question that Jesus asked, “What do you want?” It could be just a simple question; like, “Why are you following me?” The earlier verses tell us that the two disciples were following John the Baptist but chose to follow Jesus after it was pointed out that Jesus was the Son of God. I think that Jesus was asking it on a much deeper level. “What are your hopes? What are your expectations? What do you want to learn?” and more.

I think those are some questions to spend time considering. What do we want from Jesus? How serious are we about Jesus? C. S. Lewis tackled this question and brought up some very good points:

‘There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly … was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing he had found us? So, it is a sort of Rubicon. One goes across; or not. But if one does … one may be in for anything.’ Happily, our motivation does not need to be perfectly disinterested for us to continue our pursuit of Jesus. Strictly there is no such thing as absolutely pure motive this side of heaven. But Jesus’ question is a salutary challenge to hypocritical unreality. It is a searching question at every stage of life, and he has a disturbing habit of facing us with it at every new crossroad of experience: ‘What do you want?’[2]

I suppose that each of us are at different places in our relationship (journeys) with Jesus. C.S. Lewis points out that it is a searching question at every stage of life.

- The unsaved person perhaps sees following Jesus as a restriction to a life filled with personal passions

- The young believer sees following Jesus as a Savior from the battle of life

- The mature believer sees following Jesus relationally as a friend who walks with you in life.

- The elderly believer sees Jesus as the King who will be seen very soon

You could also go through the names of Jesus…the Almighty, the Author of Life, Bread from Heaven, Chief Shepherd, Immanuel, Faithful and True Witness, High Priest, King of the Jews, Light of the World, Lord…and many more.

What do we want? It is filled with answers but, thankfully, Jesus is all these things.

Knowing What We Want

In the popular story about Santa Claus, children are supposed to be able to climb onto his lap and tell him what they want. On Christmas morning these same children wake up expecting to have that gift underneath the Christmas tree. In Arabia the story is told of a lamp that is found in the sand. If the lamp is rubbed, a genie will appear and grant 3 wishes. Of course, Jesus is not Santa Claus or the genie but here in John 1 He is asking, “What do you want?”

Use Wisdom

With the story of Aladdin the moral of the story seems to be to be true to yourself and live your life with honesty. Those are both good lessons to learn. When Solomon was presented a gift of anything he chose wisdom, he figured that as a king, wisdom would be very helpful.

1 Kings 3:5 NIV

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

1 Kings 3:9–10 NIV

So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?” The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.

Clearly it was admirable that Solomon would choose to use his one wish on the ability to help others – certainly a better choice than “being true to yourself” (like a car commercial).

Be Real

That is not to say that God isn’t concerned with you…specifically….with your needs.

Mark 10:51–52 NIV

“What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

Jesus legitimately wants to know what you want…what you need. The Message Bible paraphrases Luke 11:9-13 this way:

Luke 11:9–13 M:BCL

“Here’s what I’m saying: Ask and you’ll get; Seek and you’ll find; Knock and the door will open. “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

I love the way the translation presents the heart of the Father and the simplicity of prayer and expectation. God isinterested in what we want. Just be real.

Separate the Things of the Spirit from the Things of the Flesh

“What do you want?” This question opens room for a lot of bad choices. Unfortunately, we have all made bad choices at times. The problem is our flesh and our sinful nature. We are proud. We do chase things instead of God. And we often choose to indulge the flesh instead of obeying the Spirit.

1 John 2:16 NIV

For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.

Things of the flesh all revolve around selfishness. Our modern idols aren’t as obvious as the wood and stone idols of the past but we have idols nevertheless.

First, we worship at the altar of materialism which feeds our need to build our egos through the acquisition of more “stuff.” Our homes are filled with all manner of possessions. We build bigger and bigger houses with more closets and storage space in order to house all the things we buy, much of which we haven’t even paid for yet.[4]

Second, we worship at the altar of our own pride and ego.[5] What is our position? Our title? How much do we make? On our men’s trip to the shooting range I heard the gunsmith tell a guy that it was going to cost a little to fix the problem on a gun. The man bragged, “That isn’t much, I make $50/hour.”

Third, we idolize mankind through naturalism and the power of science. I don’t think this was more evident than during the pandemic. “Trust the science” became the battle cry. I’ve got no problem trusting science if we see the science through the lens of the Bible. Science has always been God’s rules. When science is interpreted by humans who don’t believe in God, I become suspicious.

Finally, and perhaps most destructively, we worship at the altar of self-aggrandizement or the fulfillment of the self to the exclusion of all others and their needs and desires. This manifests itself in self-indulgence through alcohol, drugs, and food.

That is a dark look at “What do you want?” When we look for things outside of God’s favor, we end up in the devil’s world.

What Do You Want?

So, if you were being asked, “What do you want?” we’ve looked at a few things to keep in mind - use wisdom, be real, and separate the things of the flesh from the things of the Spirit. It appears that Jesus was probing the disciples to find out whether they were motivated by idle curiosity or by a real desire to know him…Jesus encourage the two disciples to become acquainted with Him and spend time with Him”.

Here’s the thing…we seek what we are passionate about. Have you ever answered the question Jesus asked? “What do you want (from Me)?” A preacher once stated that most people “use God as a milk cow” – for what they can get without regard for who he is. This problem is evident in much of the Church today. We want more from God, but we don’t necessarily want more of God. There is a very fine line between wanting more of God and wanting more from God

· Wanting more from God is to use him to accomplish your goals; wanting more of God is to desire him for who he is in himself.

· Wanting more from God places the focus on yourself; wanting more of God means getting to know who he is.

· Wanting more from God is to dignify your agenda; wanting more of God is to dignify his will.

I remember a friend telling me about his experience in the revival in Toronto. He told me about miracles and powerful outpourings of the Spirit, but he wrapped it up in this, “If you seek the heart of God, you’ll see the hand of God.” I’ll never forget it. Getting things from God is wonderful but wanting more of God is the sweet spot.

Spend Time with Jesus

Christ does not only want us to find Him; He wants us to stay with Him. We’ve talked a lot about the question Jesus asks the disciples but there is a follow up challenge –

John 1:38–39 NIV

Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

It is amazing to think of what God has done so that we will stay with Him. The Garden of Eden was the original home. He becomes Immanuel (God with us). He provided the Person of the Holy Spirit to stay with us. He goes to prepare a place for us. And He will create a new heaven and earth for us.

Jesus asked his first disciples the same question that He asks us today, “What do you want?” Our answer makes all the difference. What will your answer be?

[1] https://www.yahoo.com/now/americans-really-want-christmas-survey-172345496.html?guccounter=1 [2]Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 57–58. [3]Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Lk 11:9–13. [4] https://www.gotquestions.org/idolatry-modern.html [5] https://www.gotquestions.org/idolatry-modern.html

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