I Don’t See It On My W-2

Sermon Title: Beyond Belief Pt 2: I Don’t See It On My W-2

Main Text: Hosea 6:1-6

Hosea 6:1–6 ESV

1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” 4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

For the next few moments I want to speak under the subject entitled:

I Don’t See It On My W-2

Prayer

Father, we need a word from the Lord. Just one word from the Lord, will move all doubts

And cause the sun to shine And give peace of mind Speak Lord.

Open up our ears that we may hear your word,

Open up our eyes that we may see your word,

Open up our minds that we may understand your word,

And open up our hearts that we may receive your word.

It’s your time father, do what you do, in Jesus name, Amen.

Introduction

Every year, without fail, there is something that shows up at our homes and quietly demands our attention.

It isn’t from amazon, It doesn’t come with balloons, and it isn’t anything that would necessarily cause us to intentionally track it with anticipation.

What I’m talking about is, your W-2.

A W-2 is an official IRS tax document that an employer must provide to each employee and the government at the end of the calendar year.

That form exists for one reason: to give a record of your work. It tells you how much you earned, how much was taken out, and what your labor amounted to over time.

Every hour, every paycheck, every deduction, summed up on one page.

Many of us are probably more intentional in awaiting that document in this current season.

Because the truth is, at the right time of the year, we care deeply about that document.

We care because it tells us whether the effort was worth it. We care because, it answers the unspoken question: Did this job give me what I deserve?

And if we be completely honest, for many of us, we care because it helps determine what we get back in the refund check.

I wish I had a witness…

What’s interesting is that a W-2 doesn’t measure passion, it doesn’t measure intention, it doesn’t measure how tired you were or how much you cared.

It measures output, performance, what you did and what came back to you because of it.

Essentially, the W-2 represents the contract of transaction.

And church family, what is profound and alarming about many of us as Christians, is that if we be honest, many of us have brought that same framework into our relationship with God.

We don’t always realize it, but somewhere along the way, our faith stopped being about connection and started being about contribution.

Just like a W-2, you and I have begun to live out the relationship with God by the record.

We look over the year, we tally the effort, and deep down, we’re waiting to see if the return matches the work.

If I come to Sabbath School each week, My kids won’t deal with drugs like the secular folk,

If I eat in the way the Bible teaches, then I’ll never have health issues…

If I do worship every evening, I’ll never be financially unstable,

If I lead a ministry, I’ll never be heart-broken,

If I know all the prophecies, then God won’t allow Trump to bother me,

If I memorize all the Bible text ever written, I’ll never have marital problems,

See church family, many of us have been living a W-2 lifestyle with God.

If I do this Lord, then I expect you to do that.

But church family, this isn’t relationship. I’m going to make up a word here… This is manipulationship.

I can’t get no help in here…

And as a result, many of us are struggling with God, because after looking at our spiritual W-2’s we don’t see the compensation we expected to receive for serving God.

Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about… Many of us in here are mad at God in 2026, because of what we haven’t recieved in 2025.

We thought God was our genie in a bottle. And we become upset with God when we learned none of our wishes came true.

And here it is church family. What we don’t realize is that God is much bigger and greater than the outcomes we want from Him.

Your best dreams are too little in comparison to what God wants for you.

And as a result, you and I have broken the heart of this great God, because we want a friends with benefits relationship with God.

And for God, we are the apple of His eye. He is actually so in love with us that He will give everything up to be in true relationship with us.

And here in the month of January as we go through this preaching series in the book of Hosea, God is calling for us to recenter and reframe what it means to be in relationship with Him.

As I shared with you on last week, God is willing to go as far as taking us to trial and litigate our love and allegiance back to Him in order for us to address our relational breach we have with Him before it permanently damages us and others.

But this week, I want to expose you to something else we find here in the book of Hosea. Let me escort you through the front doors of chapter 6. Here in Hosea 6 we find God’s people realizing the damage that their behavior has caused.

Remember on last week I revealed to you that the context of Hosea is a context where extreme instability was prevalent.

Kings rose to power through assassination, leadership became violent, short-lived, and self-serving.

There was dishonesty and deception, violence and bloodshed, exploitation of the poor, corrupt courts and perverted justice.

There were executive orders in place to hurt people who were vulnerable,

There were firings of DEI programs and positions,

There were Ice agents murdering people for no reason,

There were cancelations of MLK days...

Here in Hosea we find that life is a straight of mess. And here as we enter the 6th chapter of this book, we find that Israel, God’s people have recognized that God is sick of the lack of relationship they have with Him.

And leading up to chapter 6, we find in chapter 5 that God exposes them and continues to call them out.

The people have grown so accustomed to their sin that they no longer recognize it as sin.

Instead of turning back to God when things begin to fall apart, Israel looks for quick fixes, such as political help, outside alliances, and religious activity…

Basically anything except honest repentance.

So God does something difficult but loving: He steps back. Not because He has abandoned His people, but because He is waiting for them to acknowledge their guilt and genuinely seek Him.

And here in chapter 6, it is in that silence that God’s people responds with a message of repentance.

Israel calls one another to return to the Lord. They speak with optimism, believing their relationship with God will reset just as easily as it always has.

However, God interrupts their hopeful words with a painful truth. God exposes that they are treating Him like a W-2.

And church family, here it is…

This is the Central Truth or the Whole Sermon in a Sentence… Write this down…

“God wants us to recognize that He isn’t looking for transactional love, He is desiring relational love.”

Let me say that again…

“God wants us to recognize that He isn’t looking for transactional love, He is desiring relational love.”

God is not interested in a relationship where you treat Him like apple pay. This isn’t tap to pay, and you get something in return.

God wants intimate relationship. Genuine connection.

Subject

And the question has to be asked today… you might want to write this down.

What has to change for us to shift from W-2 workers of God to children of God?

Let me say it again…

What has to change for us to shift from W-2 workers of God to children of God?

I believe that here in Hosea 6, we are able to discover 2 particular shifts that must take place in our lives in order to go from W-2 workers of God to Children of God.

The first shift that must take place is that we must, number one…

Complements

Point One: Connect to God with intimately, not transactionally.

Read Hosea 6:1-2

Hosea 6:1–2 ESV

1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.

What we find here is God’s people repenting to the Lord. They express that it’s time to return to the Lord and they identify that God is a God of judgement and He is the source of their suffering.

Now understand, this isn’t the idea that God is hurting His people and enjoying their pain. What we learn here is that God is portrayed as withdrawing protection, removing restraint, and allowing consequences to take effect.

In other words, when Israel decided they would live life their own way, God allowed life without Him to fully reveal itself.

So when Israel says, “God torn or wounded us,” what they are recognizing is Life outside of relationship with God is destructive, and God not stopping it.

So as a result, we see Israel saying in verse 1 that God will heal us, He will bind us up.

I want you to catch this here… I don’t want you to miss this.

God’s people are saying that it’s time to return to the Lord, for life without God is no longer fun. They reveal that God is able to heal them and bind them up.

In the Hebrew, the words heal and bind are medical imagery. They are verbs that express that Israel’s expectation is for God to restore them.

They also add in verse 2 how in two days, God will revive them and on the third day, God will raise them up that they may live before Him.

Now, at first glance things appear to be admirable. If you read it too fast without insight, it appears that a turn around is taking place. However, church family, there are some problems sprinkled into this repentance.

See when you dive a little deeper into the text what you find is alarming. For example, the text starts off with Israel saying let us return to the Lord. In the Hebrew the word return is the word “sub.” It basically means to turn back.

Now when you read the book of Hosea what you find is that the meaning of “sub” or “return” in his book is often superficial. Here in Hosea 6:1, God’s people calls for return but notice they don’t ever mention what they are returning from.

Notice there is no confession, there is no acknowledgment of guilt… Instead they jump straight from a call to return to an expectation of restoration.

Ok, let me break this down…

Israel says, let’s return to the Lord, for he has torn or wounded us, and he may Heal us. He has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

God’s people recognize that life is not looking how they envisioned life to look doing things on their own. So they look to repent for the sake of restoration. They spend no time acknowledging what they’ve done, instead they have an expectation that if we return, God will restore.

Pause…

But it get’s more disappointing. See They add in verse 2, that in two days God will revive them, and on the third day, God will raise them up. The phrases “after two days” and “on the third day” are Hebrew idioms for a very short time.

Israel believes the consequences of their unfaithfulness will be brief and that restoration is inevitable. In other words, God’s people treats the relationship like a predicable system.

Their mindset is, yes we’ve messed up, yes we thought we could handle our lives and selves on our own, but look God, I’m going to turn things around and start doing what you said and as a result, you are going to fix everything immediately.

Their repentance is actually a transactional payment.

Oh don’t give Israel those judgmental looks, because the truth of the matter is that you and I do the same thing with God.

Many of us have built relationship with God off of what we expect Him to do for us.

If we pray, God is suppose to fix it,

If we go to church, God is suppose to turn things around,

If we read our Bible, God is suppose to keep me from getting sick.

There are so many times where you and I have been just like Israel. We’ve pointed a gun at God and said look at what I’ve done for you, now bless me!!

Pause…

God’s people here have defined their intention of repentance as a quick fix relationship rather than a long-term loyalty to God.

And this is the core of understanding that you and I must capture when seeking to shift our relationship with God from a W-2 worker, to a Child of God. And that is, that relationship is not about outcome, it’s about long-term connection.

Church family, If there came no benefits or rewards by being in relationship with God, would you still want it? If God didn’t pay bills, would you still want Him? If God didn’t take away the pain, would you still want Him?

See what we see here from God’s people in Hosea is that they are focused on getting restored from the difficult situations they are experiencing without acknowledging there role in putting themselves in the predicament.

Understand this church family, the problem isn’t that God does not want to restore them. The point is that He wants us to have relationship that causes us to change in heart, not head. Isreal assumes repentance is a moment, but God wants them to understand, repentance is a movement.

And here church family exposes an intervention that you and I must have when it comes to our relationship with God. Relationship isn’t about saying the right things in order to get God to move. God is seeking for us to desire to genuinely connect to Him with no ulterior motives.

So, firstly, in order for us to shift from W-2 workers of God to children of God, we must Connect to God with intimately, not transactionally.

But secondly, in order for us to shift from W-2 workers of God to children of God, we must…

Point Two: Resist Public Reputation over Private Reality

Here in our text we continue to see God’s people seeking to repent and in verse 3, they identify that they want to know God. Look at Hosea 6:3

Hosea 6:3 ESV

3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”

Isreal sounds real good here. For when you look at the Hebrew for “let us know” it is the meaning to pursue. So, Israel is making a commitment to pursue God and get to know Him. They’re telling God, we want to know you.

However church family, this is why study is so important becuase as I was diving deep into this chapter, I found something else alarming. Israel’s mindset of pursuing God is based in intellectual pursuit.

Ok, let me help you…

The knowing or knowledge that they are speaking of is in the context of automatic transaction. In other words, they are under the impression that the more they intentionally learn about God, the responsibility is for God to provide them what they ask for as a result of their search of knowing about Him.

Lord help me preach this thing…

God’s people identify that the problem with their relationship to God is that they haven’t been serious in their participation in religious commitment. See Isreal treats knowing God as a surge of spiritual energy, or an emotional return in crisis.

Their knowing is a crisis response.

Now, church family, here is a crucial piece I need you to understand, because as I was studying it appeared that Israel is just some phony, manipulative, and messed up Christians. Which in some ways they are… However, what I found in my study is that Israel is being genuine in their misguidance.

Church family, I don’t want you to miss this. Israel is saying, we need to start going to church again. We need to start having evening worship again. We need to start reading our Sabbath School lesson again.

Israel is genuine in their pursuit. However… here it is church family…

They have deceived themselves into thinking that God is looking for a relationship of employment rather than kinship. Their perspective is if we get back to our religious practices, God will help us again.

God’s people believe the answer to their situation is to lean on religious rituals.

Pause…

Now don’t miss this, Isreal culturally was a agrarian society. Meaning, it was a community whose economy and way of life was centered on agriculture. So, when you see the latter portion of verse 3, you have to understand their agriculture references.

See Israel says, God’s going out is sure as the dawn, He will come to us as showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. Their description of God is linked to their agricultural society. What is interesting though is that their description of God actually limits God to being a resource.

They paint God as the resource that will provide for them as a result of their short-term ritual commitment. And church family, this is what deception will do. See they are right in the fact that God is a provider.

He is the resource, however, they trick themselves by minimizing their relationship with God to once again a reward system.

And here is what Hosea exposes in God’s people. Hosea reveals that religious rituals cannot be used to manage God, and worship cannot divorce relationship.

Pause…

And God calls it out directly. See God interrupts all of this and look at what He says in Hosea 6:4-6

Hosea 6:4–6 ESV

4 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away. 5 Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. 6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Notice God matches their energy by giving out some agricultural language and description as well. God’s imagery highlight their lack of loyalty.

God says, Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away… God exposes that Israel’s love looks real liek the morning cloud, it feels refreshing like the early dew, however, just like the morning cloud and the early dew, it doesn’t last long.

God sounds grieved and exhausted and He shows Israel that they are emotionally sincere but relationally shallow.

Here it is church family. God reveals that his people look good publically with their repentance by going to church again, studying the lessons and looking the part, but in reality, they are short-lived and transactional actions.

God exposes His people to show them that they have tricked themselves into thinking that looking like a Christian means you are a Christian. That looking like you are connected, means that you are connected.

However, the truth is that privately and inwardly God’s people don’t know Him intimately… they just know a lot about Him.

That’s how you can get Christians who can quote love thy neighbour as thyself, but treat people like they are beneath them,

Thats how you can get Christians who can wear Christian apparel, but cuss you out while wearing the Christian apparel,

Thats how you can get Christians who know the 10 commandments, but don’t live out the greatest commandment,

Thats how you get Christians who’ve experienced God’s blessings all week long, but come into His house as though they’ve been living under a rock.

Looking like you are connected doesn’t mean you are connected!

Pause…

And here it is, God clearly stated what relationship looks like. Look at Hosea 6:6

Hosea 6:6 ESV

6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

God says, I am seeking for you to fall in deep love with me, not to look into what you can get out of me. He says, I want steadfast love, not sacrifice. I want you to know me, rather than burnt offerings.

Israel has put all their efforts into the rituals rather than relationship. When God talks here about sacrifice and burnt offerings, it is the context of worship. Israel has tricked themselves into believing the practice of worship is relationship. But God says I want steadfast love instead.

Remember last week I taught you that this steadfast love is covenant love. It is love that is loyal, durable. It is a love proven over time, rather than short-term.

Now God isn’t promoting that He’s anti-worship, God is calling out the idea that rituals is a substitute for relationship. Israel thinks they know God, and God says, no, you don’t know me.

And this is a word for somebody in here and watching online because you’ve been trying to figure out why life isn’t looking like you expected it. You’ve been trying to figure out why your good deeds haven’t translated into God working certain things out.

You’ve been living like God owes you. And what God is trying to show you is that I am not an ATM. I am not your job. Stop minimizing our relationship to a W-2 worker.

God is trying to show us, church family that He wants to be our all. He wants us to want Him for just Him. We won’t trust God because of His benefits, we will trust God with our lives because we are in deep relationship with Him.

Appeal