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Today is the second Sunday of a three week sermon series called Removing the Ball and Chain. The AIM of this series is for all of us to experience Christian freedom. Another way to say Christian freedom is to say we become the people that God desires for us to be. We have a Scripture that were memorizing during this series. It is this. SLIDE For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm and do not submit to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 Part of experiencing freedom is understanding what holds us back. One thing that holds us back from freedom especially as Midwesterners is our expectations. I preached a sermon on this last week, and I encourage you to watch the sermon. You can find the link on our web site. The main point from last week is how we mix up expectations and guilt. When we dont achieve an expectation that we have for ourselves or someone has for us we experience something. Its my experience in being with people that often we call that experience guilt. I shared how a neighbor feels guilty that his shrubs arent as nice as his neighbors, or how a woman feels guilty as a mother when she doesnt measure up with what she think a mother should be. Or how people say they feel guilty about being late. Guilt is far different than failing to meet an expectation. Guilt is the feeling we have as a result of a sin. Committing a sin is far different than not meeting an expectation. But if we call not meeting an expectation guilt were giving it a weight that it doesnt deserve. Its like walking around with a ball and chain. This robs us of being free, of being able to run our our journey of faith. The title of todays sermons is Gods expectations. Im going to talk about how God views us and Gods expectations for us. With that introduction I want to invite you to get out this brochure that is in the bulletin. This week I wrote a devotion about a very important story in

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the Old Testament. Its the story of the golden calf and what happened afterwards. The story is in three chapters in Exodus32-34. I encourage you to use the devotion this week as I think youll gain a new appreciation for God. On the back is a place for prayer requests. In the middle is a place for you to take notes. I believe that God might say something to you in this sermon that youll want to remember. How does God view us? God has a picture of us. Ever since I got an I-phone I take a lot more pictures. In fact picture taking has never been easier. How many of you take pictures with your phone or a portable device. When I want to get a picture of me and someone else Ill often ask a stranger to take the picture. Have you ever had that experience? Ill give the person my phone and theyll look through it and theyll take a picture. After they take the picture what is the next thing they do almost all the time? The person will look at the picture. If they dont think the picture looks good, what will they do? Delete the picture. Now help me outwhat are some reasons that a person will delete the picture? All of these descriptions can be explained simply by thisthe picture doesnt meet the persons expectations. Nothing wrong with deleting a picture. Imagine that God had a cell phone. Imagine God took a picture. Just go with me here. Imagine God went up and asked ___ if God could take () picture. This is what God would do. God would take the picture, look at it and say () is beautiful. I love Even if hasnt taken a shower; even if doesnt look good; even if has committed a sin; even if hasnt been to church in a while. When God views God says () is beautiful. I love

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Say God took a picture of this entire row of people. If God took a picture of this entire row of people, God would look at it and say () is beautiful. I love Even if someone was not smiling; even if someone had a crazy expression; even if someone was trying to mess up the picture. God would say you all are beautiful. Imagine if God took a picture of everyone in worship on April 21, 2013. Lets try that. Everyone stand. Imagine if God took a picture of all of us. If God took a picture of us God would look at the picture and say, you at Chain of Lakes are beautiful. I love you. Even if someone is frowning; even if someone is having a bad day; even if someone just had a fight with their family on the way to worship today. God looks at us and says you are beautiful; I love you. In the story of the creation God created humans on the six days. I imagine God sitting with the heavenly court at the end of the 6th day. I imagine God commenting on the work that had been done that day. I can imagine God saying to the heavenly court. Those humans are very good. They are beautiful and I will always love them. God sees us as beautiful; God loves us. That is Gods picture of us. To carry this picture that God has of us with us should give us tremendous freedom. To have the author of the universe look at us and say, you are beautiful, I love you. Theres nothing you can do to remove yourself from my love. However I dont think this is the image that many people have of Gods picture of us. I especially dont think that this is the image that people who dont attend church have of Gods picture of us. Recently I was talking to a woman who was sharing a conversation she had with her brother. This womans brother doesnt attend church though he does believe in God. This man has had some challenging events happen to him. He asked the woman, Is God punishing

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me? Is God out to get me? Are all these bad things happening to me because God doesnt like me? The converse is true too. Ive had people tell me that when they do something wrong, they naturally wonder, Is God going to punish me for doing that? Cant we relate to this idea. Something bad happens to us and we naturally think, God is punishing me. Many people believe the converse of that statement. If I do something bad then God will punish me. Or we believe that if we do something good that God should reward us. We know what co-dependant means? A co-dependant person believes that they have to earn someones love. If we are plagued by co-dependence then when that person treats us poorly then we think weve done something wrong. Many people transfer this idea onto God. We believe that if we do something wrong that God will treat us poorly. That is so far from the truth. God takes a picture of us and says, You are beautiful. I love you. This view of God comes from the idea that God is angry. Its a misperception about God that develops from the Old Testament. Ask many people about the God of the Old Testament and the person would probably say that God is angry in the Old Testament. Theirs is a common believe that the God of the Old Testament is inconsistent with the Jesus of the New Testament. Actually God is not that angry in the Old Testament. There are 23,000 verses in the Old Testament. Only 200 of those verses describe Gods anger. In the Old Testament God was consistently gracious, loving and faithful. To say that God of the Old Testament is angry is to distort the image of God.

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Thats why I want all of us to read the story of the Golden Calf this week. Its a story of how God did get angry. Its also a story about Gods anger. Moses had gone up on Mount Sinai for 40 days. God gave Moses what we call the 10 Commandments. This was one of the most significant events in the history of the world. This happened thousands of years ago, and we still know and teach the 10 Commandments. Imagine the excitement that God and Moses had about these 10 Commandments. They both knew what had happened could change the direction of humanity for the good. But amidst this wonderful event something horrible had happened. The Israelites had become scared when Moses didnt return to them. They lost faith in him and lost faith in God. They wanted to make their own God. They took off their gold rings and made a golden calf; they then worshipped the Golden Calf. This was a violation of the very first commandment that God had given to Moses. You shall have no other gods before me. Amidst this wonderful event of the giving of the 10 commandments the people made their own calf. God became angry and wanted to destroy the people. Moses convinced God to change the divine mind. God did. Moses and God talked every day at the tent of meeting and Moses face shined with divine favor. Moses wanted to see Gods glory. God said you can see my glory, but you cant see my face. Moses went up to Mount Sinai again. God descended in a cloud into Mount Sinai and revealed Gods glory to Moses. As God did this God proclaimed this: SLIDE The Lord, A God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, And abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

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Keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Exodus 32:6-7a If youve ever asked the question, who is God? Who is the God of the Old Testament? This is God. This phrase slow to anger and abounding in steadfast is used nine times, word for word in the Old Testament. God gets angry, but God is slow to anger. Anger is not the first emotion that God feels when God looks at a situation. If you want to know the truth, Im glad that God is capable of anger. Think with me: SLIDE What would it mean if God didnt get angry?

God is indifferent; God doesnt care; God is lackadaisical about life; God doesnt have expectations for how our life will be. Anger is a natural response to some situations. If we dont get angry, then we might question if we are alive. This has been a tough week for our country. Our country witnessed the explosions of the fertilizer plant in Texas and then the tragedy with the bombings at the Boston Marathon. Ive run two marathons, so to think that someone would plant a bomb at the finish line after someone has run 26 miles is extraordinarily cruel. I dont know if you heard the story of Martin Richard. He is an eight year old boy. His family went to the Boston Marathon last Monday. They were watching for friends from their neighborhood who were running the marathon. They took a break for ice cream. They found a spot near the finish line. Then the bomb went of. Martins sister lost a leg in the attack and his mom, Denise had to undergo brain surgery. Denise is a librarian at a local charter school and his father is the director of a local community group. Martin played little league baseball.

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SLIDE

He was a proponent of peace. You might remember Trayvon Martin. He was the

black man that was killed in Texas. After his death a call for peace was issued. When Martin heard this call for peace he made a sign for peace. Martin was one of the three victims who died. Now hes gone. Hes gone because someone put a bomb near the finish line of the Boston marathon. Theres no doubt in my mind that God is angry about what happened in Boston. I would expect God to be angry. If God wasnt angry about an 8-year old boy being killed indiscriminately in a bombing I would wonder about God. God is angry, and this shows that God cares. The key point is God is slow to anger. Gods anger doesnt mean we need to be afraid of God; Gods anger shows that God cares about us. When God pictures us God says, you are beautiful; I love you. When things dont go well for us that is not an indication that God is punishing us. When we do something that we know is wrong God is not going to smite us. God looks at us and says we are beautiful. Which leads me to the final question of this sermonwhat does God expect from each of us. Jesus was asked a form of this same question. SLIDE Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesusyou know the law, what does it say there You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. Jesus: Do this and you shall live. God does have expectations for us. God doesnt expect us to be perfect; God doesnt expect us to be a superstar; God doesnt expect us to be extraordinary. God doesnt expect us to

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have terrific shrubs or to be a fabulous parent who always gets it right or to be on-time for everything that happens. God expects us to loveto love God and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. God expects us to love. God expects us to share that love. These expectations are so different than what the world has for us. We dont have to fit into someone elses agenda that is based on pride or ego or control. We dont have to fit into another persons ambitions. Gods ambitions for us is to love Knowing Gods expectations should give us a huge sense of relief. Knowing this expectation in our heart means we dont live with a ball and chain. We can run! WE can become the person God desires for us to be. Our task is to love. When we live with this expectation we experience freedom. WE live out the Scripture we are memorizing. For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 In your bulletin is a card. Its a beautiful looking card. It is a picture of spring. I want to challenge us to share this card with a stranger this week. Share this card with someone you dont know well. I believe this message of Gods picture of us is one that others will appreciate. Im going to go into Dunn Brothers coffee shop and share this card. Share with the person that Gods picture of them is beautiful. You can be an agent of Gods love. You can help remove the ball and chain from someone else. You can help another person experience freedom.