Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
Scripture
Isaiah 1:10-17
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our
God, you people of Gomorrah! 11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they
to me?” says the LORD. “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and
the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs
and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you,
this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense
is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear
your worthless assemblies. 14 Your New Moon feasts and your appointed
festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary
of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes
from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are
full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my
sight; stop doing wrong. 17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed.
Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of
olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Psalm 68:5
A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Core Idea, challenge, and summary
Core Idea: Doing no wrong, doing right, seeking justice, and defending the weak
and oppressed are very important to God. As followers of Jesus, they should be
most important to us.
Challenge: To exhort the congregation to take specific steps or make significant
lifestyle changes in order to do no wrong, do right, seek justice, and defend the
weak and oppressed.
Summary: Good employees understand what’s important to their bosses. What’s
important to their bosses become what’s important to them. Their primary focus
at work is to accomplish what is important to their bosses. Likewise, as followers
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should understand what’s important to God.
Whatever is important to God should become the most important thing to us.
In Isaiah 1:16-17, Micah 6:6-8, Psalm 68:5, and Matthew 22:37-40 we can clearly
discern what’s important to God. We can sum up what’s important to God with: 1)
doing no wrong, 2) doing good, 3) seeking justice, and 4) defending the weak
and oppressed. These four areas fall under the umbrella of love. We seek to do
no wrong (harm) and to do good because we love all people. We also seek
justice and defend the weak and oppressed because of the love God has for
everyone.
What specific things can you do or what lifestyle changes could you make to
become better at doing no wrong, doing good, seeking justice, and defending the
weak and oppressed?
Sermon
I. Introduction: The importance of knowing what’s important to your boss
A. As an Army Officer

On the Officer Evaluation Support Form (OESF) officers
write down their personal goals and the goals for their
units. This is reviewed by their immediate supervisors
when it comes time for their Officer Evaluation Reports
(OER) to be written.

The OESF reveals what’s important to that officer.
 Smart officers would ask to see their commanding
officers’ OESFs
 They would then know what’s important to their
commanding officers. They would focus on that and
keep their commanding officers happy.
B. At work

Good employees know what is important to their bosses

A company employee should know if the CEO is more
interested in the bottom line (getting as much money as
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
possible) or customer satisfaction. That way, the employee
can focus his/her resources accordingly.
C. At school

The student should know what’s important to the teacher.

If spelling is important to the English teacher, then the student
needs to ensure every word is spelled correctly. If grammar is
important to the teacher then the student needs to ensure every
sentence is grammatically correct. What’s important to the
teacher needs to be what’s important to the student.
D. Likewise, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we should
understand what’s important to God.

Whatever is important to God should become the most
important thing to us.

Isaiah 1:10-17 reveals what is important to God.
II. What’s important to God: Isaiah 1:10-17
A. Isaiah 1:10-15: God detests the Sacrifices, incense, Sabbath,
festivals, and prayers of the ancient Israelites.

Sacrifices, incense, Sabbath, festivals, and prayers were how
the ancient Israelites worshipped the Lord. They were the
rituals used to worship God.

These verses (Isaiah 1:10-15) seem to indicate that God didn’t
like these rituals.
 But we must remember that God decreed these
ritualistic ways to worship. (See Exodus and
Leviticus). God clearly wanted people to follow these
rituals.
 These worship rituals were meant to bring people to
practice what is important to God. As a result of
following these rituals, what is important to God was
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
suppose to become important to the ancient
Israelites.
 God began to detest these rituals because they didn’t
result in the ancient Israelites practicing what is
important to God.

These verses could apply to us today.
 We no longer offer animal sacrifices because Jesus is
our atoning sacrifice to take away our sins.
 Instead, every Sunday morning we offer ourselves to
God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1)
 Offering ourselves as living sacrifices means we
surrender to the loving authority of Jesus.
 We declare: “God, whatever is important to you
becomes most important to us.”
 If whatever is important to God does not become
most important to us, then our worship is just as dead
as the worship described in Isaiah 1:10-15.

So, what is important to God? The answer is in Isaiah 1:16-17.
B. Isaiah 1:16-17 – What is important to God – “…stop doing wrong.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the
cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

First: Doing no wrong (harm): “…stop doing wrong…”

Second: Doing good: “…Learn to do right…”

Third: Seeking justice: “…seek justice….”

Fourth: Defending the weak and oppressed: “…Defend the
oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the
case of the widow.”
III. Practicing what’s important to God
A. These four areas fall under the umbrella of love.
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013

Love sums up the law (Matthew 22:37-40 - Jesus replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest
commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments.”)

We seek to do no wrong (harm) and to do good because we
love all people. We also seek justice and defend the weak and
oppressed because of God’s love for everyone.
B. Doing no wrong (harm)

We do nothing that is immoral (goes against what God tells us
in His Word)

We do nothing that might hurt someone else in any way
(physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, financially etc…)
 I violated this when I checked my schedule on my
smart phone while driving. As a result, I rear-ended a
truck and caused damage to another person’s
property.
 In business, we don’t seek a ‘win-lose’ business deal
because we don’t want to hurt anyone financially. We
seek a ‘win-win’ business deal.
 We obey laws having to do with our safety. Not
because we don’t want top get into trouble but
because we don’t want to hurt anyone.
C. Doing good

Wesley quote: “Do all the good you can, By all the means you
can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all
the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever
you can.”
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013

Sin of omission – Not doing something good when you could
have done so.

If you have the opportunity to help someone, you should do so
even if it means sacrificing or taking a risk.
C. Seeking justice

Treating everyone as they ought to be treated

Summed up by the golden rule – “Treat others as you would
want to be treated” (Matthew 7:12)

Pursuit of justice applies in all situations
 We think of justice being applied in a court of law.
Justice is served when all people are treated the
same and receive what they should in a court of law.
 Justice, however, needs to be pursued in every
aspect of life, not just a court of law. In every aspect
of life, we should treat all people with love.
 Bosses shouldn’t show favoritism at work. Teachers
shouldn’t show favoritism at school. Parents shouldn’t
show favoritism at home.
D. Defending the weak and oppressed

At work, standing up for the employee being mistreated or
picked on. Refusing to participate in gossip about unpopular
employees.

At school, standing with the unpopular and bullied kids.
Refusing to participate in gossip about unpopular students.

Could involve taking political action such as voting or
participating in a protest.

Could involve making financial contributions to a worthy cause
that seeks justice. (One such cause is the ‘International
Justice Mission’ (IJM). For more info on IJM, go to
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
www.IJM.org. Another way is sponsoring a child through
Compassion. For more info on Compassion go to
www.compassion.com)
E. A practical application: Voting

Does not matter if you are Republican or Democrat.

When we vote, we must vote in accordance with what’s
important to God.
 As we just learned, what’s important to God is: 1)
doing no wrong (harm), 2) doing good, 3) seeking
justice, and 4) defending the weak and oppressed.
 When we vote, we should prayerfully consider all the
positions of each candidate and ask, “Which
candidate best exemplifies these four areas?”
IV. Conclusion: What specific things can you do or what lifestyle changes
could you make to become better at doing no wrong, doing good, seeking
justice, and defending the weak and oppressed?

Sometime this week, find something you could do or a specific
habit you could change to better align yourself with what’s
important to God. A few examples are:
 Not endangering other people by not texting while
driving
 Not ignoring homeless people as you pass them by.
Say hello to them like you would anyone else.
 Begin tithing if you don’t already do so
 Stop gossiping. When you find yourself talking bad
about someone, make it a point to say something
good about that person
 Start recycling
Sermon Outline
First United Methodist Church of Sanford
“What’s important to God?”
(Part I of the series on Christian Social Responsibility)
August 11, 2013
 Start making regular contributions to specific
ministries such as IJM, Compassion or Watoto (For
more info on these ministries, go to www.IJM.org,
www.compassion.com or www.watoto.com)
 Get involved in a justice issue

Pray about this and ask God to guide you in this endeavor.
God already knows what He wants you to do to better align
yourself with what’s important to Him.