My heart is filled with longing for your laws at all times (Psalm 119:20).

I remember a group exercise, probably some ice breaker, in which we were asked what we would like on our tombstone. How is that a good icebreaker? Probably, to get into a conversation about legacy. I didn't like it then and I still don't. A more interesting question to ask is "What do people say about me right now?" but not as an icebreaker.

David, the shepherd boy turned king, is introduced in the Bible not by name, but by what God says about him, 'a man after my own heart' or 'a man who is dear to my heart' (1 Samuel 13:14).

That's high honour. But no one defines what that means. So, let's consider what it might mean, beginning with what seems like the most obvious: obedience. As that famous phrase from Psalm 119 puts it, "I have hidden your word in my heart". In 2 Chronicles 16:9, we find this, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him." When David sings the glory of God displayed in both the creation and in God's law, he ends with this prayer, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight" (Psalm 19). That great psalm about God's powerful and tender presence concludes with a prayer that God remove wrong from David's heart (Psalm 139).

We see David's obedience clearly in the years before he becomes king. He does not grab the throne. God says, "You will be the next king." But David recognizes that God needs to remove the current king before he can take the throne. Even though Saul has been rejected because he disobeyed God, David continues to honour him as king.

David's obedience foreshadows a central characteristic of Jesus himself. He claimed to have come to do the Father's will (John 6:38). When on the cross he called out, "it is finished", he was declaring that he had been obedient to the end.

The pertinent question for us is, "How do we grow in obedience?" How do we become fully committed to God? Is it even possible to hum with the psalmist, "My heart is filled with longing for your laws at all times" (Psalm 119:20)?

When we get started on this path, we often look to ourselves to get there. I don't think that is what David did. In Psalm 19, David spends the bulk of the Psalm looking at what God has made and said. It is only when he has composed his praise, does he ask for a pure heart. We don't get a longing for obedience by looking to ourselves. When we see God and who he is, our heart's get stirred.

So, where does your gaze linger? Is it time to look up again? As the writer of Hebrews once wrote, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…" (12:2). See him on the cross. See him alive, emerging from the tomb. See him enthroned in heaven. Then obedience is not to gain favour with God but becomes an act of thanksgiving.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

"May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together—spirit, soul, and body—and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

There is hymn that begins with: "The church is not a building; the church is not a steeple; the church is not a resting place; the church is a people." And the refrain: "I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church together!"

Intuitively, many Christians recognize that these lyrics are true. But we struggle with putting them into practice. Let's reflect on this challenge from the perspective of God's mission of reconciling the world to himself.

Let's first think about the people who carry out God's mission. I suspect that at least a few listeners will immediately think of pastors and missionaries as the agents of this mission. After all, these are the folks the church has set aside for God's work. We send missionaries to the mission filed and appoint pastors to lead congregations. Its as if these people are the most important in the work of God. But this does not do justice to the Biblical story of God's mission.

We need to change are understanding. Anne Rowthron wrote, "Through its laity the church is present in every area of human activity. It is in offices, in schools and universities, in hospitals, in stores, in factories and hotels" (The Liberation of the Laity).

We are all part of the priesthood of all believers. As such we have all been set apart, called by God and given a priestly authority to intercede on behalf of others and the world before him. Faithful people are living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God. Our skillful and worn hands praise God. Our priestly bodies, both in the sanctuary and on the factory floor, glorify God.

We can be involved in God's mission when we speak up and advocate for truth and justice in our daily work. As people reconciled to Christ we can work towards reconciliation in our spheres of influence. This usually begins with prayers of intercession.

Our churches are often pastor centric, program centric, and building centric. This gives the impression that the focus of God's work is in the building we label a church. Somehow, we need to broaden our perception of the church and God's mission to include every Christian wherever they are. Not pastors, but the laity, are the primary agents of a church's mission in the community.

In Leviticus, God is described as breathing in the aromas of the sacrifices Israel offered (2:9; 3:5,16). God is still hovering over his priests breathing into his nostrils the pleasing aroma of their worshipful work. God does not simply mandate human work; God delights in human work. God accepts it with joy, not as mere obedience but as worship.

The spaces which Christians spend their time are the primary spaces of a church's mission. Where you spend your week is the mission field of God.

As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:

Wherever God takes you today, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.

The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: "I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered" (Isaiah 56:8).

In Deuteronomy, Moses prepares Israel to enter the land of promise. As they settle in, they will finally be able to develop the habits enabling them to be God's holy people. Part of the preparation is defining who is in and who is out. Access to this holy people, and consequently to their God, is quite limited. All folks with mutilated genitalia and many foreigners are excluded (cf. Deuteronomy 23:1-8). Interactions with non-Israelites were strongly regulated to minimize the temptation to worship other gods.

This history lies in the background of our text dealing with Israel settling back into the land after the Babylonian exile. Isaiah 56 has to do with who is in and who is out. It reads very differently than Deuteronomy.

Here are a few verses, "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths…And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him…all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant—these I will bring to my holy mountain" (4,6,7).

Wow. God specifically mentions those kept out in Deuteronomy. There is only one condition spelled out…keep Sabbath! This is the mark of membership, an act of generous incorporation that was previously unheard of. It allows the life of God's Israel to spill over among those who have been excluded but are now to be welcomed.

Sabbath becomes the requirement for membership because it represents a disengagement from the producer-consumer rat race of the empire, then and now. It demonstrates a visible trust in God rather than self. Members of any race or nation, any gender or social condition are welcomed so long as that person is defined by justice, mercy, and compassion, and not by competition, achievement, production or acquisition. Sabbath keeping is the link between loving God with our whole beings and loving our neighbours as ourselves.

Jesus' cousin, John, worked this out with those who thought they had an automatic in because of their heritage. He told them not to count on their lineage, instead they ought to concern themselves with fruit that comes from repentance (Matthew 3:8-10).

What kind of fences do we put around church membership? How far are we willing to invite people in? Do we keep certain people at arms length? How long do people need to show up before they are no longer newcomers? Isaiah 56 prompts these kinds of questions.

Further, John's comment about fruit leads us to Galatians 5 where Paul gives an extensive list of sour grapes. These things, wrath, violence, lusts, envy are the product of the rat race. This is what grows in those who refuse Sabbath.

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit has room to grow in Sabbath keepers. What practices and habits do you have that enable you to step out of the rat race for the sake of Sabbath? There is great pressure to ignore Sabbath, even in the church. Isaiah calls us back to rest not as a burden but as a gift, as a means to joy in the Lord (7).

As you journey on, hear Jesus' invitation:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-29).