God Made Small

In the past, I have made reference to J.B. Phillips’ book, Your God is Too Small. Phillips’ argument is that many people don’t think God is big enough to handle their problems. That is still true of many people today. I don’t mean to contradict Phillips, but I am going to suggest that there is a sense in which God had to become small for us poor mortals to begin to understand Him. In reality, the God who created the universe and revealed Himself through the Bible is so big we can only get the slightest glimpse of who He really is and what He is doing.

For the finite human mind to even begin to accommodate the concept of an infinite God, an adjustment must be made somewhere. God chose to adjust His revelation to us by condescending to our human limitations. This is one of the reasons we cannot take everything in the written Word literally. I have written elsewhere (see Related Posts) that historical context and the genre of a particular passage of Scripture must be taken into consideration when determining whether a word or concept is meant literally. We also need to consider the broader context of all Scripture if we are to begin to understand who God is.

A glaring example of this can be seen in God’s use of the ancient Jewish concept of the universe in spite of the fact that He knew it to be a poor representation of reality. The ancients pictured the earth as a table with legs or foundations firmly set in some unknown solid base. They imagined that the sun, moon, and stars popped up on one side of the table and proceeded to sail overhead through the “heavens.” The heavens were triple layered: first the sky where birds and clouds flew; then there was a second heaven where the sun, moon and stars hung; finally, the third heaven which was God’s domain. The denial of this “biblical” cosmology caused the church of the Middle Ages to martyr proponents of the correct understanding. Much harm has been done throughout church history by those who insist on taking all Scripture literally.

By using the limited understanding of the ancients, God became small enough to teach a critical aspect of His relationship to humans: He was the Creator of them and everything they could see. His supreme role in creation gives Him the absolute right to do whatever He wills and ask whatever He wants of His people. We err if we try to make too much of the details of creation. The record of God’s creative work is a theological text, not a scientific one. Our increased understanding of cosmology may have uncovered misunderstandings in the ancient science, but the affirmation of God as creator and all that implies is not diminished by our newfound knowledge.

Another way we enlarge the smallness of God as He is revealed the Old Testament text is to use the New Testament to bring clarity to the Old. The tenth chapter of the book of Hebrews is a good example. The writer of Hebrews explains the purpose of the sacrificial system God required of Israel. The apparently excessive sacrifice of animals throughout Israel’s history is defended as necessary to teach God’s people the costly nature of sin and man’s need to atone. The Hebrew writer also explains that the concept of a sacrifice without flaw was meant to prepare them for the ultimate sacrifice of the flawless Son of God Himself.

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that the experiences of the Israelites were intended by God to be examples for His New Testament church. The very human foibles of the children of Israel were recorded, says Paul, to warn the church not to fall into the same traps. By testing them with hunger and thirst and military challenges, God used everyday realities to teach His overriding principles. He brought Himself down to their level of understanding so that He could lift them to His higher purposes.

Jesus did the same thing when used parables to relate everyday things to spiritual realities. He often used very small things – mustard seeds or tiny coins – to reveal the true nature of His Father. He chided Nicodemus for his dullness saying, “If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” The heavenly things Jesus referred to would be the big things God wants us to understand. When Jesus announced to His disciples that He was going to leave them and go to His Father, Philip said, “Show us the Father.” The Lord’s response was, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Jesus is God made small enough for us to see who He is.

The revelation of the Father through the life of Jesus is the most striking example of God becoming small to teach big things. The second chapter of Philippians explains just how much the Son had to shrink to become the Savior of the world. He began as all humans do: in the womb of His mother. He emptied Himself of much of what it meant to be the eternal Son of God so He could truly become the Son of Man. As the entire Christian faith rests on the life, death, and resurrection of this one Man, we can begin to see how God made Himself small to accomplish the biggest task imaginable.

The big picture is even more amazing when you consider what Jesus told His Father in the prayer recorded in John 17: “I have revealed your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me, and they have kept your word.” Martin Lloyd-Jones explains this: “These people belonged to God before they became the Son’s people…. and then [the Father] gave these people whom He had chosen to the Son, in order that the Son might redeem them and do everything that was necessary for their reconciliation with Himself.” (A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings, Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015)

God chose us as His own before the foundation of the world to be given to His Son as His bride on the one hand or as His brothers and sisters on the other – those who will become joint heirs with Him. Choose your favorite human-sized metaphor. In the heaven-sized picture, we believers are the Father’s gift to His Son. That is an idea small enough to grasp, but so big in its ramifications that I can hardly believe it. But I do believe it. Can you?

Related Posts: Take the Bible Literally? Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Understanding the Bible as Literature; The Bride of Christ

Conditional Grace

Is God’s grace conditional? The first response that comes to mind may be that grace cannot be conditional because grace is unmerited favor – no conditions. However, that answer may be too quick and too simple. The explanation of why that is so, is found in an understanding of God’s character. The Creator of the universe is a personal being; as a person He has character traits – a personality.

One important trait of His personality is morality. In the Old Testament, God is often portrayed as the Lawgiver. This is another way of saying that He establishes moral principles which one must follow if they wish to please Him. Another trait of God’s personality is justice; He always does what is right. Put morality and justice side-by-side and you can see the necessity of judgment; To be moral and just, God must exact a payment from those who spurn His moral code.

Another trait of God’s personality is mercy – He is merciful toward His children. His mercy is revealed to us through His grace. His mercy allows Him to suspend judgment when He wishes; His grace allows Him to grant favor to His undeserving children. The most obvious demonstration of this is found in the plan of redemption. When Adam disobeyed God, his punishment was much more expansive than the expulsion of him and his wife from the Garden of Eden. With his sin, Adam placed a burden on all humanity: God’s justice demanded a payment from all Adam’s descendants for his moral failure. God accomplished this by graciously providing the payment – a redemption.

The Greek word often translated “redemption” is used outside of Scripture to refer to paying a ransom to release someone from bondage, especially those under the yoke of slavery. Leon Morris explains: “Redemption is substitutionary, for it means that Christ paid the price that we could not pay, paid it in our stead, and we go free.” (John MacArthur, First Love, MacArthur Study Series (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 74.)

Free, yes, but because our freedom was paid for by the sacrifice of our dear Savior, our human moral conscience demands a grateful response. Certainly, our first response is love; how could we not love the One who gave us such an incredible gift. It follows naturally, then, as Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” Just as our faith in Jesus is demonstrated by our works, our love for Him calls us to do what He has asked us to do: love God and love our neighbors.

 This is not to say that God’s love for us is conditional. John 3:16 says God loved the world so much that He offered redemption through His Son so that believers could have eternal life with Him. Here is the primary condition placed on redemption: belief. God loves the world unconditionally (while we were still sinners), but only those who believe on the Son have life. The debate over how this works has gone on for centuries: does one choose to believe of human free will, or does God usher one into faith through His sovereign call? Whichever is true, the fact remains: salvation is conditioned upon belief.

We can see this same conditionality played out in the Old Testament. God promised Abraham’s descendants a land to call their own forever. However, the “forever” in that promise was predicated on the children of Abraham remaining faithful to God. They failed in that respect, and God took them from their land, first with the Assyrians, and then with the Babylonians. Although they returned from the Babylonian captivity, they were never again fully sovereign in their land. This same concept explains how God could say he would dwell in Solomon’s temple “forever,” yet allow the Babylonians to destroy it in 586 B.C. and then the Romans to demolish the rebuilt temple in 70 A.D. At that point in their history, Israel had committed the ultimate atrocity of unbelief by crucifying their Messiah.

Back to the current state of affairs. A.W. Tozer says it like this: “The present state of the human race before God is probationary. The world is on trial. The voice of God sounds over the earth, ‘Behold I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Choose you this day!’” The word “choose” points to the optional nature of God’s call. Those who choose to heed the voice of God (option A) find His favor. Those who choose Option B bear the consequences of spurning God’s grace.

Of those who choose Option A, Tozer says, “Toward those who embrace the provisions of mercy that center around the death and resurrection of Christ one phase of judgment is no longer operative.” (A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings, Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015, 213.) As Paul said, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” For those who choose Option B, the writer of Hebrews warns there is only, “a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire.” I believe it is my choice to avoid that fiery judgment, but I also believe God sovereignly chooses those whom He will call. I have no clue how that works; I just know that is what the Bible teaches.

In the book of Revelation there is a wonderful scene in Heaven where the Spirit of God says, “The one who wants, let him take the water of life freely.” They have to want it, and they have to take it; those are both choices. Another way to say that would be to say anyone who desires eternal life with God can come and get it free of charge. Eternal life is a free gift from God, but it was not free for God. We must never forget that as we ponder the wonder of God’s so-called unconditional grace.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; Choose Life; Election: God’s Choice

The Burning Bush Today

To the church at Laodicea the risen Christ said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20). This verse is often preached as an invitation for unbelievers to answer Christ’s knocking. While there may be a sense in which Christ knocks at the unbeliever’s door, the context of this verse has Jesus at the church door. I want to explain why I think that distinction is important.

Jesus had chided the Laodiceans for being lukewarm; they had lost their fiery passion for the Lord. His offer to come in and “sup with him” was the first-century equivalent to our saying, “Let’s get reacquainted.” A.W. Tozer explains why the acquaintance with Jesus is so important. “At the far-in hidden center of man’s being is a bush fitted to be the dwelling place of the Triune God. There God planned to rest and glow with moral and spiritual fire. Man by his sin forfeited this indescribably wonderful privilege and must now dwell there alone.” (A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings, Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015, 201.)

The truly sad thing about the Laodiceans was that they should not have been alone. The burning bush Tozer imagines was available to all believers in Laodicea. The moral and spiritual fire of that bush is what the Laodiceans were lacking; so are many churches today, sadly. Polls consistently report that Christian moral behavior is little different from that of unbelievers. Christians have become lax in many areas of morality. One of the most obvious is sexual morals. Christian teens are sexually active at virtually the same rate as non-Christians. Believers often excuse adultery as proved by the percentage of Christians committing it being equal that of unbelievers. Cohabitation before marriage is ignored by many in the church who should be speaking out against it.

I have written several times on the subject of modesty of apparel. With few exceptions, believers have fallen prey to the gradual slide of modern culture into styles of dress that would never pass the modesty test of the New Testament. I wrote in “Debating Christian Cleavage” several years ago: “It is not good enough to be just a little less wrong than the culture; it is necessary to be at least a little more right than the culture.” What that means is our moral standards regarding apparel must be based on Scriptural standards rather than measured against worldly practices.

I have written extensively in recent posts about the moral depravity that is implicit in homosexual behavior. The moral fire that should be burning in believers regarding this issue has been quenched in some cases by a misunderstanding of how we are supposed to love the sinner but hate the sin. I think believers should feel pity for those who have been taught that their sexual perversion is natural and inevitable. But that must not keep us from insisting that their behavior is immoral in God’s eyes and must be resisted just like any other sinful behavior. Even if we allow that some immoral urges exist through either nature or nurture, biblical moral purity demands that those urges be resisted. It is no different for the thief, the murderer, the philanderer, or the homosexual.

I don’t want to promote the common misunderstanding that sexual sin is worse before God than any other. It matters greatly, but so does gluttony made obvious by obesity, gossip excused as prayer requests, covetousness revealed in crass materialism, or financial accountability especially as it relates to tithing. Any form of moral indifference would have Jesus knocking at the door of a church that overlooks it. Many of today’s churches are Laodicean in this respect.

I could list more areas of moral decline among today’s Christians, but Tozer points out that the Laodiceans were lacking in another, more serious way: they lacked spiritual fire. When Tozer suggested the metaphor of a burning bush at the center of our being, he was echoing the well-known line of St. Augustine: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in [God].” God wishes – no, demands – to be at the center of His children’s hearts. God establishes His residence in us through the agency of the Holy Spirit. This makes perfect sense because God is spirit, so His presence must be spiritual.

In a series of articles called “The Christian Parody” I lamented the fact that many people who call themselves Christian are a mere parody of true Christianity. Paul refers to people who have a form of godliness but lack the power that rightly belongs to it. That is a good description of a parody; it looks something like Christianity, but it lacks the spiritual component; it is empty – powerless. A church body made up of people who mouth religious words on Sunday but live just like their worldly neighbors the rest of the week is imitating the Laodicean church. Remember, Jesus threatened to vomit them out of His mouth.

The church that lacks the spiritual fire – the Laodicean church – lacks the presence of God; it lacks the glory of God. Pity the church that finds “Icabod” written on her walls. Without the Spirit, there can be no true worship. Without the Spirit, there can be no works of eternal significance. Without the Spirit, there is no guide to the truth. Without the Spirit there is nothing pleasing to God. Pray that the burning bush Tozer mentions would be a raging inferno in your heart because you are the church. Pray that you may find others with the same zeal to join you in your church.

Related Posts: People of the Flame; Paging Phinehas Eliazar; Despising the Down Payment; The Christian Parody Part One; Part Two; Part Three

How Can We Bless God?

The concept of blessing is not a common one among modern people. Some phrases are used without a true understanding of what they should mean. “Bless my soul” as an expression of surprise. “Bless this food…” is a trite ritual at the dinner table. “Bless your heart” in the South is often meant sarcastically with the real meaning anything but blessing. Posters in curio shops often say, “Bless this house.” Christians ought to be very familiar with the concept of blessing since it is scattered throughout the Scripture, but I don’t think they are.

We sing, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.” I wonder how many who sing that understand what it means. We understand the flip side of the coin: our being blessed by God. “Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” We may not fully understand the “heavenly places” reference (more on that later), but everyone knows what it means to say God blesses us. God gives His children good things from the simplest blue sky and sunshine to the greatest gift of all: our eternal salvation.

With our eternal destiny secure, the physical blessings God showers on us are the frosting on the cake. John MacArthur points out, “[God] has blessed us already with every spiritual blessing. Our resources in Christ are not simply promised to us; they are actually in our possession…. The believer’s need, therefore, is not to receive something more but to do something more with what he has.”  (John MacArthur, First Love, MacArthur Study Series, Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996, 33–34.) I believe a large part of that “something more” we need to do is to bless God.

The idea of the children blessing the Father God is foreign to many, so we need to discover what it means to bless. The Greek word for “bless” literally means to speak well of someone which develops into doing well for someone – blessing them. Paul told the Ephesians that God blessed us with spiritual blessings, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” The word “praise” means fame or worthiness; “glory” means esteem or reputation. So, follow me: God blessed us to make the reputation of His grace famous. Ultimately, the blessing of God is intended to lead and empower us to return blessing to Him.

So, we are back to the question of how we can bless or glorify God. MacArthur says, “Because God has given us all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, we have an unlimited supply of divine resources. Be sure to use them to make your life fulfilling, to minister with the greatest amount of power, and fulfill the purpose of the church that Jesus purchased with His precious blood.” (John MacArthur, First Love, MacArthur Study Series, Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996, 40.) Speaking of spiritual gifts, Paul told both the Ephesians and the Corinthians that their gifts were intended to benefit the Body of Christ. This explains in part why our blessing is “in the heavenlies,” as Paul said. In the New Testament, the heavenlies or heavenly places refers to the spirit realm. Christ’s body, the church, is a spiritual reality with an earthly manifestation. Our spiritual gifts benefit the spiritual Body of Christ, and naturally that has physical ramifications.

In my life, for example, God called and gifted me as a teacher. I spent many years teaching in Christian schools as an expression of my blessing the Body of Christ. After I retired from teaching, I dove deeper into my writing ministry to continue the use of my teaching gift. This blog is one way I do that. One of my early writing projects was the novel, Wings of Mentridar. In it I imagined the difficulties Noah faced while building the ark, and I added my own fantasies of how God’s holy angels might have helped him. My goal was to “bless God” by helping people realize that the characters in the Old Testament were real people with real problems whom God cared for. I also wanted to suggest a way the angels might have helped Noah as the Scripture says they do for us.

Each believer has a unique set of gifts from God, and how they use them is a matter of personal prayer and determination. Sadly, there are many people who call themselves Christians who haven’t discovered their spiritual gift. What a shame it is to think that God has blessed people, yet they have done nothing to use that blessing for its intended purpose.

In “Many Called; Few Chosen” I used the analogy of a mailed invitation to the wedding feast God has planned for Jesus and His Bride, the church. The analogy fits here too. Imagine God mailed every believer a gift. “The person who doesn’t care what God wants might visit the mailbox, but he won’t open the envelope; he will toss it in the trash unopened like so many credit card offers and sale fliers. Some people will open and [see the gift], but decide they are too busy with their own lives to bother with a [gift they don’t need]. But some sensitive souls will feel a tug on their heart when they see the [gift]; they think [using it for God’s purpose] sounds like a great idea.”

Paul challenged the Corinthians to do everything to the glory of God. Certainly, making proper use of God’s gifts to us will bring God glory.  Again, glory refers to declaring the esteem or reputation of someone. So, our every action should elevate the reputation of God before all people – we should make God look good to the world. And by blessing the church, we do that as well, because the church is Christ’s body made visible to the world. That is how we bless God.

Related Posts: What’s Your Ministry