For God’s Sake

There is a kind of soft profanity that people often use without thinking – even Christians do it. One expression is so popular that it even has a texting version: OMG. I am quite certain that when people use the name of God in that profane way, they are not calling on God as their provider and protector. When I was younger, another expression was often heard when someone reached a state of frustration: for God’s sake. It was sometimes softened to for Pete’s sake, which I assume was a reference to Saint Peter. In either case, God was probably the farthest thing from the speaker’s mind.

Like so many of our flippant remarks, for God’s sake has a significant meaning. I was reading chapter 36 of Ezekiel when I came across this statement: “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.”

This passage is found in the larger context of God’s promise to give Israel release from her Babylonian captivity and eventually seat His Servant, David, on her throne forever. We know certainly that God was referring to the Messiah who was to come. We also know that the “Israel” God spoke of is the New Testament church that was bought and paid for by Christ on the cross. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul refers to the church as branches grafted onto the tree that God planted centuries before. Paul notes that the Israelites who spurned their Messiah were branches that had been cut off the original tree while the New Testament believers were grafted in.

What seems most important to me in this metaphor is that there is only one tree. If we carry the metaphor back to the earlier chapters of the Roman letter, we could say that the tree is the tree of faith that began with Abraham. According to Paul, Abraham believed God (put his faith in Him), and it was counted as righteousness before God. Paul stresses the fact that Abraham’s faith preceded the law by many, many years. His point was clearly that faith is what brings a person into right relationship with God, not the law given later to the nation of Israel. God’s tree is the tree of faith.

It has always been something of a mystery to me why God kept rescuing Israel when they repeatedly left Him behind. The answer is in that verse from Ezekiel: He did it for His sake. For God’s sake! Not theirs. I think the application for today is clear. God’s people, the faithful, are still prone to wander from His prescribed ways. I have no doubt that Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to His church when He delivered His parting words: “I am with you always.” He is the same God who promised, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” He knew we would fail sometimes, but He promised to be there anyway.

I have written previously that the Cross of Calvary is the ultimate demonstration of God’s covenant love for His people.  As I said then, “The ugliness and horror of the Cross of Calvary demonstrates how much God hates sin. [That is] judgment. The gift of grace for believers demonstrates the culmination of the long-running pursuit by God to redeem His creation. [That is] love.” This is true, but there is more to it. God had a plan when He created Adam and Eve and placed them in His perfectly created world. Adam and Eve blew the original plan, but God did not give up. He still intends to populate a perfect creation with perfected creatures. The way to that perfection is through the cross.

If God is still working with His people (no ifs about it), it is for His sake, not ours. He has a bigger plan, and He is playing on a much bigger field than we can imagine. As I wrote in “It’s Not All About You,” “Redemption is about God getting back what is rightfully His as creator. Redemption is not primarily about you; it is about a cosmic battle between forces that operate at a level far above your pay grade.” That does not mean we have no part to play; we are called to show God’s righteousness to a lost and dying world – just like ancient Israel was supposed to do. When they failed, He rescued them for His sake so that, “The nations will know that I am the Lord,” as He told Ezekiel.

God still wishes to redeem His creation. Jesus reaffirmed that when He said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” I have no doubt that Jesus knew the difficulty His followers would face, yet He said, “You are the light of the world.” We need to be that blameless bride, that royal priesthood that reveals God’s love and grace to the world. The church cannot do that if she is not proclaiming the whole Word of God without exceptions or excuses. Israel thought she had a special relationship with God that made her immune from judgment. Wrong! The church is falling into the same pit. God will preserve a remnant. He always has. For His sake. Make sure you are among the remnant.

Related posts: The God of Demonstrations; It’s Not All About You; Rolling Thunder; Bringing the Kingdom