I have come to the conclusion that if we fail to show the fear of God, we are not giving a complete witness. In developing this series of blogs into a message or possibly a short series, I came to a point where this hypothetical situation was necessary:
Let’s pretend you’re hanging out with some friends who aren’t Christians. That’s a good thing. Let’s pretend they want to get drunk. That’s a bad thing. There are a lot of people today who will tell you that it’s ok for you to drink with them because they’ll be able to identify with you more and that makes them more likely to become Christians. I disagree. If you do it, you’re telling them it’s acceptable to God that you do so. Scripture says otherwise. “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Now let’s take it one step further and say that you all pile into a car drunk and die. When it comes time to be judged, you’ll be ok because you’re saved, though that sin will be burned away (1 Corinthians 3:11-15). Your friends, who died with you and from the same sin you committed, being unbelievers, will be punished for it by hellfire rather than cleaned by God’s refiner’s fire. I don’t like scare tactics, but sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.
So we see that if we don’t demonstrate the proper fear and respect that God deserves and demands, what we end up demonstrating a falsehood: that God’s judgment is not to be feared.
And so, for now, I will end my online persuit of this topic.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Reverence and Relevence Part 3: The Consequence of "Yes"
Before I get into the consequences of affirming that the American Church has largely played-down the fear of God, I want to clarify my approach. I don't know what the specific role of the fear of God is in the life of the believer. I do have a feeling that we play it down more than we should. What I'm doing here is essentially recording the process of trying to figure it out. There is no guarantee of success here, I may never know. I may give up on the quest. But for the mean time, this is a subject of interest to me, so I'm going for it.
Now then, I have a little story to tell. This Wednesday, a couple of evangelists came to Cal Poly and allegedly preached that God hates the sinner as much as He hate the sin. I cannot verify nor deny that this was their message, it's what I saw in the school paper. Regardless of what actually happened, it opens up the dialogue on the fear of God (and I guess there was an impromptu debate at the site of the street preaching). I don't agree with the alleged message, but I think I can see where it would come from.
At the beginning of shows like Survivorman, Man vs. Wild, the Crocodile Hunter, even Jackass and Ninja Warrior, there is a disclaimer that says something along the lines of "These activities were performed by professionals or under the supervision of professionals. Accordingly, we must insist that no one attempts to duplicate them." Why would such a varied list of shows have the same general warning? While many would answer "because the people who do those things are stupid," the real reason is because WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS DANGEROUS! If you've watched even 5 minutes of one of these shows, you see what happens to the people who are properly prepared.
Leviticus 16:1-4 says:
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; 2 and the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 3 Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. . . .
Coming in to the presence of God is dangerous! God will not permit unclean thing in His presence! The priests were trained professionals in coming before God, and some of them died anyway! Take Steve Erwin, the Crocodile Hunter, as an example. How many times did you see him get bitten, scratched, hit, spit on, or have any number of other bad things happen to him as a result of entering the presence of animals that were familiar to him? (His unfortunate death is a lasting witness of the unpredictability of wild animals, and I wanted to mention it because it no doubt comes to mind, though I don't want to use it as an example in this analogy.) How many times did he explain "I let my guard down for a minute there," or "You really need to pay attention at all times when you're dealing with wild animals"?
Imagine what happens to the unprepared!
2 Samuel 6:3-7
3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
First of all, the ark was meant to be carried on special poles, not on a cart (Exodus 37:1-5). Second, no one was to touch the ark on pain of death, as demonstrated by Uzzah.
There are two basic lessons here.
1. One should not approach God without the proper preparation. In our case, the blood of Christ. (John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'")
2. Once you are properly prepared to come before God, you still need to guard your steps. (Romans 6:15-18 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.)
Remember all those incidents between Steve Erwin and the animals he knew and loved. By the way, do you have as close and as studious of a relationship with God as Steve Erwin did with those animals? (Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.)
Now then, I have a little story to tell. This Wednesday, a couple of evangelists came to Cal Poly and allegedly preached that God hates the sinner as much as He hate the sin. I cannot verify nor deny that this was their message, it's what I saw in the school paper. Regardless of what actually happened, it opens up the dialogue on the fear of God (and I guess there was an impromptu debate at the site of the street preaching). I don't agree with the alleged message, but I think I can see where it would come from.
At the beginning of shows like Survivorman, Man vs. Wild, the Crocodile Hunter, even Jackass and Ninja Warrior, there is a disclaimer that says something along the lines of "These activities were performed by professionals or under the supervision of professionals. Accordingly, we must insist that no one attempts to duplicate them." Why would such a varied list of shows have the same general warning? While many would answer "because the people who do those things are stupid," the real reason is because WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS DANGEROUS! If you've watched even 5 minutes of one of these shows, you see what happens to the people who are properly prepared.
Leviticus 16:1-4 says:
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered profane fire before the Lord, and died; 2 and the Lord said to Moses: "Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. 3 Thus Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with the blood of a young bull as a sin offering, and of a ram as a burnt offering. 4 He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body; he shall be girded with a linen sash, and with the linen turban he shall be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water, and put them on. . . .
Coming in to the presence of God is dangerous! God will not permit unclean thing in His presence! The priests were trained professionals in coming before God, and some of them died anyway! Take Steve Erwin, the Crocodile Hunter, as an example. How many times did you see him get bitten, scratched, hit, spit on, or have any number of other bad things happen to him as a result of entering the presence of animals that were familiar to him? (His unfortunate death is a lasting witness of the unpredictability of wild animals, and I wanted to mention it because it no doubt comes to mind, though I don't want to use it as an example in this analogy.) How many times did he explain "I let my guard down for a minute there," or "You really need to pay attention at all times when you're dealing with wild animals"?
Imagine what happens to the unprepared!
2 Samuel 6:3-7
3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
First of all, the ark was meant to be carried on special poles, not on a cart (Exodus 37:1-5). Second, no one was to touch the ark on pain of death, as demonstrated by Uzzah.
There are two basic lessons here.
1. One should not approach God without the proper preparation. In our case, the blood of Christ. (John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'")
2. Once you are properly prepared to come before God, you still need to guard your steps. (Romans 6:15-18 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.)
Remember all those incidents between Steve Erwin and the animals he knew and loved. By the way, do you have as close and as studious of a relationship with God as Steve Erwin did with those animals? (Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.)
Monday, April 7, 2008
Reverance and Relevance Part Two, "Why?"
I am posing this question for a few reasons, and I’ll list them in an honest order. First, I see a lack of the fear of God in others. I say this because of how easy it is for Christians to treat each other so poorly. I saw it initially in my own age-group, but I have come to believe that in all generations (even the elders who grew up being taught the fear of God) there is an unfortunate lack of fear. Second, that makes me look at myself and see a lack of the fear of God. The manifestation of the lack of fear in my own life is sin. It just seems too easy. Third, both of these make me ponder the role of the Fear of God in the life of the believer. My understanding at this point is centered on Hebrews 12:10-11:
Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
As a child, I dearly loved my parents, but I can also recall several times when I feared them. The first episode that comes to mind is one of my early elementary school teachers having me clean my shoes after having played in the mud. I remember cleaning out the treads with a stick as I was crying, and I kept repeating “my parents are gonna' kill me!”
As a result of this scripture and my own experience that I pray lends understanding to my relationship with God (I happen to view earthly relationships as shadows and metaphors of eternal relationships), I submit that the fear of God is especially important in our training for righteousness as immature believers. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” This scripture implies to me that fear is a part of the growing process. It seems to say that love replaces fear, and I would say our natural relationships with our parents (if they’re good parents) follow a similar development.
The girl who grows up with a “friend-mom” (tries to be cool with the younger generation, would rather party with her daughter than limit her “fun” because she’s too weak to let her daughter be mad at her for a few days for having done the right thing) loves her mom at the time. But when she’s grown up, she’s screwed up, and begins to resent her mother. The same happens with parents who are overbearing and much too strict, to be fair. The child whose parents set reasonable limitations and weren’t afraid to suffer the wrath of their children for having done the right thing even when it’s inconvenient, however, shifts from fearing as a child to respecting as a young adult to loving , appreciating, and imitating as a parent in the future. That’s what I understand the role of the fear of God to be, and that’s why I ask whether we’ve traded it for relevance. Perhaps another way to phrase the question is whether God is like a friend-mom, and if not, why do we treat Him that way?
Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
As a child, I dearly loved my parents, but I can also recall several times when I feared them. The first episode that comes to mind is one of my early elementary school teachers having me clean my shoes after having played in the mud. I remember cleaning out the treads with a stick as I was crying, and I kept repeating “my parents are gonna' kill me!”
As a result of this scripture and my own experience that I pray lends understanding to my relationship with God (I happen to view earthly relationships as shadows and metaphors of eternal relationships), I submit that the fear of God is especially important in our training for righteousness as immature believers. 1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” This scripture implies to me that fear is a part of the growing process. It seems to say that love replaces fear, and I would say our natural relationships with our parents (if they’re good parents) follow a similar development.
The girl who grows up with a “friend-mom” (tries to be cool with the younger generation, would rather party with her daughter than limit her “fun” because she’s too weak to let her daughter be mad at her for a few days for having done the right thing) loves her mom at the time. But when she’s grown up, she’s screwed up, and begins to resent her mother. The same happens with parents who are overbearing and much too strict, to be fair. The child whose parents set reasonable limitations and weren’t afraid to suffer the wrath of their children for having done the right thing even when it’s inconvenient, however, shifts from fearing as a child to respecting as a young adult to loving , appreciating, and imitating as a parent in the future. That’s what I understand the role of the fear of God to be, and that’s why I ask whether we’ve traded it for relevance. Perhaps another way to phrase the question is whether God is like a friend-mom, and if not, why do we treat Him that way?
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Exchanging Reverance For Relevance, Part One: A Question
Is the American Church guilty of sacrificing our fear and reverence of our Holy, inapproachable, infinitely just God for the sake of making Him appear more friendly to the average American?
I'll have to qualify my question here, I suppose. First, I accept that the whole of the Church in the US is not guilty of doing this, what I'm asking about here is the Church in general rather than in each individual case. Second, I believe just as other Christians do that God is not only about justice, otherwise I wouldn't be a Christian. "It is by grace you have been saved. This is through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of Almighty God, not by works, so that no man can boast"(Ephesians 2:8-9, paraphrased). What I'm asking is whether we are, in effect, acting as God's PR agent in the world, highlighting what makes us comfortable with Him and playing down what scares us or makes us uncomfortable.
In the next installments, I'll share my reasons for asking this question, explore the implications of answering "yes" to this question, and present my view (not by any means an expert evaluation of the issue).
I'll have to qualify my question here, I suppose. First, I accept that the whole of the Church in the US is not guilty of doing this, what I'm asking about here is the Church in general rather than in each individual case. Second, I believe just as other Christians do that God is not only about justice, otherwise I wouldn't be a Christian. "It is by grace you have been saved. This is through faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of Almighty God, not by works, so that no man can boast"(Ephesians 2:8-9, paraphrased). What I'm asking is whether we are, in effect, acting as God's PR agent in the world, highlighting what makes us comfortable with Him and playing down what scares us or makes us uncomfortable.
In the next installments, I'll share my reasons for asking this question, explore the implications of answering "yes" to this question, and present my view (not by any means an expert evaluation of the issue).
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