Category: Christ

TADB 132: Guard the Gospel (2)

In the previous blog, we looked at the need to guard the treasure (gospel) we have been given. We began to look at Paul’s example of guarding the gospel as he guarded it against additions.  We continue with Paul’s example as he guards it against subtractions and distortions.

  • Guarding against subtractions

Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos, an eloquent speaker who knew the Scriptures well, had arrived in Ephesus from Alexandria in Egypt. He had been taught the way of the Lord, and he taught others about Jesus with an enthusiastic spirit and with accuracy. However, he knew only about John’s baptism (Acts 18:24-25 NLT).

Being eloquent does not make you right! Apollos had embraced and proclaimed a gospel with holes in it. He knew some things correctly and proclaimed them boldly, but he did not know all he needed to know to proclaim the authentic gospel. He was sincere but also sincerely mistaken. Luke then tells us that Priscilla and Aquila came to the rescue. 

And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately (Acts 18:26). 

Apollos, being teachable, took their instruction and changed his gospel presentation. From Luke’s record of his ministry in Achaia, we learn that “he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18:27-28).

When we reduce the gospel to a few points to accommodate an audience that is used to soundbites, we risk redacting it. Since the gospel of Jesus Christ is his narrative, how much of his story can we leave out and still have the gospel? Obviously, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had different answers to that question. I think Mark, with the shortest gospel, would be shocked to hear that we can now share the gospel with one verse.

  • Guarding against distortions 

Paul’s Epistles were letters to young believers explaining and applying the gospel. Paul’s purpose was not to share the gospel in his letters but to draw out gospel implications and applications to life in Christ’s kingdom. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, he deals with several problem issues along with practical implications of the gospel message, such as correctly handling gifts of the Spirit and conducting worship in these new assemblies called churches. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul deals with misperceptions surrounding the resurrection. We can be grateful for their confusion since it gives Paul a chance to enlighten us all about our resurrected bodies. However, the critical issue at stake is not just the future state of believers but the denial of the resurrection of Christ. Paul argues that denying the resurrection for believers distorts the gospel since it discounts Christ’s resurrection. If there is no believer resurrection, he argues, there is no Christ resurrection, resulting in a distorted, counterfeit gospel.

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. (1 Corinthians 15:12-14)

The early Church fought against many heresies that taught incorrect beliefs about the nature of God, specifically of Christ. To protect the gospel against these heresies, the Church convened what historians call the Seven Ecumenical Councils to hammer out the essential gospel message, including Christ’s claims of deity and humanity. Some heresies claimed that Christ was divine but not really human, and others claimed he was human but not actually divine. A quick search of what the early church faced turns up gospel distortions (heresies) called Ebionism, Docetism, Gnosticism, Monarchianism, Arianism, Apollinarianism, and Nestorianism. Whew! 

The first Council of Nicaea, convened by the emperor Constantine I in 325, created the Nicene Creed, the gold standard and the basis for what we now call the Apostles’ Creed. This Creed establishes the doctrine of the Trinity and gives a gospel outline that we can fill in with additional relevant content. We will look more at this Creed when we explore the gospel’s content in a later blog.

A more familiar “Monuments Man” is Martin Luther. Tormented by his guilt over sin, Luther struggled to find peace with God, even as a Catholic monk. After studying the Book of Romans, he discovered that the gospel offered salvation based on grace rather than performance. Initially, Luther did not intend to break from the Catholic Church or start a reformation, but he did want to clean up the gospel message. The Church didn’t initially start out to distort the gospel, but like barnacles on an ocean-going ship, the gospel attracts distortions that we must continually clean up.

Today, when we try to abridge or abbreviate the gospel, we can wind up redacting it, leaving out essential parts. This is easy to do, especially when communicating with a biblically illiterate audience. By leaving out vital chapters of the narrative, we present a distorted gospel, not an abbreviated one. For example, when we say, “All you need to know is that Christ died for your sins and rose again,” we are redacting, not abbreviating the gospel.

We all need to be Monuments Men guarding the treasure in our generation, protecting the gospel from casual additions, subtractions, or distortions. We must not let our culture and traditions determine the gospel we understand and proclaim. It is not an American or an evangelical gospel. It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom regardless of the audience.

Later blogs will examine current additions, subtractions, and distortions (which I will refer to as gospel pathogens) that compromise the gospel and diminish its power.

TADB 131: Guard the Gospel (1)

As World War II raged, Hitler’s commanding generals began to steal art en masse. Hitler formed an outfit explicitly tasked with the systematic looting of art and cultural artifacts across Europe. The Parisian Museum, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, was designated as the central storage unit for all the treasures that the Nazis plundered. But the Nazis also hid their loot in salt mines across Germany and Austria.

Their stolen booty included works by master artists Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Johannes Vermeer, Van Gogh, and countless others. The collection even included famous works like Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child sculpture. They were all pillaged from city museums, public galleries, and private collections.

General Eisenhower looking at recovered art treasure in a salt mine.

To protect cultural artifacts from the ravages of the war, the American government formed a special task force called the Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Section (MFAA) of the Allied Expeditionary Forces.

Nicknamed the “Monuments Men,” the unit was responsible for protecting cultural relics like churches and museums, assessing damaged art inside demolished cities, and initiating restoration projects.

The Monuments Men were not trained soldiers. They were art curators, collectors, academics, and historians committed to protecting and recovering Europe’s artwork — several lost their lives in the process.1

The Apostle Paul was a Monuments Man! He protected and proclaimed the gospel treasure. Paul was concerned that, over time, the gospel would become distorted and compromised (defaced). In Paul’s letters, we find a constant theme of clarifying and defending the gospel. Knowing it would be a constant battle, he challenged Timothy to take up the same responsibility to guard this gospel treasure in his generation.

Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:14; also 1 Timothy 6:20).

As Paul guards the treasure, he reveals three ways we deface the gospel: additions, subtractions, and distortions. Let’s examine each one.

  1. Guarding against additions

Paul and Barnabus had just returned to Antioch from their first missionary journey, during which they had spread the gospel to Jews and Greeks. The gospel had taken root and believers were growing in their faith. But now, back in their sending church, they encounter a challenge to the gospel they had been proclaiming.   The issue was not so much the content as it was in the required response – which affected the content.

Believing Jews from Jerusalem had come to Antioch to add circumcision to their faith in the gospel. They claimed that without circumcision, a person could not be saved. Requiring circumcision added works to faith and merit to Christ’s righteousness.

In a typical Bible understatement, Luke says in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabus

  • had no small dissension or disputation (KJV).
  • disagreed with them, arguing vehemently (NLT).
  • were up on their feet at once in fierce protest (MSG).
  • were livid (me).

To clarify and protect the gospel, a delegation of leaders from the Antioch church, including Paul and Barnabus, went to Jerusalem to consult with the apostles and elders. They had to clarify the essential gospel message in order to export it beyond Judaism and out to the nations (Acts 1:8). If the gospel was to cross cultural boundaries with a power, it needed to be free of religious traditions and cultural baggage.

When the Jerusalem leadership convened, Paul reported how the gospel they preached had the power to convert Gentiles and his version of the gospel did not include circumcision. Peter’s conclusion: “But we believe that we(the Jews) are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they (the Gentiles) also are” (Acts 15:11 ). Verdict:  Circumcision is not essential to the gospel, leave it out.

Armed with a letter from the Jerusalem leaders, the delegation returns to Antioch with clarity on the gospel, with no additions. But Paul did not let down his guard. He knew it would come up again and was looking for it. Sure enough, it did with the church in Galatia.

Jewish believers again attempted to add works of the Jewish law to the gospel. When a group from James in Jerusalem came to visit the church in Galatia, they, along with Peter, created a two-tier faith. The higher level was for those who added works of the law to their justification and the lower level was for those who just had faith. Paul was incensed. 

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ (Gal 1:6-7).

Peter’s error clarified the gospel and gave us key verses like Galatians 2:20.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We, too, must guard against adding our ideas to what it means to embrace the gospel. Over time, we tend to add a little here and there until our cultural baggage compromises the historic gospel. 

A current example could be adding the phrase “Invite Jesus into your heart” as the response to the gospel. It is certainly not at the same level as adding circumcision, but an addition nonetheless. Nowhere in Scripture are we told to say that. It most likely came from an inaccurate understanding of Revelations 3:20, and it became ensconced by the classic painting by Holman Hunt (1853) of Jesus standing alongside a Gothic wooden door. This Light of the World painting was a common picture in hospitals, homes, and churches (we had one in my home growing up). Countless sermons used this picture to show how to respond to the gospel. As we will explore later, the gospel’s invitation is that we join him in his grand story, not that he joins our little story.

The following blog will look at guarding against subtractions and distortions.

1 For a fuller story, read this article in the Smithsonian Magazine (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-monuments-men-180949569/)

TADB 130: The Gospel Begins with God (2)

In the previous blog, we looked at how the perception of God profoundly influences individual lives and societies. Our understanding often stems from unconscious influences rather than intentional thought. The gospel’s expansion, as recorded in Acts, illustrates how the early apostles adapted their message to varied audiences with differing views of God, emphasizing the necessity of accurately conveying God’s nature.

During the first centuries of kingdom expansion, it became evident that the nature of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit (the Trinity) needed to be clarified. The results of this clarification come down to us in the form of creeds. While most of the early creeds focused on Jesus’s nature as both God and man, the early creeds began with a clear statement on the nature of God, implying that if we get it wrong about God the Father, we get the gospel wrong.

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible”(Nicene Creed).

The relevant question for us today is: What does our audience believe about God? Recently, our audience for the gospel has been mainly a mix of believers and “God-fearers” with a small percentage of “others.”  That is no longer true.

Pew Research Center studies have shown that the number of Americans who believe in God with absolute certainty has declined in recent years. Conversely, the number of those who have doubts about God’s existence—or do not believe in God at all—has grown. 

The American Worldview Inventory is an annual nationwide survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center. A current survey reveals that only 6% of U.S. adults have a biblical worldview – a way of thinking and behaving predominantly driven by accepting biblical truths, precepts, and commands (including a concept of God).  Worldview Inventory of 2020 showed that:

•     Americans are now more confident about the existence of Satan than they are of God!

•     Only half of the nation accepts the orthodox biblical view of God as one who created and controls the universe; is omnipotent, omniscient, without fault, and just in His decisions.

Project Director George Barna stressed the significance of these new findings. “It’s no wonder that more than nine out of ten Americans lack a biblical worldview given that peoples’ fundamental understanding of the nature and existence of God is flawed.”

These trends raise questions: When people say they don’t believe in God, what are they rejecting? Are they rejecting belief in any higher power or spiritual force in the universe? Or are they rejecting only a traditional Christian idea of God – perhaps recalling images of a bearded man in the sky? Conversely, when respondents say they believe in God, what do they believe in – God as described in the Bible or some other spiritual force or supreme being?

Our picture of God is the starting point for understanding the gospel. If we add the gospel of Jesus to a distorted picture of God, we will get a warped faith.  For example, if our God is a cosmic genie, then the gospel becomes a means of narcissism, not kingdom transfer and a new creation.

Sixty years ago, I learned to share the gospel using “The Bridge” illustration. I would begin by drawing two cliffs on paper, each one representing God and Man. Then, I would ask the person to describe their picture of God, and as they did, I would note it alongside God on the diagram. I would consistently get a description that God was the creator, holy, sovereign, and sometimes judge.  The answers usually fit the standard Catholic/Protestant view of God. What was most often left out, however, was love. This omission gave the opening to suggest that God also loved them personally and that Jesus was the story of God’s love.

Today, we have a different audience. The cultural picture of God is more often that he is loving but not the Creator who is holy, sovereign, and just. “God loves me; that is what he is supposed to do, right?”  The Worldview Inventory found that 71% of Americans “have no doubt God loves them unconditionally” (think Santa Claus).

With an increasingly biblically illiterate culture, we need to ask, “What picture of God is necessary before a person can understand the gospel?” We don’t need to present a course in Old Testament theology, but we do need a starting foundation.  How would you describe the God who is the source and author of the gospel?

Several attributes come to mind when I think through the Old Testament narrative. Each one impacts the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom.

  • There is one God (Deut. 6:4; Isa 46:9).
  • God is self-caused and has no beginning (Gen. 1:1).
  • God is the creator of the cosmos, both seen and unseen, nature and humanity (Gen. 1:1; Isa. 41:12; 45:18).
  • God is relational (Gen. 3:8+).
  • God is sovereign over all he has created, owner, Lord (Isa. 40:21-26).
  • God is holy, totally other than what he has created, morally pure, no evil in him (Isa. 6:1+; 46:5).
  • God is just and fair, the judge of righteousness (Isa. 61:8).
  • God is loving, kind, and compassionate (Psalm 136; Isa. 63:7-8).

In his book “What’s Gone Wrong with the Harvest,” Dr. James Engel popularized the idea that people are on a journey towards comprehending and responding to the gospel. He divided that journey into eight steps, from -8 to 0. At the -8 stage, people are discovering that there is a God and what he is like. Once a foundation of God is established, the gospel can be introduced and gradually understood until it is accepted.  Engel’s point is that people make a series of decisions along their journey to authentic faith, and it begins with their picture of God.

If God is the beginning of the gospel, one of the most important questions we can ask someone is, “What is your picture of God?” 

The gravest question before the Church is always God Himself.

(AW Tozer)

TADB 129: The Gospel begins with God (1)

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.  The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.  …..   For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man or woman is not what he or she at a given time may say or do, but what he or she in their deep heart conceives God to be like.  We tend, by a secret law of the soul, to move toward our mental image of God.  (AW Tozer, “The Knowledge of the Holy”)

Each of us has a default picture (more likely a caricature) of God lodged in the cognitive unconscious that affects how we live. That picture was not developed by some rational, intentional process. Instead, it was unconsciously developed as the result of anecdotal evidence, experiences, and the influence of those we admire—parents as well as music stars. Regardless of the source, our view of God will be distorted if not corrected by biblical revelation.  The answer to the question, “What is God like?” plays a critical role in the expansion of the gospel of the risen king.

After the resurrection, Jesus told his disciples to wait until they received the Holy Spirit before launching his kingdom expansion. Then, they were to be his witnesses “both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). It was to be a systematic expansion from the center of Jerusalem out to the nations in an ever-expanding radius.

The gospel expansion was not just geographically outward but also outward toward people with a different worldview: a different view of God. In Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, the people shared the same picture of God as the Yahweh of Hebrew Scripture. That would not be true in the “remotest part of the earth.”

Luke records the implementation of the Acts 1:8 strategy in the Book of Acts. It begins with Peter’s message at Pentecost in Jerusalem, where Jews were gathered from various far-reaching locations. Next, the Apostle Philip expands the Acts 1:8 strategy when he goes to towns in Samaria. Samaritans were part Jewish and believed in the Yahweh of Scripture but had some different cultural and cultic practices.

After Paul was converted (Acts 9), he went to Damascus, about 135 miles north of Jerusalem. His purpose was not to arrest Jewish followers of the Way but to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. Although the location was outside Israel’s borders, his audience was still Jewish. 

But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ (Acts 9:22). 

The next expansion of the gospel comes when Peter connects with a centurion named Cornelius, a Roman Gentile living in the coastal town of Caesarea.  This is our first record of the gospel expansion into a non-Jewish culture.  Although Cornelius was a Gentile, we are told that he is “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, and gave many alms to the Jewish people and prayed to God continually” (Acts 10:2).  He was called a God-fearer or a Jewish proselyte who worshipped Yahweh of Scripture but did not conform to all the Jewish practices.  God-fearers were commonly found in the synagogues throughout the diaspora.

Directed by an angel, Cornelius sent for Peter, but he didn’t know why. Upon Peter’s arrival, Cornelius explained, “I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord” (Acts 10:33).

Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation, the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all) (Acts 10:34-36).

Peter immediately spoke about the gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord since Cornelius, a Jewish proselyte, shared the Jewish view of Yahweh. However, the further away from Jerusalem the disciples went, the less true that would be.

For example, when Paul went to Athens (Acts 17), he first started in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, but he did not remain there. He also went into the marketplace, where he talked to the Stoics, Epicureans, and anyone else interested:  Gentiles with various views of what God was like. 

The Stoics believed in God as the rational order found in nature, and living in harmony with this divine reason would lead to virtue and happiness.  In their understanding, God is not a personal deity but simply the organizing principle of the cosmos.  It is a form of pantheism.  The Epicureans believed the greatest good is to seek modest pleasures to gain a state of tranquility, freedom from fear, and absence from bodily pain. To Epicureans, the gods did exist, but they lived so far away from the affairs of Man that they didn’t interfere with humanity.

Paul’s message aroused the curiosity of people who like to discuss new ideas, so they invited Paul to the Areopagus to hear more. Now, talking to Gentiles without a Jewish concept of God, Paul focuses on their alter to the “Unknown God.”  He said, “What you worship, I proclaim.”  The unknown God is knowable. So, what is this “Unknown God” like?  In this case study, we find that Paul doesn’t begin with the story of Jesus but the story of Yahweh.

(Acts 17:23-31)

Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

Having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead (The proof of this Man’s credentials is that God raised him from the dead. God is even sovereign over death.)

The God who made the world and all things in it (Creator of the cosmos, distinct from the cosmos, creator of the visible and invisible).

since He is Lord of heaven and earth (God is sovereign over all He has created, Master, Owner)

does not dwell in temples made with hands (God is an invisible reality, too complex to be confined to a physical space such as a temple, pagan, or Jewish.)

nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything (He does not need humans for anything, not a quid pro quo relationship; God is self-sustaining)

since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things (He is the source of life to nature and humans; it is a gift from the God who is generous)

and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth (He is sovereign over the affairs of men. He started with one person and intentionally developed families, tribes, and nations. He is both transcendent and immanent.)

having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation (He is sovereign over the affairs of men)

that they would seek God if perhaps they might grope (feel) for Him and find Him (God’s purpose for humanity is to discover God by experience. He wants to be known and has made knowing him possible.)

though He is not far from each one of us  (God is immanent but invisible)

for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’  (We live because of his providential love)

“Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man (We cannot reduce God to something He has made; he is totally other, holy)

 “Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent (God graciously overlooks our ignorance to offer us a way to turn around and know him. It is an offer, an invitation for everyone, everywhere.)

because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness (God is the judge of the affairs of men. He is also righteous, holy, and just, The ultimate source of morality.)

through a Man whom He has appointed (God has provided a unique Person in time, space, and history who will be this Judge; He is already present.)

 (The proof of this Man’s credentials is that God raised him from the dead. God is even sovereign over death.)

Paul was not presenting the gospel message but describing the God of Jewish Scripture. Paul didn’t refer to the gospel theme until he established the foundation of God’s (Yahweh’s) nature.  Only when he presented God as Judge did he introduce Jesus as the “Man” God will use to bring about judgment, a “Man” God raised from the dead.

The response of the crowd varied: some scoffed; some were curious. The curious listened to Paul explain the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom.  We assume some became believers (Acts 17:32-34).  The point is that Paul started at a different place when his audience lacked a view of God necessary for the gospel.

(To be continued.  The next blog will relate this theme to our current culture.)

TADB 128: The Gospel of the Risen King

Over the past several years, I have used this blog to share my insights and observations on discipleship. Discipleship and making disciples have been the focus of my life and ministry for the past 60 years. The blogs and the trilogy, “Rethinking Discipleship,” emerged from them as a result of a long journey of exploring, learning, teaching, and mentoring. All of the above was based on the conviction that “making disciples” lies at the heart of the Great Commission. Christians need spiritual teachers, parents, and mentors who not only teach them biblical truth but equip them to live the Christian life. I still have that conviction.   

My passion for discipleship and ministry is deeply rooted in the ministry of The Navigators, founded by Dawson Trotman during WWII.  As an avid evangelist, Dawson Trotman had an aha moment one day when he picked up a hitchhiker who began his conversation with a string of profanities.  Dawson eagerly began to share the gospel with the young man when he suddenly realized he had shared the gospel with this same young man a few weeks earlier along this same road.  The young man who had committed his life to Christ earlier now showed no signs of spiritual growth.  Trotman concluded that leading people to faith was insufficient; they needed “follow-up.”

So, when Billy Graham expanded his evangelist crusades in the US in the 1950s, he asked Dawson Trotman and the Navigators to help develop the “follow-up” material for new converts. Graham knew that the thousands of new converts from his crusades needed help and Trotman specialized in helping new Christians grow.  I am a product of that rich heritage.  

Over the last 75 years, the focus on follow-up, or discipleship as we now call it, has birthed numerous organizations and created a plethora of materials to help build on the foundation of the gospel. There is no question of the importance of building people up in the faith.  Paul said, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building on it” (1 Corinthians 3:10).

However, recently, a troubling question has been on my mind. With the lack of spiritual fruit still so prevalent in the church today despite all our discipleship efforts, is there more going on than a need for better follow-up, better materials, and better mentors?  Using the title of a book by Dr James Engel in 1975, I want to ask, “What’s Gone Wrong with the Harvest?”

Where is the spiritual maturity and fruitfulness that should be evident from the gospel?   Why is spiritual maturity still the exception rather than the norm among people who identify themselves as Christians? Could it be that fruitlessness is the result not only of insufficient discipleship but of an incomplete understanding of and inadequate response to the historical gospel?

For the past several years, I have been reading, studying, and reflecting on what has become a critical assessment of my understanding of the gospel and how I present it. One of my early conclusions is that the historical “Gospel” is more of a narrative to be told and less of a doctrine to be asserted. I have concluded that the historic gospel is the narrative of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I call the Gospel of the Risen King.

Since that initial conclusion, I have continued exploring this gospel theme, asking myself if my culture has distorted my understanding of the gospel and if I need to take a fresh look at this critical foundation of the Great Commission. The more I researched this gospel theme, the more I discovered I was not alone. Others have been there before me and have voiced similar concerns. My list of mentors in this quest continues to grow.  One of them is AW Tozer.  More than half a century ago, he wrote,

Something is wrong somewhere.  Could it be that the cause behind this undeniable failure of the gospel to effect moral change is a further-back failure of the messenger to grasp the real meaning of the message? Could it be that, in his eagerness to gain one more convert, he makes the Way of Life too easy?  It would seem so.  In other times it was not an uncommon thing to witness the wholesale closing of saloons and brothels as a direct result of the preaching of the gospel of Christ in revival campaigns.  Surely there must have been a difference of emphasis between the message they preached in those days and the ineffective message we preach today.     ( AW Tozer, “The Set of the Sail”)   

 In the following blogs, I will share some of my research, studies, observations, hypotheses, and tentative conclusions. I am on a journey, shaking up and sifting some long-held assumptions. I am reminded of the Bereans in Acts 17:11.

 The people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. (NLT)

As I share my journey of asking questions and making observations, I invite you to join me by using my writing as a catalyst for your quest and discovery. Someone once told me, “We fail to get good answers because we don’t ask the right questions.”  So, in the journey ahead, I will ask questions that may challenge some long-held concepts. In the process, I want to more clearly understand the foundation of my faith

so that I can build on it and proclaim it with all the power it provides. With that as a preamble, I will use “The Gospel of the Risen King” as my working theme.

Here are a few of my observations that will be the framework for asking questions, making observations, and suggesting applications. One is the self-evident observation that the gospel has always been under attack. Since he could not prevent the gospel, Satan’s strategy is to distort it.   Paul not only had to present the gospel message but also defend it. Realizing that the gospel must be protected in each generation, he charged Timothy to “guard the treasure” entrusted to him.  He would say the same to us.      

Since the term is not used in the same way each time it is used in Scripture, we must first ask, “What is the gospel?”   To define the gospel message that has the power to “save,” we need to recognize the object of the preposition “of” as in the gospel of ____. Once defined, we can then ask whether or not we have added to it, subtracted from it, or distorted it.

The Gospel of the risen King has the power to bear spiritual fruit, create new life, and transform hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. If that is not happening, is something inherently amiss in our understanding and presentation of this gospel? 

Then, I want to explore the possibility that our gospel lacks power because it is under attack from cultural pathogens.  I have identified six current ones that I believe threaten the health of this gospel and rob it of its power. Once identified, each pathogen has a fairly obvious antidote. The hard part will be using it.

In the past, we have framed our gospel presentations on assumptions about our audience that are no longer valid. Therefore, we must look closer at our audience and adapt how we present the gospel to create understanding. With some audiences, the adaptation is minor; for others, it will take a major overhaul. The gospel of Jesus and his kingdom has the power to create new life and transfer people from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light.  Reconciled and realigned with Christ as King, we then reflect Christ’s image from a transformed heart through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  As followers of the risen King, our mission is to be the vanguard, guarding the treasure of the gospel, telling His story, expanding God’s kingdom one life at a time, and living out the GOSPEL OF THE RISEN KING. 

TAD Blog 125: Composing Your Life Song

We have been developing the privilege, process, and practice of discovering God in the landscapes of our daily lives. Discovering God is based on the reality that God wants to be discovered and has revealed himself in various ways so that everyone can know firsthand the God of the universe. It sounds incredible – even too good to be true. 

The Old Testament narrative tells us that humanity’s rebellion thwarted God’s desire to be known early in our historical timeline. As a result, we were exiled from God’s presence and connection to his story. Living out our own story, separated from God, we lack the spiritual capacity to know him relationally.   Paul describes it as being dead.

Yet, the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us the exciting news of a way back, a way to reconnect to God’s story and rediscover our own narrative intricately woven into the grand tapestry of his. This is not just theoretical knowledge but a personal, intimate ‘knowing God’ that Paul describes as his ultimate desire. ‘More than that, I count all things to be loss, given the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord’ (Philippians 3:8).

Scripture tells us about God, but we can only know him by encountering Him in the landscapes of our daily lives. The biblical narrative introduces us to men and women who have discovered God. Their stories are not to be a vicarious experience but rather a catalyst for discovering God in our storyline.

Moses was after knowing God when he said, “Show me your glory.”  Sometimes, God shows up in dramatic, hard-to-miss ways, yet at other times, he hides in plain sight where we need to use our lens of faith to see the evidence left behind. We referred to this discovery technique as a CSI (Christ Scene Investigation).  (See chapter _______)

We mentioned previously that God wants us to know him and others to know him because of our testimony. David illustrated this in Psalm 40:3: “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.”

The apostle John was even more explicit as he began his first letter. “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was revealed, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was revealed to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3).

To share our God discovery, we must first identify those defining moments where God shows up. When we encounter God’s presence in our storyline, we have the basis for composing what I am calling our Life Song.   Our Song comprises various verses, each expressing an encounter with God in a particular landscape. The following are suggested ways to capture your Life Song so you can play (sing/share) it with others. 

Steps for composing your Life Song.

  1. Identify and describe briefly a defining moment in your past. 

    I use a defining moment to describe a kairos moment, a short or long period with a significant experience in your chronos (linear time) storyline. 

    There are two words for time in the Greek language. One is chronos time, the linear duration expressed in hours, days, and weeks:  chronological time. Another is kairos time. Kairos time refers to a moment, season, or opportune time. Kairos time is not concerned with the length of time but with the significance of the time. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative meaning (See TAD Blog 91). Our life stories are comprised of defining (kairos) moments of various intensity and duration

    • How did he meet your needs? 
    • Who was involved?
    • What was accomplished?
    • You may need your CSI lens of faith to see the evidence of God’s presence. Often, God shows up dressed in ordinary street clothes. (Remember the disciples on the road to Emmaus.)

    2. How did you see God show up during that time? 

    Since God has promised to be with us wherever we go, the question is not whether God showed up, but how he did, and did we recognize him?

    In Romans 1, Paul describes the devastating moral slide on those who fail to recognize the nature of God when he shows up in creation. Moses warned the Hebrew people that they would take credit for God’s blessing if they did not recognize and remember the touch of God (Deuteronomy 8).

    3. What character trait of God was the most evident:  faithfulness, sovereignty, goodness, etc.?

    4. How would you finish the statement, God was my ________?

    5. Ascribe a name to God that would identify what he did.

    • A name already used in Scripture.
    • A name not found in Scripture but is yet descriptive. (David calls God his Rock, Shelter, Banner, and Shepherd in the Psalms.)

    6. Compose this verse of your song.

    Write out your narrative using #1-5 above. 

    Psalm 40:1-3 is a highly abbreviated Song from David. “I waited patiently for the LORD, And He reached down to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the mud, And He set my feet on a rock, making my footsteps firm.” 

    7. Share your song with a friend or family member. You can start by saying, “Did I ever tell you about a time in my life when God showed up in a significant way?”  “One generation shall praise Your works to another and shall declare Your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4). 

    8. Can a visual marker help you remember this encounter with God?

    9. Expand your Life Song by dividing your life into decades. Identify at least one defining moment in each one. Do steps 1-5 above with each one.

    Review

    • God is writing your story into his.
    • Your Life Song is the collection of defining moments (verses) when God showed up in a significant way.
    • Your life song is your spiritual heritage you need to pass on to the next generation.

    It is ultimately about God, not us. Our Life Song brings God glory as it lifts him up. When we share it, we are saying God showed up in my life, and he will in yours if you look for him.

    For Reflection

    1.  Identify one defining moment following steps 1-4.
    2. Share it with someone.

    TADB 112: Discovering God in the Mountain Meadow

    Years ago, my wife and I went on an ATV trip in mid-July, negotiating part of the Alpine Loop in southwestern Colorado.  The trail was challenging but not dangerous.  Working our way over the rocks and ruts, we steadily climbed above the tree line at about 12,000 feet.  There the trail leveled off and we arrived at our planned destination. 

    Looking off to our left, nestled between the mountain peaks, was a lovely alpine meadow called the American Basin.  We were told about its beauty, and we were not disappointed.  The meadow bloomed with wildflowers and a stream, fed by the runoff from the snow still on the peaks ahead, gently flowed through it.   Crossing the creek to get further into the meadow, we looked up on the distant peaks and saw a prospector with his pack mule slowly making his way up a twisting trail far in the distance.

    It was a place of tranquil beauty unspoiled by noisy people, picnic tables or manufactured objects.  Once we shut off our ATVs, the only sound was that of the creek as it made its way over the rocks.  It was a moment of peace.  Resting from the effort of our climb, we soaked in the solitude and natural beauty displayed around us.  We even took a few moments to dream of living in the meadow.  We could picture a small log cabin in the middle of the flowers, smoke lazily drifting from the fireplace as we sat in rocking chairs on the front porch, sipping our mugs of coffee and gazing at the distant mountains.  However, afternoon storms are typical at this season and elevation, so we knew we could not stay long.  We needed to head back down below the tree line before it arrived.

    Dreaming is enjoyable, but the reality is even Alpine meadows do not continuously bloom with flowers.  After a few short months of spring and summer, winter sets in and no one would be sitting on the front porch of their cabin.  It is the same with life’s meadows.  They are a welcome part of our life journey but are usually brief.  They give us a moment of awe and wonder, a glimpse of something not yet, a taste of what we lost back in the first chapters of Genesis, and a hope of what will be restored at the coming of our King.  Then the meadows are gone and a new landscape of life arrives. 

    Mt. Meadow Landscape

    My picture of life’s meadows is like the Alpine American Basin filled with wildflowers, soft sunshine, peace, and quiet with no freeways, skyscrapers, or congestion.   The air is clear, the temperature warm, and the humidity low.  But that is just me.  You may have a different picture and that is OK.  Paint your own equivalent landscape as we take a moment to travel through the “mountain meadow landscape”.

    Life’s mountain meadows are places for spiritual, emotional, and physical refreshment.  They are places where we have a sense of “it doesn’t get any better than this” – at least not this side of heaven.  There is not only the presence of beauty but the absence of what is unpleasant.  We are at peace; joy is felt but hard to express (1 Peter 1:6-8).  But as wonderful as it is, we usually will not spend much time in the meadow before moving on.  Of all the landscapes, our stay in this one seems disappointingly brief.

    The cosmos

    Several mountain meadows come to mind as I think through the biblical storyline.  The Psalmist shares a mountain meadow moment in Psalms 8.

    When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have set in place; What is man that You think of him, And a son of man that You are concerned about him?  Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!  You have him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put everything under his feet, All sheep and oxen, And also the animals of the field, The birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.  LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!  (Psalm 8:3-9)

    For the Psalmist, creation stirred awe in his heart with humble gratitude … as it should for us.

    The Transfiguration

    Jesus took three original disciples to a “high mountain” where he was transfigured before them (Matt. 17:1+).  We are told that his garments became “radiant and exceedingly white,” Elijah and Moses appeared, dialoguing with Jesus, and a voice is heard from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to him.”  It had to be a “wow” moment for those three Hebrew men.

    Peter’s response was (my paraphrase), “It does not get any better than this!  Let’s set up camp and stay for a while.”  But the meadow was only a short respite.  Descending the mountain meadow, they were quickly back on the battlefield, encountering a man with a lunatic son and nine frustrated disciples.

    The Emmaus Road

    Christ’s post-resurrection appearance to Cleopas and his friend as they walked on the road to Emmaus was another mountain meadow.  For a short time, these men were in the presence of the risen Christ as he explained the historical narrative of the gospel message.  As evening approached, they wanted to linger in the meadow, urging this stranger to stay longer.  But after dinner, he left.  Having finally recognized the stranger as Christ, they returned to their ordinary lives with the reflection, “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (The good kind of heartburn).

    Mary experienced a mountain meadow when Christ came to visit her and Martha.  Time flew by as she sat at his feet, listening to his words.  On the other hand, Martha missed it with her preoccupation with responsibility and duty.  Jesus’ gentile rebuke to Martha was over her choice not to spend a moment in the meadow (Luke 10:38-42).

    Over 5,000 people had a meadow experience one day as they sat on the hillside listening to Jesus teach about the kingdom.  Their hearts were touched, and their sick were healed; time flew by.  In the meadow, they forgot about their hunger until the disciples finally brought it up.  The day ended with a surprise dinner and enough food for a “to-go” box.  Like all mountain meadows, it did not last long, but I can imagine they talked about it for a long time. 

    God shows up

    In the mountain meadow, God often appears as our Good Shepherd, leading us into green pastures.  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3).  In the meadow, the Good Shepherd restores our souls and refreshes our spirits.

    He may also show up as the grand Creator, God Almighty, El Elohim, the One who does above and beyond what we could ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).   In the meadow, we are overwhelmed by his grace and love and our unworthiness of it.

    Response

    In the landscape of the meadow, we feel a unique sense of joy and contentment.  It may not be in the total absence of conflict, but it is like an oasis in the desert, a moment when nothing else matters.  We feel a sense of joy and tranquility, the temporary absence of conflict, anxiety, and adversity, a moment we would like to stay in forever.  In the mountain meadow, we experience a moment of rest, joy, and happiness that dominates all other landscapes.

    We need to be careful not to miss the meadow moments in which we learn to rest, relax, and take a deep breath.  In those times, praise and thanksgiving flow naturally and spontaneously as we experience God’s greatness and recognize our own personal inadequacy.  It is a time in which we can exchange our hurried agendas for a look around at the meadow, enjoying it to the fullest. 

    Jesus had the mountain meadow in mind when he said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, 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 shall find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29).

    Here is a quick summary of the landscapes we have considered so far:

    LandscapeAffect I feel……God’s touch God is my….Our response I need to……Scripture
    Stormshelpless, fear, overwhelmedDeliverer, Anchor, Shelter, Sustainerhold on, wait, hopeIsa. 25:4; Matt.  7:24+ Ps. 107:28-32; Ecc. 11:5 Isa. 64:4
    Battlefieldsthreatened, fear, vulnerableFortress, Defender, Protector, Shieldfight, armor up, flee,Eph. 2:2-3, 6:13; Jam. 4:7 1 Peter 5:8; Matt. 4:1-11
    Thorn Countrytrapped, fear, guilt, weak, hopelessProvider, El Shaddai, All-Sufficient Onewait, remember, hope, be content2 Cor. 12:7+; Jn. 13:7 Jn. 19:5
    Mountain Meadowshumbled, contentment joy, awe, wonderCreator, Shepherd,  praise, express gratitude, restPsa. 8; 145, Matt.  11:28-29

    For Reflection:

    1.  Describe a time when you felt you were in a mountain meadow of life.

    2.  In what other ways does God show up in the meadow?

    TADB 95: Show Me Your Glory

    The glory of God seems like a topic for theologians like JI Packer, AW Tozer, DA Carson, RC Spraul, and CS Lewis.  (Why do they all have initials for their first name?)  But when we do think about it, what comes to mind:  a fuzzy cloud, a pillar of fire, misty haze over the Ark of the Covenant, or Moses’ glowing face after meeting with God?  Medieval painters tried to capture it with a halo around the heads of saints.

    Although usually a religious term, glory refers to the expressed nature or radiant beauty, a distinguished quality or asset of a person or thing.1

    In our solar system, visible light is the primary expression of the sun’s glory along with ultraviolet light, heat, and radio waves.  These various forms of electromagnetic energy are the sun’s glory (expressions, attributes) but not the sun’s essence.  The sun’s essence is different from its expressions.  The sun’s essence involves the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen into helium, where its expressions involve light and other electromagnetic radiation. 

    The terms glory, attributes, or character all refer to God’s divine nature.  Scripture also uses the term “His name,” not as a delineator between people, but to represent the composite of His attributes. 

    Principle #1:  God’s glory expresses His essence through His attributes.

    The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God.  …

    They are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures.2

    When Moses encountered God in the desert at the burning bush, he asked, “Who shall I say sent me?”  God gives him the closest description we have of God’s essence when He says, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14).  As Moses returns to Egypt and challenges Pharoah to release the Israelites, God begins to manifest the attributes of the “I Am” to Moses and Pharoah through the various displays of God’s power over the plagues. 

    Later, as Moses and the Israelites camp at Mt Sinai, Moses appeals to God, “Show me your glory.”  His request was not an essence question but an attribute one.  Moses is asking for a personal demonstration of the attributes of the God who calls Himself “I Am” (Exodus 33:18). 

    Principle #2: God expresses His glory most clearly through the incarnation of Christ.

    God’s ultimate answer to the request “show me your glory” came with the incarnation of His Son.  John begins his Gospel with the declaration, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Paul repeats this same thought when writing to the Corinthians.  “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).  During Christ’s final days with his disciples, Philip repeats Moses’ request by saying, “Show us the Father.”  To which Jesus replied, “He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9; 2 Cor. 4:6).              

    Jesus said, “It is finished,” only two times.  One was on the cross; the other was before the cross in His John 17 prayer to the Father.  “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).  He then explains the work He had accomplished, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world” (John 17:6 emphasis added).  The word manifest means to show, make visible or demonstrate.  So then, Christ claims that He had finished His mission of glorifying the Father by making visible His attributes to those disciples who followed Him. 

    Jesus, then, concludes his prayer with, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me” (John 17:24).  (The glory he had before the world was John 17:5.)  The glory Jesus manifested while He was on the earth is only part of His glory.  Evidently, there is more for us to see, and it will take our resurrected bodies and all of eternity to explore it.

    Principle #3: God’s glory needs a context for its expression.

    God shows His glory most universally in creation.  David wrote, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  The skies display his craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known” (Psalm 19:1-3 NLT).  Many of the early scientists who discovered our physical laws saw the fingerprint of God in their discoveries.  Paul wrote the Romans and said that nature shows to all men God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and divine nature (Rom. 1:20).

    God also has shown His glory through the Scriptural narrative.  The storyline of the Bible is how God reveals Himself to humanity first through the Patriarchs and then through Israel, His chosen people.  Their journey to discover what Yahweh is like is also our journey.  As we travel with the men and women of Bible history, we learn along with them.  Their struggle to get it right is our struggle.  We can quickly identify with their successes and failures.

    God responded to Moses’ request to show him His glory with an Illustration.  He said that Moses could not look directly at his glory but only see it after He had “passed by.”  Hidden in the safety of a cave, God shielded Moses showing only “His back.”  Moses learned several principles about God’s glory from this encounter.  1.  God wants to reveal His glory.  2.  Moses cannot now see (comprehend) all of God’s glory (i.e., His face).  3.  He can see God’s glory only indirectly after God “passed by.”

    Scripture does not describe what Moses saw from his hole in the hill, but it was only a prelude to what he would see over the next 40 years.  During the 40-year desert wandering, Moses discovered an array of God’s attributes (His glory) in surprising and often uncomfortable ways.  The desert journey was a laboratory for God to show Moses (and Israel) His glory.

    Along the desert journey, Moses saw God’s attributes, such as His: * Holiness through the law’s moral code and the tabernacle’s design. * Guidance as the Israelites are led by a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. * Provision by the manna from the sky and water from a rock. * Forgiveness, mercy, grace, and compassion through Israel’s failures and constant rebellion. 

    Moses recorded much of what he discovered about God’s glory in his Deuteronomy speeches.  The final chapter of the book, referred to as the “Song of Moses,” summarizes what he experienced and wanted to pass on to future generations.

    Today God continues to show/demonstrate his glory through his created universe, the Scriptural narrative, and our life events.  God will always show up in our script consistent with Scriptural revelation. 

    We are not free to create our picture of God based only on our individual experiences.  Experience doesn’t determine truth, Scripture does.  Our experience only illustrates what has already been revealed.

    Many people mistake viewing God through their experience and create a caricature of God rather than a correct one.

    We can, however, personally experience what he has already revealed about his glory/attributes as we walk with Him.  David challenged his readers to their own experience with God’s glory by saying, “O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).  God’s goodness is not in question, but our awareness is. 

    Apprentices of Jesus are continually making the Moses request:  Show me your glory.  Our short pilgrimage on planet earth is our laboratory for experiencing (seeing) the glory of God.  The Bible narrative talks about God’s attributes, but in the context of our everyday lives, if we look carefully, we will see them demonstrated.

    The following blog will look at discovering God’s glory by investigation.

    1  Vines New Testament Word Studies 2 AW Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, p.24

    For Reflection

    1.  What other attributes of God did Moses discover during his 40-year journey?

    2.  What has been a recent experience where you were aware of an attribute of God?  Which one?

    TADB 94: Designed for Discovery

    Humanity is the only species in God’s created order that asks questions.  So why?!  Questions are valuable since they ultimately lead to discovery.  Possibly the two most important life questions any person can ask is, “Is there a God, and if so, what is he like?”  The biblical answers to these questions are “Yes, there is a God, and he is: 

     1.  Infinite:  Outside of time, eternal

     2.  Transcendent:  Outside of the created cosmos and independent from it

     3.  Immanent: Knowable and personal.

    The first two traits are outside our comprehension and should leave us in awe.  God’s immanence should not only create awe but ignite our design for discovery.  Consider the following observations:

    God wants to be known.

    And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:13).

    The habitable zone (called the Goldilocks zone) is the location of a planet relative to a star, where advanced, carbon-based life can exist.  In particular, it is a place in which water can exist in liquid form.  The earth is in this finely tuned zone around our host star, the sun. 

    The habitable zone for advanced carbon-based life also applies to the location of a planet within a galaxy.  In the book The Privileged Planet, Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards make a case for the unique position of our earth not only in our solar system but also in the Milky Way galaxy.  The earth is located in a habitable part of our galaxy and in a habitable part that is relatively free from cosmic gas and dust.  Even before the telescope, we could look into the heavens and see out into the vast regions of our cosmos.

    Because of our planet’s unique position in our solar system and our host galaxy, we can extend our discovery further into the cosmos with orbiting space telescopes like Hubble and Webb (the newest infrared telescope), anticipating even more discovery into the mystery of the origin of our universe. 

    So why did God give earth this unique position?  Gonzales and Richards suggest God put planet earth in this specific position to allow us to discover something about him.  The Psalmist thought so, too.  “The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  The skies display his craftsmanship.  Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known” (Psalm 19:1-2).  The implication:  God wants to be discovered.  

    We are created to know God.

    As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, God (Psalm42:1).

    Not only does God want to be known, but he has designed us with the ability to know him.  St. Augustine wrote, “Because you have made us for Yourself, our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You.”  Centuries earlier, Solomon wrote, “Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.  He has planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). 

    Even though there is still a vertical tug in the hearts of men, sin has obscured our view of God.  Notice that Isaiah says our sin has created a barrier so that what can be known is not known. 

    Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short that it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear (Isa 59:1-2).

    What can be known about God requires a discovery zone.

    God has not just given us a list of his traits but placed them into a context in which he can uniquely reveal himself:  a laboratory for discovering the infinite and transcendent God through personal experience.  God’s revelation in our broken world laboratory is a place where the spiritual world looks on in wonder and amazement at the wisdom of God; they are watching what God’s people are experiencing (Ephesians 3:8-10).

    Paul confirmed the uniqueness of our broken world when he said that of the big three, faith, hope, and love, only love would transcend into the next life.  Our current discovery zone is specifically (possibly exclusively) designed to experience faith and hope.  Our current life is also a unique context where God displays his grace, forgiveness, and mercy for us to discovery.  (See Romans 5:20) 

    We can only know what he has revealed.

    God has chosen to reveal himself to humanity through creation, his Word, Jesus Christ, and his spiritual children.  Without God taking the initiative, we would remain clueless about his nature.

    Moses is an example of a man who desperately wanted God to reveal himself.  Given the humanly impossible task of leading the Children of Israel to the Promised Land, he wanted to know what kind of God was leading the expedition.  So, Moses asked God to show him his glory.  God’s answer:  

    And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you;…, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” Then the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.  “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen” (Exodus 33:17-23).

    Moses could not (nor could we) survive looking at the glory of God directly, only indirectly.  God limited his revelation to Moses — his back (shadow), not his face.  There was much more of God Moses could not see or understand.  The same is true for us. 

    What can be known may not necessarily be known. 

    There are conditions for us to know God experientially.  We noted earlier from Jeremiah 29:13 that God reveals himself to those who seek him, giving evidence that he does not force himself on those who have no interest.  Jesus identified another condition in the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8).  Obedience to his commandments is yet another condition.

    The one who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will reveal (manifest/disclose) Myself to him (John 14:21).

    Notice that the promised result of obedient love is not greater comfort but a greater revelation of the nature of Christ.

    What can be known is not all there is to know.

    It would be naïve to think that what can be known about God, in our present created order, is all there is to know about God.  Since God is infinite, certainly there is more to God’s nature than can be discerned in our limited, fallen condition.

    The beauty of redemption is that it awakens our hearts to pursue knowing God, but it will take all of eternity to discover the rest of the story.  Even then, will we know all there is to know?  For now, the apostle John says it best as we look forward to the clarity that our resurrection and glorification will bring.

    Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.  We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.  And everyone who has this hope set on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (1 John 3:2-3).

    Paul expresses a similar hope when he contrasts our present situation of looking at a dark mirror with a distorted reflection verses of a clear mirror when we meet Jesus face to face.  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

    What are we currently discovering if life on earth is designed to discover God (his glory)?  Do we approach each day as a new adventure of experiencing God, anticipating his presence not only in the crises but also in the ordinary?

    1  Gonzalez is an assistant research professor of astronomy and physics at Iowa State, Richards has a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary)

    For Reflection

    1.  How do you normally expect God to reveal himself to you?

    2.  What have you discovered about God lately?

    TADB 056: An Audience of One

    Several years ago Mary and I received tickets from close friends to see the “Phantom of the Opera” in Kansas City.  Our friends had received the tickets as a gift but were not able to attend.  The musical was just beginning to travel across the country after a long and successful run on Broadway.  We were very excited to see it and decided to make it a special “At the Theater” date night.

    We were not aware that the doors were closed just before show time because of the dramatic opening scene.  We arrived just in time to be hurried by the usher to our seats.  But to our surprise they were already occupied.  Checking both sets of tickets, the usher told us that there was a problem and took us down to the main ticket booth for an explanation.

    The manager looked at our tickets and explained that they were bogus.  Fearing arrest and expulsion, I related how we got the tickets and our friends (and source) would surely not do such a thing.  We must have been convincingly embarrassed because the manager took pity on our situation.  Looking at the remainder of options she said she had only two seats left in the theater and we could have them if we wanted.  She called them “limited visibility” seats.  I expected them to be up in the lighting booth or under the stage but to our surprise they were in the front, far left row.  Only one corner of the stage was blocked.  Superior upgrade!

    Thinking that I would never be this close to the stage again, I decided to explore the orchestra pit during the intermission.  It was located under the stage so, as unobtrusively as possible, I wondered down into the “pit”. 

    The musicians were on break as I entered this mysterious new world.  What most intrigued me was the view from the “pit”.  Sunken beneath the stage the only thing that orchestra members could see was the platform of the conductor.  They couldn’t see the stage, the audience, or even the ceiling which was obscured by the lights.

    My first thought was “how inconvenient”.  But on further reflection it made sense.  They didn’t need to see the stage or the audience.  They only needed to see the conductor and only he needed to see the stage.  Their role was to keep one eye on their music and the other on the conductor.  He would cue them when to start and stop, how loud or soft, how fast or slow to play.  They were not performing for the actors or the audience but only for the conductor.  It was the conductor’s job to please the actors, audience, and owners, etc.  The musician’s job was to please the conductor.

    It struck me how similar discipleship is to that pit orchestra.  We are called to follow Him, the conductor of the orchestra.  We have our own score (music) and it is but one part of many that creates the music.  Each part blending with others to give harmony, depth, and clarity to the drama taking place even though we cannot see and may never even know what is being played out. 

    Our focus is not on who or how many tickets are sold, how many showed up for the performance or the volume of their applause.  It is pretty simple:  play our part well for the approval of the Conductor.

    My next question was personal:  Who do I play for?  The applause of the crowd?  The praise of the actors?  The members of the orchestra?  Myself?  Or is it for an audience of One (John 8:29)?

    “So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord,” (Col 1:9-10).

    “For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts” (1Thess. 2:4) 

    It’s a process of maturity, of learning to shift the focus from ourselves to the One who created and called us.  We began our apprenticeship with Christ with a strong bent toward self-fulfillment and narcissism wanting our spiritual needs met and our brokenness healed.  But having experienced His gracious provision, our relationship needs to refocus on Christ and His purposes.  As part of His orchestra, our role is a gift and whether we play oboe or violin, first chair or last, melody or harmony, we are to play our part with enthusiastic excellence…for the Conductor.

    Some days I think I get it.  Some days definitely not.  Most days are a mixture of motives that are not clear.  So I welcome Paul’s prayer of Col 1:9-10 for spiritual wisdom and understanding.  I need His work of liberation from my self-centeredness in order to “walk worthy of the Lord and please Him in all respects”… performing my part for an audience of One.

    Question for reflection:

    What concepts or perspectives can help us shift from using God to pleasing Him?