OKAY, SO WHICH GOD IS IT?

I don't plan to use this blog each week to regurgitate the previous Sunday's Christian Living Academy class.  However... something came out of our class last week that is so important I can't let it go without commenting here.  The class was "Who is God?"

When we were looking at the character of God a number of traits came up, including a couple pairings that seem at first to be totally incompatible.  We clearly see a Holy God who can't tolerate sin and whose justice demands that payment be made for sin.  On the other hand we see a loving God who wants more than anything to show us mercy.  So how does that work?  

Some people focus on the holy / just characteristics of God.  That gives us an image of a mean vengeful God who is just waiting to hammer us when we step over the line.  More often these days people focus primarily on the love and mercy of God.  That leads to picturing God as a kindly grandfather who winks at our "indiscretions".  He's the Santa Claus God who loves us so much He couldn't bring Himself to leave a lump of coal in our stocking.

Neither of these images is really God.  So what is the truth?

God has not changed.  He is and always will be a holy God who cannot allow sin in his presence.  He is a just God who requires a price for sin, and the price is death.  He said to Adam and Eve, if you eat that fruit you will die, and that's exactly what happened. The wages of sin is still death (Romans 3:23).

Yet even in the garden of Eden, in His love and mercy God was putting into place a plan where the price could be paid for us.  At unimaginable cost to Himself, He created a plan where our sins could be removed and we could stand righteous before Him in heaven one day.  That plan of course was for Jesus' to take our sin on Himself.

The real issue is our response.  If God is so holy and so just that the penalty for sin is death, what does that mean to the way we live?  If God loves us so much that He allowed His own Son to take that penalty of death for us, what should our response be?

This is the heart of the Gospel, but I'm really writing at this moment to Christians who have already accepted that sacrifice.  And the question for us is how should our behaviour, our lifestyle, our choices, and our priorities reflect the fact that a holy God loved so much He put the penalty for our sin onto His Son?  Should we just say "thanks" and go merrily on our way doing what feels good in the moment?  Or knowing the price and the pain caused by our sin, should we resolve to please God to the best of our ability, seeking His help every day?

God is not a grandfather who winks and smiles at our sin.  Did He love us enough to make a way for us?  Absolutely!  Does that mean we have a license to do anything we feel like?  Absolutely not!  Look at these verses from 1 Peter 1:15-16 (NLT).

But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”   

Or check out these verses from 1 Thessalonians 4:7 - 8

God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 

Here's a question for every Christian.  Is my heart's desire to please God, or to see how much I can get away with while still being a Christian?  This is a struggle for many in a day when God's standards and the world's standards are becoming farther and farther apart.

Consider this.  Jesus died... because of God's holiness and justice.  Jesus died... because of God's mercy and love.    

The Word of God?  Really?

Imagine this.  Jesus suddenly appears in your home.  He looks around at the members of your family and says, "I want you to give you something so you will know about myself, and about my plans for you."  Then he quietly sits down at your kitchen table and begins to write a letter.  He writes for some time.  When he is finished, he stands up, hands you the letter, and leaves with this final comment, "Treasure this.  It's all you need to know".

What would you do with that letter?  Would you fold it up, put it on the shelf, and say, "This is great.  I'll have to get around to reading this some time time."?  Would you glance over it quickly and say, "That's nice, I'll keep this in a treasured place."?  Or would you pour over it, study it, memorize it, and share its amazing message with everyone you meet?

This past Sunday we had the first class of our Christian Living Academy.  We talked about the Bible.  We discussed it's origins and its characteristics, but mostly we considered why we believe it is the authentic word of God to us. We talked about the fact that this is God's way of telling us about himself, his plans for us, and how we can live in a right relationship with him.  

When I came to the final and most important part I found it very difficult to express myself.  That is, with such overwhelming proof that this Bible is actually God's way of revealing himself to us, what should our response be?  Put it on the shelf?  Glance at it once in a while?  Or study it eagerly and often to discover what the one who created us has to say?

I suppose if Jesus appeared and wrote to us as I described, it would be more dramatic and we may respond a little differently.  Maybe the problem for us is that we have always had this book and we are so good at taking things for granted.   While Christians in some other places would give anything to actually own a Bible, most of us have had multiple copies in our homes for as long as we can remember.  It's always been there, and while we feel some sentimentality toward it, like an old friend, how often do we actually think about the fact that we are holding in our hands a letter from the Almighty God, a letter he wrote so we would know everything we need to know.  How long has it been, if ever, since I was literally in awe over the fact that I have in my possession the greatest treasure I could ever possess, the words of the creator to me!

Note the words of Paul in 2 Timothy 3, 15 - 17.  "and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

If we could only have a new appreciation for what it means to hold in our hands the message from God.  If we could only grasp the awesome value of being able to read the words the creator felt we needed to hear.  I suppose we would spend more quality time learning what God wanted to say to us, and how to apply it to our lives.  Now that would be spiritual growth!

Answered prayer or coincidence?

In the book of Acts there is an episode where Peter was in prison.  The Christians were gathered in someone's home praying for his release.  God answered by supernaturally taking Peter out of the prison.  When he arrived at the place where the prayer meeting was happening, the people in the home told the servant girl, "You're out of your mind.  It must be his angel"!  They were asking God for a miracle, but when he answered they didn't believe it.

I've had that problem from time to time.  Yesterday, in fact.

Louise and I were heading out of town for a couple days after the Sunday morning service.  I shut down our computer Saturday night.  I realized Sunday morning that I needed it for something, but when I turned it on it booted to a certain point and then nothing would work.  I could tell that the mouse and keyboard and screen were functioning, but other than that, nothing.  I shut it down and tried again, and again.  It was time for church so off we went.  Later we stopped at home briefly before heading out of town and I tried again.  Nothing.  Again.

That was a pretty big deal.  This computer contains many hours of research and documents in preparation for this weekend's leadership training session, and the first two weeks of our Christian Living Academy.  And even though I should know better, I hadn't backed any of it up yet.

We left for a couple of fun days away, but in my mind I was thinking of the huge amount of work in front of me if we got home to a computer that wouldn't work.  So as we were driving I prayed.  I don't know if your theology allows for the healing of computers, but I sure wanted God to solve this problem for me.

When we got home yesterday the first thing I did after carrying in our stuff was to turn on the computer.  I left it for a couple minutes and came back to a computer than was working perfectly normally!  I was so happy, and I said to Louise, "I wonder what happened?".  

Yes, that's what I said.  I was praying for Peter to be miraculously released from prison and when it happened I thought it was his angel.  Do you do that too?  Do you sometimes pray for something and when God answers chalk it up to coincidence or something else?  Over my life I have seen God answer prayer too many times to count.  I've been healed twice.  There have been financial miracles for us personally and for our ministry.  God has supernaturally provided guidance, provided safety, dealt with problems while we were traveling in ministry, worked out unworkable logistical issues, and much more.  If I were to describe in detail all the times God has intervened and performed miracles in our lives and ministry it would take a book.  

After all of that I can still see God's answers to prayers and ask, "hmmm, I wonder what happened?".  I absolutely believe God can do anything, but when he does I still have this tendency to question whether it was really him.   After all the amazing "coincidences" I've seen I really should know better.

The good news is that soon after saying "I wonder what happened", it hit me what I was doing.  The fact is God intervened, like he has so many times before.  I want to acknowledge that and thank him for stepping in once again.  This problem wasn't life threatening or even life changing.  If my computer had not worked at worst it could be described as a major inconvenience.  Yet God was interested in that part of my life too, and he answered my prayer.  

When I have a struggle or weakness of some kind, I suspect there are at least a few others out there with the same problem.  So let me ask you, have you ever chalked up God's miracles to coincidence, or "the doctor must have got it wrong", or something else that explains away the hand of God?  I encourage you (and me) to give God the credit and the praise for working in our lives, as he does on a daily basis.

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."  1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)

In my message at The Mission a couple of weeks ago, I made the point that Jesus found it important to maintain his relationship with the Father through prayer.  Time and time again he went apart to pray.  It seems clear that his ability to pursue a life pleasing to the Father meant maintaining that close relationship, and it was a priority for him.

This past Sunday Pastor Paul focused his message entirely on prayer and the importance of us being in regular, frequent communication with God.  This is of supreme importance for anyone who truly wants to grow in their relationship with the Lord, for anyone who wants to be be successful in living a life that is pleasing to God.

Many years ago, while serving with a missions organization, I had the privilege of traveling periodically with a man who taught prayer seminars.  His name was Roy Armstrong.  In each of his seminars Roy used to make a statement I will never forget.  This is what he said.

"Something happens when you pray that doesn't happen when you don't pray."

It's easy to quickly gloss over that statement.  Yes, I know, prayer works.  I've heard it 1000 times.  Yeah, yeah.

But I want to encourage you to consider a bit more carefully what that statement is really saying to us.  It might be helpful if I turn the statement upside down and express it this way.

"If we don't pray, something that would have happened is going undone."

Does that help you see it in a different light?  Perhaps grasp in a more significant way the importance of that simple statement?  Here's the point.  Prayer moves the hand of God.  If we pray, God is moving to accomplish something on our behalf.  We may not see the evidence of it right away, but God promises to respond to our prayers when we pray according to his will.  Something is happening in the spiritual realm.  If we don't believe that, then prayer is a waste of time. 

The logical extension is that if I fail to pray, something I would really like to see happen in my life or in the lives of others I care about isn't getting done.  There are things I want to happen in the lives of my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren.  These are good things that I know are in line with God's will.  If I bring those things to God he promises to respond.  In faith I believe that God is at work and that in His time I will see evidence of that.

If I fail to pray, good things I'd really like to see happen are not happening.  It's a mystery I can't explain, but the Word of God is clear that God wants us to come to him in faith, asking him to do things he already wants to do.  The simple truth from scripture is that our prayers move the hand of God.  

Is there something important going undone in your life or the lives of others because you have failed to make the time to talk to God about it?