What Does God Want? (May 2012)

Lakeside Visitor Article May 2012
Talking about God in human terms, as we've been learning in the past several months, tends to leave us all wanting, does it not? This month I want us to look at how our view of God is colored by expectations placed on us by others versus the expectations of God. (As with all of these articles, and every post I make, by sheer volume of the material, there is no way to be exhaustive in what's covered here but the desire is to encourage thought and personal research, not simply a shift of opinion.)

God Wants Me...
When you think about what God wants, what comes to mind?

Some people hold that God "wants me to give up on everything, and everyone, that I love if I'm going to follow Him," and that affects the way we see God. Jon Acuff wrote an article that tries to answer this phenomenon. That kind of view sees God as a hard-nosed taskmaster who gives us a laundry list of "don't do this, don't do that" stipulations that put us squarely in one of two camps: Loved or Hated. Well, you know as well as I do that this kind of treatment leads to wilting or rebellion, and that's why it's a problem. If we are beat down by God, we're not understanding God rightly. If we're pushed to rebel against God because of this, we are actually rebelling against the wrong idea of God that we have, not the true God.

Those who have heard God portrayed as the joy killer might believe that, under the piercing gaze of God, all that is needed for God to remove from them their passions, hopes, dreams, loved ones, thoughts, and enjoyments is to care about them in the first place. After all, Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:37-39). 

And so our understanding of God is maligned because we don't understand the emphasis Jesus placed on loving God with all of us. We start to think like this:

 I care about __________ ... = God takes it away. Then I can be truly free to love only God.

Does loving God leave no room for loving anyone else? Parents, does loving your spouse mean you couldn't possibly love your kids too? I want to be clear here: this is not the God I serve because it's not the God I read about in the Bible. This is not the God of scripture (either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament), the God who became flesh and died for the ones He loves. We cannot allow people we know and love to believe this myth by passively rejecting the call to fight back with the light of truth.

To be sure, many well-meaning Christians have done the image of God wrong by propagating this very message. I am not saying that all of them were malicious about it, but watch this video and then let's look at some passages that will hopefully clear up the issue in our minds.



 This song comes from Micah 6:8 - "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" But what about the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 6, and the instruction to keep and follow them, you might ask? What's important? What can I remember, and what can I ignore? It can get a little confusing and lead us to wonder, "God, why don't you just tell me what you want from me?"


God Wants Me?

Do you understand that the entirety of scripture is a call from God to turn to Him? That's it! And no, I'm not saying you don't need to read the Bible anymore since I just gave you all you need to know. All of scripture is example after example after example of people doing this right, and then doing it wrong, and then doing it right again, then doing it wrong again. We don't need to freak out at our questions and doubts about God, because we're not the first or last to do it, and we're not alone. We are in good company when we seek out how to turn to God!

Alright, check this example: say you're talking to your girlfriend/boyfriend and they say, "All I want is for you to love only me, and then we can get married."

So you say, "Cool, done" and you get married but you don't get to know each other or spend time together or invest in the relationship.

So they say "you don't really love me" and you say "I do too - I told you I would, so I do."

But why isn't it believable? Why would they have reason to doubt you love them? Because there's no evidence. In the same way, when Jesus tells us to deny everything and follow Him, that may or may not mean, "literally," everything about yourself or your life.

Look at this passage of scripture (John 6:28-40):

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
 ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
 ³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
 ³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
 ³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
 ³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 

Jesus came down from heaven not to do His will - not to be spared the suffering He would endure for our sakes - but to do God's will: God's eternal, redemptive will, finally and completely. Jesus says our work is to believe in Him because He's the bread of life the manna was foreshadowing. But just like with Jesus, belief isn't a tangible thing, nor are the words, "I love you." Our actions are the tangible evidence that what we say is true.

So what does God want from you? God wants you! God in the flesh, the person of Jesus, said to believe in Him and you won't be driven away. Yes, OF COURSE, God wants you!

God Wants ME!
Throughout scripture God tells us to turn away from our sin to Him, because He doesn't want us to be separated - He wants us to be with Him!! That "US" is important, because we make up a family that supports and compliments each other, but YOU are a part of that "us." God wants you! Look at Ezekiel 18:30-32:

³⁰ “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

And just because God knows we're fickle and forget stuff, He keeps telling Ezekiel to say it again (33:10-11):

 ¹⁰ “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ ¹¹ Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

You see, sin is a very real, very final downfall to us. But God knew that and so the first step isn't to clean up our act and then God will accept us. The only thing God wants for us to do is turn to Him - the rest of scripture talks about obedience-driven behavior that we're empowered to do BY GOD so the people God designed us to be can slowly show more and more righteous behavior. It's a process called sanctification, and it's the work of God in us, not some work we do so God will love us. Listen to how Jesus finishes the passage above in John 6:

³⁹ "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Jesus has conquered sin and death, and Jesus has completed what is required by the perfect law of God.  There is nothing else to do to find favor in God's eyes, but turn to the Son who already gave all.

Adding to God (April 2012)

Do Not Add or Subtract...
Over the past two months we talked about how our perceptions of our mothers and fathers could color the way we see God. This month we'll be talking about the ideas we add to scripture, and how they affect the way some see God. This month's passage is Romans 14:4-13.

⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. ⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. ¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:  “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” ¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. ¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.

Do you know of some things that people add to scripture? There's a good chance something just popped into your mind, an example of the kinds of things we add to scripture that may, or may not, change the purpose of a passage. Did you think of anything? What was it? Why do you think that came to mind? Is it something from your past or something that you've noticed in others that is particularly irksome? I actually just recently wrote a post about one of my pet peeves of belief. It may surprise you that this isn't a problem I have with my own beliefs, but the beliefs of others.

See, beliefs we don't understand or agree with bother us because we don't get it. But the worst thing we could do is belittle those that hold the belief or refuse to hear them out as they try to explain it to us. And yet this is often what we do, isn't it? We cast our vote without listening, claim the biblical high ground, and place a wall around ourselves that keeps us from talking with one another. And since we don't really talk about these deeply personal deep matters, we don't really know others on a personal level, unless they agree with us.

The things that we add to, or take away from, scripture can be deeply personal to us. We can choose to focus on certain passages that bolster our views - to the exclusion of other biblical points of view - or ignore those passages that are particularly menacing to our opinions. We are persons who, as we read, personally interpret our Bibles from personal places for personal reasons. This can be hard to hear because many of us say in our hearts: "I'm just taking the text as it is, I'm just reading what's there, and everyone else is dreaming up things that aren't really there."

Admitting that our personal stories intersect with God's word to experience that deeply personal God can be something of a double-edged sword, can't it? What if I were to say we need to try to remove our personal biases from our readings of the Bible? That can be confusing because we know that God is a deeply personal God who meets us where we are and works in and through us in spite of our failings.

But see, what I've just done is given all of us the freedom to read God's word from our current place in the faith and not judge ourselves or others too harshly in the process. The truth is, we can't read the word devoid of our personhood because it's who we are. God knows that, and that's okay! As we grow in Christ, we learn and change. And in time, we begin to value our relationship with Jesus as He teaches us (and others) and put much less stock in what others think, and trying to prove who's right or wrong.

And in truth, does arguing our case well make us more valuable as a person before God?

God As Mother (March 2012)

Last month we looked into how our view of God, as our heavenly Father, can be tainted by our earthly fathers. This understanding could fill us with warmth, anger, or passive indifference. The same applies to feminine descriptors of God in the Bible, which we will focus on this month. I warn you in advance, this will be longer than previous articles because of the need to walk tenderly in some areas (as will be explained later).

Tender Subject

Before we begin, I want to make a few things clear:

1. I consider the term "feminist" to be just as divisive and confrontational as "chauvinist," and believe that such name-calling is counterproductive to being heard. So, when using them, it is in their societal framework. And when referring to men or women, male or female traits, or feminine and masculine ideals, I will delineate them as such, without the societal baggage.
2. I am not arguing that we should start to refer to God as a 'She' or that God's classifications are to be split equally between masculine and feminine descriptors. What I am saying is that God is not made in our image (male and female) but we are made - male and female - in God's image (Numbers 23:18-20, 1 Samuel 15:28-30, Hosea 11:8-10). 
3. I differ from some Christians by holding that Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 11:7 ("A man... is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man.") is more tradition and culture than God's truth, namely because of Genesis 1:27.
4. This post is not about putting women in their place OR giving them a privileged status as some have aimed to do in recent decades. I aim to show women (as I did men last month) rightly. I acknowledge that my words may not be received in this spirit, because I am a man, but I aim to be fair.

Tender Subjects

The same God who is described in scripture as our protector, shield, fortress, strong rock and a mighty warrior is also described with decidedly maternal, feminine images, sometimes in the space of a few sentences (as with the first two examples). Let's look at a few below: 

Deuteronomy 32:18 -  "You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth." 

Isaiah 42:13-14 - "The LORD will march out like a champion, like a warrior he will stir up his zeal; with a shout he will raise the battle cry and will triumph over his enemies.  'For a long time I have kept silent, I have been quiet and held myself back. But now, like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant.'" 

Isaiah 49:15 - "'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!'"

Isaiah 66:13 - "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you."

Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34 - “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing."

There is no doubt that these images are tender, if not matronly. Who but a woman can give birth or comfort like a mother can? As much as I'd like to be able to do that, sometimes my son just needs his mommy. There are aspects of a mother, characteristics of a woman, that men cannot understand. And God has given us examples like these - by no means an exhaustive list - to show that both men AND women are made in His image. It's by this understanding, and for this reason, that my use of the masculine pronoun for God is neither an admission of a belief that God looks like a man nor a subjugation of women beneath men in stature, worth, or value in the sight of people or God.

With that said, Christians cannot deny that the strong-handed, forced demand for submission (which is not a biblical idea in the least) by our predecessors in the faith has left scars in the feminine mind. Where healing can come, the memory is hard to ignore. Letty M. Russell, a scholar that deals with feminist interpretations of the Bible, writes: "Frequently, women with strong religious backgrounds have the most difficulty in accepting that the violence against them is wrong. They believe what they have been taught, that resistance to this injustice is unbiblical and unchristian. Christian women are supposed to be meek, and claiming rights for oneself is committing the sin of pride." (pg 99). The wrong/injustice that Russell speaks of isn't men referring to God as "He," but men using scripture to keep women in a servant's position while they ignore the same scriptures that call them to sacrifice and tenderly care for women. Why wouldn't women object to their classification as more tender human beings, when chauvinists so poorly acknowledge this key to their unique reflection of God's tenderness, and instead allow the lie that they are weaker and more inferior versions of men? Men often do not understand this distinction because they miss the heart of the matter (see "Pharisees) and  supplant godly leadership beneath the grab for power and importance.

It is my desire in this post (and the previous post on men) to avoid pandering to either of the sexes. To better serve God, we must - insofar as it depends on us - refuse to do a disservice to each other by being passive in our submission or overbearing in our teaching. Interpreting scripture from a "feminist" or "chauvinist" perspective will leave us right where the fall put us: divided and contentious.

God's Tenderness Reflected in Women

Men are not the clear reflections of God while women are lesser reflections of God or reflections of men. When women practice tenderness, protection, provision, and being a peaceful place of rest, they also reflect aspects of God's nature that they are uniquely suited for. When you hear these things applied to women in scripture - and metaphorically attributed to God - what does this make you think of your own mother (or other women you know)? Is it inspiring and hopeful to you, or does it fill you with anger and a sense of loss? We would do well to know that such understandings can be more attributed to our experiences with others here on earth than on God's portrayal of Himself in scripture.

If you are a woman suffering at the hands of a man (or the memories of one) it's important for you to know that God is suffering with you and only His Word can free you from the prison built by another. Your worth and value to God, and in Christ, comes from God alone, not from another's use of His Word to keep you in chains. God desires that you would have your mind transformed by Him so your life is a clearer and clearer reflection of His nature.

Sadly, often we cannot understand the depth of God's compassion toward, and love for us because of how women have portrayed themselves. Instead of leading their families as Christlike women, they have adopted the feminist world's manner of manipulation and self-sufficiency, the very characteristics of the chauvinists they once sought to oppose. Yes, just like men, women are called of God to lead their families well and so reflect (though imperfectly) the God whose image they are made in. Women must ask themselves (along with men) what they, ultimately, want to accomplish. Are you pursuing godly influence under the authority of scripture, or worldly domination in light of past (or present) suffering? Are you choosing to love and respect the men in your life or submit them to you little by little through bitterness and posturing? Does your family respect and honor you or mainly fear your mood swings? Listen to what scripture's holiness codes have to say to wives:

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything... However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 5:21-24, 33

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

Colossians 3:18

Your pursuit of holiness as women - like that of men - is just that: a pursuit, a journey. As you lead those you love, you must guard against the bitterness and self-righteousness that attacks us all, the desire to rule, and the temptation to only listen to those messages that tell you how wonderful and perfect you are.* As followers of Christ, you must always temper these messages with the stronger messages that call you out of self-righteousness and self-love to the refining place of God's continuing work in you. If your families have lost heart, if your relationships there seem mere shells of what they once were, it's time to recenter on the Source of life and follow the Christ by whose name you are called.

It's time to grow up and seek God for the direction and strength to be who you were created to be. Earn your Mother's Day this year. Change your ways to align with Christ, and let the Holy Spirit change your heart for your spouse, children, and everyone else in your life.

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* In our couple time, my wife and I are going through our gender specific Resolution books (from the creators of the movie Courageous) and Rebeca's seems more encouraging while the men's book is hard-hitting against our faults. There is a place for this, to be sure, but it seems to this man that the trend in today's culture is to brow-beat men for their failures in the past - as well as the failures of past men - without giving godly instruction for how to move ahead in a positive direction. Rebeca said that sometimes the party line for women, on the other hand, is one of continued support and affirmation as they are forced to deal with the immaturity and incompetence of the men in their lives. If Christian men and women are to thrive in their relationship with Jesus and with each other, we need to abandon this pendulum of who is better and who needs the most work and pursue the personal work we all need through Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we should serve as the active and purposed body of Christ in offering encouragement when needed, and rebuke and training when needed. Above all, we all must approach our work in this regard with humility and repentant hearts.

God As Father (February 2012)

How did you do last month? Did you think about what your lifestyle was saying, or not saying, about God? For myself, I know sometimes I was showing people that God is ridiculously loving and other times that God is inconsistent and moody. Oh, and unforgiving. Man, that social experiment was sobering!

Father, Dad, Good & Bad

This month we'll look at how we, as men, portray God to the watching world. Listen to the way Jesus tells us to pray:

'Our father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.'

Jesus tells us to think of God as a father, THE Father - what does that mean to you?* When you think of your own father, what kinds of emotions are kindled? Love? Joy? Admiration? Hope? Anger? Fear? Hatred? Indifference? It's possible that your experience with your earthly father has left you with a bitter spike wedged between you and any concept of God as your heavenly father. You may not even be ready to admit to yourself that your distrust, or rejection, of God is based primarily on the way you see your earthly father. What you may not know is God is aware of that, He is suffering with you, and will continue to speak through His word, and through others, to you about who He really is. I would ask you, especially, to stick in till the end of this post and struggle with what you find.

Often times our earthly fathers have fallen horribly short of representing the God who made them to reflect His image, and His character. Though imperfectly, men were made to be examples of the God who is our protector, our shield, our loving provider, and our peaceful place of rest. I believe this is one of the reasons Jesus chose to describe God here as Father. He says something about what God's name signifies that is worthy of looking at here. The word 'hallowed' means "holy, consecrated (set apart), sacred, revered," and we should recognize that God alone is worthy of this kind of reverence.

But men, especially, are to consider their worth as God's created leaders of the family, and what their performance (or lack thereof) portrays about God (even if inadvertently). Are we pursuing holiness, or just holes-in-one? Are we set-apart keepers of God's desire for fathers, considering our duties to be sacred, or are we gathering in packs of bitter and selfish men who whine and moan about their wives and children when they're not there? Does you family revere and respect you or mainly just tolerate you, or try to stay out of your way? Listen to what scripture's holiness codes have to say to fathers:

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word... So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church... Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Ephesians 5:25-26, 28-29, 6:4

"Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them... Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart."

Colossians 3:19, 21

Our pursuit of holiness as fathers, or men in general, is just that - a pursuit. A journey. A work we begin and never finish in this life. Leading our families should be sacrificial, not domineering or oppressive, if we are to be like Christ. Our leadership should uphold the need for our sanctification, time in the word, and unity within the body of Christ through baptism and fellowship. We are to feed and care for our relationships with our wives and kids and so fulfill the call of Christ on our situation. There is a place for discipline of your kids but the goal should always be their instruction in life and in the Lord. If our families have lost heart, if our relationships there seem mere shells of what they once were, it's time to recenter on the Source of life and follow the Christ by whose name we are called.

It's time to grow up and seek God for the direction and strength to be who you were created to be. Earn your Father's Day this year. Change your ways to align with Christ, and let the Holy Spirit change your heart for your spouse, children, and everyone else in your life. I know this has been a heavy read, so take a moment to watch the below video by Church On The Move, even leave me a comment and join the discussion below, and then get back to work!






And don't worry women, we'll be talking about you next month.

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* For those of you who want to think deeper, I say "think" because Jesus paints numerous pictures of God for us to understand God's qualities. For our time on earth we see God imperfectly, as dimly through a mirror, and only when we see God face to face will we see God as God truly is. I think many will be surprised that God is not a man, as we think of and know men to be now and throughout history, even a perfect man. The perfect God-man of the Trinity is Jesus the Christ, but God is Other, as the Spirit is also Other. Neither God the Father nor God the Holy Spirit are ghosts though, so we use words we can understand to try to wrap our minds around the mystery that is God. How else could we explain that God is One in three distinct persons? If this is hard for you to grasp, don't worry about it! Theologians who have studied it throughout history have disagreed and tried to explain the glorious nature of God, and no one has it figured out - so don't hang your faith or salvation on whether or not you figure it out! We would all do well to study as we want to and develop opinions as we want to, but not make those opinions something on which another's salvation, or faith, hangs.