3 posts tagged “glory”

For any of you that know me, you know I like the way that Matt Chandler thinks.  Recently he did a series entitled the Role of Men and in the third part, "Men as Fathers", he discussed his main goal as a father.  Essentially his idea was this: We have no control over whether our kids end up falling in love with God or not.  So, this is his goal as a father; that when his kids grow up if you were to ask them, "What was your dad like growing up?", they would respond "He just talked about how good God is all the time."

Here are the practical examples he used to illustrate the point:  When he's drawing with his daughter, and she says "pink is my favorite", with authentic enthusiasm he responds, "Isn't God awesome that he invented the color pink?!"  And when he takes his son to the pool, he pauses to point at the slide and say, "LOOK!  Look how amazing God is that He gave men the idea of water slides!"

There's a good chance you're thinking right now, "thanks Luda, but I don't so much have any kids."  On the one hand, I do think you should be preparing now for how you're going to parent someday if you do have kids.  On the other hand, I think there's a much bigger application to the idea Matt's talking about.  The application is that we would start to see and worship God everywhere!  Everything is His.  Everything is pointing us towards Him.  I'll just use one example to illustrate my point.

1 Corinthians 10:31:  "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

Whether you are a follower of Jesus or not, you know what this verse translates into for Christians.  For those of us who grew up in church, we've been taught to pray before we eat.  In that prayer we use some combination of memorized or spontaneous words to say thank you to God for providing food for us.  I would argue that essentially we are (or think we're supposed to be) thankful because our belly is full and not empty.  In other words, we believe that God is glorified when we are satisfied.  And by logical conclusion, deserving of no praise if we go hungry. . .

Now I know this may be a stretch . . . but what if God is bigger than some kind of cosmic food dispenser?  What if God invented the very idea of EATING?  What if he created the concepts of food, of taste and smell, of hunger and satisfaction.

I think this pushes us towards what Paul describes in Phil. 4:12-13; whether I'm hungry or whether I'm full, whether I'm rich or whether I'm poor, I trust and worship and praise and live in light of the enormously huge God who created the idea of food.  I not only see God's glory in my satisfaction, but I can see His goodness in my hunger too.

"We disobeyed His desire for our goodness (sin)"

Today we're gonna talk about a popular three letter word; sin.  Let me just say that this post is probably going to make you uncomfortable.  However, it's the truth and this morning I read John 7:7 where Jesus says, "The world [...] hates me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil."  So now, while all hopped up on spiritual testosterone, I tackle everyone's favorite topic: Sin and You!

Due to the nature of today's post, I decided to start with some indirectly related humor.  This makes me laugh.

We have become a bunch of spiritual libertarians in terms of our sin.  In other words, we don't think our crap stinks.  The vast majority of people in our culture either claim "There's no such thing as sin. . . I'm glad that works for you . . . but who are you to judge me?" or the religious equivalent: "I'm covered in God's grace . . . I got my all paid ticket to heaven . . . so sin doesnt' really concern me too much anymore."

DISCLAIMER:  I'm not that guy standing on the corner yelling at you that you're going to hell because you're a whore monger.  We DO need to clarify a few things about sin if we're going to understand how good the gospel is.

Defining Sin:  First let's understand that sin is more than just breaking the rules.  Romans 14:23: "Whatever does not come from faith is sin."  That's a lot bigger than action.  Sin includes heart motivations (1 Cor. 4:5), attitudes (Heb. 4:12), actions and intended actions (Matt. 5:21-47) that push us away from trusting  and proclaiming God's goodness.

Here's why that matters, EVEN IF (and it's a big freakin' if) you are capable of following all of God's commandments perfectly, at the end of the day you are still full of sin.  The question is not "Did I break the rules?".  The question is "In every single one of my motivations, attitudes, actions and thoughts did I trust and live by faith in God?".

the Heart of Sin:  If sin was simply breaking the rules, then God is just some kind of weird rule-nazi and then the cross isn't going to make any sense at all.  But God isn't all about the rules (though they do matter).  He is all about His own glory.  (See the end of Living in Light of the Gospel (Part 3))

At the heart of this sin issue is the fact that we have replaced God with other things.  We have trusted, feared and lived for money, alcohol, popularity, power, relationships, and more than anything else ourselves.  We have declared, "Alcohol can cure all my problems!"  We have lied to ourselves, "She can satisfy me and make me feel whole!"  We have honestly believed, "I can do it.  I can make life work on my own.  I DO NOT need any help."

The heart of sin is that we have declared with our lives "God isn't God.  He's not even all that good." 

A friend of mine was working at Starbuck's and a girl asked him, "So I have two friends who are lesbians but they are some of the best people I know.  Do you really think God will send them to hell just because they're lesbians?"

He responded absolutely correctly, "No!  No, He won't send them to hell just because they're lesbians.  The lesbian issue is a much smaller issue than the fact that at a heart level they have told God that He is not who He says He is, and He's not good.  I think that is the greatest sin we are guilty of and very deserving of hell."

the Consequences of Sin:  So I know we've all heard it a thousand times, but try to read with fresh eyes and ears Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death".  Can we please go ahead and make that connection.  Think back to the last time you dealt with death; the death of a family member, the death of a best friend.  Remember all the pain and all the desperation.   Remember the hopeless feeling.  That's what we earn by treating God like a piece of crap.  When we turn our backs on God and flick Him off over our shoulder as we walk away, when we live like we're what the story is all about and act like we can fix ourselves; we are ambassadors for death.  We grow it in ourselves and we spread it all around us.  We speak words of death to all around us.  We kill relationships for a buck or our pride.  Emotionally, relationally, physically; we lie to gain, we cheat to gain, we steal to gain and in the end we die and we lose it all.  And in the now, we're already dieing and we don't know how to make it stop.

The weight of sin is a terrifying thing.

Or here's what's even more subtle and sneaky:  Maybe you're great at being a good person.  You are generally nice and you give to some charity in Africa (or twenty) and you value people more than money and if you had to grade yourself, you'd say you're doing alright.  The problem is you end up tricking yourself and other people into thinking that being good will heal them and save them from the consequences of their sin, when only God can.  

Only God can take away the punishment that He's handing out.  Only God can fix our perverted hearts.  Only God can teach us to hate sin.  Only God can reveal the depth and beauty of His glory to us.  Until we own the weight of our sin, we'll never know how much we need Him.

PS (in case you're thinking the good news sounds pretty bad so far, don't worry; things will get better on Monday.)

"God created us in right relationship with Him."

This is a pretty huge statement.  If you know me at all, you know that Genesis chapters 1-3 are some of my favorite chapters in all of scripture.  They are also foundational to a solid understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Go read Genesis 1 right now. Now, go back through it and ask yourself these two questions:  1.) What is the one repeated commentary on God's creation?  2.) Every time He makes something new, what does He have to say about it?

It was good. - If we're ever going to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ, we're first going to have to understand the goodness of God.  From the beginning, the picture of God is a creative, all powerful being who makes GOOD stuff.  He doesn't screw up in the creation process.  He never needs some kind of cosmic eraser. Way too often our picture of God is some kind of cosmic kill-joy who hates you and any kind of fun thing you like to do.  That's just not Him.  He created waterfalls and mountains and sunsets and stars and fruit and all of creation.  He invented the idea of sex and intimate relationship.  He created creative human brains in His image that have come up with banana pudding, twice baked potatoes and water slides! 

Application:  1.) You can go ahead and stop doubting God.  He makes good stuff.  He didn't screw up when He made you.  His essential character is good even when we don't understand what He's doing. 

2.) God's goodness is all around you.  God created the creative brain who created the computer you're using to read this blog right now.  God created the colors you're seeing, never mind the eyes you're using to see them.

It was relational. - God makes mankind in His own image and right away He starts talking to us.  Literally the first thing He does after creating man is to bless them.  In Chapter 1 of Genesis here are the interactions between God and man: 1.) God blesses man;  2.) God talks to man;  3.) God gives man commands;  4.) God provides for man;  5.) God gives man guidance.

The picture is God as a loving father instructing His children.  He whispers in Adam's ear, "Hey go ahead and make some more of yourselves, it'll be a fun process and you're gonna love playing with your children."  Two quick steps over to Eve and God motions over his shoulder to Adam, "I know He's awkward, but trust Me, it's gonna turn out alright."

He wraps His strong arms around both of them and says, "Look at all the beauty.  I'm giving it to you to take care of it and to cultivate it.  Eat all the green plants for food, they won't make you sick.  Watch out for this tree, there are consequences and dangers, but I want what's BEST for you.  I give you my blessing."

Why does it matter?  See, the thing is that God doesn't change (Numbers 23:19, Malachi 3:6).  If He wanted to bless us and walk in relationship with us from the beginning then He still does.  At the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a good, loving Father who LONGS for His children to walk with Him rightly.

He is bigger than us. - Let me just go ahead and stop you before you start reading this and thinking to yourself, "wow I must be awesome, look how much God wants to walk with ME!!!"   The first four words of Genesis are very intentionally: "In the beginning, GOD".  We're going to get into this more as we go, but from the start this thing is His.  He's at the center.  He created it.  He started it.  He blessed us.  He provided for us.  He made.  He is good.  He's worthy of all worship and glory.  Him; not you.

The fact that God is relational is an overflow of who He is and how good He is, and NOT some expression of His loneliness or inadequacy.  That being said, He wants you.  He wants to know you.  He wants to walk with you again.  That's a pretty big invitation into the story of God.