It seems we have been trying to determine who God is for some time. I have a sizable collection of resources, as theology was my major both in my graduate and post-graduated studies. Among them is Chafer's eight volume Systematic Theology, Erikson's 1302 page work on Christian Theology and Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, some 1204 pages long. That barely scratches the surface. Yet, I was told that God is a simple being. Meaning He is not one who comes in parts and pieces. He is one, indivisible, unique being who has revealed Himself to me. In other words God is not a being you can dissect so you can understand and observe His parts. Yet, that has never stopped us from trying, especially for those of us who are American's steeped in Western and Greek thought. We compartmentalize everything so we may as well do the same with God.
We live in a society that labels and boxes all we encounter. From personality traits to learning styles. We systematically place people into their proper category, which allows them to excuse bad behavior and reject personal accountability. We do the same with God and those who follow Him. "Are you a Calvinist?' "Wesleyan?" "Charismatic?" "Reformed?" or one of 30,000 plus protestant denominations. And don't forget the Catholics and Orthodox folks. All with their distinct flavors of theology. All separated depending on how they parse God or dissect His attributes. We have a long way to go to see Yeshua's prayer answered, "Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world and I come to You, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom You have given me, in that they may be one as we are one" (John 17:11).
Two key areas to think about before we answer the assigned question. First, is God three or one? The area of the trinity has long been one of great study and discussion. I took classes in Theology Proper (the Father), Christology (the Son) and Pneumatology (the Spirit) so I could systematically categorize and differentiate the ministries of each part, or rather "Person" (because God doesn't have parts), of the Trinity. However, Isaiah said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me" (Isaiah 61:1), as does Elijah and Ezekiel. Yeshua told the disciples He would give them the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). (By the way for those who want to differentiate between the Old Testament Spirit being "on you" and the New Testament being 'In you" Ezekiel 36:27 says "In you" and Acts 1:8 says "upon you". So that argument doesn't work.) Romans 8:9 says I need the "Spirit of Christ" or I am none of His. So, do I have/need the Spirit of the Lord God, or the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ? Is God my savior, like David often says in the Psalms, or is it Jesus Messiah? Is God Judge or is it the Son? If you are honest the lines are very blurry when it comes to divvying up Their individual attributes and ministries. Maybe the Jews are right and the Lord God is One, more than He is triune.
Second, Why do we have an Old Testament and a New Testament? Isn't it just one revelation from God to show us who He is and how we are to live? Why did the early church Fathers make such a clear distinction? The historic truth is so they could separate the Jewish books from the "church" books.. To separate the book of the Law from the new revelation of Grace. To separate the God of wrath and the God of Love. Forget that all of the "New" testament writers were Jewish, or wrote from a Jewish perspective. Forget that the "New" testament is about the Jewish Messiah and the we Gentiles have been grafted in (Rom 11:17) and are now brought near under the covenants and promises to be a part of the commonwealth of Israel (Eph 2:12). Forget that grace permeates the "Old" testament and that there is abundant love in the "old" and abundant wrath in the "New" (bowls of them if I remember right). There was no separation between Jewish and Gentile believers when the Messianic assemblies first began to meet at the synagogues. The "Old" and "New" Western labels do us a disservice as we are lead to believe that Matthew through Revelation is somehow better or replaces the "Old". Everyone knows that "New" is better, more relevant and important than the "Old". If you doubt this think of how much time evangelicals spend teaching the "New" testament rather than the "Old".
Compartmentalization does us a great disservice when we try to understand God and what He has revealed to us.
So, Your thirty seconds are up. What word did you come up with? If you are reformed maybe it is "sovereign". Baptist, maybe "grace". Of course we have the "omni's" - omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. There are lots of attributes to choose from but none of them stand alone very well. I asked this question, or a variation of it, of several Jewish guys at the gym I go to. Now I know that this is not a scientific study and may not be the definitive answer, but it gave me something to ponder for a while. And I am not done pondering it yet. If they had an answer it was simply, "God is good". It even garnished a little discussion among those in the Locker room but the Jewish guys pretty much ended up here. God is good. Many of us say it as well. "God is good, all the time. All the time.... You know how it goes. It actually works really well. Because God is good He is kind and compassionate. Because God is good He will not let injustice go unpunished. Because God is good He is holy, set apart from all that is not good. Because He is good He delivers, He is right or righteous. As a good God He is always present, He knows what is best, He is pure and blameless. He never changes in His character. He is good so He listens to me and will even change His mind, if it is the good thing to do.
I encourage you to take some time, maybe more than the allotted thirty seconds, and consider the depth and wealth there is in the simple reality that God is good. Perhaps, we would do well to stop trying to systematically understand the Lord and to compartmentalize His Person. Maybe we would benefit from seeing how everything about Him is integrated into everything about Him. Maybe, just maybe we would be blessed and encouraged to spend fifteen minutes in the quiet of the morning or evening and bask in the truth that He is good.............. all the time.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Monday, February 1, 2016
Please, Don't Fix Me
There are times when we hurt. Times when those around us hurt. Times when we hear them cry out with David, "God, why have you forsaken me!". The times are real and we want to comfort. But, what do you do? How do you help the wounded and brokenhearted? It is the promise of Messiah to "Bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free" (Isa 61:1). Yet, how do we help when He feels so distant? Perhaps, like David, we cling to what we know to be true even when it does not feel that way. Somehow we make it through another day. However, we would like to do more.
God does give us some guidance. However, it is often missed and we resort to what seems right rather than what the Word of God suggests. Even then God often uses our feeble attempts to comfort the distressed while we miss the point He has been offering all along. The individuality and independence of our culture makes these times even more challenging. We need to escape the confines of our American and Western upbringings. The scriptures we read and the lessons Messiah taught were couched in an interdependent culture. Community and intimacy within the family and the community at large was true in ways that often escape our grasp. We want to help so we endeavor to "think" and "reason" our way to a solution. And we miss the point. We drop "truth" on the victim where none may be needed.
Paul gives us a very simple piece of instruction that we may well miss as "thoughtful" Americans. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom 12:15). The whole passage is about the intimacy of community. It speaks of how we are to respond and care for one another. We are to "rejoice with those who rejoice". We can be pretty good with that. To share in the joy and happiness of a newborn or healing or the marriage of two souls deeply in love with one another and the Lord. Good times of great joy.
However, He also tells us to weep with those who weep. Here the word for weep is one of great emotion, of the sorrow and anguish of the loss of a loved one. It carries the flavor of David's cry in Psalm 22. I have observed that we struggle with this command. Our tendency is to rejoice with those who rejoice and try to fix those who weep. This is not the intention of the commandment at all.
I have seldom, if ever, seen someone tell the rejoicing to keep an eternal perspective, or to know that God is in control and will not give them anything they cannot handle. I have never seen people share verses to tell the rejoicing to keep things in perspective. And not once have I heard someone walk up to a person filled with the wonder and exuberance of God's deliverance and say, "Remember, this too shall pass." However, I have seen all of these "encouragements" laid upon a grieving heart. The wounded don't need to be fixed, they need to be carried. Paul tells the Galatians to "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). Two things to note. First, the law of Christ is to Love God and Love our neighbor. Bearing one another's burdens fulfills the command to love God by this act of obedience and to love our neighbor by helping to carry their burden. Second, you cannot bear a burden by standing above the pit they are in and dropping verses of encouragement on them. You have to get down in the pit.
The deeply wounded need a shoulder not a scripture, they need understanding tears not platitudes that come from our need to say something. They need the quiet assurance of a friend who is there for the long haul, no matter how they feel, how angry they are and how disappointed they feel with God. They need a nonjudgmental companion who will lovingly join them in the journey of God's healing. They don't need to be fixed, not even with Scripture. They need to be held up by someone willing to take the time and enter into and carry their sorrow with them. To weep with them, without judgment or even words.
I have been married to an amazing woman for over thirty-eight years. She is a profoundly sensitive soul. There are times when I find her weeping. I have learned to gently ask these questions. "Do you know why you are crying?" Very often the answer is "No" so I just hold her and let her cry. If the answer is "Yes" I ask, "Do you want to talk about it?" If she says "No" I offer to just hold her. I learned that the times are very rare that she wants me to fix anything. She does not want a "Word from the Lord", she just needs to be held.
We live in a cold and indifferent world filled with wounded people. In the community of believers this should be markedly different. "They will know that we are followers of Messiah by our love for one another". So be excited as you share in the rejoicing of a brother or sister in Christ. However, be ready and willing to get down into the pit and bear the burdens of the deeply wounded, to gently hold those who feel abandoned. Don't try to fix them, just join in the weeping and help carry their pain. It is what Jesus would do.
God does give us some guidance. However, it is often missed and we resort to what seems right rather than what the Word of God suggests. Even then God often uses our feeble attempts to comfort the distressed while we miss the point He has been offering all along. The individuality and independence of our culture makes these times even more challenging. We need to escape the confines of our American and Western upbringings. The scriptures we read and the lessons Messiah taught were couched in an interdependent culture. Community and intimacy within the family and the community at large was true in ways that often escape our grasp. We want to help so we endeavor to "think" and "reason" our way to a solution. And we miss the point. We drop "truth" on the victim where none may be needed.
Paul gives us a very simple piece of instruction that we may well miss as "thoughtful" Americans. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep" (Rom 12:15). The whole passage is about the intimacy of community. It speaks of how we are to respond and care for one another. We are to "rejoice with those who rejoice". We can be pretty good with that. To share in the joy and happiness of a newborn or healing or the marriage of two souls deeply in love with one another and the Lord. Good times of great joy.
However, He also tells us to weep with those who weep. Here the word for weep is one of great emotion, of the sorrow and anguish of the loss of a loved one. It carries the flavor of David's cry in Psalm 22. I have observed that we struggle with this command. Our tendency is to rejoice with those who rejoice and try to fix those who weep. This is not the intention of the commandment at all.
I have seldom, if ever, seen someone tell the rejoicing to keep an eternal perspective, or to know that God is in control and will not give them anything they cannot handle. I have never seen people share verses to tell the rejoicing to keep things in perspective. And not once have I heard someone walk up to a person filled with the wonder and exuberance of God's deliverance and say, "Remember, this too shall pass." However, I have seen all of these "encouragements" laid upon a grieving heart. The wounded don't need to be fixed, they need to be carried. Paul tells the Galatians to "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Gal 6:2). Two things to note. First, the law of Christ is to Love God and Love our neighbor. Bearing one another's burdens fulfills the command to love God by this act of obedience and to love our neighbor by helping to carry their burden. Second, you cannot bear a burden by standing above the pit they are in and dropping verses of encouragement on them. You have to get down in the pit.
The deeply wounded need a shoulder not a scripture, they need understanding tears not platitudes that come from our need to say something. They need the quiet assurance of a friend who is there for the long haul, no matter how they feel, how angry they are and how disappointed they feel with God. They need a nonjudgmental companion who will lovingly join them in the journey of God's healing. They don't need to be fixed, not even with Scripture. They need to be held up by someone willing to take the time and enter into and carry their sorrow with them. To weep with them, without judgment or even words.
I have been married to an amazing woman for over thirty-eight years. She is a profoundly sensitive soul. There are times when I find her weeping. I have learned to gently ask these questions. "Do you know why you are crying?" Very often the answer is "No" so I just hold her and let her cry. If the answer is "Yes" I ask, "Do you want to talk about it?" If she says "No" I offer to just hold her. I learned that the times are very rare that she wants me to fix anything. She does not want a "Word from the Lord", she just needs to be held.
We live in a cold and indifferent world filled with wounded people. In the community of believers this should be markedly different. "They will know that we are followers of Messiah by our love for one another". So be excited as you share in the rejoicing of a brother or sister in Christ. However, be ready and willing to get down into the pit and bear the burdens of the deeply wounded, to gently hold those who feel abandoned. Don't try to fix them, just join in the weeping and help carry their pain. It is what Jesus would do.
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