By Pastor Chris Centola
It seems to me in our day God has gotten a lot smaller. How is it He has become so much more like us? Weak, powerless, emotionally distraught? Now I hope you like myself cringe at such a description of God, but from the lips of so many who profess to know Him, this is exactly what supposedly describes our sovereign Lord.
What I'm referring to is what you might call "relational theology", or maybe even better "romanticized theology". It's the kind of teaching that describes God as though He was a lovesick teenage guy who would do anything to win the heart of his crush. It used to be the old theologians had a saying " There is a God shaped vacuum in mans heart only God can fill". But now, according to some, it is God who really has a man shaped hole in His heart that only YOU can supposedly fill. That's right, God would do anything, if you would just give Him a chance, He would show you how much He loves you!
This distortion of the nature of God stems from those who persist in teaching a particular half-truth. It's the idea that God really just wants to connect with you, that all He really wants is a relationship with you. Now as I said, this is partly true. God does desire a relationship with His people. However, the problem comes when we as Christians fail to give people the whole truth of the gospel.
What you will find lacking from many sermons today, both in the pulpit and the coffee shop, is the issue of sin. The utmost priority of God in dealing with you and I is the issue of our sin. We have offended and rebelled against the Holy God and so we are worthy of eternal hell. Listen, God did not send Christ to suffer and die so as one pastor I recently heard said "He can make a connection with you". What? What bible is that found in? My bible puts it this way:
2 Co 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jn 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jn 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
See, our problem isn't that we just haven't been talking to God and so He is just really hurt and if we would just pray and say what's up, chat with Him for a few, He would feel a lot better. Even in modern worship songs, it's hard to tell whether it's being sung to the Lord or to a girlfriend!
Listen, God is God, He is not like us. He has no emotional deficiencies. He was perfectly content in His own company before He ever made any of us. We need to stop trying to drag God down to our level. He is not our buddy, He is not our homeboy, He is the sovereign, awesome, omnipotent King of glory and should be exalted and worshipped as such. We are not doing ourselves or anyone else any favors by trying to present God as a romantic lover or a lovesick puppy! God loves us, and has provided for our redemption, but not because we are so awesome, but for purpose of His own glory. The gospel is about our depravity and need to be reconciled to the Holy God, not His need to be reconciled to us. It is we who need Him, not He who needs us.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
God is love, Love is not God
By Pastor Chris Centola
"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16
This verse of Scripture has been familiar to me for some time. I think in fact is there is one thing everyone knows today, one thing that the church has made abundantly clear to people, it's that God loves them. That God is love, and that His love is great and massive and amazing, that nothing can ever compare to the love of God. (In fact I think that what the church needs to make more clear is the wrath of God toward sinners, but thats a blog for another day!)
In spite of all of this teaching on God's love, there is a problem I have noticed that seems to be arising out of all of this teaching about the love of God. This problem has to do with God, His attributes and the sloppiness of many in teaching the truth of God's word. The problem I see is a reversal of what John tells us in the passage above. What do I mean?
God is love, but love is not God! "Now what is that supposed to mean" you say? It means simply this: God, as He presents Himself in His word defines what love is. "Well ok, what's your point?" The point is, many, and I mean many, Christians today develop their view of God's nature, particularly His attribute of love, by taking their understanding of human concepts of love and with those ideas in mind say "that is what God is like!"
Now the problems that arise out of this are many, but one of the most obvious is such people will have a very hard time with passages of scripture in which God tells us of how He is or of things He does that seem contrary to the "love is God" version of God.
For instance:
Ps 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. (refer to Rom 3:10)
Is 45:7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.
These are just a few verses that many if they are honest really don't know what to do with! Most often they are just ignored and downplayed as though they really aren't important. But the fact is such verses, challenging as they are, are important if we are to really understand what God is really like, and what His love is really like. We need to let the whole Bible speak and not just a few select verses (and many times even those taken out of context) to instruct us about the nature of God.
I found myself struggling with various parts of scripture like this some time ago, and what I realized was that I had formed a concept of what God was like based on my own feelings and reason. I had heard certain things from various pastors and teachers over and over so many times I just took for granted it was true. I fear that many God-loving Christians today are stuck in the same place. Because rather than having God as the definition of love, and receiving the whole counsel of His word concerning His nature and attributes, they attempt to make love into God, resulting in a God who is far removed from the Sovereign Lord of scripture.
God is love, but let's make sure our understanding of love flows from Him, and not vice versa.
Is 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.Is 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
In His love!
Pastor Chris
"So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16
This verse of Scripture has been familiar to me for some time. I think in fact is there is one thing everyone knows today, one thing that the church has made abundantly clear to people, it's that God loves them. That God is love, and that His love is great and massive and amazing, that nothing can ever compare to the love of God. (In fact I think that what the church needs to make more clear is the wrath of God toward sinners, but thats a blog for another day!)
In spite of all of this teaching on God's love, there is a problem I have noticed that seems to be arising out of all of this teaching about the love of God. This problem has to do with God, His attributes and the sloppiness of many in teaching the truth of God's word. The problem I see is a reversal of what John tells us in the passage above. What do I mean?
God is love, but love is not God! "Now what is that supposed to mean" you say? It means simply this: God, as He presents Himself in His word defines what love is. "Well ok, what's your point?" The point is, many, and I mean many, Christians today develop their view of God's nature, particularly His attribute of love, by taking their understanding of human concepts of love and with those ideas in mind say "that is what God is like!"
Now the problems that arise out of this are many, but one of the most obvious is such people will have a very hard time with passages of scripture in which God tells us of how He is or of things He does that seem contrary to the "love is God" version of God.
For instance:
Ps 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. (refer to Rom 3:10)
Is 45:7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.
These are just a few verses that many if they are honest really don't know what to do with! Most often they are just ignored and downplayed as though they really aren't important. But the fact is such verses, challenging as they are, are important if we are to really understand what God is really like, and what His love is really like. We need to let the whole Bible speak and not just a few select verses (and many times even those taken out of context) to instruct us about the nature of God.
I found myself struggling with various parts of scripture like this some time ago, and what I realized was that I had formed a concept of what God was like based on my own feelings and reason. I had heard certain things from various pastors and teachers over and over so many times I just took for granted it was true. I fear that many God-loving Christians today are stuck in the same place. Because rather than having God as the definition of love, and receiving the whole counsel of His word concerning His nature and attributes, they attempt to make love into God, resulting in a God who is far removed from the Sovereign Lord of scripture.
God is love, but let's make sure our understanding of love flows from Him, and not vice versa.
Is 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.Is 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
In His love!
Pastor Chris
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