“That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little importance. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God” (A.W. Tozer).
We continue to think through this enormous statement by Tozer. When we begin to think about this issue, we can readily see it throughout the Church today. That is not unusual; we can see it in the churches in Revelation, the Pharisees, and the Israelites in the Old Testament. We can also see it throughout the history of the Church. The Pharisees were quite orthodox and believed they held the truth and had true ideas of God. But underneath all of their religion they had ideas of God that were buried under the rubbish of their conventional religion notions. In the Sermon on the Mount, for example, Jesus said “you have heard that it was said.” He then went on to correct their interpretations. He did this with the basic commandments. Of course they knew the commandments as to the words and all the laws that they had set up, but they were ignorant of the true meaning of them.
In Matthew 23 Jesus went after the Pharisees with a series of “woes.” He blasted the Pharisees for all of their external religious activities and for not having a heart. How much is the modern Church like the Pharisees? Where is our heart in the midst of all the moral activism? Could it be that our moral activism in many cases is really more about our own self-righteousness than the honor of God? Could it be that in many cases moral activism is an activity that hides our own hearts from ourselves and our sins from others as it did the Pharisees? As long as we are busy doing things that outwardly have the appearance of morality about them we can hide our sins from ourselves and others. Those same outward activities can also help us deceive ourselves when we judge what we are doing with the sins of others. But beneath all of that activity, what do we really think of God?
The Israelites were commanded to do certain things in worship. At times God hated their worship and told them to stop. They did them as externals and did not do them from the heart. “21 I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. 24 But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream”” (Amos 5). The external actions of a church can be hated by God. There is no guarantee that a particular church is blessed by God because of great numbers, lots of activities, moral activism, orthodox creeds, and expositional preaching. Where is God? What do the people really think of God down deep in their hearts? Do they do all of these things to an idol and from a self-righteous heart? If so, then all of the activities of the churches are hated and rejected. They are unacceptable to Him and are an abomination to Him. Many seem to think that because they tack on the name “Jesus” after a prayer or something they do that this makes things acceptable. In all honesty, if a false god is in the heart then tacking on the name “Jesus” simply makes it more abhorrent to God. If we pray or do things in the name of Christ we are to do them in a way that truly exalts Him in action and in our hearts. It is to go out in His power as well.
But what are we to think of modern conservative morality today? Are we so sure that we have the right ideas of God? Could it be that we have a lot of conventional religious notions and so our real ideas of God are underneath that rubbish? How would we know if we don’t take a careful look? Is it so impossible to think that the spirit of the Pharisees, which is really pride, self-love and self-centeredness, is alive and growing within the Church today? We know that the Bible says that certain things are wrong. Okay, but how are we to treat people after they have done those things? Do we behave in a self-righteous way toward them? Do we treat them like dirt? What of the people who are divorced or those who have had abortions? What of those who have repented of homosexuality? What of those leaders who have fallen? If God forgave Manasseh, then we had better be careful of who we cast off. Modern Christianity seems so willing to receive murderers and those who have committed vicious crimes. But are we going to cast off people who have committed crimes against our pet issues in morality? If we do, what is the real idea of God that we have? Wouldn’t we be more like the men who brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus than Jesus who forgave her and told her to sin no more? When people were at their worst, the kindness and love of God appeared (Titus 3:4). He saved really horrible sinners. Do we really believe that?
God Loves... Himself 
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