God Loves… Himself

“A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God” (A. W. Tozer).

This statement by Tozer is so powerful and thrilling to read that it is hard to get beyond it. If only theologians, biblical scholars, and pastors would wake up to this basic but ignored truth. The Bible is the revelation of God and His glory first and foremost. If we approach Scripture from a man-centered point of view we will miss the vital issue and the real point of it. Reading theology is a good practice for all, but reading people who try to write about theology (theos = God and ology = study of) without taking God into consideration is amusing on the one hand and horrifying on the other. God is the center of theology and the study of theology is to be primarily a study of God. If we have low views of God or try to study the doctrines that theology consists of without the primary reason for them, that is like using plastic toys to study biology. This is exactly why theology has lost much of its meaning for the average person and that is why the academic study of the Bible has lost much if not virtually all of its power. The study of Scripture and the study of theology should be a study of the glory of God.

John Calvin said that man cannot know himself without knowing God. Perhaps that is why there used to be so many people wondering around trying to find themselves. While different terms are used today, that is still an issue. People cannot find out who they are and their purpose in life without knowing about God. The Death of God movement has largely died out in one sense, but the concept of God has been largely so watered down that most people who attend church these days hear nothing but idolatrous blather. If Tozer is correct, and I certainly think that he is, then the real problems within the church have to do with a low view of God. The real issues that people fight about concerning theology are missing the main point. They use logic and historical documentation to try to come to an understanding, but those are almost never the real issue. The real issue that divides people is God. The real issue that divides one theology from another is the view of God that one has.

For example, let us look at the issue of free will. I can almost hear someone laughing now and saying something to the point of how crazy it is to assert that the real issue that divides people on free will is their view of God. That is exactly what I want to assert. As Tozer said earlier, and I tried to defend his statement in an earlier blog, the most important thing about us is what comes to our mind when we think of God. While our true views of God may be hidden underneath piles of rubbish of modern religious notions, our true view of God is what determines virtually everything we believe and do. My view of man and his freedom is determined precisely by how I view God and His sovereignty. If God is free to do as He pleases and free to allow only that which He pleases, then how much freedom does that allow man? If man is dead spiritually and God is the only author and sustainer of life in the universe, then how free is man in light of that? If man has no spiritual power other than what the Holy Spirit works in man, then how free is man in the spiritual realm? In other words, man’s freedom can only be conceived of where God’s freedom sovereignty, and power are cut off.

What are the real issues in theology today? Some of them are the New Perspective, Open Theism, and the Auburn Avenue Theology. All three have to do with the Gospel and both ultimately have to do with the very nature of God. While there are important historical (hysterical?) issues that some think are the basis for the New Perspective, at root the real issue is over the character of God and how He saves. The Gospel is about how God saves according to His character. The issue is not ultimately over how one stayed in the covenant during the times of Christ and of Paul, but how God glorifies Himself in the Gospel. Indeed we must be faithful to the text of Holy Writ, but just as important if not more so is to be faithful to the character and glory of God. We may not always be able to figure out exactly what a text means, but we can know that God saves according to the good pleasure of His will and to the glory of His grace. Those are basic because God does nothing that is not ultimately to the glory of His name. We can know that the New Perspective is wrong because it adds works to the Gospel and so it is not a Gospel that exalts the pleasure and grace of God. The New Perspective goes wrong because it is wrong on the character of God. It ends up with a man-centered view of the Gospel that is not dependent on a full and glorious free gift of grace that exalts God. It goes wrong in thinking that man can stay in the covenant by virtue of his works instead of looking at God who keeps man in covenant because of who He is. It is a wrong view of God.

“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?

“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).

Last time we looked a bit at how it is more important to deal with our actual thoughts of God rather than just creedal statements. We want to look at more of this magnificent statement of Tozer’s. While this may appear tedious and slight in importance, it is just the opposite. If Tozer is correct, this is an utterly vital topic for today. How can it be that “our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional notions”? One way is for people to hear a statement about God and attach that meaning to the idea of God. For example, what do people think of God’s love today? Usually people obtain their idea of love from the culture or a liberal pastor and simply think of God as love in a diametrically opposite way than He really is. In this sense, then, many have their real notions of God from the rubbish of conventional religious notions. But a second way we can look at this is if people have the truth in their creeds but down deep believe things about God that come from conventional religious notions. A third way is to teach the creeds but in a way that buries the truth about God. This can be done while using the writings of Calvin and other greats.

In the modern day there is a proliferation of tapes, books, Bibles, radio, computers, ipods, and so on. We have information and material up to our eyeballs. However, that can be a curse as well. With so much information within easy reach, we can soak up information and think of ourselves as quite informed and orthodox. However, all of that information most likely will not change the heart and our real concept of God. We can take our basic ideas of God and fit about any theology with them. We can listen and read voluminous amounts of material and yet not have our hearts changed a bit other than to build up our pride. It takes prayer and meditation to reach the depths of the heart. It takes a real desire to have a real and true heart regardless of the pain to reach the heart. Those things take a lot of effort and a lot of pain. It takes God Himself to reveal Himself to us and to communicate His character and glory to and in us. We want to have it under our control.

What is our real idea of God in terms of gaining knowledge of Him? Is it true that we think we can obtain knowledge of Him by reading books and study alone? If we believe as our deepest belief in the heart that He alone can give this knowledge, then we will study in a far different way. We may profess by a creed that He alone can give us a true understanding of Him in the heart, but what is the deep belief in our hearts? If we try to attain spiritual knowledge of God by our own efforts alone we are closer to atheists than robust theists in our hearts. If we want to understand a text of Scripture or of the glory of God, it will cost us much time in meditation and prayer. It might cost us some real rending of our hearts. Are we sure we want to know the true God in reality?

We may believe that God alone builds His Church, but where is the evidence that people really believe this? We seem to think that this is all in our power. So we make our plans by our own wisdom and ask God to bless our plans. Who do we think we are? The Church is His and He is the One who is to give it the plans it is to live by. Do we believe deep down in our hearts that we must wait on God for His plan or are we going to do it by conventional wisdom? Is it really up to us? Are we willing to wait on God with true crying our and submission of hearts?

Reformed churches usually have the ancient creeds and want to stick with them. That can be a very good thing. However, this can be a real problem as well. People can be proud of the creeds and their history of orthodoxy rather than love God and His truths as set out in the creeds. Unless the teachings of the creeds help people to understand Scripture and engage God in the depths of their souls, they are not being used properly. Part of the creeds is usually deals with the importance of Scripture. We must believe from the heart what Scripture teaches. We should only believe a creed or confession if we believe that Scripture teaches it. We must also know that the creeds and confessions teach us that all should be done to the glory of His name. That would also include what we believe about God and the creeds and confessions. Reformed churches will also have the problem of having the true notions of God hidden under the rubbish of conventional religious notions until they begin to teach all that they teach with the glory of God as the center of it all. The heart must be reached or all is lost.

“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).

I don’t think it requires much thought to know that it is vital to a person and a church to have ideas that are close as possible to being true about God. While that is not what a large number of professing churches hold to today, it is still a true statement and can be seen without a lot of deep thought. God can only be worshipped in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Jesus Christ came to reveal the truth of who God is and no one can come to Him except through Christ because Christ alone gives the correct understanding of God. We are to be centered upon Christ because Christ gives the truth about who God is.

The next part of this statement should give us great pause. Can it be true that our creedal statements that we have worked so hard on to get passed in the church and to teach to our classes are of little importance compared to our actual thoughts about Him? Can it be true, liberalism and nominal believers to the side for the moment, that there are many orthodox people in terms of what they confess in our churches but who might be idolaters in their hearts day after day and Sabbath after Sabbath? Could it be that the heart is so deceitful that we confess things that do not correspond with our ideas of God from the deepest parts of our hearts? Could it be that we even convince ourselves that we believe these things with rational argumentation and in reality we have differing beliefs in our hearts? For example, “I believe God is sovereign.” Really, but how do I act the next time something happens that I don’t like? What is the deep belief about this in the depths of my heart?

What about the teaching that it is God who must make sinners alive and not sinners themselves. That is fine when it comes to teaching it to other people, but what about when I examine my heart to see if Christ is really there? Do I rely on self and what it has done or the work of a sovereign God? What do I really believe? I believe that I am to deny self in order to follow Christ, but what happens when I am really required to deny self? Do I really believe in the glory of God and His Word enough to do the hard things? It is so easy to say that Christ is Lord, but do I really bow to Him in my heart, mind, soul, and strength in order to love Him with them in all things? Okay, my creed says that I must believe it and I have an intellectual argument for it so I must believe it. But what comes out of my heart through my mouth and life when something hard is brought to me? Do I really believe that God is in control? Do I really believe that I must submit to Him in all things?

My creedal statement says that God is love. Fine, that is wonderful. I like the idea that God is love because I like to be loved. I like to think of a God who makes much of me and thinks I am wonderful. First, that is not what it really means for God to be love. But do I believe God is love when He brings hard things to me? Do I really believe that the hard things are from love and are meant to burn the dross and impurities from me? What is the deep belief about God in my heart?

If what Tozer says is true, and I think that it most certainly is, then the churches must be careful to teach people more than just the words of the creeds and confessions. We must teach them about God and His glory. We must make every effort to reach the hearts of people with the truth of and about God. This does not mean that the creeds must go, but simply says that a belief in them is not enough. We must teach the real character and glory of God to their hearts so that they will believe the creeds as they were intended. I may be able to teach young children to memorize and even give argument for some deep theological truths, but that does not mean that they understand or love them. When something hard comes up, they will revert to what they know well and what comes from their sinful little hearts. The same is true of people in the churches. They need to be taught so that their deepest thoughts and beliefs are grounded in the character of God. If this does not happen, all else is in vain. We will essentially have people memorizing things and remain unchanged at the deepest levels of their beings. That may sound familiar because I think that is an accurate description of what is going on today.

“Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God, just as her most significant message is what she says about Him or leaves unsaid, for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God” (A.W. Tozer).

This is but another powerful statement of truth by Tozer. But can it be true? What would reveal a particular church’s idea of God? If we went to visit a local church, what would we look for? Would we look to see what kind of band or type of music they had? Would we be happy if the preacher preached on a certain subject or particular doctrine? Would it please us if the sermon was expository? Would we be happy if the preacher preached with enthusiasm? How must like Martin Lloyd-Jones are we when he said regarding listening to sermons: “I can forgive a man almost anything if he will give me a sense of God.” That is the most important issue.

A church reveals a lot about herself by what she does and the reasons why she does them. A church usually has a written creed or one that is just accepted. Sometimes the creed is that we have no creed so anything is accepted. But a church is going to do what it does for a reason. That reason is very telling about the church. It is also true that a church can accept a pious reason at one point and degenerate into other reasons later, or perhaps just tack on a good statement at the front to cover bad motives and reasons. The heart is really so deceptive.

What is hard these days is finding a church that will talk about God much at all. He is, well, just assumed if we are not ashamed of Him. We might have an orthodox creed, but where is God in the daily work of the church? The songs might be good as far as it goes, but where is God in all of that? The sermon may be expository but hardly even mention the name of God. The sermon may be with enthusiasm but is the enthusiasm real and is it about God? A sermon declares a lot about God even if it is what it refuses to say. A preacher that dances around the hard issues about God and sin makes a clear declaration about God. Sermons that refuse to deal with the heart make declarations about the outward life as if that is all that is required. Sermons that are orthodox in doctrine may simply never say anything negative or hard. All of those declare a lot about a church, primarily what it really thinks of God.

As Tozer says, “for her silence is often more eloquent than her speech. She can never escape the self-disclosure of her witness concerning God.” What a church does not say on a regular basis is indeed an eloquent statement. Could it be that some large and outwardly appearing orthodox “churches” are really so ashamed of the holiness, justice, and wrath of God that they will not talk about sin? In reality a refusal to deal with the hard issues is really to be ashamed of the character of God. Failure to preach hard doctrines and hard teachings is simply a desire for the approval of men more than a love for the glory of God. We really should go one step more and say that the reason men will not preach against sin and teach the hard teachings is simply because they want larger churches which is a desire for honor for self rather than a desire for the glory of God to be manifested. This is simply choosing self over God and is idolatry in holy things.

A church never escapes a loud statement about what it really believes. A church can hide behind an orthodox creed or doctrinal statement but if it does not really believe in God it will not teach the glories of God in truth. As John Gerstner said, “many people are going to hell past a Reformed pulpit.” John W. Montgomery wrote a book years ago entitled Damned through the Church. Holy Scripture tells us this: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). If the pastors and teachers of the churches will not proclaim the whole counsel of God to the people, then they are not innocent of the blood of all men (Acts 20:26ff). An elder or leader is only innocent of the blood of all men if he has preached or taught the whole counsel of God.

What we need in our day are men who will take God at His Word and preach the hard things as well. Until our preaching declares the glory of God in its fullness we will not see a return of the power of the Church. Until we are fearless in preaching against sin and dealing with the hearts of men in their sin we will not see men turn to God from the heart. We cannot preach the glories and wonders of God without the light from that glory shining on sinful hearts and revealing things that men hate. However, it is the contrite soul that God loves. Let us be careful to love
God and declare all of His glory and not water down things to attract carnal men. They may bring a lot of money and prestige to the church, but our love is to be for God and His glory.

“For this reason [see last blog on God-Centeredness and Levels of Thought] the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward out mental image of God” (A.W. Tozer).

How can we argue with the first part of his sentence? But how many churches or people realize this at all? Church is thought to be the place where man is the focus. We are to do all that we can do to get people in the door and then to make them happy and welcome. In one sense, that is about as backwards as we can be. If unbelieving people who by definition are hostile to God come to church and God is there, then they will not be happy and comfortable. If the glory of God is truly declared, then many people who happily attend church now would be miserable if they stayed. Unless an individual loves God, then that individual will not be comfortable where the presence of a holy God is declared. However, it is only in churches like that where people will cry out as people did in the New Testament asking how they may be saved.

The Church today must force itself to face some questions with brutal honesty. The Church is the body of Christ and the Church is the household of God. God is the One who builds His house and He is the One that adds to it as He pleases. The gravest question that any church can ask is whether God comes to church or not. The church must do some deep searching of its soul and ask what it really believes about God. We must ask if we really want God to come to church and take over or maybe if we are just too concerned with order and our own comfort levels. God is the One we must deal with in our questions and in our answers. God is the One we must deal with in our intellects, our hearts and affections. The Church must wake up and realize that if it does nothing else it must please God. It must wake up and realize that it is actually practicing idolatry in its focus on people. What people really need is a church that will magnify and declare the glory of God and not center on them.

What do the people in our churches today conceive God to be like in the depths of their hearts? Notice Tozer says that it is not about what we “at a given time may say or do,” but it is our conception of God in the heart that is vital. People can fake a lot before other people. We can speak highly of God when in church or at other places. We can even speak highly of God in our own private times. But what do we really think of God in our hearts? We can do virtually all things that go under the name of Christian by fear or by forcing ourselves to do them. We can have high thoughts of God in our intellects and live moral lives. But what happens when something happens where we are denied what we really want? What happens when life crosses our desires and wills? Do we love God and stand in awe of Him no matter what happens? Do we conceive of God as a Divine Being who carries out our desires and wills? Do we only like Him when we think He is on our side? We must realize that God is not on our side; rather we are on His if we have truly submitted to Him and love Him.

Notice that in the above paragraph there are many religious things that people can do and even with a reasonable high view of God. But they always have a secret conception of God in their hearts. People always move and operate by that secret view. What we really conceive of as God deep in our hearts is perhaps the real determiner of our motives and loves in what we do. A hypocrite can have much outward show and appear to have a high view of God, but still be one deceived person. A person can think he loves God when in fact he only loves being loved by God and so is quite deceived. We can serve a god and think that our works are signs of sanctification when in fact they are only signs of deception. No, the God we conceive of must be the true God or we are serving an idol and all our works that we think of as good are really filthy rags.

The Church must strive to exalt God in all that it does so that the God people conceive of will be the true God. Of course teaching the true God does not guarantee that the people will understand, but how will they understand about the true God if they are constantly taught about a false god? How will people understand that they are not the true God and He does not serve them at their every whim if the church tries to do that to get them to stay at that church? No, the church must declare the true God so that God and those who love Him will love to meet together whenever the church meets. The true God must be declared so that people will be turned from their self-deception of false gods in their hearts and minds.

“The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God” (A.W. Tozer).

The first part of the above statement would be argued by a secularist, but that is only because a secularist has a different idea of what it means for a people to rise and then to rise to or above a religion. In fact, most secularists would say that a society will only progress when it raises above its religion enough to discard it. However, that being noted, we should realize that Tozer’s statement is self-evident. If the whole reason for a person or a people to be in existence and on this planet is to live for the glory of God, then of course it is true that no one has ever risen higher than its religion. In one sense the United States is living in a time of unprecedented military might (if it chose to unleash those) and its level of living in terms of comfort. However, in many other ways the United States is on a steep, downward spiral. Corporate greed and crime, political corruption, and all other types of dishonesty and crime are rampant. This is a nation that has forgotten God, even trying to get Him out, and the results are being seen. A nation cannot forget God who is the only objective standard of morality possible and expect to continue its standards of morality. Eventually, if there is no return, all the problems brought to bear by forgetting God will bring this nation to its knees.

It is again self-evident that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. We could also say, since it is Christianity that we are concerned with, that no church has ever been greater than its idea of God. The level of a church is not determined by how many people go there, the political status of it, or its budget. The greatness of a church is determined by what it really thinks of God regardless (to some degree) of its creed. No church will ever rise higher in terms of true greatness to any level above what it really (deep down) thinks of God. A church that is Calvinistic in its creed could still have a very low view of God deep in the hearts of the people. That church could actually think that they have God figured out and that He operates according to their notions. That would be a low view of God. That same church might also have little love for others and simply sneer at them as inferior. Again, in some ways the creeds of a church might matter very little if a high view of God is not held.

The worship of a church is not determined by the number of people or instruments in the band. The worship of a church is not determined by how old or how new the song is. The worship of the church is not necessarily true worship just because the songs are orthodox. The worship in the church is determined by how much God is loved and revered in the hearts of the people. I am aware that this is thought of as a nice theory, but we do not find all the arguments about worship in Scripture that we hear of today. If a person loves and reveres God, then s/he should be able to worship in old or contemporary music with some qualifications. Truly great churches are more concerned about God’s glory in the hearts of the people than if they are in giving a perfect external atmosphere for worship. Worship starts in the heart and the heart determines the object and quality of the worship.

It matters little whether the music or words are really good or just okay if the heart is right with God. The music can influence feeling, but the heart determines whether God is worshiped or not. The one worshiping could also be the worshiped if there are low views of God and high concentration on the feelings. A great church is one that tries to get people focused on God and to worship Him from the heart. He is to be exalted and He is to be lifted up in the hearts and voices of the people. We should also not think that worship is only in the music. Worship should also occur during the preaching. If worship does not occur during the preaching, then most likely worship of God is also not happening during the singing. Preaching, in many ways, is simply lifting up God and His ways before the spiritual eyes of men. Too often preaching is lifting up men in the eyes of men. But all that is done in the building that the church meets at should be done in worship of the living God. If true worship must have love and reverence in its adoration of God, then clearly the higher view of God leads to a higher degree of worship. A pure worship is when the hearts of the people are set on God and see Him as high and exalted. A base worship is when God is focused on for the sake of men and man is thought to worship God when his feelings are at a high level. That is a very low view of God. It is also a base worship to worship with low and wrong thoughts of God. He is infinitely glorious and deserves to be worshiped as such.

“If we are under an infinite obligation to love God supremely, live to him ultimately, and take everlasting delight in him, because of his infinite glory and excellency, then the least disposition to disesteem him, to be indifferent about his interest and honor, or to disrelish communion with him; or the least disposition to love ourselves more than God, and be more concerned about our interest and honor than about his, and to be pleased and delighted in the things of the world more than in him, must, consequently, be infinitely sinful, as is self-evident” (Joseph Bellamy, from True Religion Delineated).

We are taking a short break from the thoughts of Tozer and focusing on this quote from Bellamy as he reflects on the applications of the Great Commandment. Man lives a life going to school and then to work as he gets older. He has a cycle of life and most people do not really come to grips with the meaning and purpose of life. Most seem to go through life just wanting to have an easy life and so they avoid all problems that they can. But man is under an infinite obligation to love God supremely in all things and at all times. This is a huge responsibility and man wants to run from it. He understands that he cannot really do that and so denies the real obligations of it. However, the obligations of it are still there whether man wants to face them or not. The Great Commandment stands as it is and it will never be lessened in its obligations or privileges.

Man is required to love God with all of his being in all things and at all times. Yes, I repeated that. It is hard to come to grips with it. I am to love God when I eat and when I sleep? I am to love God supremely as I go to the grocery store? Yes, He is the ultimate reason for all that I am to do. I am to take delight in Him because I am to love Him with all of my being. Surely, one may ask, “we are not to delight in God more than sports and sex and all of those other things?” Not only are we to love Him more than whatever we do, we are to do them out of love for Him. If we cannot love God in doing them, then they should not be done. Because of His infinite glory and excellency, it is right and good that He be loved like this.

But the Bellamy quote goes on and states the negative aspect as well. Loving God means that the least disposition not to esteem Him is wicked. The least indifference about His honor and glory is wicked. The least part of us that takes no relish in communion with Him is an act of wickedness. The least disposition within us to love ourselves or be more concerned about ourselves and our honor over His is wickedness. The delight and pleasure that a person has in the world and the things of the world more than in Him is infinitely sinful. The least disposition that we have not to do those things is infinitely sinful.

We can look at these using different words. Man is to love God with all of His being all of the time and in all that he does. Anything that is not love to and for God with the whole being is sinful. Just in case a self-righteous person is reading this, I hope that this crushes any self-righteousness that you have. Can it be that any man other than Jesus Christ has ever loved God with the whole of his being at any point in his life? How can man do anything but cry out from a humbled and contrite spirit that God is just in however He deals with us. How can man see any righteousness in him that is other than filthy rags (Isa 64:6). Oh how man needs the glory of grace as shown forth in the blood of the cross and the gift of imputed righteousness. How man should humbly cry out for God to be glorified through Christ because man is so weak in his love for the glory of God.

When this is applied to the Church, we can see why so many churches have given up trying to be God-centered. It is far easier to please man and do what it takes to soothe his conscience. It is hard stuff to proclaim the truth about the Great Commandment. It runs people off if they see the depths of their sin in light of the holiness of God and His righteous standards. It is easier to drop the standards of the church than it is to stand firm in order to please the living God. Whatever men may do in the name of love and of God, they cannot drop the reality of the standard of the Great Commandment. Until God changes the standard will remain the same. Just in case anyone has any hope for that, God is immutable in His holiness. It will not change. Worthy is He to be praised and worthy is the Lamb to receive glory, honor and praise.

“Were Christians today reading such works as those of Augustine or Anselm a book like this would have no reason for being. But such illuminated masters are known to modern Christians only by name. Publishers dutifully reprint their books and in due time these appear on the shelves of our studies. But the whole truth lies right there: they remain on the shelves. The current religious mood makes the reading of them virtually impossible even for educated Christians” (A. W. Tozer).

I would give a hearty “amen” to the above statement though I see the same thing regarding the writings of Jonathan Edwards, John Owen and Stephen Charnock. It is true that these men are sometimes read, but I am not sure that they are often understood. What is interesting to note is that Tozer thinks that the illuminated masters are not read because of the “current religious mood.” He even thought that that current religious mood made “the reading of them virtually impossible.” Okay, one might argue, “but that is because everything is being dumbed down in our day.” That is a good argument too, but Tozer says that the reading was virtually impossible “even for educated Christians.” What could he have meant?

Without trying to read Tozer’s mind, especially since he wrote his book about 45 years ago, we will try to think through this statement as it applies to today. There are many focuses and moods within Christianity today that make the reading and digesting of the illuminated masters virtually impossible. One, there is a branch of anti-intellectualism that tends to stay away from things that make one think. Two, there is a branch of intellectualism that tends to stay away from anything that sounds mystical. Third, there is the practical crowd which just wants to be involved in evangelism or social activities and thinks that all that reading just keeps people from doing good. Four, there is the moralistic crowd which focuses on morality and does not worry about hard thinking. Five, there is the hyper-spiritual crowd which will not read anything but the Bible. All of these are related in some way to the previous blog in which Tozer says that a high view of God is necessary for spiritual power and true morality.

When any view, doctrine, practice, or version of morality is stressed in a way that is out of balance, the view that drives it is driven by an aberrant view of God. The resulting view of God will also be taken even further out of balance. The religious mood that comes from these views as they tilt more and more out of kilter with the center of the true character of God is one that does not like to study those who are more balanced. The anti-intellectual crowd will not read the good works of the past because they are not exercising their minds and the older works are hard to read. Besides that, pride will keep them from admitting that their intellects are too lazy and underdeveloped to love God with their entire mind as the Great Commandment dictates. The intellectual crowd has become so enthralled with the mind that they have forgotten that man has affections and a spiritual sight as well. So when the older writers speak of spiritual things that the mind does not have full access to, their pride is such that those things are held in contempt. It is beneath a rational being to think like that, they think.

The practical crowd is too busy “doing ministry” to spend time studying old books. After all, those older writers were not all that spiritual or they would have been “doing ministry” instead of wasting their time writing books that no one wants to read anyway. After all, spending all that time on reading and all that effort on trying to understand is simply not practical in this day and age when there is so much good to be done. The moralistic crowd just wants to be moral in the present day and those old books written about the glory of God, well, they just don’t have any real value for what needs to be done in our degenerate age. The hyper-spiritual crowd is just too proud about its Bible reading to believe that God might teach them from men who are not alive any more.

The real issue behind these resides in two things. One, we are in an age where independency and pride is the order of the day. But the real issue (two) common to all of the previous views and of the pride mentioned in one, is that man has lost sight of the glory of God. Once the glory of God has been tasted, nothing else will satisfy the soul. The soul that wants God will wade through heavy writings in order to gain a glimpse of God that others have had in a more spiritual day. It is not necessarily more spiritual to read older writers, though some have fallen into that trap, but they were written in a more spiritual and God-centered day. Until our day or some previous day receives grace to turn from such hideous sin as self-centeredness and pride to seek God with all of our beings, we will be turned over to various religious aspects of pride that reveal a shallow concept of God. “Show me Your glory.”

“It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate. If we would bring back spiritual power to our lives, we must begin to think of God more nearly as He is” (A.W. Tozer).

There is a huge push for morality among conservative Christians in our day. While that is not bad, is morality the same thing as holiness and spirituality? Can people pursue morality for sinful reasons and simply be whitewashed tombs being clean on the outside while the inner part is full of dead men’s bones? Notice how Tozer links moral practices and the inward attitudes. To take this one step more, for there to be spiritual power in the lives of believers they must be lovers of the truth of God. The link, then, is that true spirituality is the Holy Spirit working His character in people’s hearts and lives. Spirituality is simply to partake of the working of the Holy Spirit. To the degree that one has the Spirit or the degree that the Spirit is working is the degree that a person is spiritual.

If the heart of morality is outward behavior, then the name of the religion does not matter. However, if true morality requires the proper inward attitude and the inward attitude is inextricably intertwined with one’s idea of God, then morality is really a different issue than what is normally thought. True morality requires a person to have some truth about God in order to love God. There is no true inward morality apart from keeping the Greatest Commandment which is to love God with all of our beings. The Pharisees were rigid moralists and yet hated God. There are atheists who pride themselves on being moral. But without the inward attitude there is no true morality and the very acts of righteousness of men are sin and likened to filthy rags (Isa 64:7). There can be no proper inward attitude of love and reverence for God unless the truth of God is known and understood to some degree.

Rigid moralists who are without true love always set up rules that go beyond the bounds of Scripture. Liberals allow for a morality that is far less than the commands of Scripture. For there to be true morality, then, there must be a balance. There must be obedience to the commands of Scripture and yet there must not be additions to the rules. It is hard to maintain that balance. However, the rigidity of the moralists would be softened with love and those who love God desire to be holy as He is holy. In fact, true morality is really nothing but holiness and God is the standard and the power of holiness. A holy person is moral and is therefore like God.

If the Church desires to be like God, it should take note of the life and practices of Jesus. The Pharisees were horrified that Jesus would break their rules. They thought of Him as violating the Sabbath because He did not follow their rules about the Sabbath. Could it be that there is a “far right wing” in the Church today that has more in common with the Pharisees than with Jesus? The Christian is commanded to love his enemies, pray for them, do good to them, and to overcome evil with good. It appears that many bearing the name “Christian” seem to hate people who are opposed to them. Jesus, on the other hand, was a friend of sinners and saved His anger for the religious people of the day. It is enough to make one think about morality and what is important in the Church.

Let us explore this just a bit more. It takes a proper idea of God in order to live a life of true holiness. In fact, since God is the standard of holiness, there can be no true holiness without a proper concept of Him. To the degree, then, that people have shoddy or irreverent ideas of God is the degree that they are unholy people. That is true of rigid moralists as well. The ramifications for the Church are again enormous. As doctrine is thrown out and people are trying to unite around moral and social actions, God is being cast out of our thinking. We have a huge split along the lines of rigid moralists and liberal moralists. The one who loves God might have to separate with both groups. The Christian should never give up high thoughts of God and a great love for Him. He may be maligned, but this does not mean that he is not living in accordance with love for the true God. A high concept of God leads to a humble pursuit of true holiness. True holiness goes no further than true love for God and the neighbor. We must have a type of holiness that it is attractive to those who love God and yet might be hated by those who don’t love God. The Church must learn to pursue true holiness because it wants the glory and beauty of the holiness of God to shine forth from Her. If that is not pursued, the Church will have no spiritual power and it will slide into a cheap imitation of moralism as found in the Pharisees on the one hand and liberalism on the other.