Beatitudes 20: Hungering 5

March 24, 2007

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

This week we will conclude out look at hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Rather than looking at one more angle of what this text may or may not mean, let us do some examination of our souls in light of this text. We may also want to think of this in light of the souls of others. But the Beatitudes are ways to examine our own souls to see if we are converted and to see if we have fallen into the dangerous zone of being lukewarm.

Our text tells us with the beauty and clarity of an omniscient God that the truly blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. In one sense this is easy to see intellectually. We can get bogged down with this in many other ways, even good ways, but still the basic meaning of this text is not terribly hard. True inner happiness is for those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Another way to say that would be to say that those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness are those who have true inner happiness. In fact, the text really tells us that only those who are hungering and thirsting for righteousness have true inner happiness. When the text says “they,” it limits blessedness to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Let the examination begin. Do you have that true inner happiness? Don’t answer without some examination of your heart. I did not ask if you have fleeting moments of happiness. I did not ask if you are happy when your mind is engaged in worldly pleasures. I asked if you have true inner happiness. If you are forced to be alone for several hours, do you want to fill your mind with television, music, or even tickling the ear with sermons? Do sports fill you with happiness? Do you have momentary and fleeting feelings of joy when someone gives you money? Do you have momentary aspects of happiness when you buy something you have been wanting?

If you are brutally honest with yourself, you might find that your happiness is based in the things of the world. While you may be very religious and perhaps a teacher or pastor, you might find that your happiness is not really that much different than that of the world’s though it has a religious flavor. Fleeting and worldly bits of happiness in religious things can come from our sinful desires to do something well or to be honored. We can find bits of inner pleasure in teaching and preaching because we think others honor us. We can find something like happiness if we do good deeds because we swell at the opinion of others who honor us for what we do. We love the opinion of others and we love to think highly of ourselves when others compliment us. But those things are far different than the true inner happiness that is a co-product of hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

We can see what Paul thought about mercenary ministers from this text: “But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. 22 But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father” (Philippians 2:19-22). We can understand that the men that wanted to come to the Philippians as ministers would have been willing. They might have been excellent teachers with great knowledge. They might have been scholars of the Bible. They might have been honest and even hard workers. But Paul would not send them because they sought after their own interests. This meant that in the ministry they were more concerned with how things affected them rather than the true welfare of the souls of the people. If the minister does not have a genuine concern for the true good of the people, then his concern is all about himself. In that case he is not a minister for Christ but a minister for the benefit of self, whether it is money or honor or both.

Each person has the possibility of things like that. Each individual that professes Christ can be caught in the trap of doing things in a way that leads to success. A person can desire honor and attention from others or can do things just for the good feeling that s/he obtains in doing something. We can do things simply to be honored by other pastors or others in the local church. We can do things that appear as very sacrificial but are really in the pursuit of honor of others. No matter what we are doing and how outwardly successful it is, we must remember this text that Paul sets out for us. We are always seeking ourselves or we are seeking what is truly good for the souls of others. We can be as sound in theology as one can be but have selfish hearts that desire honor for preaching and theology rather than the glory of God in the true spiritual good of others. We can even be motivated to seek righteousness by our religious actions rather than seek the glory of God which is true righteousness. The heart is so deceitful.

Now it may appear that I have gone way astray from the text, but I have not. People that truly hunger and thirst after righteousness are not those that seek self in the pursuit of righteousness. Remember from Matthew six in the Sermon on the Mount how the Pharisees sought to do their acts of righteousness. It starts off with these haunting words: “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” The text does not deny that these were in some way righteous acts, but it goes to the intent of them. The Pharisees did these to be noticed by other humans and found some measure of happiness and meaning in prayer in being noticed by others. But they measured that from what others thought of them or what they perceived that others thought of them. The passage goes on to show that the Pharisees did the same thing with giving of alms and fasting. They did their righteous acts to be seen of others. Do you?

Professing believers do the same thing today. Instead of doing things for the glory of God, we do them and want others to notice us in the doing of them. Do you ever brag about your Bible study? Of course you wouldn’t do it in an obvious way, but would you drop hints about how long you study and how faithful you are to study? Do we brag about our prayer life? Not that we would ever do this in an obvious way either, as that would show our pride in an obvious way, but in ways that we sneak in. When we pray are we really praying to God or are we trying to get our duty done? When we pray in public are we praying to God or are we concerned with what others will think of our prayer? Do we want them to admire how spiritual we are? Do we want them to admire our words? Do we want them to admire the length or wisdom of our prayer? Do we pray in order to get someone to say “amen” or give that grunt of approval? If so, are we different than the Pharisees?

If we are truly seeking the spiritual good of those around us, we will not care what they think of us but what they think of God. It is true that we should not want them to think badly of us unless it is for the sake of the Gospel, but we should not base what we do and how we do it on their good opinions of us. After all, God is what is good for them and not us. For anyone to hunger and thirst for righteousness is to do good works for the glory of God. There is no such thing as a good work that is not to the glory of God (Romans 3:23). When we have selfish goals and desires, even so-called spiritual ones, we are not doing things for the glory of God and so we are not hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This means that any joy we have from things that are spiritual in name though not in reality is not the blessedness that God gives.

Too often people are involved in what is known as ministry or ministries in the church (whether paid staff or not) and find joy in doing them. They make the assumption that their joy is the joy of the Lord when in fact it is nothing of the sort. Many people seek self in the world and in worldly ways while being part of the local church. Many seek their own joy in religious things and think that their joy which is for self in reality glorifies God in some way. This Beatitude should teach us something quite different. It teaches us that true joy is a gift of God in giving us that hunger and thirst for righteousness, but it is also at the most basic level giving us joy in Himself.

We must learn that our true joy is God and His joy in Himself that He shares with human beings. When we hunger and thirst for righteousness our joy must be a sharing in His joy in Himself and so our righteous acts are in reality a seeking of His glory in the world. Our joy is not in what other people think about us, but in being an instrument of the glory of God in the world. Our joy is not in what other people think about us, but in what they think about God. We are, after all, to do our works where people see them and glorify God (Matthew 5:16). Our joy is not to be just in anything or for any reason, but it is to be in God Himself. Any other joy no matter the outward results or action is simply idolatry as it is love of ourselves and not the love of God and His glory in us.

The heart is truly vital in determining what is righteous and what is not. The intents and motives of what we do determine whether we are hungering after true righteousness or whether we are hungering after things for ourselves. We must examine our hearts in light of God’s Word. We must examine our joy and happiness in light of God’s Word or we will be greatly deceived. God grants true inner happiness in the midst of hungering and thirsting after righteousness. That inner happiness is a sharing in His love for Himself which is eternal life. After all, it is in loving God that joy in God will be found. While many may find some degree of pseudo-joy in the outward acts and pursuits of righteousness, it is only the inner pursuit that allows one to truly have the live and joy of God in our souls. Any other pursuit of righteousness is to be like the Pharisees. Examine your heart.

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Omnipotence: Relation to Other Attributes

March 24, 2007

Omnipotence is God’s infinity in reference to power.

Omnipotence is able to be expressed in each and every place because God is omnipresent, and not only that, the immensity of God teaches that He is fully present in all locations at the same time. So God is not just omnipotent in one location, but He is omnipotent in each and every location at the same time.

Omnipotence is related to omniscience in that it is in God’s power to know all things and to carry out whatever it is that He knows and desires. Nothing can keep Him from knowing all things at all times.

Omnipotence is itself beyond the comprehension of men and so is part of the incomprehensibility of God.

Omnipotence is related to the immutability (does not change) of God in various ways. Because God does not change, God is always omnipotent. On the other hand, it is because God is omnipotent that nothing apart from God can change Him. It is because God is omnipotent that nothing and nobody can change God from what He wants to be and yet He has the power to keep Himself from changing.

Omnipotence is seen in the realm of His providence in that God is able to provide all that He desires to provide. He provides for the animals and for humanity as well because it is in His power to do so. Every time an animal or human being eats or takes a drink, the power of the providence of God is on display. Every good thing that happens to an individual displays that power of God to provide for His creatures as He pleases.

Omnipotence is clearly seen in the simplicity of God (all attributes are really one). No matter what attribute of God that is set out in Scripture, the omnipotence of God can be seen in it and could not exist apart from it.

Omnipotence is seen in the Sovereignty of God. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?'” (Dan 4:35). God does as He wills and wishes on the earth among those who live on it. No one can ward off the hand of His power or take Him to task. He is God and there is no that can stop what God is pleased to do. He does all that He is pleased to do (Psa 115:3).

Omnipotence is seen in the goodness of God in that God is able to show goodness as He pleases. No one can stop God from being good to those that He is pleased with. No one is able to stop God from showing goodness in saving sinners as He pleases. No one was able to stop God’s goodness from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when Nebuchadnezzar wanted to burn them. No one was able to stop God’s goodness when He wanted to save Daniel from the lions. No one was able to destroy His people when He desired to show goodness to them throughout the history of Israel.

Omnipotence is seen in the love of God. Since God is love, that is, He exists in love in the sense that He lives in the love that flows within the Trinity. All that hate God want Him to die but in order for God to die love must stop. Satan fights the love of God by blinding many minds to the Gospel (II Cor 4:4), but the love of God is powerful that He saves those He sets His love upon. This love of God is able to carry out its mission of love as God pleases.

Omnipotence is seen in the mercy and grace of God. God looks upon dead sinners and simply because of His mercy and grace He raises them from the spiritual dead at His good pleasure. No one other than God can limit God from showing mercy and grace as He pleases. In fact, Scripture tells us this about God: “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION” (Rom 9:15). This is not just about the electing choice of God, but also the power of God. He is able to have mercy and compassion according to His choice and His power to carry out His choice.

Omnipotence is seen in His wrath in that He is able to show wrath on those whom He pleases and to any degree that He is pleased with. He is able to show wrath on sinners themselves or to satisfy His wrath on Christ as He is pleased to do. God is perfectly free to do as He pleases because He has all power to do so or not to do so.

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Omnipotence: Doctrine

March 22, 2007

The omnipotence of God within the realm of doctrine is (pun intended) powerful. The power of God is evident within the teaching and doctrines of Scripture if we have eyes to see. Throughout Scripture the omnipotence of God is put on display for all to admire and adore. We begin with creation. Here we see the power of God over the entire natural realm in creating it. Without trying to define creation as such, we know that it demonstrates power to call things into being. “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU” in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist” (Rom 4:17). Isaiah 66:2 also sets out this great truth. “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being, declares the LORD.” So the power of God over creation is seen in that God is able to call things into being.

This truth about God is such that is evident from what has been made: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:20). So far the Scripture has set out that God is able to call things into being and that His eternal power is evident from creation. But the next step is to see that His power is seen in upholding creation each moment as well. “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3). In one sense, the power of God is seen in and through all things from the fact that they are, that they are as they are, and the fact that they continue in existence. God’s power is seen in and through creation and the continued existence of created things.

All the miracles in Scripture show that God is able to do as He pleases over and in creation. He turned water into wine. He fed thousands with a few loaves and a few fish. He healed people of many afflictions and diseases. He raised the dead. All of these things demonstrated that Jesus Christ was Lord over all and that the kingdom of God was on earth, but they also demonstrated the power of God to do as He pleased. God parted the waters for Moses and the Israelites so that they could walk through on dry land. Instead of questioning Scripture on issues like this, we should worship the God who has power over what He has created.

We can admire the power of God through His work in salvation. While we don’t think of it in quite this way very much, the Gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom 1:16). “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. “”I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE, AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE”(I Cor 1:18-19). “But to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Cor 1:24). What can things like this mean? It means that the Gospel is the way that God demonstrates His power over the forces of evil in saving sinners. While men are impressed with lifting weights and other feats of strength, the Gospel is the most powerful display of God’s glory that we can presently see. It is through the cross that God has triumphed over rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm (Col 2:15). Ah, the power of God in the Gospel.

The new birth can also be looked at through the lens of power. Colossians 1:13 speaks of being transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of Beloved. That is real power. It is God yanking souls from the power of the devil to the power of His Son. 1 Thess 1:5 also speaks of the Gospel: “for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” 1 Thess 2:13 says: ” that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.” 1 Cor 2:4 speaks of preaching and power: “my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” 2 Cor 10:4 speaks of spiritual warfare: “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” Taken together, we see the omnipotent power of God on display every time a person is born again. We see this power when the Word is preached and people hear because the power of God works in them. We see this power when people come to Christ by the power of the cross. We see this power when the Word of God works in human beings and we see it when people fight sin. While many sleep and many are dead, there is a war going on. The omnipotence of God is at work for those with eyes to see. For those who don’t see it, they are either uninstructed or just plain dead.

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Omnipotence: The Conept & Meaning

March 20, 2007

The word “omnipotence” simply means that God is all-powerful with “omni” meaning “all” and “potence” meaning “power.” God has all power and can do everything that He pleases or desires. Anything that is possible to do God can do. Some think that it is a limitation to God’s power to say that God can do anything possible. It is not a limitation, but is defining what a real possibility is. Scripture tells us that nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). What we must note is that the word “nothing” simply means “no thing.” There are intellectual conceptions that are not things. Another way to put that would be to say that a contradiction is not a thing so when we say that God cannot do a contradiction we are not saying that there is a thing that is impossible for Him to do. It is a contradiction for the same dog to be running and not running at the same time and at the same exact location. That means it is not a denial of the power of God to say that God can’t make a dog run and not run at the same time and at the same location. A contradiction is not a thing and so if God can’t do a contradiction (make both sides of the contradiction true at the same time) it is not a denial to say that He can do all things that are possible.

Another argument some would raise against the omnipotence of God is that the definition is that He can do all that He pleases or desires. Titus 1:2 and Hebrews 6:18 teach that God cannot lie. Here, some would say, is proof that there are things that God cannot do. But is a lie a thing in and of itself? A lie is a contradiction of the truth and God is truth itself. A lie would be a contradiction of the character of God. To say that God cannot lie is simply to say that God cannot contradict His own being and holiness. It is also true that a lie is from weakness rather than power. So it is not a statement against God’s omnipotence to say that in all His power He cannot be weak.

People also raise silly little questions like the one where a question is asked. Is God able to make a rock that He cannot lift? If we say that He is not able to make a rock that He cannot lift, then we are saying that it is impossible for God to make a rock that He cannot lift. If we say that God can make a rock that He cannot lift, then we are saying that it is impossible for God to lift a specific rock. Either way, it is said, this shows that He cannot do something. However, involved in this little puzzle are a few problems. The first is that the question is within the framework of physical strength. God is a spiritual being and we are not to think of His activity solely in terms of physical strength. Second, this puzzle also involves a contradiction within the realm of God’s character. It is pitting His omnipotence against His wisdom, knowledge and omnipotence. It is something like asking if God can know enough so that He can’t know everything or that if He is powerful enough not to know everything. The answer to this question is that God cannot make a rock big enough that He cannot lift because He cannot contradict His own being. It is another way of saying that God’s supposed weakness should be able to overcome His power.

Still another answer to that would be to point out that God’s power is seen as His power over Himself and all that He created. To suppose that He could make a rock that He could not lift would be to say that God could create something that is beyond His power and bigger than Himself. That would entail God not being God at all since it would destroy His omnipotence. That is something like God using His eternal life to destroy His eternal life. Neither point shows anything against His character or power.

The meaning of God’s omnipotence, then, is that God can do all within the realm of logical possibility in that it must be a thing (not a contradiction which is not a thing) that is done and it must be something that a holy God (sin is a contradiction of His character) is willing to do. Psalm 115:3 tells us that “our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” Anything that God desires or is pleased to do He does. Genesis 17:1 is how God presented Himself to Abraham: “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.” Hebrews 1:3, speaking of Christ, says that “He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.” We know that God created all things and that creation shows that He is the God who can do all things. We know that His upholding all things by the word of His power shows that He has full power of His creation. There is simply no-thing that God cannot do if it does not contradict His own nature and character. That is a true omnipotence and one that has the beauty of character and holiness with it as well.

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Omnipresence: Meaning for Life

March 18, 2007

The truth that God is everywhere gives meaning to life in many ways. One way is that no matter where we go, we deal with our sovereign Maker. Nothing in life is totally meaningless because all that we do is in His presence. Nothing that we do is meaningless because all that we do is either for Him or against Him. Because God is fully present, everything that a person does is full of meaning. Everything a person does is out of love for God or is an act of hatred against Him and that in His presence. We could say that all that the unbeliever does is like committing a capital crime each moment since all done against God is worthy of death. We could also say that all that the believer does out of love for God is rewarded with more love for God. But both of those things can only be true if God is omnipresent.

The unbeliever is left to his or her own devices and has no real meaning in life. That is because they assume that there is no God in all the places that they are and so they are left to do as they see fit in their own strength. That means that any meaning that they find will be drawn out of the air with no substance to it at all. The unbeliever is left with nothing in this life and no hope for anything beyond. But the believer lives in the presence of God and has an ever present help in time of need. Whether the believer makes his bed in the grave or in the heavens, God is there. No matter what is happening to the believer, God is there. No matter what is going on in the believer or around the believer, God is there and He is in control. Whatever happens to the believer is not by accident, but by the sovereign permission and plan of the God who is always present. Nothing can happen to the believer that God does not allow because God is always there. This is also true of the unbeliever, but s/he does not recognize that and so lives as without God in the world.

While the unbeliever is left to his own ways and devices, the believer has the possibility of finding meaning in life in all things. No matter what the believer does and tries to the glory of God, He is there to be his or her strength in doing those things. The smallest things that are done for the glory of God are found to be from Him. The very smallest thing that a believer does out of love for God is full in its meaning. There is nothing that can happen to the believer that is a tragedy, yet the small things are full of meaning. All of that leans on the truth that God is present everywhere and is in all things.

Most people in the world, and even many professing believers, live in a world that they imagine is like Deism. Deism is the belief, generally speaking, that God made the world, set some natural laws up, and now just lets the world go along according to those laws and the free-will of the people. That is how even believers seem to think that things happen. While some think that God is present in some way, it is more like some being in the sky that is able to observe what is happening. But the Bible teaches that God is present in all places at all times. God is not just a casual observer watching all things happen from a good vantage point, He is present in all places and is aware and acting in those places. Because God is present and not just watching, this brings great meaning to the believer. The believer finds meaning in sharing the life of God in the world in being able to share in the love of God for Himself through Christ.

If God is not present in all places and at all times, then the love of God is more like some sort of objective feeling than it is of God Himself giving people a joy in Himself. If God the Father does not everywhere love God the Son through God the Holy Spirit, then His love is basically a nice thought but not a present reality. If His love within the Trinity is not present in all locations, then His love is not operational in life. If God is love, then if He is not omnipresent He is not love everywhere. But since God is everywhere and His love for Himself is present in all places, this brings a full meaning to life for believers since it means that love for God is available in all places and life is full of meaning when sharing in the love of God for God and other human beings.

Life is full of meaning because of the omnipresence of God in yet another way, though that is not something that all will enjoy. Life has meaning because there is no escape from God and there are no excuses for the way we are and the way we live. All that we do is known because He is fully present. We may try to make excuses and offer justifications for why we did certain things, but those will not work with God who is present in three Persons. All sin is witnessed by three Divine Persons and all the circumstances and reasons are weighed according to perfect reason and wisdom. But then again, so are all acts of love. It is simply beyond words to describe the meaning that the omniscience of God brings to life.

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Omnipresence: Christ & the Gospel

March 16, 2007

The omnipresence of God does not seem to be a teaching (at least on the surface) that has much to do with the doctrine of Christ. However, let us remember that Jesus the Christ had a divine nature as well as a human one. In His human nature He lived in the presence of His divine one. This is simply a wonderful way to approach this. While Christ walked on earth, His human nature was joined with the divine one. He knew the thoughts of people and He had the power over nature as well. He could turn water into wine because God is fully present in the water to turn it as He willed. He could turn a few loaves of bread into enough to feed thousands because God is present in every location and operates as He wills. God does not have to bake loaves of bread and transport them to a particular location, He is able to do it as He desires because He is everywhere at the same time.

We tend to think of Christ praying to the Father as if the Father and His host were way up in the sky somewhere and then the Father zooming down or perhaps sending an angel to do what He wants. It is true that He does send angels to do His bidding as He desires, but He is everywhere present and can do as He wishes at any moment. He was already in the tomb with Lazarus and when Christ prayed to the Father His divine nature was one with the Father in the tomb and it was a simple matter of the present Father to do as He pleased and Lazarus rose from the dead. It is not hard to imagine Christ healing since the omnipresent God is always present at every location and can do as He pleases. How hard is it for the God who is present in and throughout an eye that He designed and created to energize Himself in a powerful and intelligent way so that the eye can see? The omniscience of God helps explain the miracles of Christ and of how Christ could heal people who were not even present with His humanity.

The omniscience of God also explains the promise of Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. After giving the Great Commission, He told them that “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” The very promise of Christ is that He would be with all of His believers as they went out into the entire world with the Gospel. If Christ is not omnipresent in His divine nature, then Christ could not be with His people and would not be telling the truth.

The omnipresence of Christ is also necessary for Christ to live in His people. Christ is said to be the life of His people (Colossians 1:4) and to live in His people (Galatians 2:20). He is said to dwell in His people by faith (Ephesians 3:17). There is simply no way to explain how these verses and theological assertions could be true apart from the omnipresence of Christ. How could Christ live in believers who live in one part of the world at the same time as those that live in many other parts of the world? This could only be true if He is omnipresent. In other words, as we examine all that Christ did and claimed, He must be omnipresent or these things could not be true.

But does the Gospel rest upon the omnipresence of God? In many senses it does. We are to go forth and preach the Gospel to all because all are sinning in the presence of God. The first commandment teaches us that we are to have no other gods before Him which means in His presence. That commandment, then, to be applied to the entire world requires for God to be present. In the very nature of evangelism we rely upon the fact that God is present in all places in order to tell the Gospel. We rely on the fact that the Holy Spirit is present in all places and can energize His Word and use it as a sword in the heart or to apply it and regenerate a heart. Unless God is present in all places, we have no confidence that these things can be done.

So our very confidence in the Gospel is that God is present in all places. We have confidence in praying for the accomplishment of the Gospel because we believe that God is present in the hearts of people and can change those hearts. We believe that God can apply the propitiation of Christ to any heart in the world because He is there. We believe that God can impute the righteousness of Christ to any person in the world at any time because He is there. We believe that God can raise any soul in the world from the spiritual dead because He is there. We believe that at some point in the future that every soul will be raised from the dead from everywhere on the earth because God is there. We cannot believe in Christ as He presents Himself in the Bible apart from the truth of omniscience. We cannot but believe in the omnipresence of God if we believe that the Gospel is to go to all peoples of the world. There is no territorial god here and there, but instead there is only one glorious and all-present God. The teachings of Christ and the Gospel demand for these things to be true. So they are.

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Beatitudes 19: Hungering 4

March 15, 2007

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

Three weeks ago we looked at hunger and thirst as desires of the soul and how this reflects the true desires of the believing soul. Christ warns Christians about being lukewarm. Two weeks ago we looked at the object of the hunger and thirst. In Matthew 5:6 that object is righteousness. In the context of the Sermon on the Mount this righteousness is behavioral as acts of righteousness. Within the context of the Sermon on the Mount there is no mention of the righteousness of Christ given as a free gift and there are several references to acts of righteousness. So we concluded that the believer or the blessed person is one that hungers and thirsts after acts of righteousness. Last week we tried to show how it is that a person has no righteousness, no way to obtain righteousness for self, and yet it is perfectly consistent with hungering and thirsting after righteousness. This week I would like to show how the soul is satisfied and blessed in hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

In one very real sense the only true blessedness is that of God. For a human to be blessed, then, is for a human to share in the blessedness of God. There is no true joy except that which consists in true love and God alone is the source of true love. This is seen at least in part in John 15:10 where Christ tells us why He came: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Then in John 15:11 Christ tells us this: “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” When we see that “every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17), then we know that blessedness is from God and that alone is what can truly be the satisfaction of the soul that hungers and thirsts for righteousness.

Ephesians gives us another way of looking at the same issue. We hear many speak of wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit and wanting more of Christ. Those are good things, but they can also be just words that reflect selfish hearts that desire to have God for sinful reasons. But Ephesians 3 gives us a real reason why we should want to be filled with the Spirit and to have more of Christ. Paul prayed “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:16-19). The things that are prior to being filled up to all the fullness of God are the things that lead to being filled to all the fullness of God. The true satisfaction of the soul is to be filled with God since nothing else will fill the soul but its Creator.

In looking at the passage in the paragraph above, we can see the progress of God in the soul. First we see that the inner man is strengthened with power through the Holy Spirit. The reason that the Spirit does this is so that Christ may dwell in hearts through faith. In other words, the soul that is not strengthened by the Spirit does not have the strength to contain Christ or be the dwelling place of Christ. The Spirit strengthens the inner man and Christ dwells in the heart through faith so that the soul may be rooted and grounded in love. A little later in this newsletter we will look at the connection between love and righteousness, but for the moment we can note that there is no righteousness apart from love. Therefore, another way to say that a soul hungers and thirsts for righteousness is to say that that soul has love and the desire to express that love. But in Ephesians 3 we see that it takes love in the soul to comprehend the immeasurable measurements of love. Human beings have to have love in order to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It is in the experiential knowledge of God (eternal life in John 17:3) that the soul is filled with the experiential knowledge of a love that it can never exhaust and so the soul is filled with the fullness of God. That is a description of a satisfied soul. It is a soul that is as full of God as it can be and yet desires more and more righteousness so that its capacity can be stretched to have more of God.

The soul that loves God can and will never be truly satisfied with anything or anyone other than God. The satisfaction of soul spoken of in Matthew 5 must be that of God filling the soul with Himself. It is the language of the soul spoken of in John and I John. It is the language of love. It is the soul being one with God and the love of God flowing in and through that soul. It is the language of the commandments which teach us to love God and our neighbor. It is the language of the soul in which the love of God abides in it and it abides in God. The language of righteousness is the language of love. For a soul that desires righteousness, only love will fill it.
To buttress the general statements in the preceding paragraph we can look at I Corinthians 13. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (vv 1-3). While we are still looking at hungering and thirsting after righteousness, the verses in this paragraph demonstrate that it is not possible to hunger after righteousness apart from love. Anything we do apart from love is sin and nothing but sin. So a person hungering and thirsting after righteousness is a person full of the love of God and striving to love and glorify God.

We can also see from I Corinthians 13:6 that love “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” This is another argument from the opposite side of the issue. The one that loves seeks the glory of God and hungers and thirsts after righteousness. The one that does not love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. People are both hungering and thirsting after righteousness or are rejoicing in unrighteousness. This verse also tells us that love rejoices in the truth. In Scripture knowing truth is not just an intellectual awareness of a fact or proposition, but is a love for that truth followed by the outworking of that truth in life as well. The hungering and thirsting after righteousness is really the outworking of a love in the soul for the expression of that love in the world. Having that love of God in the soul and seeing that love expressed to the glory of God is the satisfaction of the soul.

A hunger and thirst after righteousness cannot be apart from the Greatest Commandments. In this sense, then, we can see that a hunger and thirst after righteousness is simply the appetite of the soul that loves Christ. The Greatest Commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. The second Greatest Commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. There is no act (as also seen in I Cor 13:1-3) of righteousness that does not have love. But this can also be seen by this text: “By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another” (I John 3:10-11). Love for God always leads to love for others which is doing right according to and out of the love of God.

What is it that satisfies the hungry and thirsty soul? “I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the LORD” (Jer 31:14). “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. 4 So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. 5 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips” (Psa 63:3-5). “‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land And streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring And My blessing on your descendants” (Isa 44:3). “They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights. 9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (Psa 36:8-9). Clearly, God alone fills and satisfies the soul.

A soul that hungers and thirsts for righteousness from love is a believing soul. “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13). God fills the believing soul with His own joy and peace. He fills the believing soul with hope by the power of the Spirit. The desires of the believing soul are to be set on things above (Col 3:1-4). The believing soul that is filled with the fullness of God (Eph 3:19) is the soul that desires nothing but God Himself. “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psa 73:25-26). The believing soul wants nothing more than to simply behold the beauty and glory of God. “One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple” (Psa 27:4).

Nothing satisfies the soul but God Himself so a hunger and thirst for righteousness must be as aspect of love for God. The pursuit of righteousness satisfies the soul in that the soul is filled with the presence of God instead of a hard heart that comes with sin. A righteous act such as prayer, when done out of love, is God communicating Himself to the soul and so the soul is filled with good and is satisfied with being filled with God. We are to taste and see that the Lord is good. In doing these things the soul is filled with God and as such is satisfied. That is a blessed satisfaction and the believing soul will settle for nothing less.

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Omnipresence: Relation to Sin

March 13, 2007

The omnipresence of God as related to sin on the one hand is obvious, but not necessarily in all of the aspects. Clearly an omnipresent and triune God with perfect knowledge and wisdom does not need any other witnesses to establish any facts since all sin is committed in His presence. Each sin committed by each person is always in the presence of God. Each sin is practical atheism in that we would never do what we do if we really believed that we were in the presence of God. Each and every sin is directly against God because God is present with each sin. When people sin, they are denying the fact that God is present or that they think He will forget their sin. This is why people try to convince themselves that atheism is true. We don’t want to believe that all we do is in His presence. However, an atheist denies that there is a God and practical atheists deny by the way they live the truth about God. The omnipresence of God heightens the level of each sin into a form of practical atheism. It also shows that there is no such thing as a small sin in that all sin is directly against God and in His very presence.

While people think of God’s presence in more of a physical way, almost like Deism does, this is entirely inadequate. In fact, all thoughts and desires are in His presence as well. It is not that God is hovering above and around us and in that way we are in His presence, but He is everywhere inside us as well. Our thoughts and desires do not have to be transported to Him, but He is present in our minds and the core of our being as well at each moment. It is more accurate to say that in ever sub-atomic aspect of my being I am set out in all parts inwardly and outwardly in the presence of God. We cannot find a place, no matter how small, where God is not and there is no part or aspect of my being that is not immediately in His presence.

The omnipresence (immensity) of God means that every sin is against His whole being since all of God is present. With humans, we don’t think that a person that shoots another in the foot is as bad as one that shoots another in the head. With God, all of our sin is against Him in all of His being. It is not that I can sin against the holiness of God without sinning against His mercy and love. It is not that I can sin against one aspect of God since He is all present at all times. Every sin is against every attribute of God in some way since God is not only just present, but He is all present. This should cause us all to tremble.

Every sin is judged immediately in one way or another. Because each sin is directly in the presence of God, each sin is dealt with in some way immediately. Each sin is judged by a hardening of the heart or a withdrawing of the expressed presence of God. Believers know what it is to say or do something and then to immediately know that the expressed presence of God has withdrawn. God draws back from the person to teach them that He is to be desired more than anything else. With the unbeliever, however, that sin is judged immediately. There is no need to go through a judicial process or a transfer of information or anything else. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). This text and its context indicate that the judgment of God is swift and sure. The omnipresence of God assures us that this is true.

Psalm 90 is quite clear in this regard. “For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. 8 You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence” (vv. 7-8). The anger of God was consuming them and His wrath dismayed them. Why is that? Clearly it was because even their secret sins were in His presence. Not only were their secret (they thought) sins in His presence, but they were being judged by God and apparently rather quickly. He did not wait for eternity to judge their sins. There are also several passages in the Old Testament where the outward judgment of God was carried out quickly. It can only be because the sins were in His presence and God carries out many of His judgments immediately. We can also think of the New Testament version of that in Acts 5 when Ananias and Sapphira were judged immediately by the Lord for lying. Both fell dead.

If human beings could only see the degree and intensity of the presence of God and what it means to sin in that presence, all outward sin would cease virtually immediately. Since the heart is in bondage to sin even the presence of God would not drive all sin from the thoughts and desires of the mind and heart, but people would strive to be more careful and to fight sin rather than just give in to every little thing. This truth of God should drive any comfort in sin away from our hearts. But men are born practical atheists and haters of God.

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Beatitudes 18: Hungering 3

March 8, 2007

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

Two weeks ago we looked at hunger and thirst as desires of the soul and how this reflects the true desires of the believing soul. Christ solemnly warns Christians about being lukewarm. Last week we looked at the object of the hunger and thirst. In Matthew 5:6 that object is righteousness. In the context of the Sermon on the Mount I tried to set out that this righteousness is behavioral. Within the context of the Sermon on the Mount there is no mention of the righteousness of Christ given as a free gift and there are several references to acts of righteousness. So we concluded that the believer or the blessed person is one that hungers and thirsts after acts of righteousness.

However, we saw problems that arose with that interpretation. In one sense there is no question about it from the context itself, but there is one question from the text and one theological issue as well. The first beatitude (blessed are the poor in spirit) seems to be in conflict with a person hungering and thirsting after righteousness. If, as the first beatitude teaches, I have no righteousness and no way to obtain it, then how is it that I am to hunger and thirst after that which I can in no way obtain? The theological issue that arises is how am I justified apart from works and by the imputed righteousness of Christ and yet I am to hunger and thirst after acts of righteousness.

First, the issue from the context: If I have no righteousness and no way to obtain it, then how am I to hunger and thirst after it? We need to look at the question and ask if the two points are really the same. In the first beatitude the issue is that of being righteous before God on our own merits. Clearly that is something that is not possible since earning merit would bring God under obligation to the creature. So if that is the case, there is no way of obtaining merit before God. Now we can understand that point and it is very clear in the issue of justification by grace alone through faith alone (apart from works). No human being can earn merit from God. But is that necessarily a contradiction with the fourth beatitude? The first beatitude only contradicts the fourth beatitude if the fourth beatitude is speaking of hungering and thirsting after a type of righteousness that merits anything from God.

What we must do is to think carefully through the biblical information and be wary of equivocation as seen from the previous paragraph. We must receive what Scripture says about each verse and yet move carefully in ways that keep us from the landmines of heresy. Man is dead in his sins and trespasses and cannot do one good thing of himself (Ephesians 2:1-3), yet the Pharisees tried to do works of righteousness to bring God under obligation. Paul was locked in mortal combat with that. We know that Ephesians 2:4-10 clearly shows that man is saved by grace apart from works so that no man can boast. Romans 3:24-31 demonstrates that salvation is by grace alone and merit cannot enter into that at all. So the Bible is quite clear that man is poor in spirit with no righteousness of his own and also has no way of obtaining righteousness before God. The Law was never given as a way for man to be saved. Man was always meant to be saved by grace through faith and not works or merit.

But how is it that we are to pursue righteousness and yet we cannot obtain merit by it? What sense is there in pursuing righteousness if it does not obligate God to do anything? The answer to this and the answer to the theological question are essentially the same. So let us set out the theological question. In reality the theological question is really in the contextual question. We know that man is declared just Christ’s work on the cross and the imputed righteousness of Christ. Romans 4:1-16 declares Abraham was justified through faith and that it is the imputed righteousness of Christ alone is the basis for anyone to be justified. We know from that Paul believed in that righteousness alone and yet he sought to share in the sufferings of Christ (Phil 3:8-11). Paul hungered after Christ and counted all but rubbish in order that he might have Christ. However, not by a righteousness of his own.

Let us look at three examples. God is perfectly righteous, yet He always acts in perfect righteousness. This is an attribute of God and is an aspect of His holiness. It is His doing what is right in all cases and in all that He does. It is the activity of God in being like God since God is the standard of righteousness. A hunger and thirst for righteousness is a hunger and thirst for the life of God in us and for that life to be expressed. It is not an attempt to obtain righteousness for self, but to express the righteousness of God in love. What is the connection between seeking for righteousness and seeking God who is righteous? If we are seeking righteousness for self, we are essentially seeking self from self-love. If we are seeking righteousness as a way of seeking God and His glory, then we are using self for what it was created for which is to glorify God.
Second, Christ was perfectly righteous, yet He pursued it. In one sense He was earning righteousness for His people, but in another sense He was the representative of His people and He needed to live a perfect life in order for them to be declared righteous. But the real issue is that He was righteous and He lived a life that was motivated by a perfect love for God. That was seen in His hungering and thirsting after righteousness. The third example, acts of righteousness, flow from the example of Christ. While the Pharisees did acts of righteousness for selfish reasons, Jesus practiced and gave us the Lord’s Prayer. While prayer is an act of righteousness, it earns no merit for salvation. Prayer was not given to us as a work for salvation, but is how believers out of love seek God and His glory in the world. Those that have the imputed righteousness of Christ are freed from seeking merit and to seek the display of His righteousness in the world. Imputed righteousness leads to hungering after acts of righteousness.

Again, being justified by Christ alone frees the soul from seeking merit. It frees the soul from bondage to self so that the soul may work and desire God and His glory from love. In a very real sense a human being hungering and thirsting after righteousness is simply hungering and thirsting after the display of God’s righteousness in the world. There is no true righteousness apart from God and He puts forth His righteousness in Christ. It is the life of Christ in a person that gives the hunger and thirst for righteousness. We must always remember that man does not do for God, but it is God doing for Himself through man. In pursuing righteousness, then, man is pursuing the glory of God. But in reality it is the glory of God dwelling in man that is shining in and through man. It is God communicating and externalizing His own glory through man so that God may have pleasure in the display of His own glory and that man may enjoy God inwardly as he is participating in the divine life (II Peter 1:4).

We must, therefore, see hungering and thirsting after righteousness as something very different from man being good. It is man’s desire to share in the life of God and to put the righteousness of God on display. It is an aspect of living to the glory of God in that the glory of God is the display of the beauty of God. In hungering and thirsting after righteousness in truth there is the display of the glory of God, that is, the beauty of His righteous character. What can be a standard of righteousness, after all, than that of the character of God? Can anything be righteous other than seeking the glory of God in the world? It should be obvious, then, that this hungering and thirsting for righteousness has to be linked with the glory of God as we should not seek anything that is not to the glory of God. If we seek righteousness in a way that is not to the glory of God it is nothing more than self-righteousness. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness, therefore, must be seen within certain parameters in order for it to fit within the Great Commandment of loving God with all of our being rather than love for self.

II Corinthians 3:18 shows this too. It is in beholding His glory that we are transformed into that image from one degree of glory to another. That is not pursuing it according to works, but rather it is in beholding that glory that God works in us to become like His glory. That is pursuing true righteousness which is to be like God in manifesting His glory. It is to pursue God according to the true nature of the Law which is a reflection of His glory in love. To pursue the Law in an effort to become righteous is self-centered and based on selfishness and as such is not love. Whatever is done externally to keep the Law in that way is not out of love and is condemned by the Law. The only way to keep the Law in truth is to see it as a reflection of the glory and character of God and to pursue Him out of love and to be like Him in love. The Pharisees tried to keep the Law out of love for self and failed miserably. The only way to keep the Law is as the New Covenant sets out which is to have God work it in us. In striving to love God by the love that He works in us, we are not obtaining self-righteousness but are pursuing a true righteousness which He works in us. In that it is all of grace. So we hunger and thirst after righteousness which is a desire for His glory to be manifested which is really His grace in us. There is no merit in this at all.

Since joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, we can be quite safe in assuming that whatever else Jesus means His teaching on blessedness and happiness are not apart from the work and fruit of the Spirit in working the joy of God in human souls that seek Him for Himself rather than seek for other things. Since all of this is of God and by the work of the Spirit, we can see how a soul that is justified by Christ alone can indeed hunger and thirst after righteousness. It is what the soul has been saved for. In fact, it is the justified soul alone that will hunger and thirst after righteousness without trusting in anything but the righteousness of Christ. This may not make sense to those who love their own works and merit, but to those that have been delivered from living for self to the kingdom of the Beloved this is the delight of their souls. It is the desire and love of the soul to pursue His glory which is what righteousness really is.

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Omnipresence: Evangelism

March 6, 2007

God is utterly glorious in His omnipresence and immensity. He is present in all places and that with His full being. The application to evangelism should be seen immediately. Christians are not going out to their neighbors or the far places of the earth to people and places where they have to drag people to where God is. No, they go to people and places where God is fully present in terms of His being. We do not have to drag people to our nation or to our church for God to be there. It is true that there is a special manifested presence of God with His people and especially so when they are gathered in corporate worship, but God is present in all places in the universe and evangelism does not go where God is not.

The omnipresence of God teaches us that all people live in His presence. It is not just believers that live in His presence, though believers have the expressed glory of God dwelling and living in them, but all live in the presence of God and all that they think, desire, and do is each and every moment in His face and is either for or against Him. Each person will stand before God on judgment day and answer for how he or she has treated God while in His presence. Human courts need witnesses and evidence that acts as a witness in order to convict. In the court of God He will need no other evidence than Himself. All that the people we want to evangelize have done has been done in the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They need to be made aware that they are in His presence every moment and will answer for every moment before the all-present and holy God. The omnipresent God needs none but Himself to establish the facts of the guilt of every human being in the universe. He is God.

The believer must begin to view people with that understanding. It is not just that people are being bad when they do certain things, but their actions are in the presence of God and are against Him at each moment. This is one reason that moralism and ritualism are so wrong. Those teach that if a person behaves in a certain way or does certain religious rituals that things are okay. No, no and a thousand times no. Each and every thing that we think, desire, and do are against God if we don’t have Christ. A person can have very moral actions in the outward sense but be in full moral collapse because those things are not done out of love for God. A person may never commit physical adultery but may have a heart that lusts for hundreds of others every day. Even worse, that person may love many things (including him or herself) not for God and so be guilty of committing spiritual adultery against God moment by moment each day. We must view people with that understanding or we will have no idea the extent of their sin. Unbelievers are guilty of spiritual adultery against God every moment they exist in unbelief because they are in the grip of love for themselves and things rather than love God as the Greatest Commandment teaches that all should do. They do this in the presence of the One they are commanded to love with their whole being. So they walk around each day in the grasp of their adulterous lovers in the presence of a holy God. Who can retain a hold on self-righteousness once they see that?

The believer must begin to think of God with that understanding as well. If we love God above all, then we should desire that people would not sin against our great love. Sin is a hideous abuse of God and is in fact God-abuse. We abhor the actions of people that abuse children and women, but far worse are the actions of those same people as they abuse God. They abuse God by going after gods that are nothing in and of themselves. They go after things that they lust for and covet while hating the God who upholds them in their being and provides them with their food, breath and all things. With every sin they violate the law and commit cosmic treason against the Most High when they choose and love the things of the devil rather than God. With every sin they go against His continued mercy that calls them to repentance. The heart that loves God should be mourning when it sees these things and proclaim the glory of God to unbelievers. It is not just that evangelism is all about the good of people, but evangelism is also about telling people of the sovereign rights that God has over them.

In light of the fact that all people live in the presence of God and all their sin is against Him and known by Him, we are to evangelize all. It is also the case that the omnipresence of God is a necessary teaching if we go out to tell people that God may give them a new heart and save them. If He is not really there, then they have no one to save them. If He is not really there, they have no one to confess their sins to. If He is not really there, then how does Christ come to live in their hearts? The Great Commission is the promise of Christ that as the Church goes into the world He will be with them. The omnipresent God is necessary for the practice of biblical evangelism. Maybe that is why as the biblical view of God is being set aside biblical evangelism goes is also being set aside.

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