God-Centeredness & True Spiritual Gains

June 14, 2006

This loss of the concept of majesty has come just when the forces of religion are making dramatic gains and the churches are more prosperous than at any time within the past several hundred years. But the alarming thing is that our gains are mostly external and our losses are wholly internal; and since it is the quality of our religion that is affected by internal conditions, it may be that our supposed gains are but losses spread over a wider field (A.W. Tozer The Knowledge of the Holy)

These words of Tozer have the ring of a prophet to them. In the modern day we are inundated with church growth books and practices. We are told that successful churches follow certain models and do certain things. But who is defining success? A successful church in Scripture is a group of people who are holy and do the will of God. This is to say that these people worship God with reverence and awe (Heb 12:28). There is no acceptable worship without reverence and awe. It matters not how many people attend a meeting on Sunday and call it church, if there is no reverence and awe there is no worship. Without the concept and reality of majesty there will be no reverence and awe in the meetings of churches. The loudness and quality of the music cannot give the sense of majesty in the service of the living God. A sermon laced with humor and anecdotes cannot give a sense of the majesty of God.

While it may sound absurd to many, the truth of the matter is that the Church in the United States is probably as weak as it has ever been. Indeed there are large numbers of large churches and there is a lot of money being given to various things. But all those are external and do not deal with the internal aspect of true worship. If you have an unacceptable worship to God and add huge numbers to the total of people who worship unacceptably that makes the situation far worse instead of better. So the Church in America today is seeking to make the churches better with gimmicks and outward activities. This is no better than the worship of Israel. They were not always appreciative of the way things went at the Temple, so they set up high places and did what they wanted. God hated that and called it “idolatry.” When the Church in America in the modern day does the same thing in principle, is it anything less than idolatry now?

God commands the church to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:22-24). The church cannot do that of its own will, so instead of seeking God for the heart to worship with and the truth for the worship to be guided and driven by, it sets aside doctrine and hard teachings in order to make things easier. It focuses on man and what man can do. However, does God ever command things like this? Has He ever been pleased with so-called worship if He has not commanded it Himself?

Amos 5:20 Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it?
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.

Should Americans think that God is pleased with our worship today? With no heart for God and no sense of His majesty in worship, do we think that our worship is something other than a noise to Him? Does it take loud guitars and amplifiers in order to get the all-knowing God to hear our worship? No, it takes hearts that have a sense of awe and reverence before Him. It takes a sense of His majesty and glory to move the heart to true worship. What the churches lack in reverence and sense of majesty they try to make up for it with new things and as entertaining and possible exciting atmosphere. It would appear that a lot of services are all about getting people in the door and once there to be sure that they enjoy the show. When that happens, as Tozer says, those types of gains are really losses. We have traded away the presence and majesty of God for larger numbers of people and outward success. This must be truly an abomination to the living God. How the Church needs to repent and seek God to come to her services rather than hordes of people who just may keep God away. What is success after all? Is it God and those He brings or the largest and most prosperous church in the world without God?

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God-Centeredness & The Unaware Church

June 11, 2006

Referring to the message of his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer says this: “It is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.” This book was originally published in 1961. What Tozer wrote about is far worse now than when he first wrote about it.

While Tozer says that the Church has not surrendered her concept of God deliberately, I am not so sure. However, he is surely correct when he says that it was done “little by little.” Perhaps what has happened is that the thought of liberalism has crept in and men taught the same things at first and yet without the true concept of God. Later on, they dropped most of the façade. We then had a conservative reaction and people wanted to conserve the old morality, the old way of doing church, and the old teachings. But all of those can be done with less and less of the glory of God. Instead of teaching a doctrine from the Bible as that which the glory of God shines through, the teaching then simply becomes a way that man pleases God. It then becomes even more centered on man and is how man is to live a better life.

It is true that the Church is simply unaware of this. However, this means that it is blind. The Church is to be the representative of God in the world and it does not even know who God is? The Church is set apart to declare the excellencies of God in the world and it does not know Him? This is indeed a very tragic situation. The Church is not declaring the excellencies of God to the world, but is telling the world how great it is and how much God is impressed with it. The Church is certainly backwards in its approach, but it is easier to exist in the world like this.

Tozer is most likely right on target when he says that the church is doing this little by little. It is not as if the Church jettisons teachings that are held dearly by the people. It is not until the teaching has been eroded over time that the teaching is then said to be cultural only or intellectually not possible. We can see this in the churches mentioned in the book of Revelation. The church at Ephesus did many good things. “‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:2-4). The problem with this church, as set out in the text, is that they left God as their first and foremost love. Perhaps they did their deeds faithfully, but did not have love. Perhaps they did not tolerate evil men and tested those who came to them claiming to be apostles, but they did those things without true love for God. I Corinthians 13:1-3 is quite clear on this subject. Yet, if the Church has a continuing loss of the majesty of God, it will have a continuing loss of love for God. God is the only source for true love in the universe and when He withdraws, so does the source for true love.

As God has withdrawn from the Church, She has been turned over to a lower and lower conception of His majesty. The Church, in terms of a lofty conception of His glory, is at a very low ebb. This is true of conservative and Reformed churches as well. The Pharisees were quite conservative and supposedly had a relatively high view of sovereignty. But they did not have a lofty concept of God. They did not walk in the fear and reverence of the glory of God. The Church as a whole is virtually in the pit of hell regarding its concept of God. If this degrading of the concept of God continues, there may be no return for the Church in the United States. While there are talks about the many things that the Church needs, there is nothing that the Church needs more than to put a halt to its continual degrading of the concept of God. If the Church in the US does not repent of this, perhaps the most wicked of sins, who needs it? The world suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, they do not honor God as God, they do not like to think of Him, and they exchange the glory of God for lesser forms. The Church is simply being like the world in its treatment of God. It tends to make me think that the vast majority with the name of Church is really the world in the guise of the Church. How unaware the Church is of this and of the majesty of God.

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God-Centeredness & Surrendering God

June 11, 2006

Referring to the message of his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer says this: “It is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.” This book was originally published in 1961. What Tozer wrote about is far worse now than when he first wrote about it.

In this article we will focus on how “the Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.” If the Church does indeed have one so low and ignoble as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men, then how unworthy is it of the infinite God of all glory. Could it be true that the Church in our day of so much technology that we have surrendered the lofty concept of God? Is the Church so focused on being relevant with technology and science that it has lost its true relevance? Without any real question the lofty concept of God is gone within the Church today. Did the Church really surrender that concept? Why did it do that?

The Church has indeed given up any real concept of God. In fact, it could be argued that the Church has such a low view of God that it is really being given over to the practice of idolatry. In 1930 Arthur Pink wrote in his introduction to The Sovereignty of God that “more and more men are men in their philosophisings and theorisings, relegating God to the background.” Man has forgotten that all the nations are as nothing before Him and are as a drop from a bucket (Isa 40:15-18). Man has forgotten that it is God who upholds all things by the power of His word. Man has forgotten that all things belong to God and every knee will bow before Him on judgment day.

To quote Arthur Pink again, from his book on the attributes of God, “The “god” of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The “god” who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible Conferences is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form “gods” out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a “god” out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all.”

The Church, it appears to me, wants to be relevant and respectable in the world. It wants to get along with the world and it wants to be tolerant of the world. When it does that, it inevitably gives up what makes the Church the true Church. The world is at enmity with God and it hates God. So the Church must make up a nice, warm and friendly God in order to maintain respectability with the world. The world is not really offended by a God who loves all equally and is something like Rodney King who just wants people to get along. The world can tolerate those who are nice to them and make no demands on their ownership of self and their right to do as they please. When the Church, however, begins to declare a sovereign God who demands that people repent and that He owns all things including them, the world gets upset.

The Church has surrendered its once lofty concept of God in order to be like the world. How utterly damning it is that the Church has chosen to be like the world rather than to be like God. How despicable it is that the Church has chosen the favor of the world rather than the favor of God. Should the Church complain that God has left when the Church has chosen the enemies of God over God? Should the Church use the methods of God’s enemy (the world) in order to obtain the blessings of God? Maybe, just maybe what the Church needs to do is to fall on its face with broken hearts and plead for the return of the living God. Only when the Church has been restored to where God’s majesty shines through it will the Church be the Church. The way things are now, the Church is unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. It is also, even infinitely more importantly, unworthy of the living God.

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Justification, Part 5

June 10, 2006

We continue in thinking about justification. In previous weeks we have looked at how true justification and the true Gospel must be to the glory of God and destroy the pride of man. God saves sinners in such a way that it exalts His glory and shatters the pride of man. Last week we looked at the basic concept of the term “justification” and how justification is forensic in nature. Forensic justification is a justification that points to God’s declaration of justification and that it is also a legal declaration. We set out some verses from Romans chapter 3 (repeated below) and tried to demonstrate that justification is a legal declaration of God regarding sinners and not man’s efforts to keep the law in order to be declared just or God’s working in man what is needed in order for man to be declared just. Roman Catholicism has regarded this as legal fiction. So this week we want to look at one part of how God can be just and still declare sinners righteous when they are not righteous in and of themselves.”Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (v. 20).

“Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith…to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (24- 26).

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (v. 28).

One part that justification must deal with is how a sinful man can be legally declared just by a holy God. A person must have his sins (crimes against God and His law) punished in proportion to the crime in order for a good judge (In this case, Judge) to declare the person righteous. So how does God do this? From v. 20 we can see that it cannot be by keeping the Law. The Law was not given so that man could keep it in order to be saved. The Law was sent in order to show man his sin. So it should be crystal clear that keeping the Law does not justify a person because that is not the purpose of the Law. This would be true whether it was the efforts of man or God’s working in man to do it. No human apart from Christ can keep the Law and so the Law was not sent to justify. But even if man could keep the Law and justify himself, we can see again that this is not how God would obtain all the glory and it would not save man in a way that would allow for no boasting at all.

If being good and keeping the Law cannot justify man, then what other way is there? From v. 24 we see that there is a way of grace. Remember that if something is of grace it is all of grace and nothing but grace. One cannot mix merit or works for merit with grace in any degree. It is true that those who receive grace are moved to works, but this is quite different from asserting that the works themselves are meritorious. Justification is a gift by grace which is to say that it is totally uncaused by man. The only cause in justification is God through Christ. God is sovereign and His grace is sovereign. He has mercy on whom He will have mercy and He will be gracious to whom He will be gracious. It does not depend on the man who wills or runs. It is all of sheer and glorious grace.

This grace, however, is not apart from the work of Christ, but is all of the work of Christ. Christ (v. 25) was displayed by God as a propitiation, that is, the One who removes the wrath of God. It is the blood of Christ that removes the wrath of God. This is based on the Old Testament where the priest would offer the blood of the sacrificial animal by sprinkling it on the mercy seat in the Tabernacle or later in the Temple after it was built. The blood being sprinkled signified that the sacrifice was in place of the sinner or the nation and the wrath was removed from the people. That sacrifice and its sprinkled blood looked ahead to Christ who was the Lamb of God, that is, the One who would remove the guilt of sins from His people.

Now as we think through this a moment, we can see the picture of propitiation as being all of the plan and work of God. No person could ever come into the Holy of Holies except the high priest. It was the high priest who represented the people and it was him alone who could offer the blood of the sacrifice. No one could remove the wrath of God for himself or by any good deed he could do. The sacrifice and the offering of the blood was the only way for propitiation to be made. The sacrificial system should have taught the Israelites that salvation was all of grace. God gave them their animals and He sent the rain that caused the grass to grow so that they could even have sheep. This should have taught the people that the removal of God’s wrath was simply and only His mercy. The whole sacrificial system pointed to the people needing grace to be saved and that they were in fact helpless in terms of salvation in terms of working for it. But some did turn it into a system of works as they do today. But we should notice that the people always looked to a sacrifice and not to their own good works.

Today, in terms of justification, people continue to want to be saved by their own efforts or attempt to change the Gospel into a way to help them save themselves. Some say that God in His grace makes up what we cannot do, though they leave room for man to earn part of his salvation. But if we look at justification as including propitiation as a necessary part of it, it is clear that all the glory is God’s and man has nothing to boast about. Jesus Christ is the only One who has ever been able to propitiate God. Christ is the only One who could suffer the wrath of an infinite God in a finite period of time. No man has ever been able to make up for one sin on his own or even part of one sin on his own. God requires perfection from all men every moment. So man can never go back and make up for a past sin because perfection is required of him at all moments. So in the removal of the wrath of God, there is no way for man to contribute to his own salvation in any way because he cannot remove the wrath of God for one sin and man has more sin than he can imagine to answer to God for.

So when God declares the sinner just, He is just and justifier (Rom 3:26). He is perfectly just in declaring a sinner just in terms of sin (we will wait for the imputed righteousness aspect until later) because Christ has perfectly suffered and died in the place of the sinner. The sinner is united to Christ and is one with Him. All the sins of the sinner have been placed on Christ and all those sins have been punished in Christ so that God has been perfectly satisfied. So it is clear that God is the One who declares the sinner just and He is the One who actually does the justifying. He is also perfectly just in declaring sinners just in Christ because Christ was the perfect sacrifice and nothing was left to be done. What did Christ leave to do that man can finish in order to make up for even the least of his sins? I would think that thinking Roman Catholics would see the error of their way of justification at this point. There is no way a finite being could ever suffer enough to make atonement for even one sin. So any method of salvation or justification that depends on the person working for even part of his salvation would be to make God guilty of legal fiction. God cannot declare a person just unless that person is perfectly just. No sinful human being can ever attain that and so man needs a perfect Savior who will do it all and not just some.

In propitiation the glory of God shines. In the cross where we first saw the light we see the light because of the light of His glory. It is at the cross where the beauty and glory of God’s love shines in the face of Christ as Christ went to and endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb 12:2). It is the cross where the perfect glory of the wrath of God blazes forth. It is here where God did not withhold the knife from His own Son as He told Abraham to do in Genesis. It was here that God’s holiness is seen in the strength of His hatred for sin in that He poured out His wrath on His own beloved Son. At any point where man steps in and tries so suffer for his own sin, he is trying to steal the glory from God. What blasphemy it is for man to think that he can suffer for some of his own sin or try to work hard enough to make up for a sin. No, no, no, man must never try to share in the work of salvation since all the glory belongs to God.

Here we can also see that man should never have the smallest bit of pride in terms of saving himself. Man can do nothing to suffer for the least sin and he can do nothing to make up for the smallest amount of his least sin. The true Gospel is such that it leaves man with no room for pride. The sacrifice of Christ that removed the wrath of God was either perfect or it was not. In trying to make up for sin himself, man is casting aspersions on the work of Christ. How awful it is for man to think that he can make up for his sin when it took the very Son of God to do that work. Perhaps we can see ever so clearly how it is, then, that Paul was so astonished at the Galatians for falling from such a Gospel of grace. We can also see why Jesus said that a person must be humbled as a child before he could even enter the kingdom. Only the humble give up all hope of themselves and their works and trust in the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ alone. The Gospel is full of the glory of God and only the humble see it. Perhaps this is why so many want to share in the work of salvation. Filled with pride they only think it is up to them and so never see the glory of God and of His grace in the Gospel.

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God-Centeredness & The Loss of Majesty

June 10, 2006

Referring to the message of his book, The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer says this:

“It is called forth by a condition which has existed in the Church for some years and is steadily growing worse. I refer to the loss of the concept of majesty from the popular religious mind. The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.”

This book was originally published in 1961. What Tozer wrote about is far worse now than when he first wrote about it.

When I visit churches, I am usually struck by the absence of any kind of real thought about God and any real reverence for Him. It is probably thought that we are doing church and so of course God is with us. The name “Jesus” is perhaps mentioned some, but He is talked about only as a means to an end or perhaps only in ways that make people think that Jesus does nothing but focus on people. Christ as God is utterly and gloriously majestic as well. Has the truth of the majesty of God been so lost that what is thought of as the Church is no longer really the Church? I think we should take this very seriously. The Israelites were rejected by God and yet they kept on practicing their rituals. Could it be that the modern “Church” has been rejected by God as evidenced that they no longer worship Him in His majesty? The greatest thing that God can do for a people is to give them Himself. When God gives Himself He gives His people a sense and taste of His glory. Clearly, this sense of glory is not with us.

As evidenced in the last forty years or so, God has withdrawn. His absence has been noticed by some, but what they have noticed is the lack of interest and the lack of numbers. We have turned to entertainment and special speakers from athletics and the television. We have turned to church growth methodologies and all sorts of analysis of the church. We have turned to so-called seeker sensitive ways of doing church. We have a postmodern version of the church called “the emergent church.” We have all sorts of conferences and a vast amount of books that will help you grow the church and help you become better at virtually anything. We have all sorts of Christian music and we are told that we must have certain kinds of music to worship. Do we need music to worship? We need God to come among us to worship. But of course this is all done in the Christian way and is usually sprinkled with a few verses here and there. The church is seen as having a product and the people are seen as the consumer. Where for God’s sake and glory is God?

The Church and each church is to be the temple of the living God. The church is to be the dwelling place of God. True worship is only found when God comes among His people and opens their eyes to taste and see of His glory. When Isaiah saw God he did not ask for any kind of music as he saw the music of glory and majesty. When the disciples saw and heard Jesus speak and tell the wind and the waves to hush, they were more afraid of Him than of the weather. They did not need anyone to sing a special or to sing a certain kind of music to prepare them for worship. Even more, they did not need to hear some simply little message in order to inspire them to lead a better life. They did not need some postmodern around to help them make church more relevant. The most relevant thing in the world to them was God and His glory. The disciples and Isaiah were not ready for a conference to teach them how to do church, they were in the presence of a holy God and they knew what majesty really was.

Now, it may seem as if I am knocking all conferences and music. That is not the point. The point is that we must seek God for a return of the presence of God. The sign of God’s presence is for His people to be humbled in His presence which is “seen” by people who are caught up in His majesty. People who are caught up with God are no longer concerned about all the daily things of self; they are concerned about their souls and the glory of God. Conferences and music and church need to focus on seeking God for Himself and not for anything else. As Tozer said, we have lost the concept of majesty. Instead of seeking God for His return, we have made many substitutes. Nothing will substitute for the lack of the concept of majesty. The Church does not need more programs and all of its corresponding vanities, it needs God. The problem, however, is that God is sovereign. He does not have to return and we cannot make Him. A program is far easier and we can control it. Don’t settle for cheap imitations, go for the real thing. We should never settle for anything less than the majesty of God. If we do, it just shows that we have no idea of what His majesty is really like.

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God Centeredness & True Religion

June 10, 2006

“True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time.” A.W. Tozer

A.W. Tozer, like the rest of us, was not a man who was perfect in his theology. However, he did have some profound thoughts on the greatness of God and how that should apply to man. Here we see a profound thought. “True religion confronts earth with heaven and brings eternity to bear upon time.” The term “confronts” is an interesting term in this like. It tells the Church that her message is one that should be confronting people with the reality of spiritual things all the time. Anyone who pretends to have true religion should understand that confrontation is necessary on a regular basis. Whatever one thinks of Christianity, which is what true religion is, it cannot stand still and do nothing.

True Christianity confronts others simply by virtue of what it is. The message of Christianity is that God’s kingdom has arrived and it is a victorious kingdom. The message is that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. The necessary implication is that each person must repent of his rebellion and crime since they are against the majesty in heaven. True religion is Christianity which is the revelation of the truth of God. Christians have the truth about God revealed in Holy Writ by the Holy Spirit. When Christianity falls into the wickedness of a low view of God, of necessity it becomes more and more like the world. With a low view of God the Church falls into idolatry and is turned over to hardness so that it is tolerant of the world. This has already happened. While the job of the Church is to confront the world with the character and glory of God which is to bring eternity to bear upon time, it has dropped that and is now just like the world in preaching a soft love along with its corresponding tolerance for virtually all things. Well, there are many who are adhering to conservative values and theology. Fine, but one can have those things and confront the world with those and still not confront the world with true religion.

Christianity is to be all about God. Christians are the temple of God (I Cor 6:19-20) and are here to proclaim the excellencies of God (I Peter 2:9). Christians are as vessels of clay to show forth the life of Christ in them. We are not here to live for ourselves in any way, but to live to and for the glory of God. When Christianity is moral or theological for itself, it is being like the world in doing all for itself. Self-centeredness and self-love as the same thing is the mark of the world and increasingly the mark of the modern so-called Church. It is only when the Church is used of God to manifest His glories and excellencies that it is different and confronts the earth with heaven. How the Church needs to repent of its self-centeredness and neglect of God. The Church neglects God simply by being focused on so many things other than Him. It can neglect God in His own name and so “THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU” (Romans 2:24). It is offensive to think that this text may be applicable to the church where you and I attend. However, if we do attend church at a place where the name of God is blasphemed, then our offense is far worse against God. It is better to be offended by the Word of God than it is to offend God. Do our churches offend the living God by what we do and what we don’t do because of our neglect of Him? Do our churches blaspheme the name of God among the unbelieving world because of the way we do things? Are we really seeking to glorify His name according to the strength He gives or are we striving to do what we want according to our own desires and traditions? Well, one might say, “I do evangelism a lot and so of course I don’t blaspheme God.” But why is evangelism done? Is it done out of a love for the glory of God or not? We do evangelism and therefore we say we love God. But we are to do evangelism because we love God if it is to be done in a way that He is truly glorified. Another might say that his church has great music. Fine, but where is God? Perhaps He is in the words and perhaps the feelings of people are elevated, but where is God? Feelings are to be elevated because of the beauty and glory of God and not because of the beat of the music. Do people have their feelings elevated when they meditate on the truths of Scripture? If not, the feelings might be because of the tune rather than be true worship. Others might say that “we teach the truth at our church since we teach Reformed orthodoxy. Again, where is God in that? Is it possible that people love their creeds and Reformed teachings because of its history and logic rather than the beauty and glory of God? Do people love God’s beauty as He shines in and through the truth or because of other reasons?

We must do more than talk about God in a way that is accurate; we must love the beauty and glory of the truth because it is the beauty and glory of God. Loving truth or forms of truth can be self-centered, but we must be God-centered.

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God-Centeredness & Ignorance

June 9, 2006

In Acts 17 Paul was standing in the midst of the Areopagus addressing the Athenians. Most likely there were many philosophers and yet many more who thought they were wise. Paul had been through Athens and had seen and examined their objects of worship. So he stood in front of them and said this: “What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23). In my opinion this is probably what Paul would say if he stood in the midst of the vast majority of churches today. He would see some singing, some activities, and perhaps even some programs that involve evangelism. But what do we worship if indeed we do worship? What is the core love behind our evangelism and our singing? What God is proclaimed from the pulpit on Sundays and other days?

In the more seeker sensitive churches, as they are called, the seeker appears to be the object of worship. After all, all is done for the so-called seeker. The music is oriented toward the seeker. The sermon is oriented toward the seeker. The lighting and the atmosphere is focused toward the seeker. Excuse me, but if all that is toward the seeker, then the seeker is being treated like God. No wonder some people attend this type of church. They are treated as gods.

Now if these churches were attended by Paul today, what would he say? I bet he would be amazed that so much attention is given to seekers rather than God. “What you worship in ignorance.” Yet the so-called Church today continues on focused on programs and entertainment while the real mission and focus of the Church has been forgotten. Well, we can feel pretty good about ourselves in this light. Really? Isn’t the same thing true of conservative churches? They are focused on keeping the old music, the old morality, the old theology or the old whatever. But where is God? A church can have the old music and not have God. A church can have the old morality and be more like the Pharisees than God. A church can have the old theology and still not have God. A church can be Reformed and be so focused on its theology, theological precision, and being sure that all the people are taught the creeds that it has forgotten about God. All of these things can be done in a way where God is replaced by something else.

Would Paul address our churches as those who worship in ignorance? Would Paul address your church as one which worships in ignorance? We must never forget that the primary seeker in church is God. He seeks those who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23). In fact, if God is going to be worshipped He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). One can have a lot of noise and music and it still not be worship of the living God. One can have the correct creed and still not worship the living God. One can have the correct creed and all the outward husks of truth without a heart that adores and worships the living God. Where is God in our churches? Well, some say, He is behind all that we do. Exactly, He is behind rather than in the front being worshipped and exalted. A known God will be set forth and proclaimed. Those who are ignorant of God will have Him behind everything. The Pharisees had God behind everything too. Where is God in the modern Church? Are we sure that He is even there other than in name the few times He is mentioned? Do we really need God in order to keep our churches going? Would we get along just fine without Him? Are we getting along just fine without Him?

Is God in our prayer meetings? Oh, you say, prayer meetings? Well, that is rather an old way to do things. Well, it is said, no one attends prayer meetings any more. When attendance went down to almost nothing we stopped having them. Well, another way to put it would be that when God left the church people stopped attending prayer meetings. Prayer meetings are boring if God is not met there. Prayer meetings are boring if God is not being sought. Prayer meetings are what used to be done when God visited churches. That is the way people used to do things when God was at the center of the Church. You know, that was the way things were when people wanted God to visit the church. We preach and teach on how to make people feel better. We preach and teach on how people should live better lives. We preach and teach on how to make the churches grow. We adjust everything to make people happy in order that they will come or that they will not leave. But when we do those things as they are being done, God is left out. Maybe I am wrong, but when we focus on people like that rather than God, it sure sounds like idolatry to me. Maybe we really are so ignorant of God that we have forgotten the true God so much that we have replaced Him in church with success, numbers, modern music, old music, and orthodoxy. Where is God? Surely He is not in our churches or there would be more love for God and His glory.

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Infinity and Worship

June 9, 2006

The very word infinity inspires or gives a sense of grandeur. A sense of grandeur or awe is necessary for worship because worship is to praise or be in awe of God. We worship that which we love the most. It is that which man thinks about and sets his mind on the most. So to the degree that God is majestic and glorious, that is the degree that man is to worship God. How man needs to have his mind and soul removed from the worldly ways of thinking and viewing things in order to have a sense of awe and reverence for God. All things in the world are finite and yet man sets his heart on those things. The heart of man must be removed from the world in order to set it on things above, even things that are infinite since God is infinite in His being and in all of His perfections.

Psalm 147:1 Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God;
   For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.
 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
 3 He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.
 4 He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
 5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.

This Psalm is obviously one of praise. Verse 1 sets out that it is good to sing praises and the reason it is good is because it is pleasant and something becoming to God and man. God is worthy of praise because He builds up Jerusalem, and yet He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted and binds their wounds. Notice the contrast between vv. 3 and 4. In v. 3 He is healing the brokenhearted and binding up their wounds, but in v. 4 He is counting the numbers of the stars and giving names to all of them. V. 5, then, is the obvious conclusion that God is great and abundant in strength. But how does the second part of v. 5 fit? It takes an infinite understanding to do what God does. How can God heal thousands of the brokenhearted and bind their wounds at the same time? If it takes a physician with great understanding to apply the right medicines to the right disease, how much greater is it for God to heal hearts? How much greater understanding does it take for God to heal hearts?

When we try to imagine billions and perhaps trillions of stars that astronomers tell us about is it any wonder that God’s understanding has to be infinite in order to count and name them? In the Old Testament times to name something meant that one was in control and perhaps even owner of it. God’s naming of the stars shows that He is the sovereign over them and that He is their rightful owner and commander. How much understanding does it take to call the stars out and have them right where He wants them in the sky?

The infinity of God should give man the sense of awe in all that God is. It should drive man to see his own smallness and utter insignificance apart from the holy One of Israel. With utter and complete adoration man should worship the living God who is infinite in all that He is and does. Who is man to seek the face of an infinite God? Who is man that God would stoop to take human flesh and go to the cross in the place of sinners? Ah, surely man is nothing more than a blind babe in the vastness of the universe and the glory of God. Who is man that he would dare take the infinite God’s name on his lips? Who is man that he would dare approach this infinite God to ask for something? Who is man to even think that this infinite God would take human flesh in order to deliver man from the ravages of sin and make puny and sinful men the very children of God? It would be blasphemy of the highest order to think of man as the temple of God if it had not been revealed in Scripture. But this great God who is infinite in all of His being does bring wretched sinners to Himself because He is infinite in grace as well.

“Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:28-29). How grateful man should be in light of the infinity of God and of the infinite grace believers have received through Christ. In light of the glory of God, it takes reverence and awe to worship. In light of all that God has done to glorify Himself through man, man should be grateful. The infinity of God demands and draws worship. How we should bow in worship before such a great and glorious God. We can do nothing for God, so let us worship Him in whom we all live, move, and exist and He gives life, breath, and all things (Acts 17:28, 25).  
 

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Justification, Part 4

June 2, 2006

The study of justification is really the study of the Gospel. We have tried to set out in some measure how the doctrine of justification should be focused on the glory of God which should strip man of his pride. If justification is taught as a doctrine that is only to be understood and believed intellectually, then it will fall far short of the truth of Scripture which sets out justification in contexts that should not allow it to simply be a creedal statement that is simply to be assented to, though indeed there must be the objective truth of it.Let us start with the word “justify.” While this term is used a fair amount in the modern world since people are always trying to justify their behavior, it might be thought that it is an easy term to deal with. However, that is simply not the case. God is the One who justifies and so we must try to understand how God uses the term in the revelation of Himself in His Word. Romans 3 is the place to start:

“Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” (v. 20).

“For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (v. 26)

“Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (v. 24).

“For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (v. 26).

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (v. 28).

“Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one” (v. 30).

There has been a lot of argument over this word in history and the argument still goes on. The argument goes on because it is still vitally important. It is clear from the above texts of Holy Writ that God is the One who justifies and not man who does it himself. So the crux of the issue is over how God justifies the sinner. If a person asserts that man justifies himself in part or in whole, this is clearly outside the bounds of truth. The issue here, however, is how God justifies. If man is seen to justify himself in any way even though the words of the doctrine do not assert that, it should be clear that Scripture does not allow for that at all.

So the divide at this point is huge. This is at least part of the central issue in Luther’s day over how justification was viewed. The issue at hand is whether God declares a person just or actually makes the person just by working in him in order to declare the person just. Historically, though many in the modern day will deny it, Protestants have said that indeed God declares sinners just and those He justifies He sanctifies which is His making them at the very least more just or righteous. Rome countered and said that God could not declare just what was not just in and of itself and so the Protestant position was a legal fiction. Many have felt the weight of that argument and have tried to modify the Protestant position to some degree. However, as I hope to show at some point, it is actually the Roman Catholic position that leads to a legal fiction and it is the Protestant position that allows God to declare a sinner just with all truth and righteousness. But for the moment, if God has to make a person just in order to declare the person just, then God would have to make the person perfect. In that case no one could be declared just by God. However, the historical Protestant position says that God declares a person just based on the perfect works of Christ. This allows for God’s declaration concerning man to be made in perfect justice and righteousness. In reality it is Rome that settles for the legal fiction.

So can we show from the text that the justification in mind is a declarative justification based solely on what Christ has done versus rather than that God justifies the sinner by making the sinner righteous through good works? Romans 3:20 clearly says that “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” The text then goes on to give at least one reason for this: “for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin” In other words, the Law was never given in order that man may keep the Law and be justified. The Law was given in order to show man the depths of his sin. Even more clearly we can see from v. 28 “that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” It could not be clearer than this. A person is justified apart from works of the Law. Some argue that there is a difference between good works and works of the Law. However, the Law commands us to love God with all of the heart, mind, soul, and strength. There are no good works apart from love to God. There are no good works that can possible happen apart from love for God since I Corinthians 13 tells us that nothing we do is of any profit unless it is done from love.

We should also notice that nothing in those texts tell us anything about God working the works of the Law in man in order that man may do the good works and be justified. In fact, justification is clearly said to be apart from the works of the Law and the text does not distinguish whether the works are from God working them in man or man doing them himself. The text simply says that justification is apart from the works of the Law. Justification is also a free gift (uncaused by man) of grace. It is all of grace and nothing but grace that justifies man. There is no causal fact of man’s works for salvation or of God working good works in man mentioned here at all. The text speaks of justification as an uncaused gift by grace. I don’t think that Romans 3 could be any clearer on the issue. Justification is all of God and man does nothing but receive it and even that is by grace.

Justification, then, is not that which man can work to obtain and is not good works that God works in man in order for man to obtain. Justification must be forensic in nature which is the declaration of a judge regarding a criminal on trial. The judge in this case is God and as Judge He declares the sinner righteous in His sight. How that happens is for future articles, but we know that it is all of Christ. The forensic nature of justification and the fact that it is all of grace allows for salvation to be all of Christ. However, for the moment, we can stand back and look at how all the glory is God’s in this case. The forensic nature of justification allows for all the glory to be God’s. He declares a person just or righteous in His sight because of what He has done. The glory of the grace of God is on display for all to see. The mercy and love of God is set out and displayed in such a way where His glory shines. So if we simply decide whether God justifies by making the person just or by declaring a person just on the basis of Christ by the standard of which position displays His glory the most, the issue is clear. God’s glory shines far more brightly in declaring a person just on the basis of Christ.

We saw last week that the Bible declares that man is justified in a way that allows man no room for boasting in himself at all. If God only declares those just who have worked enough to be just whether God worked it in them or not, this seems to allow at least some room for boasting. But the legal declaration that a person is just based on what Christ has done alone allows for no boasting at all. The forensic nature of justification based on Christ alone removes any room for boasting and destroys any basis for boasting that man has. Any person who has been justified by God on the basis of Christ alone simply has no consistent room for pride at all. This is a pride shattering doctrine and as such has the ring of truth to it. God’s glory and man’s pride do not fit with each other.

What we have observed in a rather simple way is that the verses in Romans 3 do not allow for any works of man to be involved in justification. We have also observed that in this way the glory of God is displayed and the pride of man is dashed. The reason that it is done this way is because Scripture shows that the Gospel is all about the glory of God and that in a way that allows for no pride or reason for pride in man. The true position concerning justification, then, would be the one that exalts the glory of God and destroys pride and any room for pride in man. I have set this out in contrast to the Roman Catholic position. However, all forms of justification within Protestantism must be judged in this regard as well. The New Perspective and the Auburn Avenue Theology movements should be considered carefully with these things in mind. If at any point a position allows for man’s works to be part of justification rather than relying completely on the finished work of Christ, then it should be seen that that position is not to the glory of God and does not abolish pride in man. A position like that simply is not and cannot be biblical. The doctrine of justification is a sword that divides between Christians and non-Christians. There is no other Gospel and we must always be on the side of the Gospel even if it is not politically or denominationally correct. There is no love apart from those who have the Gospel because only those who are born of God and know God have love. The Gospel is that important. Sola Fide.

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Infinity: Comforts and Fears

June 2, 2006

The teaching of God’s infinity should terrify the unbeliever when he considers that the degree of God’s holiness is far beyond what he can imagine. Men desire God to be like themselves and so they try to twist Scripture and theology to fulfill that desire (Psa 50:21; Acts 17:29). When confronted with the infinite holiness of God, men may bow in sheer self-condemnation before His blazing glory as Isaiah did (Isa 6) or they will try to twist the information to feel more comfortable. The infinity of God makes His glorious holiness more than the eyes and hearts of men can bear. However, for the believer this is of great comfort. The infinity of God’s holiness means that God is set apart to do all for His own glory and so He cannot change and He cannot deny Himself. The believer loves the infinity of God’s holiness and its beauty and so wants more and more of it. It is a delight to think of growing in the knowledge and delight of this holiness for all eternity.        

The infinity of God’s power should move the unbeliever to a great fear. The power of God as infinite knows no limits or bounds that any other being put on Him. “Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You” (Psa 90:11)? No human can understand the depths of an infinite power. No human can do anything to escape the infinite power of God. Man is a bit like a very small bug trying to stop an entire ocean of water moving toward him. The water cannot be stopped and all of man’s efforts at this are simply useless and he will be overwhelmed. Such is man in the sight and hand of God. However, for the believer this is a great comfort. God can do whatever it takes to bring relief to the believer. Nothing happens to the believer that God has not allowed to happen.

“Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You” (Psa 90:11)? Using the same verse, we can also see the infinity of the fury and anger of God. The wrath that God displays on earth and in hell is beyond what the mind can conceive. There will be no end to an infinite wrath and there is no limit to what an infinite wrath can do. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God who is infinite in His anger and fury. But this also gives comfort to the believer who looks upon the infinite wrath of God and knows that Christ has suffered and died as a propitiatory sacrifice in order to remove that wrath. So the believer is excited to praise and adoration as s/he looks upon the wrath of God because it opens up new venues to see the grace of God on display.

As the unbeliever should tremble knowing that nothing can protect him from God, so the believer gains comfort by knowing that nothing can keep God from protecting His people if He desires. God can do as He wills on earth and heaven and no one can limit or thwart Him since God is not limited in any way but Himself. While the unbeliever has no hope for anything but wrath in his state of unbelief, the believer can look to the infinity of God in terms of His love as comfort. “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. 20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us” (Eph 3:16-20).

According the text above, man may know (intimately) the love of Christ which is beyond knowledge. This is simply the infinity of God expressed in love and yet should be of great comfort to the believer that there is no end to this vast love of God. For eternity there will be boundless oceans of love for streaming and surging to and through all who are in Christ. Out of that love there is this great and infinite God who can not only do all that man can ask or think, but can do “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.” God is not limited by what man can think or pray. God is not limited by the mind or heart of man. Man should humble himself before this great majesty of heaven and realize that truly God is infinite and so man should be in the dust before His infinite majesty. It is only fitting.

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