Words from Pastor James

Who is God?

2011-10-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

We spend a lot of time worshipping God and talking about our relationship with Him, but how often do we take time to contemplate who we think God is and why we think that? The question of who God is may be the most fundamental and unexplored question that exists in our faith experience. Who we think God is shapes all of our interactions with him and his creation. Think about the different responses a persons life elicits when they think of God as just, personal, all powerful, and loving, versus a view where He is distant, unmerciful, and unconcerned with His creation, or even non-existent. Our view of who God is completely shapes the way we see and live life.

So the question that now needs to be asked is, how do we know who God is? I have heard a plethora of answers to this question, some good, and some bad. Here are some examples of how people have told me they have come to an understanding of who God is. One person told me they came to know who God is by sitting in nature and observing God’s beautiful creation. Another person told me that they try to meditate on life and the workings of the universe.

Both of these methods may help us see glimpses of who God is, but they present one very obvious flaw. When mortal man tries to reason about the immortal, our conclusions are always biased by our inherent lack of comprehension. If I try to discover who God is by asking myself who I think He is, or what his creation shows me about Him, I will only discover what I want to discover. I cannot teach myself about God, I can only teach myself about who I think God is, or more likely who I want God to be. Because my comprehension is limited by what I know, I cannot bring myself to understand who God is.

So I still haven’t answered our original question of how do we come to know who God is? Before I make an attempt at that I would like to present a conversation that happened between God and Moses in Exodus 33:18-23.

“Moses said [to God], "Please show me your glory." And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen."”

I’m going to share a few important points from this set of scriptures to help us understand how we come to know who God is. First of all, Moses asks that God please show His glory. Moses’ petition to God shows us that he is unable to comprehend on his own who God is. Moses must ask God to reveal Himself so he can understand. Second, it is important to note that Moses asks God directly to see His glory. Maybe the first place we need to start when seeking after who God is, is to ask God to show us.

The second point I think needs to be mentioned here is that God chose how much of Himself He desired to reveal. God only allowed Moses to see His back as He passed by. We will never fully comprehend who God is, but He has chosen to reveal parts of himself to us. We can find that concrete revelation of God through his living word, the Bible (2 Tim 3:16).

Now to propose an answer to our original question; the only way we come to truly know who God is, is by asking Him to show Himself to us, and then allowing Him to teach us about Himself through the Bible. I cannot discount the fact that we will learn about who God is through life experiences, but all of the things we think we learn must also be backed up, if not preceded by what God reveals through scripture.

"Go! Am I not sending you?"

2011-10-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior”. “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

-Judges 6:12-14

Before I expound on this, it is important that we have some background information. When Gideon was talking to the angel of the Lord, seven years of oppression by the Midianites was coming to a close for the Jews. The persecution was terrible. Many of the Jews were forced to flee into the mountains where they dug caves and dens to take refuge in. The Midianites killed the Jews by the sword and also ate and destroyed all of the crops and livestock, leaving the Jews to slowly starve to death in their mountain hideaways.

I wanted to share this passage with you not because of Gideon’s question, after all, it is not a unique question, I wanted to share this because of God’s response. God in no way tries to explain to Gideon how the disobedience of the Jews has caused them to be judged and punished (this is the usual explanation for times like this in the book of Judges) and God does not explain how the Jews need to understand the hardships of life (evil) to be able to understand the goodness of God. Instead the Lord says “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

The response “GO! Am I not sending you?” is one that instead of answering our objections with in depth rational explanations gives us an opportunity to experience God’s goodness for ourselves.

This is something that we all need to remember, next time we experience the hardships of life, remember what God’s instruction is; “Go! Trust me! Do the work I have prepared for you. Am I not sending you?”

A Glimpse Into Difficult Relationships and the Seeking of Power to do Right!

2011-04-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

While reading Ephesians, I constantly think of how relevant Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus is to our modern (or postmodern) communities. Paul addresses some of the key issues that pester and confuse many Christians. He writes about the myth of attaining righteousness through our human actions and he has a fairly lengthy discourse on the necessity of unity and unconditional love in the church. But what usually strikes me as most compelling is Paul's explicit directions towards what may be the most difficult relationships that exist between humans; wives and husbands, children and parents, and finally slaves and masters.

I would like to focus on the second of the three relationships; parents and children. The text being used is Ephesians 6:1-20.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (6:1-4, ESV)

Passages with very explicit instructions like this can often be disenchanting, so let us examine what might be the heart behind the commands. There are three very blunt instructions here; obey your parents, honor your father and mother, and fathers; do not provoke your children and instruct them in the Lord. Before we look further into these, let us differentiate between obeying and honoring. Obeying is defined as "to comply with or follow commands, restrictions, wishes, or instructions". Honoring is defined as "a source of credit or distinction".

To obey parents seems to be a fairly straightforward command, but honoring takes a little more thought to understand, so let me rewrite the passage this way, "Be a source of credit and distinction to your fathers and mothers". We must clarify here because many people will tell me, "I am a source of credit and distinction towards my parents, I give credit and distinction towards the fact that my parents suck!". This way of thinking demonstrates a weak and inaccurate interpretation of what Paul actually says here. There is a reason the the scripture says honor and not dishonor. If Honoring means being a source of credit and distinction, then dishonor means being a source of bad credit and bad distinction (we are not talking in terms of financial credit, although to think that way would not be too much of a stretch). Paul specifically chooses the positive form of honor here.

To think that tumultuous parental relationships are a recent phenomenon would be a total misconception of human nature and the fact that human nature contains continual aspects that do not change with the times. Parents and children have always had strained relationships. A great example of this is the Old Testament story of Joseph. Joseph's brothers are upset by the fact that Joseph has become their fathers favorite, so they sell him into slavery. There must have been a strained relationship between the father and his sons for them to act this way! (Genesis 37)

Strained parent child relationships have become normal because they have been such an integral part of our sinful nature. They have existed since the fall of man. That is why being devoted to a Godly relationship with our parents reveals something special about ourselves. It reveals our commitment towards loving others and doing the right thing, especially when these relationships exist within adversity. Through this, God's Glory is revealed others. Obeying and honoring our parents in front of our peers, when the accepted and expected behavior is the opposite, reveals the continually transforming power of God that is working within us.

There is a strange progression of topics in Ephesians 6. First it tells kids to obey their parents and tells parents not to suck, then it expresses a need for slaves to obey their owners. The follow up to all of this is the infamous Armor of God passage. There is no question in my mind why two of the hardest commands in the Bible (obey your parents and obey your masters) is followed up by a passage that proclaims the the strength of the Lord and the need for us to continually seek after righteousness, honesty, peace, and faith. Paul basically tells us that what God wants us to do in regards to difficult relationships is impossible unless we set aside our selfish desire of self gratification and seek after God for strength, so we can live life as it was meant to be lived.

When we focus our lives on the Lord, it strengthens us and shapes us so that how we live is a reflection of what we believe.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Colossians 3:10-15

Teacher Knows Best

2011-03-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know truth and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved by anyone. How is it that you say, 'you will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin" John 8:31-34 (ESV)

Most of the time when we think about God's love we think only in terms of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the atonement of our sins, but that is only a part of it. Much of God's love is manifest in pragmatic terms. Our designer knows what is best for us and has told us through scripture how He designed us to live. God's explicit instructions on life is a practical way for God to show us love. Sexually morality leads to a positive sexual relationship in marriage. Sexual immorality often leads to things like STD's and pregnancy under undesirable conditions. Being honest with each other may seem difficult at times, but it prevents us from getting involved in webs of deceit and eventually ruining relationships. Loving each other as God intends us too not only creates communities where people's needs are cared about and provided for, but it also gives us a sense of joy and satisfaction that doesn't come from us acting selfishly.

Deuteronomy is filled with this obvious, practical form of love. With the introduction of the ten commandments Moses says this:

See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Deuteronomy 4:5-8

God desires to see us living our lives the way they were designed to be lived because he loves us. He not only desires for us to be reunited with Him through the salvation that Jesus Christ offers, but He desires for us to "abide in His word" becoming His disciples and allowing our lives to be transformed by the freedom that comes from understanding the truth that exists through his teachings.

The Existence of God?

2011-03-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

In the Youth Sunday School class, we discussed why people even consider the existence of God. This is a fundamental question that we, as Christians, need to have answers for. There is a vast array of arguments both for and against the existence of God. Below, I will post some of these arguments with the name of their authors. The arguments that are presented below are by no means exhaustive so always feel free to do your own research on this issue. One more point to make before we get started is that all of these arguments are exactly that, arguments. Each argument for the existence of God has an equally compelling argument against the existence. We are not learning about these things so that we can argue with our peers, and feel more educated and better prepared for a moral assault on someone else's beliefs. We are learning these things so we can understand why we even study the Bible. If we only believe in God because our parents do, and their parents did before them, there is a fairly large chance that other argument's against Gods existence will negatively impact our faith. Examining then, why we think God exists is the first step to examining what the Bible says about Him. So let us begin.

One of the most common arguments used to affirm Gods existence is the argument of Reason. Victor Reppert sums it up nicely when he wrote this;

According to theism, the universe is a rational place because it is the creation of a rational being, namely God. Reason is, so to speak, on the very ground floor of reality. Given that God creates creatures, it is at least possible that God might wish to provide those creatures with the some measure of the rationality which God himself possesses. And human beings reflect God's rational character by having the capacity think logically. If we make the further supposition that God has created human beings in such a way that they consist of both a soul and a body, we might be able to say that while the body's activities are determined by the laws of physics, it is possible for human beings, through their souls, to perceive not merely physical activities in the environment, but logical and mathematical truths that apply throughout all that God has created. If someone in a theistic universe who had a spiritual as well as a physical nature were to reason to a conclusion logically, it might very well be that the person reached the logical conclusion because the conclusion follows logically from the premises, and not because the laws of physics mandated that the physical particles in the brain move to such and such places (The Argument from Reason, 1998).

The first thing I thought of when I read this is, "This is not a valid argument because I know way too many people that never use logic or reason". But, what I think he is actually saying is not that people always think logically and make good choices, but that people have the capacity to make choices and there is some process behind their decision making. We can call that process logic and reason. We seem to be different from other animals in the way we make decisions. Our choices are based on more than an instinctual search for food, shelter, and procreation (sometimes the latter of those does not seem true). Our choices seem to have some form of reflective thought of right and wrong. We do not always follow these notions of right and wrong, but their presence in our decision making process alludes to our creation by a greater being that also has that capacity. "Given that God creates creatures, it is at least possible that God might wish to provide those creatures with the some measure of the rationality which God himself possesses".
Victor Reppert sums up the counter arguement in the same paper. He writes;

Now let us consider the universe from the point of view of mechanistic materialism. The universe may have begun with a Big Bang, but what results from that Big Bang are material substances of various kinds. And material substances go where they go, not because it would be a good idea to go there, but because such motion is mandated by the laws of physics. If rocks fall down a mountain due to an avalanche, they will not stop because they don't want to hit and kill any people. On the mechanistic view of the world, material particles can, through evolution, organize themselves into complicated systems that work together to further the survival of the organism and the species. So, for example, your eye might be said to have the "purpose" of allowing you to see. That is, your eye might be structured, as a result of centuries of evolution, in such a way that it serves the purpose of your seeing. But the particles that make up your eye are just as mechanistically determined as the particles of a rock falling down a mountain. What we call "drawing a rational inference" must be accounted for in the same way. Perhaps our brains are structured in such a way that the activity we call rational inference will be performed, and that this capacity contributes to our survival individually and collectively. (The Argument from Reason, 1998).

This argument declares that human interactions and decision making can be viewed not as specifically created by a greater existential being, but in terms of evolution and basic human survival. Man thinks it is wrong to kill his brother not because he has an inherent morality instilled within him by God, but because when primitive man did kill his brother, he realized that his survival became harder without the presence of a helper. Reason and morality are explained as learned abilities that come as a result of a need for survival.

This view can easily be argued against, but so can the former argument that claims God does exist, so I feel there is no reason to ask the question; where does mans inherent desire for survival and perpetuation come from?

I would like to bring up one more strain of thought that points towards the existence of God, and that is; humanities constant questioning of ethics and morality. This arguement is very similar to the first one presented. Instead of examining mans basic decision making process, it asks the question of why does mankind ponder over ideas of morality. Is morality an inherent trait within humans that is similar to our herd instincts, or is it something that is a cultural construction, learned over time by our families and systems of education, or is it both. And most importantly, does the origination of morality answer the basic question of whether or not God exists?

In his book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis explains that humans constantly compare our interactions. We compare the actions of the Nazi's to the actions of the Allied forces in World War 2. We compare our fellow workers decisions to our own; and we tend to judge them and decide which is better. Most people would say that Christian morality is better than Nazi morality which could be argued as a subjective judgment. But, in order to judge anything to another, we must be judging it according to some standard. The existence of this unattainable standard points to the instillation of morality in man by a God. We judge our actions against another mans actions, and it isn't this judgment that points towards the existence of God, but the standard upon which actions are judged that points us towards a conclusion that God exists. Where does this standard that no man can attain come from if not from a greater being? C.S. Lewis goes on to say that people will say this standard is a social construction handed down through the generations. But that presents the question of where did the standard originate. And that brings us to the argument that we started this discussion with.

Now, all of you that know me are probably saying to yourselves, "James, this is the most biased set of arguments that I have ever read. You did not represent the opposing side well enough." To this I would say, "You are correct." But, the point of this is not to prove or disprove to anyone the existence of God. It is to get us thinking about why we even think God exists. It has become too common for modern Christians to evaluate the existence of God based on personal experience and emotion, and I don't want to discredit the value of these things, but they create a weak argument for God's existence. The person who argues for God by saying, "I have always just felt in my heart that a God exists" creates a purely subjective argument for God's existence and existence is not a subjective issue. Either God exists or He does not and the way you feel about it does not change that.

Finally, I want to conclude by saying, philosophical arguments for God should not be used so you can incite arguments with your peers. We need to think about why we believe in God so we can answer our friends questions when they ask them. Relationships are the key to spreading the Gospel and it is our responsibility to be prepared with meaningful answers to tough questions.

One last thing; this post is not meant to discredit anyone's personal experience with Christ. Most Christians have chosen to follow Christ because they have had some form of personal experience with Him. The encounter's we have that shape our relationship with Christ are priceless and can never be discredited. This post has been made as a visual aid to what we have been learning in Sunday School. We discussed this issue because we are beginning to look into what scripture says about God. We wanted to have a clear understanding of why people think God exists before we dive into what we as Christian's believe about God.