"Death Smiles At Us All" - podcast guest
10 months ago
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Calling all cars...
Ok, this isn't a typical blog post. It is an invitation to everyone who is reading this. I have been reading the bible cover to cover, and now I am in Judges. This adventure has been beautiful and challenging, but much more so lately. Reading Joshua and Judges I have seen sides of God that disturb me. Ill be honest, I am having a hard time putting what I think of God and His ways into what the Bible is clearly showing me He is like (which, He doesn't change so what He was then He still is now, even if it is not spoken of). I see brutal wrath, disregard for human life, fierce anger...which I knew was there, but had not read the Old Testament fully. I can handle that though, for He is furiously jealous and demands the love and obedience of His people, and rightly so! for He is the Beginning and the End of all things. He is to be praised for giving us Jesus, who was perfect so we can be covered in Him and spared from the destruction we deserve. But I think one of the things that I really dislike most is the appearance of a reward/punishment system in these OT passages. I don't like it, I have come to only trust his grace to me through Christ, and have rejected a rewards/punishment view of God. Nothing can separate us from His love, not our actions, mindset, words, circumstances. I have bathed in His love lately when that finally hit home and I was free of all the rules and things I had done to try to earn his approval earlier in life. But this OT stuff seems to rely fully on rewards for good and punishment for bad, and it is unsettling. I have been told that grace has always been there, and God doesn't change, so why this seemingly 180 degree change of operation? I know Christ changed a lot of things, and I'm sure my answer lies in His wounds...but I have been pondering and cant seem to be OK with what I am reading. Anyway, please feel free to comment and give your ideas on this...for I am struggling with it myself. And I think being challenged by the Word is good, but sometimes its hard and confusing. If you don't or cant comment on here you can email me or something, because I really wanna know what all you guys have to say. So, with that...I open the floor to discussion!
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3 comments:
tough stuff man...its very tricky stuff, ive been struggling a lot with that lately myself... i dont know exactly what to say, but i think it is important to see the grace in the old testament too...i mean look at david a murdering adulterer after Gods own heart? God had people stoned to death for less. think about moses the murderer. jacob was a con artist and became part of the line of Christ bc he was a liar...i mean there are plenty of examples in the OT where God shows grace...however God is also just, and he doesnt always choose to wait to enact justice. i mean the whole book of judges is the story of israel (and our story too) running from God and then having to deal with God's removal of his hand, and ultimately crap happening, then coming back to God and him saving them...over and over and over again.
i also think its just important to remember that God, does call us to obey him...
1 John 5:3
This is love for God: to obey his commands.
this is a really tough and tricky subject, and i wrestle with it often. but as Tim Keller says, every page of the Bible (Old AND New Testament) is about Jesus. He is central in every answer to any question we could have about God....that has to remain in the forefront of all our doubts and questions (ie "is God good?", "Is God just?", "is God merciful", "has the wrath of God REALLY been exhausted?", "has the law REALLY been kept?" - all these find their answer in Christ)
now having said that, we have to be reminded that when God looks at us, he sees the imputed righteousness of Christ. so when he looks at AJ he sees Christ. when he looks at Elliott and Dan, he sees Christ. perfection. but we arent perfect, so discipline and correction are still in effect for our sanctification. we are as Luther put it "simultaneously saint and sinner". we are living in the "already" reality of being 'perfect in His sight' and the "not yet" there in our actual lives. a weird duality.
now having said that, there is a sense in which we HAVE TO KNOW that our standing before God all depends on Christ. But Hebrews tells us that he disciplines those he LOVES. God still HATES sin. he cant even be around it. he is too holy. the only difference is that his wrath has been exhausted onto Christ. its our only hope of standing before a righteous and wrathful God. so now we are under Christ, but he can still see and punish us because of our sin - BUT IT IS NEVER IN HIS WRATHFUL ANGER TOWARDS US, IT IS BECAUSE HE LOVES US THAT HE CORRECTS AND DISCPLINES US. it is only when im restful there (in the reality of His mercy) that i will ever even begin to truly obey.
but our blessings come because HE is good, not us. Luther said it like this "Blessings at times come to us through our labors and at times without our labors, but never because of our labors.. For God always gives them because of His undeserved mercy." nuff said Marty.
and on a final note, who is to say that God isnt the same as He was in the OT in terms of 'large scale punishment'. this is dangerous waters i know but 9/11, Katrina, Tsunami, Uganda? i mean all these things are terrible and heartbreaking, but the God of the OT would spit these things out without blinking an eye. just a thought, i dont know enough about that to make any more comments.
but dude i love the thought process and the wrestling match you are in. it makes me love to seek Christ and hide there more. so thanks man. keep em comin.
I had a thought about this today, but I need to think it through. For now i just want to point out the irony of people who make fun of people for having blogs using others' blog's comment space to... blog. :)
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