Yet, the same ministers who spend time selfelssly and compassionately working to see these wonderful children of God set free are at the same time so often preaching a 'gospel' which isn't good news at all! Rather, it actually promotes a worldview which causes the very problems that we then spend so much time and energy trying to fix!!
We teach that we are all sinners, that we have all fallen short of God's standard, that there is no health in us, that we are doomed to hell. We paint a picture that has God as a wrathful judge whose vengeful anger is spent on his son rather than on us who so richly deserve it. We remind ourselves that only God can heal us, that only He decides who he heals, that everything that happens is for our good - even the tragic. We declare to our few remaining volunteeers that actually the work they do is only there because God planned it, that when they do it it is wothless except that God endorses it....
Now of course, as a good (well, goodish) evangelical, I acknowledge that there is truth in the above statements. But out of context and rolled together they paint a very disempowering view of God and his view of us.
Saw this church sign recently - seemed to epitomise this approach:
I want to shout 'God is for us, God loves us, we are valued and valuable. We are precious and lovely, we have immense significance in His eyes' I want to remind us that God isn't a judge waiting to trip us up. He isn't a puppet master directing a play in which we only get to act the parts.That we're called to the intimate wonder of being the bride, not a slave.
God pinpoints sin, then offers a helping hand and an arm round us and an encouraging word. He doesn't drape us in this cloak of unworthiness and misery.
Anyone with us in this?
I believe this but don't feel it. That is where my faith needs to be stronger, I suppose, which is yet another failing.
ReplyDeleteRight you are, Mr P!!! We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The father loves us so much that he chose to die for us. He didn't die for the worms and the goats and the lions. He died for us. We must be worth something really special. I for one feel privileged to be loved that much. AND to top it all off, I get to work with him, doing the work he and i love to do and he gives me the tools/encouragment/power/desire to do it. Great job satisfaction, fantastic boss, wonderful benefits, marvelous pay, superb retirement. What more can a girl/daughter want?
ReplyDeleteYes, we are all bad people when compared to a Holy God. We have fallen short of his standards of purity, etc. We are in a condemned state, and God cannot look upon us.
ReplyDeleteHowever, God loves us so much that even though we are in a condemned state, He provided a way to overcome that condemnation. He sacrificed himself so that we could be set free.
Now, although in a condemned state in one sense, we are free to be what God designed us to be and can rejoice in his presence without fear of that condemnation.
God wants to walk with us and talk with us and be near to us for the rest of our lives, and then into eternity. He will be there for us when the road gets tough (c/f Psalm 23 & Psalm 90). We may not be spared the effluent that life throws on everyone, but we will not be alone in it!
Yes, preach hell and damnation because we need to hear the truth. BUT also preach forgiveness and God's eternal presence with us, and also the joy that comes with it.
It is the opposite of a sugar coated pill: bitter on the outside, but when you bite in to it, it is sweet and wholesome.
Thanks for posts. They are helping me.
ReplyDeleteMight we have got the wrong end of the stick somewhere along the line as to what the good news really is? We often talk about the good and liberating news being that we are spared our punishment, which Jesus took in our stead. Could it be that perhaps we look at sin in a rather unhelpful way? Could it be that sin is not so much the list of all our failings, but simply the fact that being turned away from God God in not able to be in relationship with us? Could it be that God doesn't think of our sin as a list of things we do and have done wrong, but about the state of our hearts, about to what extent our backs are really turned to him? Could it be that Jesus' death is less about having that list of failings erased, than about the freeing of the whole world from the grip of the one who still calls himself the Prince of this World? Could it be that the good news is quite simply that "The King is coming... and he invites us to be part of His kingdom" - which of course necessarily means a turning towards the King, submission to his rule (which is entirely LOVE)? Could it be that if we were to live truly turned towards him, like a sunflower is turned to the sun, as we face him and his Love, as we allow his Love to sweep over us, to heal us, to define us, to shape us ... could it be then that we find real freedom and that those things we do, that smack of selfcentredness and doing things our own way, are less appealing?
ReplyDeleteOur new curate has pointed this very fact out - all our current services (CofE) point us continuously to how unworthy and sinful we are. We need to balance that with the celebration of who we are, who God has created us to be - in his likeness and to be in relationship with him! How amazing is that! Looking forward to some re-written services and a celebration of life rather than the constant 'woe is me' - maybe this very fact will drop from my head to my heart, as per the first anonymous comment.
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