Knowing and Experiencing God

There is a push today to "experience" God, and this is nothing new.  People want to have tangible evidence and experiences which for them confirm the reality of God's existence and power.  Whilst I applaud the desire to seek and know God who has revealed Himself in the world and His Word, the pursuit of religious experiences brings the divine down to the level of a hokey parlour trick.  To know God is to experience Him, and He is more than tingly or warm sensations.

In an old Mythbusters episode, the build team had the goofy idea that ancient people may have used small electrical currents to provide a "religious experience."  The largely western bias that what was believed to be a religious experience could not be supernatural was on full display.  Electric shocks, mind-altering drugs, and superstitions of ignorant people are seen by modern folks as plausible ways people believed they were in contact with God.  Whilst many ignorant and deceived people imagined they had an experience with God and were mistaken, it does not mean God is a sham.  Jesus backed up His claim of being the Way, the Truth, and the Life by rising from the dead and ascending to heaven in the presence of many witnesses.  This experience of Christ's disciples was more than euphoria but a realisation of God's reality and the promise of eternal life made theirs through faith in Jesus.

There is no set formula to receiving a revelation of God like we have to assemble a cabinet purchased at IKEA or following a wiring diagram to connect to electrical current.  In the scriptures we see God reveal Himself in ways which are shocking and surprising:  God spoke to people who loved Him and also to people who hated Him.  His presence was displayed as a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.  Mt. Sinai shook and trembled in smoke when He descended, and also spoke to the prophet Elijah alone with a still, small voice.  He caused barren women to bring forth children, and rendered Zechariah mute until he named his son John.  God caused Mary to conceive as a virgin and bring forth Jesus Christ - that sounds like an unique experience!  The truth is God desires to be known, and those who seek Him will find Him.  He has more than a tingle of the fingers or splintering the sky with a thunderbolt, but love, acceptance, and forgiveness.  He provides abundant life which transcends experience.

One of God's laments in scripture is His people did not know Him.  The nation of Israel worked to follow His Laws but their ignorance of God was revealed by their lives which were bankrupt of His character.  Knowing God transforms people from within.  See what He spoke through the prophet in Jeremiah 9:3-6: "And like their bow they have bent their tongues for lies. They are not valiant for the truth on the earth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me," says the LORD. ⁴ "Everyone take heed to his neighbour, and do not trust any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanderers. ⁵ Everyone will deceive his neighbour, and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves to commit iniquity. ⁶ Your dwelling place is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me," says the LORD."  As people gathered for the feasts, prayed, sang, and offered sacrifices, it was quite the religious experience.  No doubt hair stood on end as the priests shouted praise to God, and what about when fire fell from heaven at the prayer of Solomon and consumed the offering?  God desired more than shivers down and spine, prophesying, and memories, that people would know Him.

Knowledge of God is enjoined through the mind coupled with faith.  I expect many were physically healed by Jesus who wondered how He was able to heal but did not worship Him as God.  There were people who pressed through the crowd to seek Jesus and were healed, and others Jesus came to alone and restored body and soul.  There were people who only heard of what Jesus did and cried out to Him believing, and others who witnessed Him raise a man from the dead sought to kill Him.  The concept of a "religious experience" can be pleasing to the atheist and agnostic, but more than being pleased ourselves we should do what pleases God.  Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."  God was pleased to give people senses, yet His presence transcends feelings, senses, physical healing, and knowledge.  A lot passes for a religious experience today, and our lives are meant to be more than a successive string of them because Jesus is our life.

Fearless Servants

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, yet I wonder how many times the fear of things other than God is what moves us to take action or procrastinate endlessly.  Fear in us is as prevalent of consciousness as the aftermath of Adam and Eve's sin reveals.  After they sinned they hurriedly covered their nakedness under fig leaves because they were afraid to be exposed before God.  It seems they were not afraid of death at that stage because it was foreign to them, but their failure prompted them to cave to fear.

Last night I read the parable of the talents and the servants Jesus shared in Matthew 25.  Before going on a long journey, a master gave a significant sum to his servants each according to their ability.  Upon his return the good and faithful servants were pleased to reveal they had doubled the money provided them through trading.  There was one servant, however, who chose to dig a hole and bury the talent in the ground instead of utilising it for profit.

Upon examination by his master Matthew 25:24-25 reads, "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'"  What struck me as I read this is it was fear which prompted the servant to bury the talent in the ground.  Then I wondered about what exactly he was afraid of?  It could have been a number of things I can identify with:  fear of failure, fear of not being as successful as the other servants, fear of making mistakes, fear of having to give away what he worked for, fear of responsibility, fear of wasted effort, and on the potential list goes.

What was the basis of the servant's fear?  One of the root causes was a lack of faith in the wisdom of his master.  The master gave to each servant according to his ability, and it seems the servant who received a talent (a Roman talent was about 32 kilos in weight - that's a lot of gold or silver!) did not trust his master's estimation of his abilities.  In his mind it was better to hand back to his master what was already his than risking failure and displeasing his master.  But his disobedience through inaction due to fear led to him doing exactly that. Matthew 25:26-27 says, "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest."  It was a lot of work to dig a hole and bury the talent in the ground, but it was the wrong sort of work:  the wicked servant dug a hole for himself out of fear from which he would never be free.

It is confronting to consider the riches God has given us through Christ Jesus and the meagre amount of increase due to my poor efforts.  God has filled us with the Holy Spirit and gifted each of us according to God's perfect will.  We must choose if we will let fear of failure due to unbelief or fear in God direct our steps as we seek God's glory.  Instead of being afraid we won't measure up, consider how God knows us and has promised to help us live a life that pleases God.  We trust God for our eternal salvation, so shouldn't we trust him to guide and empower us today?  All the servants in the parable had something in common:  without the talents given them by the master they had nothing, yet through his gracious provision they could make fruitful choices.  May the love of Jesus Christ for us dissolve all fears and doubts so we might live as God's good and faithful servants who are without fear.

The Dream of Redemption

I have a confession to make:  I'm not a big Elvis fan.  I have nothing against the late-great entertainer, but as a kid his music was played primarily on the "oldies" radio stations, the music my aunts and uncles blasted at family gatherings.  I appreciate his musical and singing talent, but admittedly I was never into his music.  Because I never owned one of his countless albums, there are a lot of songs I am unfamiliar with - like his famous "If I Can Dream."

I was driving and listening to ABC Radio recently and "If I Can Dream" was performed by Elvis with great passion and conviction.  I listened to the lyrics and was surprised by the shocking theology (or lack thereof):  "We're lost in a cloud with too much rain; we're trapped in a world that's troubled with pain. But as long as a man has the strength to dream he can redeem his soul and fly..."  What?  I was incredulous at the suggestion.  After arriving home I checked out the lyrics online to ensure I indeed heard correctly - that a man's strength to dream enables him to redeem his soul?  Where did that idea come from?  Not from the Bible - which is the only authority on the redemption of souls.

Man is no more capable of redeeming himself than he is able to conceive himself without mother or father.  Then there is the problem of sin as Proverbs 20:9 says:  "Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"?"  If we cannot wash ourselves from the guilt of sin, how can we redeem ourselves from it?  God redeemed the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt with His mighty power as a gaal or kinsman redeemer.  Moses sang of the LORD's deliverance in Exodus 15:13: "You in Your mercy have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation."  Men talk of "redeeming themselves" but it is a broken cliche, for the redemption of souls is solely God's sovereign work by His grace.

Peter spoke to disciples of Jesus and explained how they were redeemed by the blood of Jesus in 1 Peter 1:18-21:  "...knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ²⁰ He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you ²¹ who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."  The right of redemption was reserved for a near-kinsman as Boaz was to Ruth, and Jesus Christ is the only One worthy among men whose blood is acceptable as the Lamb of God without blemish.  No amount of money, gold, silver, good works, or dreaming is able to redeem our souls from death:  redeeming us from the curse of the Law and granting us all the blessings of God.  Jesus alone can redeem, and to say anyone or anything else can is abominable blasphemy.

Man cannot fly unassisted, and he also cannot redeem his own soul - despite his grandest dreams.  The hope of redemption will remain a dream, a fantasy forever elusive without placing faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour.  This world remains in darkness and is inhabited by countless people who are lost, but Jesus is the Redeemer.  God can use being lost, trouble, and pain to draw us near to Himself.  Jesus went through excruciating pain to redeem our souls and grant us eternal life.  The prophet spoke the truth concerning the Messiah Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53:4-5:  "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."

We're All Gonna Die! :)

Los Angeles Rams lineman Andrew Whitworth raised some eyebrows when he spoke candidly with reporters after his team lost the Super Bowl to the New England Patriots:  "At the end of the day, you're all gonna die."  Death has a way of re-centring our perspective on what matters most.  It is a rare accomplishment to be part of a team which has earned the right to compete on a global stage, but win or lose no one can shed or wisely ignore their own mortality.  This is the natural conclusion King Solomon came to in Ecclesiastes 3:18-20:  "I said in my heart, "Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals." ¹⁹ For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. ²⁰ All go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust."

Men are not animals - even if we choose to live like them - because God has created man in His own image.  God has put eternity in our hearts and also the ability to reason and communicate verbally as Andrew Whitworth did.  Knowing death is inevitable is one thing, but facing it with joy and peace is another thing.  I am grateful Jesus has conquered death and all who trust in Him need never fear death:  for disciples of Jesus it is not only an end but a glorious new beginning.  I am having a minor surgery Friday, and I am glad to say I am prepared to God-willing preach this coming Sunday or I have (unknown to me!) already delivered my final sermon.  It was a gnawing fear of death which convinced John Wesley he was not actually born again - despite his travelling to America as a missionary and his clean living.  What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

At the end of the day - and at a time we likely will not expect or predict - we're all going to die.  This knowledge will impact the way we live and is a healthy perspective to maintain.  Believers in Jesus have already died, and our life is hid in Christ because He is our life.  Colossians 3:1-4 says, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."  Praise the LORD for eternal life and the glorious future which is ours in Christ!