Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith and God the Father

There is a Chinese proverb that goes like something like this - “If there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character. If there is beauty in character, there will be harmony in the home. If there is harmony in the home, there will be order in the nation. If there is order in the nation, there will be peace in the world.” 

Over the last few weeks we have skimmed over some to the various attributes of God the Father.  I wish I could say that we took a long, in-depth look under a microscope at these character traits, but that is a sermon series left for sometime in the future.  Nevertheless, the last attribute we studied together concerned the Father's "Goodness," a moral quality, that stems from his holiness.  The Chinese proverb I quoted begins by stating "if there is righteousness in the heart, there will be beauty in character."  

I've been thinking a great deal about the attribute of goodness and it's application to the church today, the post-modern church.  You see, I am deeply concerned with where the church has been, where it is, and where it's going.  I believe where it's been has taken "goodness," Godly goodness, too far, bordering on legalism without life.  The church today has watered down goodness to make it appealing or "sell-able."  The church of tomorrow does not seem to be changing the forward progress that we currently follow either, so what I think is happening is a downward spiral towards our understanding of God's goodness in our lives.  In fact, there is the danger of reverting back to a "goodness" of moral law that resembles nothing more than rules and regulations, again, without life.  

As a believer the challenge of walking in the Father's goodness is learning what it means to dance, not wrestle with him.  Keep in mind, Jacob wrestled with God, but I would almost think that what the Lord really wanted was for Jacob to bow and let him lead.  Discovering the moral goodness of the Father, again, is like running onto the dance floor at the wedding and putting your arm around His waist and your hand within His, and dancing, not resisting the movements of the Lord as he guides you in the "goodest dance."  That's my phrase from here on out, even though it makes no sense, nor is it proper - the "goodest dance!"  I like it!!



Enjoy

Randy

Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith and God the Father

One of God's faithful missionaries, Allen Gardiner, experienced many physical difficulties and hardships throughout his service to the Savior. Despite his troubles, he said, "While God gives me strength, failure will not daunt me." In 1851, at the age of 57, he died of disease and starvation while serving on Picton Island at the southern tip of South America. When his body was found, his diary lay nearby. It bore the record of hunger, thirst, wounds, and loneliness. The last entry in his little book showed the struggle of his shaking hand as he tried to write legibly. It read, "I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God."

Of course, my first thought after reading this story may have been like yours-  "WHAT GOODNESS!!  Another tragic story of one person's life seeming to end tragically, and for some strange reason, they still give up kudos to God's goodness.  How is that?"  

I would begin to wonder if there was some sort of "brain-washing" going on in Gardiner's life.  How can a person, living on this earth with all her miscues and difficulties and adversities, still call God good?  It seems to grind against the character of God.  If God were good he would correct the problems in order to bring life to this creation.  Instead, how most view God is as the celestial little boy with a magnifying glass turning ants into cinders under the hot July sun.  

Take for instance the tree that God planted in the garden of Eden and placed there as a warning to Adam and Eve.  Why did he feel the need to put it there in the first place?  Here's what Gilbert Bilezikian says - "The 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil' must not viewed as a trap set by God in the path of Adam and Eve to lure them, test them, and make them trip.  Such actions would be worthy only of an evil god.  In his holiness, the God of the Bible gave the tree to the humans as a gracious warning against the twin danger of sin and death.  The tree stood as a 'No Trespassing' sign, as if God were saying, 'Please, respect and protect the goodness of your humanity.'"

So then, as I'm sitting here being cranial and intellectual in my own way, I ask myself, "why doesn't God get out his celestial vacuum and suck out all the bad from his creation?  Then it dawned on me.  The only result in doing that would be complete annihilation, which lies contrary to God's nature which is limitless love for you and I.  So what does God do instead?  He provides us every opportunity to find His Son in the mix of this world that is a melting pot of the joys of the Lord, as well as, the most despicable sin.  

I think I understand better the statement - "I am overwhelmed with a sense of the goodness of God."

Later

Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith

As we look at the various attributes of God, one that cannot be missed is the attribute of God's holiness.  Oswald Chambers stated it this way - “There is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals, not first the love of God, but the intense, blazing holiness of God, with his love as the center of that holiness.”  Growing up I found it amazingly difficult to not view God's holy expectation as judgmental regulation.  I always viewed God as the tempermental Father or school teacher waiting with a yardstick in hand to punish at the slightest hint of any regulation being broken.  

And then it hit me as I was preparing for this last Sunday's message what the holiness of God and His expectation of me was like.  I used the example of my wedding reception and the Father / Daughter dance.  I was so amazed at this portion of the reception because when the DJ invited my girls to come onto the dance floor to dance with me, they didn't just walk out, they sprinted out and for the next several minutes we danced and laughed together.  

That was the answer!!  God is not the angry school teacher waiting to punish, but the loving Father who invites his children to come dance with Him, step by step, moving gracefully across the floor as we rest in His motion and movement with absolute obedience and joy.  All He asks, is that we let Him lead.  I think the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples, are the same words the Father says to us as we dance together - "Follow me."  If you "follow me" I will show you how to dance.  

Can't wait to hear from you.

Randy

Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith

I love the word "character."  I have a specific reason as to why, but let me get to that in a moment, because growing up the word "character" had a different connotation as it related to me.  I was once talking with a woman whom I had met for the very first time, and it was funny what she said to me, "you're a character."  I asked her why she said that and what made her think I was.  She said that she could see it "in my eyes."  Really?  I didn't know that was possible, but they always say the eyes are the window to the soul.  

The word "character" holds another meaning to me and connects well with the topic of the character of God, namely, his freedom.  God's freedom has been a debatable subject for centuries.  When you study God's character or His attributes, you will find that part of his character is His freedom to do as He pleases with His creation within the bounds of His holiness and love.  This topic becomes debatable because people for years have questioned God's activities as loving, especially as they relate to personal catastrophe.  

A.W. Tozer stated it this way - “To discuss the authority of Almighty God seems a bit meaningless, and to question it would be absurd. Can we imagine the Lord God of Hosts having to request permission of anyone or to apply for anything to a higher body? To whom would God go for permission? Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Whose position antedates that of the Eternal? At whose throne would God kneel? Where is the greater one to whom he must appeal?” 

When the Lord spoke to Job, after Job's somewhat whiny discourse, the Lord reminded both Job, and those of us who get to read about this event years later, He has the right to freely do with His creation as He pleases.  

2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? 3 Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. 4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. 5 Who determined its dimensions and stretched out the surveying line? 6 What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone 7 as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
Job 38:2-7 (NLT)

The freedom that God has with His creation is a hard concept to put our minds around, and yet, it's one we have to grapple with, because His freedom has His creation as a priority.  Everything God does within the realm of His creation has you and I at the center, we just can't see the whole picture as it unfolds, whereas, He can.  The holiness and love of our Creator are what keep His freedom from going outside His own boundaries.  Therefore, the events of our own lives are seen as lambs being gently cared for, instead of looking as if we were a newborn puppy in the hands of a 3-year old child. 

Love to hear from you.

Randy

Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith

Woody Allen once quipped, "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work: I want to achieve immortality by not dying." He goes on to say: "It's very important to realize that we're up against an evil, insidious, hostile universe, a hostile force. It'll make you ill and age you, and kill you. And there's somebody-or something-out there who, for some irrational, unexplainable reason, is killing us."

The last several weeks has allowed us to study together the topic of the Disciplines of our Faith as we look at ways in which we can develop personal Godliness.  I have come to enjoy the pursuit of the disciplines of faith especially as a means to know God more and make him more known in my walk.  The disciplines mean very little, however, when they are left unconnected to doctrine.  Thus, the reason for phase 2 of our study - "Cross Training - Doctrines of Faith."

Woody Allen's comment didn't surprise me when I read it, because I really didn't expect any different from him.  But as I thought about what he said, I started to wonder if what he stated had greater support than what I would like to admit.  

As I began looking at what I see as the fundamental starting point for the doctrines of our faith I naturally began with God the Father.   When Allen stated, "there's somebody-or something-out there who, for some irrational, unexplainable reason, is killing us," I started looking at what I believe to be a good to discover one of the attributes of God - that He is personal.  

When Moses stood before the burning bush in Exodus 3, he asked the Lord in v. 13 - "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"  And the Lord responded in v. 14 - "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"  

The Lord's statement never stops amazing me because in v. 12, the Lord kind of prefaces was He is about to share with Moses in v. 14, with a definition of His name and nature by stating, "I will be with you."  Allen suggests that there is a God that wants nothing more then to bring unexplainable hardships and death to us, while the story of Moses suggests nothing of the sort.  This story reminds us that God desires intimacy with us while, at the same time, not drawing us out of our life-experiences which include both joy and hardship.  Tell me why you think the world today has found it so hard to accept a "personal / intimate God" that chooses to walk with us in adverse circumstances.  Is what we think to be love and intimacy skewed a bit?

 Love to hear from you.

Randy