This week I’m blogging about some of our pre-conceived ideas about God, faith and Christianity. You can see part one here.
Idea # 2
You have to work in a certain way to be a somebody for God
So often we think we need to go through a certain process to enable God to use us. We tell people that unless they go through membership they can’t be a somebody in the church. We tell those who feel called to a vocation in ministry that they must go through a long (and expensive) process of schooling before they can get the required certificates needed. We tell others they must first be servants so we give them roles that a fifth grader can do and inform them that it’s all about serving in the little things. Then we demand a certain lifestyle all in the name of Jesus Christ.
Well some of those things are valid, I suppose, yet most of them are not biblical and are man’s processes not God’s journey.
The apostle Paul lays it out in Philippians 3:2-7. He said he thought because he was a pure blooded Jew, because he went through the Pharisee ‘process’ and because he lived by the letter of the law of God that that would make him a somebody! Then Paul met Jesus and soon found out that Jesus isn’t impressed with all that, he was only impressed with the heart of Paul. Paul realized that day the things he once thought we valuable and essential were in fact worthless.
What man-made process are you going through in order to be a somebody for God?
Often mans process which once was put there to help Gods process becomes the center stage. Listen! God is not impressed with degrees, with courses, with living by the letter of the law and by all the things that man likes. God is only pleased when you surrender your heart totally to him. Then and only then can you be a somebody for God.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:12 am
1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
April 29th, 2010 at 8:06 am
I love that verse Chuck. God used that to speak to me when I felt his call at 16. The truth behind it is so amazing and real!
April 28th, 2010 at 11:54 am
As one who holds that the old school Lutherans and Protestant Reformers read aright Paul’s bit about justification by faith not works, I cannot help but agree with you.
But I will admit that a good chunk of my heart and thoughts gives the nod to a kicking-and-screaming sort of assent. Justification in the Pauline sense (given that Luther was right on this) is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus. That death not only accomplished the salvation of God’s people from their sin and the wrath of God, it also provided a brutal symbol and model for Christian ethics.
“Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.” Now there is a terribly uncomfortable guide to doing right. Let us not forget that crucifixion was not only a brutal and excruciating method of execution, but also an occasion for popular mockery of the victim.
Thus “the message of the cross is foolishness to the Greeks.” We get our word “moron” from the word here translated “foolishness.” To take up one’s own cross is not only to identify with the God who died for us, but also to invite the scorn and infliction of pain from the world.
Even if the cultural baggage surrounding crucifixion has largely been lost to us moderns, the implications and consequences carry through.
The flesh recoils. Nothing will satisfy this God but the denial, yeah the death of “self.” “Self” here is not, however, one’s person or identity per se, but rather one’s person and identity in its natural anti-God orientation. A denied Self in this sense is one submitting to God.
Such demands are, of course, impossible to us, as is fulfilling Jesus’ “greater righteousness” demands in the Sermon on the Mount. Hence the need for justification.
Yet the demands of God crush us again and again. Only in identification with Jesus’ death and resurrection, are we enabled not to sin. Paul tells the Philippians God works in us to will and act according to His good pleasure. If I ever do anything right, it is God’s “fault.”
And so both the justification and the sanctification of the believer are accomplished through Jesus. Any crown I earn belongs at Jesus’ feet. My rejoicing at the final Assize cannot be in my “Self,” but in God. Praise the Lord!
May 13th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
Man that’s a good word! It’s all about denying ourselves in place of Christ. Such a hard thing to do, and so anti the culture of today, yet this is the one thing that can liberate so many people bound by law, rules and religion. So glad that we are justified through faith! Yes praise the Lord!
April 30th, 2010 at 5:23 am
[...] Pre-Conceived Ideas – Part 3 April 30, 2010 tags: Apostle Paul, Being right with God, Believe, Christianity, Dreams, Ephesians, faith, God, Jesus Christ, lessons, Philippians, struggles by alexpenduck This week I have been blogging about pre-conceived ideas with have about God, faith and Christianity. To view post one click here and to view post two click here. [...]