BASKING IN THE UNIQUENESS OF GOD

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The longer I know Christ and the more that I understand His ways, the more that I am astounded at how He thinks and feels and wills. God's will is not a simple thing. He can will a thing in one sense and not will it in another sense. When we read that God wills a thing or that he does not will a thing; or when we read that he delights in a thing or that he has no delight in a thing, we must always be ready to admit that this simple statement of what he wills or delights in is not the whole story in our limited understanding. God's heart is capable of complex combinations of emotions infinitely more remarkable that ours. He may well be capable of lamenting over something he chose to bring about.

For example, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem He knew what was about to happen. The Pharisees were going to get the upper hand. The people would be fickle and follow their leaders. And Jesus would be rejected and crucified. And within a generation the city would be obliterated. Look how Jesus says it in Luke 19 verses 43-44:

"For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Yet Jesus’ is also tenderly moved. We read in the proceeding verses 41-42,

"And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.."

Jesus felt the sorrow of the situation. This doesn’t mean His sovereign plan has thwarted by human rebellion and will. It means that Jesus is more emotionally complex than we think he is. He really feels the sorrow of a situation. No doubt there was a deep inner peace that He was in control and that His wise purposes would come to pass. But that doesn’t mean He couldn't cry.

Another time we read that when Lazarus died, Jesus said,
"for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe" (John 11:15). He promised to Martha in verse 23 "Your brother will rise again" and in verse 40 that they would "...see the glory of God". So Jesus had purposely planned to let Lazarus die and that his death was good and that in this death the glory of God would be made manifest.

Yet we also see Jesus' response to the sorrow and mourning of Mary, Martha, and the family in verse 33, "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled"; verse 35, "Jesus wept"; and verse 38 "Then Jesus, deeply moved again." Jesus had planned the death and resurrection of Lazarus yet could feel deep sorrow and compassion over the situation.Amazing!

Another time we read of God speaking about King Saul saying,
"I regret [or repent] that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands" (1 Samuel 15:11).

In regards to Saul God was able to feel sorrow for Saul's actions in view of His own foreknown evil of Saul and pain He would feel, and yet go ahead and will to do it for wise reasons. And so later, when he looked back on the act, he can feel the sorrow for the act that was leading to the sad conditions, such as Saul's disobedience.

Listen to what God says about the death of the wicked in Ezekiel 18:23,

"Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? And then verse 32, "I have no pleasure in the death of any one, says the Lord God; so turn, and live."

Yet listen to the Lord in Deuteronomy 28:63,

"Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess."

We are faced with the inescapable biblical fact that in some sense God does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18), and in some sense he does (Deuteronomy 28:63; 2 Samuel 2:25).We can say that in one sense God does delight in the judgment of the wicked (in so far as he contemplates the judgment in relation to the greatness of their wickedness and in relation to the preservation of his justice and glory and in relation to the other good things for other generations that will come from it, etc.), and in another sense he has no delight in the death of the wicked (in so far as he contemplates it narrowly as the destruction of his creature created in his image with potential for his praise and as a tactical victory of the evil one). God, in whose hands are the issues of life and death, has a way that He can look upon the perishing in such a way that he grieves over their destruction.

Jonathan Edwards once described that the infinite complexity of the divine mind is such that God has the capacity to look at the world through two lenses. He can look through a narrow lens or through a wide-angle lens. When God looks at a painful or wicked event through his narrow lens, he sees the tragedy or the sin for what it is in itself and he is angered and grieved. "I do not delight in the death of anyone, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 18:32). But when God looks at a painful or wicked event through his wide-angle lens, he sees the tragedy or the sin in relation to everything leading up to it and everything flowing out from it. He sees it in all the connections and effects that form a pattern or mosaic stretching into eternity. This mosaic, with all its (good and evil) parts he does delight in (Psalm 115:3).

God's emotional life is infinitely complex beyond our ability to fully comprehend. That is what makes Him God. Oh the challenge to know a being who is and expresses Himself in categories beyond our logic, frame of references, experience, and comprehension!

Who can comprehend that God is angry at the sin of the world every day (Psalm 7:11), and yet every day, every moment, he is rejoicing with tremendous joy because somewhere in the world a sinner is repenting (Luke 15:7,10,23)? Who can comprehend that God continually burns with hot anger at the rebellion of the wicked, grieves over the unholy speech of his people (Ephesians 4:29-30), yet takes pleasure in them daily (Psalm 149:4), and ceaselessly makes merry over repentent rebels who come back to Him?

Who of us could say what complex of emotions is not possible for God? All we have to go on here is what he has chosen to tell us in the Bible. God's heart is capable of complex combinations of emotions infinitely more remarkable that ours. He may well be capable of lamenting over something he chose to bring about even if we can't.

Humbly basking in my limited understanding and the depths of His nature and glory,
Pastor Bill

DO YOU KNOW AND SHOW FORGIVENESS?

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." (Colossians 3:12-13)

I am profoundly convinced more than ever of one great truth: I AM A GREAT SINNER AND CHRIST IS A GREAT SAVIOR! What does that mean in how I live my life if I really believe that about myself?

True faith is not merely believing that you are forgiven. Faith looks at the horror of sin, and then looks at the holiness of God, and apprehends spiritually that God’s forgiveness is unspeakably glorious and amazing.

Faith in God’s forgiveness does not merely mean a persuasion that I am off the hook. It means that I have a God who is forgiving and that I cherish the truth that this forgiving God is the most precious reality in the entire universe. True faith starts with the joy and gratitude of being forgiven by God, but more than that, it  rises to cherish the God who forgives — and all that he is for us in Jesus.

The great act of forgiveness begins in past at the cross of Christ. We look back and we learn of the grace in which we will ever stand (Romans 5:2). We learn that we are now, and always will be, loved and accepted by God with no guilt, shame, or condemnation. He is an ever present living God who is always, because of Jesus. a forgiving God.

If the is the he case, why do so many of us hold a grudge and have a difficult forgiving others? Because it is possible to go on holding a grudge if your faith simply means you have looked back to the cross and concluded that you are off the hook. I have been forced to go deeper into what true faith is. It is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. It looks back not merely to discover that it is off the hook, but to see and savor the kind of God who offers us today and in the future endless reconciled tomorrows in fellowship with him. This changes  everything in  our attitudes towards others.

I am constantly moved by John Newton who understood this this and causes me to ask hard questions of my soul in regards to holding grudges, bitterness, or unforgiveness.

"[The 'wretch' who has been saved by grace] believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him an habitual tenderness and gentleness of Spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others."

If what I believe about myself as a flawed sinner who has a great savior and who lives every day upon the grace and pardoning love of my Lord is true; than is there any more important thing in my relationships with flawed people than being forgiving and forbearing? That is what Paul seems to think in Colossians 2:13, "...bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive"

Oh how much grace given, mercy shown, and patience daily comes from our forgiving God to us! Should not we be living in such a way that in grace, mercy, and love we make allowances for the weaknesses and ignorance of others and takes the kindest perspective towards them whenever possible. Why? On what Because God is that way to you because of the death of His Son Jesus. Oh how I desire to be a person who delights to make allowances for the weaknesses of others, knowing how constantly both God and man have made allowances for me!

I love the phrase "habitual tenderness" that is made by John Newton to describe the way a believer should live. In writing to a friend he describes the believer's life:

"He believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit. The effect of this amazement is tenderness toward others…Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself; he finds it easy to forgive others."

Oh Christian your relationships with others and your patience, faithfulness, obedience, and effectiveness is directly tied to the cross. We are saved by the grace of the cross of Christ, we live by the grace from the cross of Christ, and we therefore, must give to others the grace that comes from the cross of Christ. This means, God has forgiven me, so I can forgive others. God has been patient with me, so I can be patient with others. God’s grace is changing me, so I can trust that He will change others. God has been lovingly patient with me, so I can be more patient with my brothers and sister.

We're all struggling with life's problems. And isn't that what we all want from others?This is the rule our Lord Jesus gave us: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"(Matthew 7:12). I would take it even deeper in light of the cross: Do unto others as Christ has done to you! Every one of us needs and longs to be forgiven by others and for their patience towards our flaws. Probably all of us should have a big sign hanging around our neck that reads, “Be patient with me; God’s not finished with me yet.” C.H. Spurgeon said, "If you are tempted to lose patience with your fellowmen, stop and think how patient God has been with you."

George Elliot once wrote,

"Oh, that my tongue might so possess The accent of His tenderness That every word I breathe should bless For those who mourn, a word of cheer; A word of hope for those who fear; And love to all men, far and near. Oh, that is might be said of me, "Surely their speech betrayeth thee as friend of Christ of Galilee!"

It is truly possible for every Christian to be forgiving, forbearing, and patient towards others. It has nothing to do with personality and temperament and everything to do with the grace of the triune Godhead working mightily in us. Colossians 1:11, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.” Paul is praying for that grace to operate within our souls so that we are "...forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (Colossians 2:13) and loving each other "because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19)

Forgiveness and forbearance are evidences of an inner strength that is not supported by outward things like people or circumstances. Paul is praying for something that only God can give. Paul is praying for God to do something for us. Today you can be forgiving and forbearing as a gift of grace from the blessed triune God: From God the Father, who is kind, merciful, gracious, forgiving, and forbearing towards sinners like us. From Jesus Christ the Son, who came as our gentle, forgiving, and forbearing Savior, putting up with offenses on every side and enduring such a contradiction of sinners. From the Holy Spirit who brings us the fruit of the Spirit, which above all is love, produces forgiveness and forbearance towards others.

Jesus says in John 15:8. “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit (forgiveness and forbearance) and so prove to be my disciples”. Oh how essential is the work of the Spirit in our lives for us to be seen as forgiving and forbearing in our relationships!

I do not see how anybody could know who and what they are without Christ and not treat others with kindness, patience, and mercy. If you are a hard person, you do not properly know what has happened to you or you have forgotten. You are not duly feeling the wonder that you are saved, forgiven, accepted.

"Forgiveness is a powerful force. It never leaves the forgiven unchanged." Dan Allender is on target in saying that "the extent to which someone truly loves will be positively correlated to the degree the person is stunned and silenced by the wonder that his huge debt has been canceled."' Jesus said about a prostitute who had experienced His forgiving love and washed His feet with her tears in Luke 7:47, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little".

May you the next few days dwell on all the mercy and forbearance that you have been shown by God and others this past year. Reflect that you are doing far better than you deserve. Marvel on all that this implies about your relationship with Jesus both now and forever. It will soften you towards others and before God.

Pastor Bill

GETTING TO KNOW YOU: THOUGHTS ON KNOWING GOD

The great puritan of the 17th century, John Owen, wrote a seminal book on sanctification titled "The Mortification of Sin in The Life of the Believer". In his twelfth chapter, Owen suggests that the more thoughtful you are about the excellence of who God really is, the more you realize your own distance from Him.

Yet, John Owen challenges us to "think greatly of the greatness of God." The apostle Paul encourages us in 2 Timothy 2:7 to"think about these things and the Lord will give you understanding." Oh how much God wants us to think about Him and as we do, He will help us to understand who He is and what He does by His Holy Spirit. We think, He helps. Think about this; this infinite, self existing, holy other, creator and sustainer of the universe, wants us to know Him and has revealed Himself in all sorts of wonderful truths about who He is to us His creatures in His Word. I am full of awe and wonder at such condescension and relational love for us.

Oh, how little we really know of God! When I contrast what I know of Him in comparison to who He really is, I know just enough to be utterly humbled in the little knowledge and understanding that I really have. The more I learn of Him, the more I am humbled! There is an infinite chasm between my knowledge of God and who God really is! Jonathan Edwards speaks of God as being like an ocean and our knowledge of him like a little thimble full of water being taken out of the ocean. Since I am finite, no matter how much I learn about Him, I have only begun to scratch the surface of knowing Him.

John Owen put it this way: "We speak much of God, can talk of His ways, His works, His counsels, all the day long; the truth is, we know very little of Him. Our thoughts, our meditations, our expressions of Him are low, many of them unworthy of His glory, none of them reaching His perfections."

Therefore, this lifetime is a movement of vision quest to continue growing ever increasing in the knowledge of Him. Like Paul, "I want to know Him..."(Philippians 3:10)

Do you feel that passion? Think about this; He is the most important person who exists in the universe, much less our little world. And this is because he made all others, so any importance they have is owing solely to him.Any strength or intelligence or skill or beauty or talent they have comes from him. On every scale of excellence, he is infinitely greater than the best person you have ever known or have ever heard of.

Being infinite, he is inexhaustibly interesting. It is impossible, therefore, that God be boring. The most interesting, stimulating, scintillating  person in the whole world is exceedingly boring compared to him.

As the source of every good pleasure, he himself pleases fully, satisfyingly, and finally. There is no pleasure found in this entire world that is even in the same stratosphere as the pleasures that come from knowing him, the source and epicenter of all pleasures.If that’s not how we experience him, we are either dead, comatose, or sleeping.
It is therefore astonishing, foolish, ridiculous,and shameful at how little effort is put into knowing this God.

It’s as though the President of the United States came to live with you for a month, and you only said hello in passing every day or so. Or as if you were flown at the speed of light for a couple of hours around the sun and the solar system, and instead of looking out the window, you played a computer game. Or as if you were invited to watch the best actors, singers, athletes, inventors, and scholars perform their best, but you declined to go so you could watch the TV season’s final episode of your favorite soap opera.

Oh let us pray that our infinitely great God would open our eyes and hearts to see him and seek to know him more.

The apostle Paul says that we are able to "behold the glory of the Lord...as in a glass or mirror" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). What this means is that in the New Covenant , by the sovereign grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we are able to "see" the beauty, worth, and excellence of the glory of God but infinitely limited "as in a glass". That is why in 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul says, "we see through a mirror dimly...we know in

Why is it that no matter what we know of God that we know so little of Him? Because it is GOD that we claim to know. Remember Paul praying that we would know the love of God which is unknowable (Ephesians 3:19)? What an amazing paradox, we are called to know what in this life we cannot know and we press into it. No wonder, He is God, we are creatures; He is immortal, we are mortal; He is infinite, we are finite; He is unlimited, we are limited; He is independent, we are dependent; and so on.

Paul says of God in 1 Timothy 6:16, "who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." In this light, a wise Christian can only say that as he considers God and all He is and all that He does, he realizes that he knows nothing. Nevertheless, oh how wonderful it is that at least we are able to know something of this unknowable being.

He has revealed Himself in the light of His glory in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4,6; John 1:14,18). Therefore, we can know, see, understand, and speak about His ways and His works because we can see Him in Jesus. He is not a God who is hidden but rather a God that wants to be seen and savored by His creatures. Though we see Him dimly or limited, we see Him in the illuminating light of the Spirit of God, as Owen puts it "In a saving, soul transforming light, and this is what gives us communion with God." With that knowledge, we can love Him, enjoy Him, delight in Him, serve Him, worship Him, believe Him, obey Him, and speak of Him in a soul saving, soul transforming light. Owen concludes that "notwithstanding all this, it is but a little portion we know of Him."

J.I. Packer says, "The people who know God think great thoughts about Him."John Owen tells us that the revelation of God and His great love “deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them...What better preparation can there be for our future enjoyment of Christ than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the gospel." May we dedicate ourselves to be ever increasing in the grace and knowledge and contemplation of our Maker, our Redeemer, and our God.
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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen"(Romans 11:33-36)

Longing to know Him more and more,
Pastor Bill