14 May 2005 Sermon
The sermon last week was about Psalms 79. I struggled with it as I do with all of Asaph's psalms. He seems overly concerned with God's power to destroy and His great holiness that does not countenance our smallness and evil. Pastor Mike told us that God is both merciful and just. He is merciful to those who love and accept Him, and just (or wrathful) to those who reject Him.
Seems tyrannical to me...
Too often we teach that God will only take so much of our sin before we suffer at His hand. It is an obvious truth to me that sin carries consequences far greater than we are willing to admit. A person who sins jeopardizes or even destroys life. That is why sin is so sinful—it is truly harmful and dangerous to the sinner and to those around the sinner. Any who indulge in sin's "forbidden actions" will suffer, not God's wrath, but the very real reactions caused by those actions. God IS portrayed as wrathful in the Bible, but Romans 1 goes to great lengths to explain that God’s wrath is letting people go. It is letting people reap what they have sown. No punishment has to be imposed for us to be destroyed by our sin.
If we "Christians" were to spend our time showing how awful sin is and how wonderful God is to try to keep us from it, He would look a whole lot more loveable. He prohibits sin for the love of us, to keep us safe. He portrays Himself as wrathful not because sin is offensive to Him, but to help us stay away from what is so unsafe and risky to us.
Last week in church we were admonished to stay pure. And we were told to love God for His mercy when we accomplish it (purity). But not a word was spoken about the true face of sin and its train of woe. We cannot but hate something that wants us destroyed. If we’re taught how injurious sin is we’ll learn to hate it in our lives. But if we believe God eventually kills us for our sin, how can we love Him? If we know our destruction is caused by our own wrongdoing and the tempter who tries to draw us into sinning, how can we fail to despise both sin and the tempter?
In the final end of this struggle, this Great Controversy between God and His adversary who accuses Him of character flaws and poor government, Christians too often picture the choice for humans as love for God or eternal destruction imposed directly by the One who created us in the first place. We don't stop to think that He does not need to destroy us. If we insist on living outside the parameters He teaches and requests us to abide by, we completely destroy ourselves, and many around us.
Let us who propose to teach about God leave Him free to love. He is not our Destroyer—we do a fine job of spoiling and ruining ourselves. Let the destruction come from its true source--sin. That is really why something's called sin; it is injurious to some part of God's creation (usually us). There is no way to sin without receiving its results. Ultimately, death! God doesn't have to do a thing to us.
When we learn to teach that God is always our Protector and never our destroyer, we’ll have a message that draws men to Him. Then we can say He loves us, and it will make sense. To believe a God of love can finally destroy in everlasting hell the very person He has done so much to try to save strains credulity. I don’t think I could ever love a God like that. To believe that God would be willing to portray Himself as wrathful and judgmental if it shelters us from taking devastating action until we grow up reveals a love that is irresistible!
Seems tyrannical to me...
Too often we teach that God will only take so much of our sin before we suffer at His hand. It is an obvious truth to me that sin carries consequences far greater than we are willing to admit. A person who sins jeopardizes or even destroys life. That is why sin is so sinful—it is truly harmful and dangerous to the sinner and to those around the sinner. Any who indulge in sin's "forbidden actions" will suffer, not God's wrath, but the very real reactions caused by those actions. God IS portrayed as wrathful in the Bible, but Romans 1 goes to great lengths to explain that God’s wrath is letting people go. It is letting people reap what they have sown. No punishment has to be imposed for us to be destroyed by our sin.
If we "Christians" were to spend our time showing how awful sin is and how wonderful God is to try to keep us from it, He would look a whole lot more loveable. He prohibits sin for the love of us, to keep us safe. He portrays Himself as wrathful not because sin is offensive to Him, but to help us stay away from what is so unsafe and risky to us.
Last week in church we were admonished to stay pure. And we were told to love God for His mercy when we accomplish it (purity). But not a word was spoken about the true face of sin and its train of woe. We cannot but hate something that wants us destroyed. If we’re taught how injurious sin is we’ll learn to hate it in our lives. But if we believe God eventually kills us for our sin, how can we love Him? If we know our destruction is caused by our own wrongdoing and the tempter who tries to draw us into sinning, how can we fail to despise both sin and the tempter?
In the final end of this struggle, this Great Controversy between God and His adversary who accuses Him of character flaws and poor government, Christians too often picture the choice for humans as love for God or eternal destruction imposed directly by the One who created us in the first place. We don't stop to think that He does not need to destroy us. If we insist on living outside the parameters He teaches and requests us to abide by, we completely destroy ourselves, and many around us.
Let us who propose to teach about God leave Him free to love. He is not our Destroyer—we do a fine job of spoiling and ruining ourselves. Let the destruction come from its true source--sin. That is really why something's called sin; it is injurious to some part of God's creation (usually us). There is no way to sin without receiving its results. Ultimately, death! God doesn't have to do a thing to us.
When we learn to teach that God is always our Protector and never our destroyer, we’ll have a message that draws men to Him. Then we can say He loves us, and it will make sense. To believe a God of love can finally destroy in everlasting hell the very person He has done so much to try to save strains credulity. I don’t think I could ever love a God like that. To believe that God would be willing to portray Himself as wrathful and judgmental if it shelters us from taking devastating action until we grow up reveals a love that is irresistible!
posted by Al Weber at
10:02 PM
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