Does God Motivate us with Threats?

I have written a number of times how the Gospel transforms our fear of God from being scarred, timid, and apprehensive to wonder, awe and amazement. This is why I can always approach my Father with confidence and boldness.

A couple of weeks ago a friend responded, "Yeah but what about Philippians 2:12, 'Work out your salvation with fear and trembling'?"  Great question.  This sounds as if our Christian growth should be motivated by a fear of what God will do to us if we don't meet his standard of effort and progress.  It feels like a semi-veiled threat to be faithful or else.  This is what I used to think and I had it wrong.  For a couple of reasons.

First, we discover that if it is a subtle threat it is an empty threat.  In our moments or months or even years of half-heartedness we do not experience a heavenly Father that makes us tremble with fear and duck for cover.  Rather our experience is exactly the opposite, we have the experience of the prodigal son being embraced by his father.  We don't have a Father who is trying to move us along with a cattle-prod of fear, rather we have a Father who is wooing us with his love and goodness.

Secondly, the person we are responding to with "fear and trembling" is not God...it is us. Ralph  Wardlaw, an early 18th century Scottish Presbyterian wrote, "This fear is self-distrust; it is tenderness of conscience; it is vigilance against temptation...It is taking heed lest we fall...it is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Savior."

Lastly, the very next verse, verse 13, describes God's participation in our growth, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him" (NLT). God is out in front of us, enabling us to obey and cheering us on--not behind us kicking us in the butt.

What is God Thinking!?

Yesterday I was leading a Bible discussion group and because it was a new group and the first time we had been together, we took most of the time to get to know each other.  As I was sharing my story I mentioned that one of the core lies that had been planted in me as a young teenager was that my worth was dependent upon what you thought of me.  In other words I was an addicted people pleaser.

We talked about how pleasing people and pleasing God are two sides of the same coin...and that both sides will cause you to hit the wall at some point.  I then explained that what is true in our relationship with our Father in heaven will be true in our relationships with one another.  And then I shared the part I never like--that what characterizes my horizontal relationships with those around me will be a reflection of what characterizes my vertical relationship with God.  For example, I will only extend as much grace to others as I have received.

At that point one of the individuals asked me this question, "What do you see in your relationships with others that could be a reflection of your relationship with God?"  Even though the shackles of people pleasing have been cut off and no longer hold me captive, I can still periodically hear the rattle of those chains in the background and so I replied that I can find myself wondering what people are thinking of me.  Applying the above principle, that means there are times I find myself wondering what God thinks of me!

After a moment of pause the wonderful truth of the gospel replaced the lies that had defined me for so many years and I  realized that because of the gospel I NEVER again have to worry about what God is thinking about me. Today he is looking at me through the righteousness of Christ and he says "I love you.  That is what I am thinking about you.  Period."

We all have the rattle of chains in our ears...sometimes they sound far off and at other times as if them are right against our ears. No matter how much noise the chains make, what is important is that the awesome good news of the gospel is the loudest sound our hearts hear. 

When I fly I sometimes take with me a set of noise canceling headphones.  They cancel out the irritating noise of the engines and the distracting chatter going on all around me and allow me to hear with brilliance the beautiful music on my ipod that can minister so deeply to me.  That is what the gospel can do for us.

The Prodigal's Suspicion (85 seconds)

Last week the most influential author in my life died, Brennan Manning.  I only met and talked with him once, but he has deeply mentored me through his writings. The golden thread that wove through all his messages and writings is this, "God loves you just as you are, not as you should be."  I like to change it to, "My Father loves me just as I am, not as I should be."

When I think of this unbelievable good news, my mind always goes back to Luke 15 and the parable of the prodigal son.  It illustrates it beautifully. With his rebellion and rejection of his father having ruined his life and now in his mind defining him, the prodigal has no hope of his father ever loving him again.  But he knows he needs help and so as a last resort, plans to return home and say to his father, "I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Treat me as one of your servants."  Dan Cruver says that the prodigal is returning home thinking of his father as his master and not as his father.  He plans to return home as a wage-earner hoping to earn his way back into his father's love.

Sinclair Ferguson writes that we have the same suspicion as the prodigal--that it is impossible for the Father to love us.  And so we return to him as our master and not our Father.  But the good news  the prodigal experienced is the same good news we can experience, "Our Father loves us just as we are, not as we should be."

The Spiritual Disciplines: Going Someplace (22 seconds)

Henri Nouwen writes, "Here we see what discipline in the spiritual life means.  It is a gradual process of coming home to where we belong and listening there to the voice which desires our attention."

So here is my thought.  What if the spiritual disciplines are not practices or things we do, rather they are the practice of going someplace to be with someone...someone who is crazy about us and loves us more than we will ever know and who longs for our company.

If God Had a Face... (55 sec.)

One of my favorite authors is Brennan Manning. One of the questions he asks is this, "If God had a face, what kind of face would He make at you right now?"

Would it be unemotional?  Stern?  Sad?  Frustrated?  Wondering?  Disappointed?  Impatient?  Based on our last two discussions about reconciliation and being bound back together with our best friend - there is only one answer.  He sees you and has a grin from ear to ear!  He is ecstatic about you. 

If God had something to say to you today--what might you imagine that to be?  "You need to work a little harder?"  "When are you going to get with it?"  "We need to have a talk?"  Will you hear some nagging feedback?  I don't think so. God does have something to say to you and me today, and this is what I hear; "Do you know what a joy and delight it is for me to live in you?  Do you know I have loved you from before you were created? I have always loved you and always will.  No matter what. Its a done deal.  Forever."

A Wild and Crazy Friendship!!

Galatians 5:1 tells us that we have been set free from some things so we can be free to live in some things.  And so the joy of my Christian life is not just in the past, just in being set free from guilt, condemnation, punishment, the fear of God, etc.  I am to find joy in the wild current reality of walking with God.

In our last blog we began looking at Romans 5:1 and one of the things that we have been set free for is to "have peace with God."  We saw how the word "peace" means to bind back together that which was broken.  It means the restoration of a broken relationship.  I used the illustration of our standing face to face with God our Father, his arms wrapped tightly around me, and Jesus walking in circles around us, binding us tight with loop after loop of a long rope.  Then he ties an unbreakable knot in the rope.  Colossians 1:20 tells us he has made peace (bound us together) by the blood of his cross.  That rope that holds us tight is his blood.

Now, a quick look at who I am bound to.  John Stott writes, "To reconcile means to...renew a friendship."  And so who am I bound back together with?  My friend.  And God is now bound back together with his friend--me.

Do I ever hear God the Father calling me, as a believer, his friend in the New Testament?  Well, yes and no.  The answer is no if I look for God the Father directly calling me or anyone his friend.

But the answer is absolutely YES!  Jesus tells us we are his friends (John 15:14) and we are promised nothing in all creation will separate us from this loving friendship (Romans 8:37-39).  But why is Jesus so committed to us as friends?  Because Jesus only does what he sees the Father doing and he only says what he hears the Father saying.  Jesus calls us friends because that is what he hears the Father calling us.  He treats us as loving friends because that is how he sees the Father treating us.

I have been set free to be my Father's friend...I am not his enemy.  And he is not mine.  Think about this...it is not only absurdly good news, it is an absurd present reality...God and me...walking in a mutual friendship.  May I be as crazy about him as he is about me.

Always Set Free for Something

Like gramma used to say, "You can only serve what's cooking in the kitchen," and so here's what has been cooking in my kitchen.

The Gospel is the good news of freedom...freedom from that which holds us in slavery so that we can be set free for something.  It is always freedom for something.  "For freedom Christ has set us free..."  (Galatians 5:1).  We are never set free just to live in a neutral zone.  We are set free so we can experience a life that is filled with unfathomable goodness and love. 

After laying out for us the wonder of justification by grace, Paul starts Romans 5:1 with a huge "therefore."  "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Peace...not fear, not wondering, apprehension, timidity, no rebuilding of a relationship because of past wrongs...but peace.  God, through Paul, says the number one thing that we are set free for is peace with him.

The word for "peace" in the Greek comes from a verb which means "to bind together that which has been separated"  We have been bound to God.  Picture this, you are standing face to face with God, so close that he has his arms wrapped around you, holding you tightly.  And then you see someone making circles around you with a rope...always pulling it tight...snugging you tightly together.  Loop after loop.  Then finally they put a knot in the rope.  There is no way you can break apart or get loose.  It is impossible.  You can't even begin to untie the knot.  (Bryan Chapell wrote that, "If God knew we were going to untie the knot of salvation his love would require that he deny us the opportunity.")

That someone with the rope is Jesus.  Colossians 1:20 tells us that he bound us to the Father with the blood of the cross, "making peace by the blood of his cross."

Our having "peace" is not a reference to us feeling peaceful, quiet, serene or contented.  To be at peace with God is to be in a state of reconciliation, to be bound back together.  That is us today.  Forever.  Never to be changed. 

NEXT BLOG:  We are bound back together with a friend!!!