I guess I'm going to start blogging more. A lot of preachers are doing it, and I am a young guy so I guess I ought to make this a channel for some of my thoughts. I will try not to make my entries as long as the previous.
My previous post has resulted in some hostility and was misinterpreted on Facebook. I was offering it up as a suggestion to minister's and really all people to have a fuller view of God, not just enjoy the characteristics we like. I guess its a process of my own discovery of more of God. Today in my study I noticed a lot about God and his anger. I guess I was especially attuned to it today in light of my previous post.
It was beneficial to look at, a lot of scripture jumped out to me, i guess i leave my studies from today thinking i have a long ways to go in discovering our great God.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Forget the hellfire and Brimstone, we just need to fear God
I was at a minister meeting Tuesday. It was a fine meeting, good fellowship and good material from a trusted minister in Frank Weller. Before his teaching, we were asked to pray, and take a few minutes to pray about the characteristics of God. I was game for that, when we, as a collective group of ministers were asked to share some of those characteristics of God, we shared the typical attributes of our almighty Living God.
His All-Powerful-Knowing-Presence, mercy, compassion, patience, sovereignty and love. It was nice to think of, but I was left waiting for someone to bring up his anger. It's funny we don't think too often about God's anger.
We were then asked to thank God for his attributes before we got into our prayer concerns. In my prayer, I thanked God for his burning anger against unrighteousness in the world.
I left the meeting thinking a lot about how me, and other ministers have a tendency to trivialize our God.
In my lessons for Wednesday night youth group, I have been taking the students through the book of Hebrews. In Chapter 10:31 it says "it is dreadful to be left in the hands of the living God." That's an awfully different statement then what we are hearing from many preachers. We often talk about the comfort and passion of God's hands.
I went on to explain the passage as such - the book of Hebrews was written to a group of people who were being persecuted for their belief in Jesus Christ. They faced life threatening situations every day. The obvious temptation then for those people would have been for the followers to turn away from God, and pursue a "safer" life.
The Hebrews author then talking about the dreadfulness of God's hands is for those who turn away. It is certainly good for the Christians of this world to find solace, strength and provision in the hand's of God, but it is also vitally important we are reminded of what a life of sin will lead us down. To know the love of God and turn from his ways will leave you in the dreadful hands of an angered God.
These words are a message of hope and a call to perseverance.
I went on to tell the kids this evening, that they may not face persecution the same way as Christians did centuries ago, but today, they still face threats on their life, every day. Every day they are called to go down a path that will lead them away from God. Every day they are tempted down path's that threaten their life. The scripture goes on to call us to perseverance, and endurance and a reward for those who are faithful. It's truly a message of hope.
As I come home from my lesson, and think further about our minister's in America, I am overwhelmed by how many quit ministry within five years. The statistic is 1 in 2. 50% of all ministers within the first 5 years quit. I am uncertain of how many others drop out of ministry because of some moral issue beyond those five years. All I know is, minister's seem to be dropping like flies. I have a close friend also in ministry, we both graduated at the same time, and entered into ministry at the same time. That statistic says that in four years, one of us will drop out of ministry.
the more i think about the overwhelming truth of drop-out ministers, the more I come back to my view of God.
I certainly serve a loving God, but i think a healthy dose of fear can go a long ways. If we would restore our view of God to a biblical perspective, not one defined by popular contemporary music "you are beautiful my sweet sweet song." God is a lot more then some melody to my life, he is the God of VICTORY; conquering evil. He is the God in whom the whole world should fear, and we call him a melody.
Maybe, just maybe, more ministers would stay in ministry, guard themselves against unrighteousness, if we restored within us a healthy fear in God. Where we get away from this girly-man of a god and restore a biblical view where sinners tremble at the thought of what would happen to a sinner in the hand's of God.
This isn't a commission to start hellfire and brimstone preaching, its a call to all of us to start thinking seriously about who our God really is, and what he deserves from us.
All I know is this, I told the kids tonight, to remain faithful, and no matter the persecution on the outside, its not worth turning away from God over, no matter what. The same ought to be true for ministers, for me. There is nothing worth trading my God for, for trading my ministry for (or my marriage). Nothing. Not 15 minutes of "pleasure" in adultery. Not 15 minutes of pornography. Not lying, not cheating, not manipulating, not making more money, not having more "security". There is nothing in this world, no pleasure, no comfort, nothing that is worth turning my back on God for, nothing that is worth risking my ministry for; and a healthy view of God will guard me from all of what the world says is worth trading him in for.
Friends in ministry, friends in Christ, let's make a commitment, to restore a proper perspective of God. For it's a dreadful thing to fall into the hand's of the living God, when you have known of his love, his mercy, his grace, his sovereignty, and disregard it to experience the fleeting ways of this world. Friends, it's not worth it. Don't turn, but draw close, and bow down to a God whom we must fear.
His All-Powerful-Knowing-Presence, mercy, compassion, patience, sovereignty and love. It was nice to think of, but I was left waiting for someone to bring up his anger. It's funny we don't think too often about God's anger.
We were then asked to thank God for his attributes before we got into our prayer concerns. In my prayer, I thanked God for his burning anger against unrighteousness in the world.
I left the meeting thinking a lot about how me, and other ministers have a tendency to trivialize our God.
In my lessons for Wednesday night youth group, I have been taking the students through the book of Hebrews. In Chapter 10:31 it says "it is dreadful to be left in the hands of the living God." That's an awfully different statement then what we are hearing from many preachers. We often talk about the comfort and passion of God's hands.
I went on to explain the passage as such - the book of Hebrews was written to a group of people who were being persecuted for their belief in Jesus Christ. They faced life threatening situations every day. The obvious temptation then for those people would have been for the followers to turn away from God, and pursue a "safer" life.
The Hebrews author then talking about the dreadfulness of God's hands is for those who turn away. It is certainly good for the Christians of this world to find solace, strength and provision in the hand's of God, but it is also vitally important we are reminded of what a life of sin will lead us down. To know the love of God and turn from his ways will leave you in the dreadful hands of an angered God.
These words are a message of hope and a call to perseverance.
I went on to tell the kids this evening, that they may not face persecution the same way as Christians did centuries ago, but today, they still face threats on their life, every day. Every day they are called to go down a path that will lead them away from God. Every day they are tempted down path's that threaten their life. The scripture goes on to call us to perseverance, and endurance and a reward for those who are faithful. It's truly a message of hope.
As I come home from my lesson, and think further about our minister's in America, I am overwhelmed by how many quit ministry within five years. The statistic is 1 in 2. 50% of all ministers within the first 5 years quit. I am uncertain of how many others drop out of ministry because of some moral issue beyond those five years. All I know is, minister's seem to be dropping like flies. I have a close friend also in ministry, we both graduated at the same time, and entered into ministry at the same time. That statistic says that in four years, one of us will drop out of ministry.
the more i think about the overwhelming truth of drop-out ministers, the more I come back to my view of God.
I certainly serve a loving God, but i think a healthy dose of fear can go a long ways. If we would restore our view of God to a biblical perspective, not one defined by popular contemporary music "you are beautiful my sweet sweet song." God is a lot more then some melody to my life, he is the God of VICTORY; conquering evil. He is the God in whom the whole world should fear, and we call him a melody.
Maybe, just maybe, more ministers would stay in ministry, guard themselves against unrighteousness, if we restored within us a healthy fear in God. Where we get away from this girly-man of a god and restore a biblical view where sinners tremble at the thought of what would happen to a sinner in the hand's of God.
This isn't a commission to start hellfire and brimstone preaching, its a call to all of us to start thinking seriously about who our God really is, and what he deserves from us.
All I know is this, I told the kids tonight, to remain faithful, and no matter the persecution on the outside, its not worth turning away from God over, no matter what. The same ought to be true for ministers, for me. There is nothing worth trading my God for, for trading my ministry for (or my marriage). Nothing. Not 15 minutes of "pleasure" in adultery. Not 15 minutes of pornography. Not lying, not cheating, not manipulating, not making more money, not having more "security". There is nothing in this world, no pleasure, no comfort, nothing that is worth turning my back on God for, nothing that is worth risking my ministry for; and a healthy view of God will guard me from all of what the world says is worth trading him in for.
Friends in ministry, friends in Christ, let's make a commitment, to restore a proper perspective of God. For it's a dreadful thing to fall into the hand's of the living God, when you have known of his love, his mercy, his grace, his sovereignty, and disregard it to experience the fleeting ways of this world. Friends, it's not worth it. Don't turn, but draw close, and bow down to a God whom we must fear.
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