Brian Castelli – With His Heart

In this post we return to a discussion of the book, Knowing God, by J.I. Packer. We are on a journey through chapter 1, with my summary covering three themes:

• Road Map
• Reason
• Recipe

Today our subject is the second theme, Reasons, that is, the reasons we study God at all.

Packer asserts that today we don’t study God the way we used to. He writes:

We shall have to deal with the Godhead of God, the qualities of deity which set God apart from humans and mark the difference and distance between the Creator and his creatures: such qualities as his self-existence, his infinity, his unchangeableness. We shall have to deal with the powers of God; his almightiness, his omniscience, his omnipresence. We shall have to deal with the perfections of God, the aspects of his moral character which are manifested in his words and deeds–his holiness, his love and mercy, his truthfulness, his faithfulness, his goodness, his patience, his justice. We shall have to take note of what pleases him, what offends him, what awakens his wrath, and what affords him satisfaction and joy.

For many of us, these are comparatively unfamiliar themes.

Fast forward to 2010 and I think it’s fair to say that these themes are even less familiar than when Packer first penned these words. We just aren’t used to studying God in such a way. My opinion I that many of us–often myself included–are more interested in what pleases us. Packer is calling us to think in a new way, confronting fresh ideas about our infinite God.

There is temptation that must be avoided. Packer writes:

We need to ask ourselves: What is my ultimate aim and object in occupying my mind with these things? What do I intend to do with my knowledge about God, once I have it? For the fact that we have to face is this: If we pursue theological knowledge for its own sake, it is bound to go bad on us. It will make us proud and conceited. The very greatness of the subject matter will intoxicate us, and we shall come to think of ourselves as a cut above other Christians…

I dare say that pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge also promotes an air of superiority over non-Christians. I’ve experienced the cold glances of those whose accumulated knowledge has made them puffed up.

When we study, therefore, the reason must be so that we can know God better. Period.

This time of year we often find ourselves at graduation ceremonies. My family and I visited a local church recently to be present for their “Graduate Sunday”–a time when they recognize the seniors who have been a part of the church family.

The text for the day was Philippians 1: 9-11:

1:9 And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight 1:10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, 1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.

(http://beta.net.bible.org/#!bible/Philippians+1)

The preacher highlighted three things that really stuck with me:

1. Of all the things Paul could have wanted for the Philippians–safety, wealth, health, etc.–his prayer for them was that they love more and more.  (Verse 9)
2. That they will be careful to know the difference between what’s “good” and what’s “best.” (Verse 10) Not settling just for what’s good. Not settling for what they can do to get by.
3. That they will bring God glory. (Verse 11)

The preacher urged the graduates–and the rest of us–to ask ourselves the following questions on an ongoing basis:

• Am I settling for good, or am I striving after what’s best?
• Am I making choices that please God, that bring glory to Him?

Our job is not done. As these graduates move on, they need us to pray and encourage them to strive for the best and to make God-pleasing choices.

I used to work as a grunt in a machine shop. Whatever dirty job the boss wanted done was assigned to me. The problem–besides the dirt and tedium–was that my boss usually only told me half of what I needed to know to complete the job. When I got half done, I’d ask for additional directions and get–you guessed it–half of what I needed to know to finish. This process would repeat itself. Purists in the audience will be quick to point out that the theoretical conclusion of always getting half meant I would never actually finish! Luckily the tasks were entirely practical and I was eventually able to get close enough to declare the jobs complete for all practical purposes.

I would have benefited tremendously from some kind of road map to my end goal, how a task fit into the larger scheme of things, and the step-by-step directions for how to get there. In chapter 1 of J. I. Packer’s Knowing God, the author provides all three. In fact, The Study of God delivers with three main thrusts:

• Road map
• Reasons
• Recipe

Road Map

Packer opens the chapter with a discussion of the universe. He asserts that God made the universe, that it operates according to principles He put in place, and that where we’re going in the book requires us to at least agree to think about it in this way. As such, Packer invites the skeptic to table their doubts for a time and join him on the journey. His request:

I ask you for the moment to stop your ears the those who tell you there is no road to knowledge about God, and come a little way with me and see. After all, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and anyone who is actually following a recognised road will not be too worried if he hears nontravellers telling each other that no such road exists.

In the same way we trust MapQuest or our GPS to show us the way–until the directions tell us to take a left turn into a corn field–Packer is inviting us to trust him that there is, indeed, a road to God that can be followed. He says that if we give him a chance we’ll see the road and not the corn field.

More on Road map, Reasons, and Recipe in subsequent posts…

I have been incredibly impressed by DA Carson. I’m not even sure what he is. He’s clearly a teacher. Theologian? Pastor? Just not sure. I know one thing: Listening to him teach frequently blows me away.

This week I have been listening (via mp3) to Carson teach a lecture on Christ in Culture. In it he made some insightful observations:

• In the famous “Therefore, give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” passage in Matthew 22, Christ was saying that there were things that Caesar had dominion over, but God has dominion over all. Caesar only operated within the authority God granted him. Christ was not arguing for separation of the secular and the sacred, the church and the government.
• Christianity is not associated with a particular form of government. Those of us in the States have a tendency to think that democracy and Christianity are linked in some way, but it’s clear from history that democracy is not the answer. One need only look at the way democratically-elected leaders become dictators outside of the West.
• Democracy only works when there is substantial agreement among citizens about what “good” and “right” are. As the people in a country diverge on these beliefs, democratic government is increasingly called upon to settle disputes and, ultimately, favor one group over another. Take, for example, the recent controversy with the Boy Scouts. The Boy Scouts were attacked for not allowing gays to act as scout leaders–a move that elevated the rights of gays over the rights of Boy Scouts. In such cases, one side or the other usually loses freedom.

Christians, therefore, have only one hope. It is Christ and him crucified, risen to ransom sinners from their doom.

I received a copy of an “untimely deaths” chain e-mail message today. The message gave examples of people who cursed God, flaunted his laws, and then died an untimely death. The conclusion was obvious: These people got what they deserved. While I agree, I also think that the message isn’t limited to just those who are overtly wicked. All of us, both the wicked and the righteous in man’s eyes, are destined for the same end unless Jesus covers us. That is the great message of the Gospel.

This e-mail arrived at a time when I was doing some heavy thinking about death, wickedness, righteousness and salvation. I am of the opinion that God makes things line up like this once in a while. I have learned over the years *not* to ignore them when I see them. (I am also convinced that many times God lines things up for me and I miss them. Oh, well…)

I have been studying the book of Luke for the last few weeks. The text in Luke has made me think about what it means to be good in God’s eyes. In chapter 18, Jesus meets a rich young man. You can read the story yourself here:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%2018:18-27&version=HCSB

This guy is holy and righteous, having kept all the commandments since his youth. I mean, he is as holy as any man can be. He’s that guy that everybody talks about being so perfect. He didn’t curse God. He served God. He didn’t disregard God’s laws. He kept the commandments. Yet Jesus said he was lacking. Lacking! Here’s the super-religious guy, and Jesus said it’s not enough. The Bible says the dude walked away sad.

The crowd watching the discussion with the rich young man asked Jesus, “Who, then, can be saved?!!?” I mean, if this guy can’t get in, what hope do the rest of us have? Jesus’ answer is awesome: “What is impossible for man is possible with God.”

Over and over in scripture, we are told there are two paths to hell. One is to live a life disregarding God, cursing him, rejecting his laws, rejecting his offer of salvation in Jesus Christ. The second is to do good things such that (we think) God *must* let us into heaven. If we’re good enough, we think, God *must* let us in! Right? Wrong. Both groups are equally lost, equally wicked in God’s eyes. Both groups are trusting in their own efforts to save them. Under our own power, heaven is impossible. Impossible.

But there is hope. It *is* possible with God. The third path is the one Jesus calls us to. It’s the same path he called the rich young ruler to follow in Luke 18. We’re called to follow Jesus. The righteous and the wicked alike must come to him and say, “I’ve got nothing! Save me!” This applied to John Lennon and Mother Teresa. This applies to Charles Manson and Billy Graham. It applies to all of us.

The old man looked up from his coffee, a pained expression on his face. “I don’t understand why you don’t believe!” he exclaimed, emotion welling up in his voice. “I don’t know,” the younger man seated across from him replied. “I guess I just can’t believe that one religion has it all figured out. I mean, how can we know God–if he’s really there?”

Like the old man, I’ve encountered several people who believe that no religion has God figured out, that there are any paths to God. Some of them have used the “elephant and the blind men” analogy to explain their position. The analogy goes something like this:

Four blind men were asked to describe an elephant. The one who grabbed the trunk said, “An elephant is like a snake.” The one who touched a side said, “An elephant is like a wall.” The one who grabbed a leg said, “An elephant is like a tree.” And the one who grabbed the tail said, “An elephant is like a whip.” None of them had it right because none of them could touch the whole elephant.

This analogy doesn’t hold up when talking about God. The only way we *know* that the blind men have it wrong is that we are observers in a position to see and understand the whole elephant. We can only declare that the blind men have partial knowledge because we have complete knowledge. To make the same claim about God–that no one religion has it right–is to presuppose that we have knowledge of the whole of God. We can only judge that any one religion’s understanding is partial if we have a greater understanding. This is absurd. None of us is in such a position. The argument fails to hold up.

What does hold up is that God revealed the truth to us. One way to God *can* be supported when it was God himself who showed us the way. That is one of the reasons I follow Jesus.

Merry Christmas!

I’ve recently been spending a lot of time studying Reformed Theology, often referred to as Calvinism. The fundamental difference between this view of Christianity and what I think of as the “popular” view is that God is in charge, God is sovereign. He chooses. He draws. He saves. The “popular” view says that we have free will, that we participate in our own salvation by choosing.

I believe that the Reformed Theology is correct, that we can’t have the power to somehow thwart God. But whether I’m right or not will have to wait for another day, another post, another discussion. What I want to write about today is the fact that I struggle with Reformed Theology because, as John Piper puts it, we have lost the passion of it. To me it seems so “hard,” intellectual, and often elite.

I recently listened to a John Piper presentation about Augustine. He called for reformers to return to the passion of Augustine, to live, feel, teach, and preach that loving God with passion is the antidote for sin, indifference, and elitism. He said that we shouldn’t be teaching people to refrain from sin because it’s wrong but because it is a cheap replacement for the magnificent realities of following God.

Oh, to have that kind of passion for Jesus!

I have been wrong!

I have been challenged by the teaching of the leadership of my new church. They are showing me that the casual way I had been interpreting the Bible is error prone and can lead to some crazy interpretations. I am guilty of using some of the misinterpretations that were used as examples. Oh, no!

The best example of my failure is Psalm 46:10a. In the NIV, it reads:

Be still and know that I am God

I love the Steven Curtis Chapman song, “Be still.” The lyrics include the phrase, “Be still; be speechless.” The interpretation of the song, and the interpretation that I had been using, including the interpretation that I have taught in small group Bible study, is that we are to be quiet before God. We are to put aside our busyness, our hustle and bustle, to turn down the volume and just absorb who God is. While all of that is good and true, it isn’t what the verse means!!!!!

If we look at the verse in the local context of the rest of the psalm, it becomes pretty clear what it really means. Psalm 46 is all about God as warrior, God as our refuge and strength. We need not fear even the destruction of the earth because we know God. The imagery is of war and destruction. Then the quote from God in verse 10:

“Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.” (NIV)

“Be still” in this context is really something like, “Stop striving, stop trying to be God, stop worrying over how you’re going to handle the uproar in the world around you.” God is going to exalt himself. We are to get out of the way and let him be God.

This correct interpretation is far from the one I had been using. I am glad to have had the opportunity to learn the truth.