If you were to ask just about any of our middle or high school students at GCF about loving God and what kinds of activities they think they should be doing in order to love him or experience him what do you think they might say? I have a feeling it would be something to this tune: Pray. Read the Bible more. Sing songs of worship to God. Go on a missions trip.
Let my fingers fall off my hand if my intention is to disrupt anyone from doing these things more. Thus, what I am angling at here is risky. I am not suggesting we change course from these things. I am suggesting that we have done a very good job emphasizing these habits of grace.
I am also saying something else that is important for us to hear. Starting with myself, we have not done as good of a job emphasizing other ways we are to grow in love with God. I am talking about the day to day activities that are practical, super practical at that. I am talking about stuff that we tend to really enjoy like smelling coffee beans, eating your favorite food, seeing a loved one, finishing a project, being warmed by a fire, being still on your favorite lake in the Boundary waters, catching a fish, raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens...wait, this has officially crossed a line. I hope you get the point. I ask you, what do we do with these things? Where, if anywhere, do they fit when we think of activities we do in order to love God and experience his goodness?
On the one hand, we don't want to become idolators and make idols out of these things. Still, on the other hand, these are the things we interact with daily. How do we make sense of them and synthesize them into our lives, our faith?
Why It Matters
Our children are a great blessing to us here. They force us to ask and answer these questions well. Youngsters who have been raised at GCF more than likely value God highly. This is good. What isn't as good is the guilt they might feel when they think in terms of comparison. For instance, if it comes down to playing hockey or worshipping God a teenager might say: God is more valuable, and infinitely so. They may also say "but I enjoy hockey so much more." Enter guilt. Now there is a tug of war between God and our favorite activities that bring us so much joy. This isn't good. It is also why it matters that we do better with these things.
Maybe We Are Not Thinking About This Correctly?
One way to begin slaying this dragon is to stop thinking of it in terms of comparison. It isn't God vs. ___________. Rather, it is I rejoice in God through ____________. Obviously, it goes without saying that we need to fill in the blank with good, wholesome, acceptable gifts that are not sin. We cannot worship God through sinning. But you knew that and I didn't even need to say it and now I have a run on sentence and I am wasting blog space.
So lets stop the showdown that only leads to guilt.
The Invisible God Become Visible
God has created the world and everything in it. He has put us in a body that feels, hears, touches, sees and smells. Yes, I just said God puts us in a body that smells. Romans 1 tells us that God's invisible attributes are perceived through what has been made (Romans 1:20). The translation here is this: God is invisible. His attributes are invisible. God makes his invisible goodness visible by giving us a body and putting us in a physical world. It is through ice and rocks and trees and rivers and water and heat and cold and hunger and thirst and beauty and pain and agony and ecstacy that we experience the invisible attributes of God.
If you need more proof, consider this:
In Psalm 1 the righteous man who is blessed is described as follows: He is like a tree planted by streams of water...(Psalm 1:3). I only want to know this, why? Why is a righteous man likened to a tree? It is simple. We can see and feel a tree. We understand a tree rooted by water that bears delicious fruit that we taste and are filled by. God says to us all...this creation of mine makes an otherwise invisible reality visible. Now you know what I am like and it takes your understanding of and enjoyment in trees and fruit to really understand God's righteousness.
Second example. Proverbs 24:13-14
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul.
Again, notice how the father instructing his son employs an earthly enjoyment to reveal the goodness of God. In this case it is God's wisdom. A young man has difficulty understanding how good God's wisdom is. He doesn't have a hard time understanding how sweet honey is to his lips (especially in a day where food could not be sweetened). Again, understanding God's invisible quality depends on the enjoyment of something physical. To say it another way, eating honey isn't only a physical exercise but a spiritual one too. We should beware of elevating too highly "spiritual" exercises such as prayer and Bible reading while ignoring "earthly" pleasures like enjoying food.
Why It Matters
Our children are a great blessing to us here. They force us to ask and answer these questions well. Youngsters who have been raised at GCF more than likely value God highly. This is good. What isn't as good is the guilt they might feel when they think in terms of comparison. For instance, if it comes down to playing hockey or worshipping God a teenager might say: God is more valuable, and infinitely so. They may also say "but I enjoy hockey so much more." Enter guilt. Now there is a tug of war between God and our favorite activities that bring us so much joy. This isn't good. It is also why it matters that we do better with these things.
Maybe We Are Not Thinking About This Correctly?
One way to begin slaying this dragon is to stop thinking of it in terms of comparison. It isn't God vs. ___________. Rather, it is I rejoice in God through ____________. Obviously, it goes without saying that we need to fill in the blank with good, wholesome, acceptable gifts that are not sin. We cannot worship God through sinning. But you knew that and I didn't even need to say it and now I have a run on sentence and I am wasting blog space.
So lets stop the showdown that only leads to guilt.
The Invisible God Become Visible
God has created the world and everything in it. He has put us in a body that feels, hears, touches, sees and smells. Yes, I just said God puts us in a body that smells. Romans 1 tells us that God's invisible attributes are perceived through what has been made (Romans 1:20). The translation here is this: God is invisible. His attributes are invisible. God makes his invisible goodness visible by giving us a body and putting us in a physical world. It is through ice and rocks and trees and rivers and water and heat and cold and hunger and thirst and beauty and pain and agony and ecstacy that we experience the invisible attributes of God.
If you need more proof, consider this:
In Psalm 1 the righteous man who is blessed is described as follows: He is like a tree planted by streams of water...(Psalm 1:3). I only want to know this, why? Why is a righteous man likened to a tree? It is simple. We can see and feel a tree. We understand a tree rooted by water that bears delicious fruit that we taste and are filled by. God says to us all...this creation of mine makes an otherwise invisible reality visible. Now you know what I am like and it takes your understanding of and enjoyment in trees and fruit to really understand God's righteousness.
Second example. Proverbs 24:13-14
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
Know that wisdom is such to your soul.
Again, notice how the father instructing his son employs an earthly enjoyment to reveal the goodness of God. In this case it is God's wisdom. A young man has difficulty understanding how good God's wisdom is. He doesn't have a hard time understanding how sweet honey is to his lips (especially in a day where food could not be sweetened). Again, understanding God's invisible quality depends on the enjoyment of something physical. To say it another way, eating honey isn't only a physical exercise but a spiritual one too. We should beware of elevating too highly "spiritual" exercises such as prayer and Bible reading while ignoring "earthly" pleasures like enjoying food.
Worship God, Avoid Idolatry
We need to help ourselves and our youngsters to see these practical things that God has made as part of the way he created the earth and our bodies as they interact within this earth. Each of us has a physical body that is placed within a physical earth. God has created this and designed this. Going a step further, it is clear God intends to meet some of our needs and mediate his satisfying presence through created things. The very first created thing that we see in Scripture is how Eve was given to Adam. God saw that his creation was good. Then he looked upon Adam and saw something not good. What could this be? Okay, I will tell you. It was that Adam did not have a suitable helper. Clearly, from the creation of Eve, custom built for Adam, God intends to satisfy our longings with the gifts of God. This is good and this is right.
Thus, it is possible then to receive an earthly gift as worship to the living God rather than a replacement of God, which is idolatry. There is a fine line between idolatry and enjoying things of earth as worshipping God. The church that wants so badly to fight against sin that turns into idolatry may do so to the exclusion of recognizing that God has bestowed good things upon his people for not only their enjoyment but for their worship of God and their satisfaction in Him.
A New Gnosticism?
The Gnostics of the first century taught that material matter was bad, corrupted and evil. Thus, nothing physical was not tainted by sin. Therefore, the spiritual was superior to the physical. I wonder if some of this has lingered to affect the church today? Do we think of worshipping God in more "spiritual" terms such as singing, Bible reading, praying? Are these the only spiritual things while enjoying coffee beans and volleyball are earthly and unspiritual? What about the goodness of work? Is this considered spiritual and a means by which we rejoice in God and serve God? Work may be difficult to get our minds around because much of it is truly affected by the curse of sin. Nonetheless, working hard and diligently is something that both pleases God and brings tremendous satisfaction to the one made in the image of God. Is work a "spiritual" activity through which we can learn to enjoy the goodness of God?
What about sports or strategy games or instruments that all require hard work, focus, discipline, and skill. When we think of instruments are they only valuable because we can play worship songs on them? Or is there something inherently enjoyable about creating music that can and should in itself an act of worship to God? What about sports? Eric Liddel, the olympic gold medalist said "God made me fast and when I run I feel His glory." Is it possible to see sports as a direct means through which we enjoy God's presence and experience his pleasure and goodness? Or must sports be relegated to a less spiritual or less than spiritual activity?
The New Earth and Resurrected Bodies
Going back to Genesis 1-2 we notice the first thing mankind doing is working, not singing or bible reading or praying. They are working and they are worshipping. God has created mankind to have a special and real relationship with each other and the earth they are placed within as a significant way they would experience God's goodness. Even into eternity those in Christ will receive a glorified body to live upon a glorified earth. Indeed, being with Jesus is the pinnacle of our joy but it should be noted that our eternal state will feature a physical relationship with other saints, with Jesus himself, and a restored relationship to the earth around us. To the extent that work is good and hasn't been fully ruined by the curse of sin we can see that all things were meant to be done as a means of bringing glory to God (1 Corinthians 10:31). And all things includes skating and eating and playing checkers and sawing wood. All reveal something of God's goodness and all should be done heartily, as a way to bring glory to God.
Bringing It All Home
I press on this to make clear the ways that our eternal enjoyment of God will be experienced physically and will be enhanced by enjoying his created gifts. Fellowship with Jesus himself will be the tip of the spear but that joy will be enhanced and fulfilled through mankind's relationship to others and their relationship to the earth (minus the curse of the ground and sin). As we experience the gifts of God that come to us in many forms we can learn to experience the gift-giver, and love him more.
Let us not relegate the things of earth as less than spiritual, but a crucial part of our spiritual journey.
Let us not relegate the things of earth as less than spiritual, but a crucial part of our spiritual journey.
In Christ,
Pastor Kevin
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