Moral Dimension

First, we must make a connection between God’s character and His relation to the moral law

Is the moral law a moral law just because God has decreed it such and therefore it is arbitray, or is the moral law ultimate, superintending even over Him?

In other words, is the moral law something whimsically uttered by God or something abstract that exists apart from Him?

Does He operate by raw power and make choices that are then deemed good only because He says they are so, or is He Himself under the law, having to obey it even against His own wishes?

Counter question:

Is the moral law by which each one of us chooses to live a law that we have arbitrarily chosen by which to exercise our power, or does it exist over and above us?

If we have arbitrarily chosen it, then we have no right to condemn the moral law by which anyone else operates, including God.

On the other hand, if the moral law stands over and above us, then how do we determine where it comes from?



The moral law that calls for the sanctity of every individual life is given to us by God.

We must understand that a human being cannot be the measure of all things, or else we would be forced to ask, which person will be the ultimate measure?

History and experience tell us in blood and tears that we cannot trust our character.

But with God,

The law is neither arbitrary, nor over Him; it is rooted in His character, which is perfect and unchanging.

He alone eternally and perfectly exists.

Confidence in God’s Character

   The skeptic’s question has to be answered: 

                       "Would you create a world with pain, and if you did, could you at the same time still be called good?"

 
Two inferences can be drawn:
1.How can there be an all-loving, all-powerful God when evil is so evident and uncontained?
2.Even if God exists, how can He be called good while allowing death and destruction to happen, when we ourselves would be considered wicked if we did the same thing?

 

Let's see the perspective that C.S. Lewis gives in his book, “The Problem of Pain.”
"If God were good, He would make His creatures perfectly happy, and if He were almighty He would be able to do what he wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God lacks either goodness, or power, or both."
With a characteristic conciseness and clarity Lewis sets the stage for the entire book in the first paragraph of Chapter 2 - "The possibility of solving [the problem] depends on showing that the terms 'good' and 'almighty', and perhaps also the term 'happy', are equivocal: for it must be admitted from the outset that if the popular meanings attached to these words are the best, or the only possible, meaning, then the argument is unanswerable".

Lets keep another day for a look at a philosophical dimension of this discussion as it begins to shape the character of God.

The Cry of God for His People

“In the beginning, God”

There is no other rational starting point for life than God and God’s original intent was to walk and to talk with His own creation.

He was passionate about it too.  Remember Michaelangelo's painting - you notice God reaching out to Adam and you see how outstretched God’s arm is. Every muscle on His face is contorted, and His hand is reaching as far as possible to make contact.

By contrast, Adam lackadaisically lets a limp hand dangle with apathy in an attitude that seems to say, “if it meets it meets.”

As generations came and went, God sought one in the midst of all creation, one who would understand His heart and be willing to be clasped in His hand --

•Adam
•Abraham – friend of God
•Enslavement in Egypt–God heard their cry
•Build a tabernacle
•Four generations later – David
•Build a temple

Funny thing happened –
When David began to prepare for building the temple and when the temple was built – notice a change in attitude?

From being owned by God – it was as if they now owned Him. From journeying with Him – they now had to journey to Him. As God became immovably housed, spirituality became localized, and life became disconnected from worship.

Everything that distorted worship began right there.

•Book of the Law was lost
•Sacrificial system became corrupted
•Priests lost the nobility of their calling
•People lost God when His glory departed
•Tent and alter were replaced by a power-seeking ecclesiastical authority

 God had desired to be tabernacled in each individual worshiper before they gathered for worship with one another. Stephen’s sermon, that he paid for with his life, says it all, "the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands.” Bodies were to be the temple of God.

Malachi was a passionate plea to take a hard look at how worship had lost its worth and God’s longing for His people had been thwarted, and a weariness had set in.

John in Revelation saw no temple in the eternal city - God was not “house-bound” any longer!

 

Surrender Guilt to God's Grace

This is one of six responses that we have built into our life systems to deal with our guilt.

The biblical story of David and Bathsheba, focusing on Nathan’s timely entrance, probably exemplifies this best. Think of the number of ways David could have dealt with his guilt:
     – Nathan could have been arrested and killed
     – could have blamed Bathsheba
     – could have claimed the divine right of kings
     – could have abrogated the seventh commandment

Instead, he fell on his face before God and cried out…

Do you remember Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker and their PTL ministry (PTL stands for "Praise The Lord" but the press said it stood for "Pass the Loot"). In 1986 PTL's income was $129 million and included Heritage USA – a 2300-acre religious theme park, a hotel and a shopping mall in North Carolina and its own TV station on 1200 channels.

Jim Bakker had an affair with the church secretary Jessica Hahn in 1980 and resigned in 1987 when it came to light that he had paid her about $265,000 in blackmail money over the affair.

After his resignation, it was discovered that the Bakkers had been taking large amounts of money from the ministry fund, including hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries for Bakker and his wife, insurance, property and other fees. The IRS investigated and discovered that the couple had diverted $4.8 million for personal use.

Part of that sum came from fraudulent $1,000 partnerships, which secured each partner three days per year of free lodging at the hotel in Heritage USA. However Bakker took the money from so many partners that it was a promise that he was unable to keep. Indeed the fraud was on such a scale that it was estimated that about 1500 people a month were being defrauded of their free time-share.

Jim Bakker was indicted for fraud in 1988 and sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000.

When the scandal broke, Bakker's Christian friends quickly deserted him. He became an outcast in the Christian world. And when he was sentenced, his wife Tammy Faye left him and then divorced him.

Six months into his sentence, Bakker was surprised one afternoon when the prison warden called him into his office. Bakker had a visitor: Billy Graham. When Graham came in, Bakker asked him why he had come to visit – because he knew that any association with Bakker would tarnish Graham's reputation.

Graham replied that Bakker was his friend in good and in bad times – and now when things were bad, he would stand by his side. And Billy Graham was true to his word.

Bakker's sentence was eventually reduced, on appeal, to ten years and when he came out of prison on parole, he had nowhere to stay.

So the Grahams invited him to stay with them.

On the Sunday following Bakker's release, Ruth Graham took him to church with her.

Disregarding what people would think about her, she stood up in church and introduced Jim Bakker to the congregation as her friend Jim Bakker.

I think that this illustrates the idea of what happens when we surrender our guilt to God.  Sin scorches us most after we receive the grace of forgiveness, not before.  The forgiven one realizes the gravity of the sin more when they are genuinely repentant and have been forgiven.

Summarizing our six points:

1. When expelled by irreverence, guilt makes life in mutual harmony unliveable
2. When smothered by pride it makes one’s life unaccountable
3. When concealed by fear it makes the pain unbearable
4. When dismissed as cultural it makes morality untenable
5. When claiming absolute innocence before God it makes the claim unjustifiable 
6. When guilt surrenders to the grace of God, it makes the sin forgivable

In religion:

• Hindus pays his Karma through millions of reincarnations 
• Muslims intones hopefully, “Insh Allah” – if God wills – and even at death never knows any certainty of forgiveness

In Christianity – anyone who comes to the cross know with a certainty that the debt has been paid

What wrong ideas about God have we brought into our relationship with Him?

  An example might be needed here - how about Jonah - he believed that God ought to totally destroy the pagans who lived so violently.  Even after he preached an amazing call and there was revival, he went up a mountain and waited to see the people destroyed.  He just did not get God - remember, he ran away from God before this all happened.

Os Guinnes wrote a book called, God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt. There is a paragraph on page 134 where he states something interesting about this very topic:

“Mistaken teaching spawns a view of faith that is unbiblical, weak, and ineffective in combating doubts that come from a emotional source. The battle is lost before it begins. The understanding was not in control in time of faith, so it is not in control in time of doubt. The emotions were everything when faith was there, and now that doubt is there they are still everything. All that is different is that they have changed sides. But if emotions are really all that matters, then neither faith nor doubt have anything to do with truth; they are simply the names that we give to their changing moods.”

This is good because once we understand that feelings are vital but not foundational then we delight in God’s truth and can endure the temporariness of felt distance.

It is like feeling is more as a person walking alongside you, always held in the clasp of your knowledge

Question #3: Will you not...?

Walked into Shoppers Drug Mart today and a crew of three individuals were setting up the most amazing Valentine's display I have ever seen.  They had so many shelves at their disposal.  One of the workers there commented that they didn't bring enough product to fill all the available space...too much.

However, that for another conversation as we look at Jehoshaphat's final question posed within his prayer, to be heard by all the people was...

 

“Will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us .  We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you”  (2 Chronicles 20:12)

What did God give them as an answer?

“Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army.  For the battle is not yours, but God’s”  (2 Chronicles 20:15)

 You have no idea just how many people out there doing their thing for God, think that it is their thing.  You can tell through one aspect of their ministry whether they believe the battle is God's - in their fund raising methods.  

Let's look at bribery.  If someone offers you something in exchange for your donation - that is a bribe.  Why do ministries need to bribe - because what they are doing is their battle.  

Let's look at manipulation - story of a fake person named Rosa who will die if you do not give or quoting scripture that has nothing to do with humanitarian efforts and suggesting that this is what God wants us to do.  Why do you have to manipulate - because the individual may not want to give and because it has become your battle. 

Let's look at coercion - this can come in the form of guilt, recognition. loss of friendship, no longer receiving preferential treatment - or a response grid that gives you four choices knowing that you probably are to embarrassed to chose the first box and will most likely take the second, unless you want to impress with the third or fourth - why? The battle is your own and not the Lord's.

Trust me, check out the ministries you support and see if any of these things are happening - I guarantee that only 1 out of every 10 charities believes in growing the donor's relationship with God and trust God enough to leave your financial contribution to how the Lord is guiding you.

A small note for you to always remember - this verse (15) is the middle verse in the Old Testament - very cool, very important, very awesome!

Growing beside a stream

I was fortunate enough to remember the time my family lived in the country.  Behind our house was a beautiful little stream that provided hours of fun for a little boy looking for adventure. 
To this day, I still collect rocks and shells, know where to find the crayfish and the frogs and which rocks to pull up to find some well preserved Ontario clay ready to be molded into whatever was fashionable for the day.
Learning, discovering, enjoying are not words one uses in their description of our day to day experience with God. But if we think about it, those are the descriptions of success in everything we do. We may be in a war, we may be up against all odds, we may be surrounded by those who want to do us harm, we may have taken on a task, calling it our own, when it actually doesn't belong to us, but rather belongs with God - we may be very unhappy right now because of all those things.  And so our heart cries out to know God - God I want to know you!  And as surely as you do, He will make Himself known and the adventure has just begun.