Tag: theology

Psalm 90

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year CLeave a comment
            Sometimes we might forget that the Bible is first and foremost a collection of books about God.  There are times when we get too focused on ourselves – our fears, inadequacies, weaknesses, failures – and lose sight of the hugeness of God.  This psalm is the kind that helps reorient our lives back toward the grand Sovereign of the universe.  There is a decidedly theistic worldview espoused and embedded in the psalm.  It is a cosmology dominated by the immensity and largeness of a God who is pictured as completely in control of his creation.
 
            Let’s face it:  our lives are this weird and complex concoction of fear and joy that can combust at any time.  We swing from high to low, and low to high.  If we are on an even keel it is only because we are currently in the middle of swaying to one extreme or the other.  Even introverts know this – it just happens to all take place inside their vast inner world instead of on the outside for all to see.
 
            So, every one of us needs the grand vision of God in this psalm to anchor us through all the vicissitudes of life.  “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”  The transcendent God, however, is not at all aloof from his creatures; he is also closely imminent.  “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.”  Nothing gets by God.  He always knows the score.
 
            Our appropriate response to such a God is this:  “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  When we appropriate a biblical worldview, we learn to measure our days and live consistently moral lives with wholeness and integrity.  This is why a regular regimen of the psalms is important to us, so that we will have before us the nature and character of God.  As we do so, we cannot help but reflect his glory and contribute to human flourishing.
 

 

            Mighty God, satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love so that I might rejoice and be glad all day, every day.  Let your favor be upon me, and establish the work of my hands for the glory of Jesus.  Amen.

Psalm 113

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            When my firstborn daughter was an infant, I was a busy seminarian as well as working a job.  I did not have a lot of discretionary time on my hands.  Yet, I could stand over the crib of my beautiful little bundle of a girl for long stretches of time without ever thinking about all my responsibilities.  Whenever she awoke I would speak to her in that kind of baby talk that only a doting father can do.  I imagine that God looks at us in much the same way, as well as speaking and acting toward us in ways we can understand.
 
            Just as parents interact on a level in which their kids can understand, so God condescends and stoops to our level in order to help us.  “Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high, who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?”  God notices.  He looks at us with lovingkindness and seeks our best interests.  “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap.”  The divine condescension of God is a beautiful thing because without it we would be like a helpless baby.
 
            This psalm of praise to God celebrates how the Sovereign of the universe notices and acts.  We are meant to remember the great deeds of God – both those things which he has done contained in Scripture, and the things he has done for us, personally.  This is why journaling as a spiritual practice is such a good personal discipline because we have a record of the ways in which God has acted on our behalf.  Then, we can praise him all over again for what he has done.  And this will fortify our spiritual mettle for the times when we need encouragement.
 

 

            Praise the LORD!  You are a God worthy of adoration, for you have done mighty things.  Thank you for taking me from the ash heap of sin and raising me up with Christ so that I can experience the life that is truly life.  Amen.

What is Your View of God?

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
           Everything comes down to God.  Yep, you read that correctly.  The way we view God is the way we will live our lives.  For example, if we tend to see God as a stern Being whose main activity is to continually rebuke and punish people for their sin, then we will live with a constant sense of guilt and anxiety for fear of angering such a God.  We will invariably live a performance-based life trying to pull ourselves up by our spiritual bootstraps in order to please or placate such a God who is always looking over our shoulder to make sure that we do not mess up.
 
            Such a life is miserable because it is an impossible standard.  This is why many people internally say “To hell with it!” and live in outright rebellion against a God who seems not to care a wit about their happiness.  The cruelties of this world like cancer and natural disasters seem only to be God mocking their abysmal failure at being decent people.  Indeed, it is an impossible task.  It would be like telling my grandson with epilepsy to stop having seizures, as if my love for him is dependent on him being seizure-free.  My guess is that most people would consider it abusive for a parent or grandparent to yell at a kid for having seizures.  With that kind of view of God, I wouldn’t want to know him either.
 
            But, on the other hand, if we understand God as a loving father who is pained by the damage sin has done to the souls of people, then we are open to seeing the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ coming to set broken spirits right again; the death of Christ is the ultimate act of love in taking care of the sin issue once for all.  God in Christ did for us what we could do for ourselves; He gave His life so that we could live as we were intended to live:  enjoying God and His creation forever.
 
            With such a (correct!) view of God, the task of spiritual formation is one of constantly replacing destructive understandings of God with the kind of thoughts of God that filled the mind of Jesus himself.  And the only good way of doing that is through the basic spiritual disciplines of Bible reading and prayer, and the practices of silence and solitude that helps us connect with God and His Word.  The grand redemptive story of the Bible is that the steadfast love of God found its apex and fulfillment in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus.  Therefore, all of Holy Scripture is to be viewed through these lenses of the grace of God in Christ.  It is a very different picture than the one of an indifferent God.
 
            Seeing God from the perspective of grace brings a joyous way to live because it views God as generous and hospitable.  From such an angle, the logical and appropriate response is one of gratitude.  All false gospels have at their core a kind of you-are-bad-try-harder approach. Preachers of such an ilk only rail against people as being scum buckets of sin and offer no real hope of transformation in Christ.  It is promoting a grace-less religion, and it is nothing less than biblical malpractice.
 
            I take heart that if we have trouble seeing God as we ought, or experience difficulty viewing life as it is meant to truly be lived, we can ask God to give us wisdom.  And the promise connected to that encouragement to pray is that God will give generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to them (James 1:5).  That is, a generous God will help his people to see beyond the trials of life to the development of faith, equipping persons for a committed Christianity over the long haul.
 

 

            In such a view of God, prayer is not a chore but a delight; service is not drudgery but a willing response; reading Scripture is not a mandatory exercise but a wonderful practice of knowing Christ better.  This is practical theology at its best:  knowing our guilt before God; knowing the grace of Christ that handles the guilt; and, responding in gratitude by living grace-filled lives as Jesus did.  May our churches be filled with such Christians abiding in Christ.  Amen.

Theology That Makes a Difference

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).  Every Sunday I have the privilege of proclaiming this wonderful benediction at the end of the worship service.  As believers in Jesus Christ, we do not serve a generic God, but acknowledge that all three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, exist together eternally.  This is important because our identity as Christians is wrapped up in God as the Trinity.  Our worship, our life together, and our mission are based in the understanding of the triune God.
 
In the Apostle Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthian church, his focus was on addressing the continuing problem of special interest groups creating divisions and factions within the church.  He wanted the congregation to know that such behavior is inconsistent with who God is.  Paul zeroed in on the fact that God in Christ has brought reconciliation not only between God and people, but between one another in the church.  So, Paul’s point in ending his epistle with this benediction was to promote reconciliation and unity within the church.  Grace, love, and fellowship are available to God’s people.  Just as there is unity and harmony within God himself, there is to be unity and harmony in the church.  Unity will be a practical reality only when the church receives grace, love, and fellowship and then chooses to give it to one another.
 
Our triune God wants us to not just know what these blessings are, but to experience them.  A Trinitarian understanding of God is not simply a doctrine to believe, but a powerful reality to be lived!  The virtues of grace, love, and fellowship are blessings to be received and blessings that are to be liberally thrown back out to people.  In this way God is glorified through his people.
 
God has created us in his image.  That image is the image of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  The way our triune God relates within himself in perfect love and fellowship is to be reflected in our own human relationships with one another.
 
Here are some implications of the Trinity for our relationships in the church and the world:
  1. We will regard everyone in the church as an equal.  People are people, period.  When we start referring to them other than that name of “person” we distance ourselves from them, i.e. “someone should do something” is the ultimate act of misnaming and removal from being active in people’s lives.
  2. We will have concern for other churches besides our own local church or ministry.  We will share our resources and help each other accomplish the mission of God.  Grace, love, and fellowship ought to happen between churches and ministries who share the common theological doctrine of the Trinity.
  3. We will treat each family member as important, i.e. avoiding terms like “black sheep” or being so upset that one doesn’t talk for years with a family member.  The same goes for the family of God.  God in Christ has reconciled us with the Spirit, helping us to make it a reality in our human relationships so that we really have no excuse to hold a grudge.
  4. We will treat all human beings with respect, dignity, and value, rather than with suspicion or for what they can do for us.

 

The unselfish love of the members of the Trinity spills over into love for God’s creatures, and, so, this received love ought to overflow into the lives of others.  This is precisely how God is glorified.  This is to be what we celebrate, and what we practice.  This is theology that makes a difference.  Soli Deo Gloria!