http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=18298#.Up0u6owo5jo
A FELLA CALLED GOD: THE ABSENCE OF FEAR IN CONTEMPORARY FAITHBy Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline www.virtueonline.org
November 26, 2013
It was an evening service graced with royal presence and attended by eminent members of the citizenry. As the congregation made their departure from the church building one individual was overheard to comment to another, "Well, we've just been to a place to hear about a fella called God".
Such dismissiveness of God is common in our generation and at every level of modern society. It doesn't diminish or distress the Almighty but it mightily offends those who adore him and pay him the homage of their hearts and lives. In God's people there is a hunger for his glory and a jealousy for his reputation. When worms squeak their blasphemies and insults before God believers tremble at human audacity in the face of his awesomeness, its ultimate consequences, and the tragedy of inveterate irreverence. Contempt for God is the height of self-destructive folly. It is the peak of immorality and madness. It is sheer ignorance of the divine supremacy, majesty, excellence, and worthiness that demand our utmost worship and adoration.
The author of The God Delusion admitted that he could not appreciate the desire to delight in God and offer him devotion. This is to fall below the level of intelligent humanity which humbly views itself as the intended image of God. It is to be evacuated of all sense of affinity with him. Without the intervention of common grace such godlessness results in brutishness. The scornful do not contemplate the gravity of their offence and their terrible end beyond the grave without repentance. Puny unbelief pits itself against the Omnipotent. Their attitude is not only a revolt against sovereignty it is a hostile lunge at Perfect Love. The world of the unregenerate, pious or profane, hates the Lord Jesus. Everything about him pains the unconverted conscience.
The church is not without blame for lowering the general estimate of God in contemporary minds. An effete church presents an enfeebled God. His commands are flexible and his grace cheap. Instead of sorrow for sin and terror of judgment it is almost the case that men feel sorry for God (think of the evangelists who wring their hands whilst attempting to wrest from their audience so-called decisions for Christ as if the Saviour were helpless in securing them himself) who in the affairs of men has been denied and dethroned. He is now only recognized as a dutiful nanny available when needed to fulfill our whims and wants and mop up our messes.
Sentimentality prevails and God as a cozy convenience is the theme of our day. We forget that his mercies are sovereign as well as sure, and that his judgments are perpetually exercised as well as his grace. Our perceptions and presentations of him are lopsided. God has been Disney-fied and rendered innocuous. The worst thing a preacher can do in our culture is to attribute holy wrath to the righteous Lord. Yet Jesus spoke more about hell than any other biblical figure. The concept is either mocked in our time or a matter of horrified rebuke. Instead of meat, or even milk, our congregations are fed on marshmallow. With the consequent tooth decay we can no longer chew on solids. Like the popular Julian of Norwich we must aver that there is no anger in God.
But our kindness is cruel. The season of Advent is pastorally provided to remind us of the Judgment as well as the first coming of Jesus. Jesus in judgment from the great white throne is as essential a component of the Gospel as Jesus the friend of sinners (if we assess ourselves in that way any longer). We are duty bound to sound the Advent alarm and must not shrink from doing so. The fear of God must be instilled in human hearts if there is to be any true and balanced piety. Our God is dreadful as well as darling. When Scripture exhorts us to fear God it means to dread him as well as delight in him. If we tone down that aspect of our message we do not believe in the inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture. We are seeking to improve upon the wisdom and word of God and are apologizing for his impeccable character and ways, substituting our softness for his severity. "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness" (Romans 11:22). God hardens hearts as well as heals them, and those who forget, ignore, or despise him run that awful risk of his judicial abandonment to their own irreversible stubbornness. "Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him" (Luke-the compassionate- 12:5).
David Broughton Knox assures us, "It is genuine fear that Jesus is talking about, not what people call reverential fear, whatever that means. We all know what ordinary fear means. That Jesus was using the word in this simple straightforward meaning is clear from the passage. He began 'I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body'. Now we all know that sort of fear; very deep and understandable fear. He continued:'. . . but. . . fear him who can not only kill the body but cast the soul into hell. yes, believe me, fear him.' The word 'fear' has the same meaning in the same sentence. It is genuine fear that Jesus is speaking about" (We Preach Judgment, The Doctrine of God, Selected Works, Volume 1. Edited by Tony Payne, Matthias Media, Kingsford, New South Wales, 2000. Superb theology is found in all three volumes).
The Gospel is meant to affright us as well as console us. We must be aroused from every false security and carnal self-deception to which we are willfully prey through the waywardness of our hearts. Our Anglican leadership is too timid to address sin and its doom in any effective way. The judgment upon our Communion is that we largely have leaders afraid of the full gospel and afraid of being counted foolish by the world. We desperately need a return to our roots - the Cranmerism of our Prayer Book and "Articles" that foster a robust and adult Anglicanism that is not mealy-mouthed in enunciating the doctrines of Scripture.
If we cannot depict the plight and peril of sinful man in plainspoken terms we cannot with boldness and winsomeness declare the reality of the divine rescue mission in Jesus Christ. We cannot advocate the wonder of utterly undeserved grace. Mankind is not compelled to acknowledge its desperate need of a gracious Redeemer nor accord him the honor that is his due. We employ 'Saviour' as a courtesy title and not as a plea for extrication from servitude to evil and a sentence of eternal death. Sentimentality has blunted the blade of the gospel sword. And what pygmies we are compared to the best of our forebears at the Reformation, the Puritan era, the Great Awakening, and the Victorian bearers of the banner of truth such as Ryle and McNeile. Should we blush before them when we encounter them in heaven? They were warriors and we are waverers weakened by succumbing to a worldly mind and a sense of entitlement to spiritual pampering. Are we ever stirred by the press releases from Canterbury and clergy conventions and conferences? For our many words the plain truth is still muted. We cannot electrify the elect or shock the shallow. On present form we ought to close down and cease from bringing shame to the Name.
May our Advent pulpits and consecrated mausoleums that we call churches ring out the Word of God in all its breadth and necessary news, good and bad, to immortal souls that need to hear it ere they perish for want of saving knowledge.
Tony Lane records the approach we ought to mimic from Soren Kierkegaard this Advent. "There is also a chasm between the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. Kierkegaard rightly perceived that without the sense of sin there will be no true Christianity. 'Take away the alarmed conscience and you may close the churches and turn them into dancing halls.' This prophetic word speaks powerfully to our present situation where many apparently lively forms of Christianity are shallow and rootless because they lack this sense of sin" (Exploring Christian Thought, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 1996. An excellent volume for personal and small group study).
May the waiting dance bands find themselves banned from our places of Word and worship steadfastly loyal to God.
The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church
A FELLA CALLED GOD: THE ABSENCE OF FEAR IN CONTEMPORARY FAITHBy Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonline www.virtueonline.org
November 26, 2013
It was an evening service graced with royal presence and attended by eminent members of the citizenry. As the congregation made their departure from the church building one individual was overheard to comment to another, "Well, we've just been to a place to hear about a fella called God".
Such dismissiveness of God is common in our generation and at every level of modern society. It doesn't diminish or distress the Almighty but it mightily offends those who adore him and pay him the homage of their hearts and lives. In God's people there is a hunger for his glory and a jealousy for his reputation. When worms squeak their blasphemies and insults before God believers tremble at human audacity in the face of his awesomeness, its ultimate consequences, and the tragedy of inveterate irreverence. Contempt for God is the height of self-destructive folly. It is the peak of immorality and madness. It is sheer ignorance of the divine supremacy, majesty, excellence, and worthiness that demand our utmost worship and adoration.
The author of The God Delusion admitted that he could not appreciate the desire to delight in God and offer him devotion. This is to fall below the level of intelligent humanity which humbly views itself as the intended image of God. It is to be evacuated of all sense of affinity with him. Without the intervention of common grace such godlessness results in brutishness. The scornful do not contemplate the gravity of their offence and their terrible end beyond the grave without repentance. Puny unbelief pits itself against the Omnipotent. Their attitude is not only a revolt against sovereignty it is a hostile lunge at Perfect Love. The world of the unregenerate, pious or profane, hates the Lord Jesus. Everything about him pains the unconverted conscience.
The church is not without blame for lowering the general estimate of God in contemporary minds. An effete church presents an enfeebled God. His commands are flexible and his grace cheap. Instead of sorrow for sin and terror of judgment it is almost the case that men feel sorry for God (think of the evangelists who wring their hands whilst attempting to wrest from their audience so-called decisions for Christ as if the Saviour were helpless in securing them himself) who in the affairs of men has been denied and dethroned. He is now only recognized as a dutiful nanny available when needed to fulfill our whims and wants and mop up our messes.
Sentimentality prevails and God as a cozy convenience is the theme of our day. We forget that his mercies are sovereign as well as sure, and that his judgments are perpetually exercised as well as his grace. Our perceptions and presentations of him are lopsided. God has been Disney-fied and rendered innocuous. The worst thing a preacher can do in our culture is to attribute holy wrath to the righteous Lord. Yet Jesus spoke more about hell than any other biblical figure. The concept is either mocked in our time or a matter of horrified rebuke. Instead of meat, or even milk, our congregations are fed on marshmallow. With the consequent tooth decay we can no longer chew on solids. Like the popular Julian of Norwich we must aver that there is no anger in God.
But our kindness is cruel. The season of Advent is pastorally provided to remind us of the Judgment as well as the first coming of Jesus. Jesus in judgment from the great white throne is as essential a component of the Gospel as Jesus the friend of sinners (if we assess ourselves in that way any longer). We are duty bound to sound the Advent alarm and must not shrink from doing so. The fear of God must be instilled in human hearts if there is to be any true and balanced piety. Our God is dreadful as well as darling. When Scripture exhorts us to fear God it means to dread him as well as delight in him. If we tone down that aspect of our message we do not believe in the inspiration and authority of Holy Scripture. We are seeking to improve upon the wisdom and word of God and are apologizing for his impeccable character and ways, substituting our softness for his severity. "Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness" (Romans 11:22). God hardens hearts as well as heals them, and those who forget, ignore, or despise him run that awful risk of his judicial abandonment to their own irreversible stubbornness. "Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him" (Luke-the compassionate- 12:5).
David Broughton Knox assures us, "It is genuine fear that Jesus is talking about, not what people call reverential fear, whatever that means. We all know what ordinary fear means. That Jesus was using the word in this simple straightforward meaning is clear from the passage. He began 'I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body'. Now we all know that sort of fear; very deep and understandable fear. He continued:'. . . but. . . fear him who can not only kill the body but cast the soul into hell. yes, believe me, fear him.' The word 'fear' has the same meaning in the same sentence. It is genuine fear that Jesus is speaking about" (We Preach Judgment, The Doctrine of God, Selected Works, Volume 1. Edited by Tony Payne, Matthias Media, Kingsford, New South Wales, 2000. Superb theology is found in all three volumes).
The Gospel is meant to affright us as well as console us. We must be aroused from every false security and carnal self-deception to which we are willfully prey through the waywardness of our hearts. Our Anglican leadership is too timid to address sin and its doom in any effective way. The judgment upon our Communion is that we largely have leaders afraid of the full gospel and afraid of being counted foolish by the world. We desperately need a return to our roots - the Cranmerism of our Prayer Book and "Articles" that foster a robust and adult Anglicanism that is not mealy-mouthed in enunciating the doctrines of Scripture.
If we cannot depict the plight and peril of sinful man in plainspoken terms we cannot with boldness and winsomeness declare the reality of the divine rescue mission in Jesus Christ. We cannot advocate the wonder of utterly undeserved grace. Mankind is not compelled to acknowledge its desperate need of a gracious Redeemer nor accord him the honor that is his due. We employ 'Saviour' as a courtesy title and not as a plea for extrication from servitude to evil and a sentence of eternal death. Sentimentality has blunted the blade of the gospel sword. And what pygmies we are compared to the best of our forebears at the Reformation, the Puritan era, the Great Awakening, and the Victorian bearers of the banner of truth such as Ryle and McNeile. Should we blush before them when we encounter them in heaven? They were warriors and we are waverers weakened by succumbing to a worldly mind and a sense of entitlement to spiritual pampering. Are we ever stirred by the press releases from Canterbury and clergy conventions and conferences? For our many words the plain truth is still muted. We cannot electrify the elect or shock the shallow. On present form we ought to close down and cease from bringing shame to the Name.
May our Advent pulpits and consecrated mausoleums that we call churches ring out the Word of God in all its breadth and necessary news, good and bad, to immortal souls that need to hear it ere they perish for want of saving knowledge.
Tony Lane records the approach we ought to mimic from Soren Kierkegaard this Advent. "There is also a chasm between the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. Kierkegaard rightly perceived that without the sense of sin there will be no true Christianity. 'Take away the alarmed conscience and you may close the churches and turn them into dancing halls.' This prophetic word speaks powerfully to our present situation where many apparently lively forms of Christianity are shallow and rootless because they lack this sense of sin" (Exploring Christian Thought, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, 1996. An excellent volume for personal and small group study).
May the waiting dance bands find themselves banned from our places of Word and worship steadfastly loyal to God.
The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church
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