Notions about God

A friend of mine, before becoming a vicar, was a geography teacher. He would take students on field trips down to the Jurassic Coast. He tells of how part of their exploring covered an area of scrubland. Here, there was a hut where a hermit lived. He says, ‘I had a well rehearsed patter about who this person might be, where he was from and why he was here’. Then, on one particular visit and following his well rehearsed routine, he took his youngsters near to the hut; the door opened and there was the occupant. ‘Now I was going to see how those speculations of mine would stand up against the reality as we met him face-to-face.’

Similarly, many of us have our own ideas of what the unseen God might be like but will they stack up when it matters? One of the first Christian missionaries, Paul of Tarsus, turned up in the Greek capital. He found a multiplicity of idols and shrines to various gods. Like today, there was no shortage of religious and philosophical theories about life, purpose and the divine. Paul even found a shrine marked ‘to an unknown God’.

It was in this setting that Paul told them about Jesus. He assured them that God was mindful of their ignorance but now they needed to listen up because human history had taken a new turn. No longer did they need to speculate about who the God of all ‘gods’ was.

The Jesus that Paul told them about was the long-promised Jewish Messiah. He was more than the Jews had bargained for. Jesus’ own claims, backed up by his miracles and teachings, strongly indicated that he was the exact likeness of God himself; God in the form of man. Could this really be so?

God raised Jesus from the dead and he was seen by hundreds, most of whom were still alive when Paul was addressing the people. This resurrection was God’s vindication of Jesus; there was no longer room for speculation: know Jesus and you know God.

Having heard this, the people of Athens could not claim ignorance nor have an excuse for idle notions. Likewise for us. At this point, the command went out; they were to turn from trusting idols and instead trust and hope in Jesus. Will we?

Giving to God

With Father’s Day approaching, sons and daughters will be thinking, ‘what can I give to Dad that will show my love and give him pleasure?’ Jesus taught his followers to relate to God as their Heavenly Father. What might we want to give to such a Heavenly Father and why?

A rich young man once asked Jesus, ‘What good thing must I do to get eternal life?’. He wanted God’s favour and blessing and apparently thought he could get this by doing something for God or maybe giving something to Him. It is easy to fall into a similar mindset as though, before we can strike up a meaningful relationship with God, we must get on the right side of him by doing this or giving that.

Whatever we may ‘give’ to God, he isn’t in need of anything seeing as he made all things and, in the final analysis, all things belong to him. Neither can we ‘do’ certain good things in order to make ourselves acceptable to him; how would we know when we’d done enough and what about the bad things we’ve already done?

Of course, we are indeed able to give and do things that bring pleasure to God, but such things are not currency that can put God into our debt. The Bible reminds us, ‘Who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?’ It’s stating the obvious really - all we have comes from God anyway.

A dad gives his son pocket money. He’s delighted to receive a willingly given Father’s Day present, being fully aware that the youngster had no means of his own aside from what his dad gave him in the first place. Similarly, God wants to bless us so that we have the means of blessing him.

The Good News of the Christian message is that Jesus offers to put us in right relationship with his Heavenly Father by forgiving the bad things we’ve done. Then he gives us the means to give and do the good things that please God. He is blessed and we are too. This is father-child relationship at its best.

Riches for the poor and weak

Some disdain religion by saying it just gives life meaningful (albeit naïve) structure for people who are largely poor and uneducated. At some points this view connects with Christian teaching. One New Testament writer asks, ‘Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?’ Another New Testament writer presses the point even more: ‘God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised…’

We are meant to interpret such teaching as a warning. We may think we have it all together, that we are reasonably comfortable and secure; in other words, self-sufficient. If we do, then God and his purposes for us may be of little interest and something of an unwanted intrusion into our lives.

Jesus tells a story about a rich farmer who was prospering and expanding his business and who said, ‘…I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry’. But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ Jesus explains, ‘This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God’.

To be rich towards God means firstly to recognise our spiritual poverty and weakness before a perfect God and to welcome his Son, Jesus, who graciously wills to forgive us for sidelining him. Secondly, now that we can be assured of being in a right relationship with God, we can afford to be rich towards him with things that he values and delights in; things such as our humility, trust, heartfelt gratitude and a desire to honour him as our God. The result is joy all round.