Is God humble?

Often times I find myself in a bind. I want to be humble but I also don't want to be dishonest. Often times I wonder if I must sacrifice honesty in the name of humility. My friend Frank is a gifted singer. My friend Meredith is a gifted poet. I often times wonder how they respond to the praise that they receive. If I were to ask Frank or Meredith if they were good at their respected gifts, they would immediately enter into a tension. If they say, "No" they would not be practicing humility, they would be practicing lying. However, if they say, "Yes" they open themselves to accusations of pride. This is the tension between humility and honesty.

I know that I have a lot to be humble about but I think it dishonors God to define humility simply as, thinking less of yourself. That can't be humility! No really, it can't be. Isn't God humble? If humility is thinking poorer of yourself than you really are, I want nothing to do with a "humble" God. Besides, wouldn't that turn pride into having an accurate depiction of yourself? Wait, did I just define honesty? This is a tension.

To make matters worse, God is relentless in the scriptures about proclaiming his superiority. The entire book of Hebrews beats to the tune, "Jesus is better". Jesus is better than the prophets (ch 1), better than the angels (ch 1&2), better than Moses (ch 3), better than the promise land (ch 4), better than the high priests (ch 5), better than Abraham (ch 6), better than Melchizedek (ch 7), better than the last covenant (ch 8) and better than animal sacrifices (ch 9). But wait, where is his humility?

As we search more scripture we find phrases like,
"For my own sake I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another!"
Isaiah 48:11

"He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him"
Colossians 2:15

"Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone whom I created for my glory"
Isaiah 43:6-7

Even worse, as we look at the passages displaying God's heart in our salvation we find an ulterior motive.

"In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace"
Ephesians 1:4-6

"It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name...I will vindicate the holiness of my great name...I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you...It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you"
Ezekiel 36:22-32

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
He leads me besides still waters
He restores me soul
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake"
Psalm 23: 1-3

We have typically handled this tension one of two ways. Either we choose to ignore God's passion for his glory or we excuse God altogether from humility. The first is dangerous because when we ignore God's passion for his glory, the gospel inevitably becomes all about what God has done for us. While we cannot deny God's love for his bride we also mustn't deny God's love for his glory. The second option is dangerous because when we hold to the view that God does not have to be humble, we shortchange his glory. We deny him one of one of his most precious attributes. There is no way around it. God loves his glory and God loves being humble.

My goal is to relieve this tension. My hope is that you would see that God's passion for his glory and God's commitment to humility are not enemies but friends; best friends, working together harmoniously. First, I think we have to redefine humility. Oftentimes, when Jesus taught, he would first teach the negative. For example, "When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases like the Gentiles" or "When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites". Therefore, before we redefine humility, let's redefine pride. My definition of pride is, a failure to give God his due glory. This includes sins of omission, where we do not honor or thank God, as well as sins of commission, where we give glory to someone or something else (usually ourselves). Therefore, my definition of humility is, a joyful willingness to give God his due glory. Each word is intentional. "Joyful willingness". God isn't glorified in reluctant, dutiful submission. Next, true humility must always have to do with God. Finally, "due glory" is in the definition because I think honest assessment and humility go hand in hand.

So with this new definition, let's ask our question again. Is God humble? Let's see, how joyful and willing is God to give God his due glory? How accurately does God value God's glory? How passionately does God love God? You will not find a soul in heaven or on earth more committed to God's glory than God. And therefore, you will not find a soul in heaven or on earth more humble than God.  He has no desire that competes with his glory because he is both a giver and a recipient of the glory of God. Therefore, in pursuing his own glory, God most vividly displays his humility. God never stops standing in awe of God! God never takes lightly the glory of God! God never ceases to honor God! I pray that you would humbly, joyfully and willingly give God his due glory!

He who calls you is faithful, he will surely do it.

A Letter to a Friend: Is the Bible trustworthy?

A friend of mine is asking me to help him understand spiritual things. He asked me about the truthfulness of the bible, the account of the life of Paul and what happens to those who never hear the gospel. This was my response...

I'm sorry I'm just now getting back to you. I had some friends over yesterday and one of the guys spent the night. 

Your first question was about any other documentation outside of the New Testament that collaborates with the New Testament. I'm sure there is. I'm not much of a historian so I wouldn't be able to point you to any specific texts. However, the bible claims to be sufficient in itself for salvation. "How you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:14-15). You don't need to look anywhere else in order to understand and believe the gospel. Secondary sources are nice but you will ultimately be persuaded God's way, which is through understanding his word. Be careful of this verse, "In the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:21).

The whole point of the gospel is that you need to be saved. God wants to make sure that his glory and our worship are not hindered by us thinking that we contributed anything to our salvation. If we think that we became a Christian because of our intellect, we won't really feel the weight of God saving us. We'll always have in the back of our mind that we came to Christ because we pieced some intellectual puzzle pieces together. Don't get me wrong, the word that John uses to describe Jesus is "logos" which literally means, "logic". Christianity is not a fictional novel, rather, it is a historical account. We have a doctor writing “an orderly account” on the life of Jesus (Luke 1:1-4), we read that there were 500 eye-witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:3-9), we read of Paul confronting King Agrippa about his inside knowledge about the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 26:23-26) and we can note that Mark cites his sources when he talks about the crucifixion (Mark 15:21-24). Mark also tells you where it happened, what time it happened, and in case we still think he's making the whole thing up, he provides specific details regarding what the soldiers offered Jesus to drink. 

You asked about the trustworthiness of the account of the Apostle Paul's former life. Paul tells his testimony 4 times in the New Testament (Acts 9:1-19, Acts 26:12-18, Galations 3:11-18, Philippians 3:4-7). In Galations he says, "For you have heard of my former life..." Paul was famous for how he treated Christians. Paul wrote many letters of the New Testament. We know that he was learned in Judaism because he says, "I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people" (Gal 1:14), he also says that he was a "Hebrews of hebrews" meaning, he knew the Hebrew bible (Old Testament) very well. I can't point you to any secondary sources but my response would be in the form of a question. Why would Paul lie about murdering Christians? All that does is publically indict him for murder and hurt his ministry. Not many pastors or missionaries want to be known as murderers.

The fact that Paul is so upfront about his former life shows his trustworthiness. We should be able to believe what he says because his motive is clearly not a self-promoting one. To tell you the truth, I’m not very morally impressed by murderers. But Paul includes his testimony because it makes much of the grace and mercy of God rather than making much of a man. Muhammad is made much of. So is Ghandi, Joseph Smith and Mary. This separates Christianity from Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism and Catholiscm. Paul continually tried to shine the spotlight off of him and onto Jesus. “Christ came to save sinners…of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). No man is made much of in Christianity…except Jesus. However, we make much of Jesus because Jesus is God (John 1:1-3, John 10:30, Col 1:15).

You asked about why God revealed himself to Jews and no one else. A helpful way of understanding the Old and New Testaments is Colossians 2:17, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ”. The Old Testament is the shadow of Jesus. Every major character and every major theme is a shadow of Jesus. For example, God reveals himself to Israel and saves them from their sin. He delivers them out of Egypt and into the promise land. This is a shadow of Jesus dying for the sins of his church (Ephesians 5:25) and delivering his chosen people to the promised eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15).

However, in the Old Testament, the goal was always for the nations to come to know the God of Israel (Ezekiel 38:23). In Psalms it says, “Let the nations rejoice!”(Psalm 67:4). Our enjoyment of God is not complete until we share that enjoyment with others. This is true in a variety of ways. When you see an awesome movie, your enjoyment of that movie is not over when the film stops. It increases as you tell your friends and persuade them to see it for themselves. God’s plan has always been for a group of people to enjoy him so much that their enjoyment bubbles over so as to attract others into that same enjoyment. Your next question had to do with those who didn’t hear about Jesus after his crucifixion and resurrection. Romans 8:29 says that God foreknows those who will be his. The theological phrase is called, “Sovereign election”. It means that God never has his hands tied behind his back, if he wants to save somebody, he does it. He doesn’t need Christians in order to save people. He prefers to use them but he doesn’t need them. Jesus once said, “If my disciples are quiet, the rocks will cry out” (Luke 19:39).

The bible teaches that God is the one who places faith in people (Ephesians 2:8-9). He doesn’t guarantee that everybody will be saved but he does guarantee that every people group will be represented in heaven (Revelation 5:9). Since all have sinned and deserve God’s punishment, God is allowed to grant clemency to whoever he wishes. No one charges a judge with injustice if he gives a mass murderer life in prison with no possibility of parole. The fact that God does grant clemency and does extend mercy to any sinner is all together incredible. The Native Americans who died without the gospel are not necessarily unfortunate, we are just incredibly fortunate. There shouldn’t be a way out of punishment. Our legal system doesn’t even have a gospel. If you’re guilty, you’re guilty. God is gracious and merciful to even create an opportunity for sinful people to turn to him. He calls all people everywhere to turn to him and then when they do, he tells them to turn to others and say to them, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

I hope that is helpful. Let me know if you would like any clarification. 

A Letter to a Friend: What is the Gospel?

A friend of mine asked me to explain the gospel to him. He asked me to explain why God created humanity and specifically, why God created him. This was my response...

First off, I’m glad you sent me that text. It sounds like God is drawing you near to him. The questions you asked are the exact same questions that the Bible sets out to answer. You asked me to explain the nature of the gospel. Interestingly enough, I think you’ll find that the gospel explains why God made humanity and why he made you. “The gospel” literally means, “the good news”. Christianity is not about condemnation; rather, it is about liberation. It’s good news! In fact, the way that the Bible talks about this gospel makes it seem like nothing can compare to it.

I think what we learn from the gospel is that the best “good news” is almost always in response to the worst “bad news”. The worst bad news is that we all have spiritual cancer. We all have individually declared war on God. We have all gone rogue.  The Bible describes this by using words like “enemies” (Romans 5:10) “rebels” (Isaiah 1:2) “haters of God” (Romans 1:30) “hostile to God” (Romans 8:7) to describe us. All of these verses explain the results of sin. Sin is first and formally against God. Even when we sin against others, we sin against God because God is the moral law-maker. Think about it, if you murder somebody, you break the law. Who’s law? Not the person you murdered. You break the United States Government law. The person cannot punish you (because they’re dead), neither can their family (it would be against the law for them to take matters into their own hands). However, The United States government can and will punish you. Why? Because you broke THEIR law. The same is true for God. All moral failures are seen as against God and will be prosecuted in God’s courthouse. Stealing is wrong because it hurts another person and it is a blatant infraction against God’s moral law. Therefore, God will hold you accountable for your moral failures (sins).

Now this is not the way life was supposed to be. God knows best and he created us for his glory. That may sound strange to you but I would like to suggest that it is the greatest news in the world! You were not made for yourself. You were made to be amazed and fascinated by the creator God. I once heard a story about Barry Bonds taking his kids to an empty ball park. He would hit home runs and oftentimes the balls he hit would fly out of the park. His kids would stand in amazement. They loved their Dad. Their Dad was the greatest homerun hitter in the world…and he was THEIR Dad! So when I say that God made you for his glory, what I mean is that God made you to watch him hit home runs! Barry Bond’s kids can’t hit baseballs very far. Don’t get me wrong, hitting the ball is fun. However, it’s not nearly as much fun as it is to watch your Dad clobber a baseball 500 feet in the air. In that moment, Barry Bonds gets glory from his children and his children get joy from their Father. It’s the perfect relationship.

God made you so that you would be fascinated with him. Have you seen those Dos Equis commercials? You know, the one that says, “He IS the most interesting man in the world” You know what I’m talking about? Well, God is the most interesting being in the world. If he had a commercial I think it would go like this, “He created the universe by saying 4 words. He once made a virgin give birth. He tried dying once. He didn’t like it…so he came back to life. When time is running out…he pauses it. He IS the most interesting God in the world.”

God is awesome! He created you to know how awesome he is more and more every day. We call this “increasing revelation”. Since God is infinite in nature, you can never be bored with him. The reason Jesus says that we can have “eternal life” is because that’s how long it takes to know how amazing God is. (Side note: I know this goes without saying but, eternity never ends). You will never know God fully. And that is awesome. He is an ever-increasing reservoir of enjoyment and fascination. He created you so that you could experience him. He is the greatest gift you could ever receive.

However, your sin causes a problem. One of God’s attributes is his holiness. This means that he is completely “other” than us. We are human and God is holy. The holiness of God is his superiority in all things. It is what makes God fascinating. It is also the greatest difference between us and him. God’s holiness transcends all of his attributes. God’s love is a holy love. God’s wrath is a holy wrath. Whatever God does, he does it to the “holy” degree.  Since God is holy, he detests sin. Holiness involves a complete lack of sin. Since God is sinless, sin is a huge deal to him. He takes it personally because he created morality to reflect him. “Thou shall not steal” because God is an honest man. “Thou shall not murder” because God doesn’t destroy life…he gives life! God is anti-murder because he is pro-creation. God has designed the universe to work a certain way. This was his precious plan. God created you and gave you an instructions manual (The Bible & your conscience).

As cars run on gas so do humans run on God. As air is essential for physical life so is God’s word essential for spiritual life. When we reject God and live differently than the way he created us, we spiritually die. (Ephesians 2:1 – And you were dead in your sins). What this means is that you become numb to God. Not only will you do bad things but you won’t even think it’s that bad. You’ll get used to the darkness. You’ll have no idea what you’re missing. In the end, you won’t even sense your need for God (Romans 3:11).

Another one of God’s attributes is his justice. All of God’s attributes are good. We love justice. There are people who are still upset about the OJ Simpson verdict because they feel as though justice was not served. We can’t stand the idea of guilty people getting off scotch-free. With God, we never have to worry about this. God is the perfect police man because he sees every infraction. God is the perfect prosecutor because he knows the law inside and out. God is the perfect judge because he is full of integrity. He refuses to accept a bribe because he has everything he needs/wants. God is perfectly just. However, since we have committed injustice, God is obligated by his very nature to punish us.

God is the worst person to sin against because he created morality. Not only did he create it but he created it by simply stating his own personal values. It’s like I invite you into my house and I tell you that you may enjoy anything you see: my computer, my TV, my Xbox, anything. You may even help yourself to whatever is in my fridge. However, I ask you not to prop your feet on my glass coffee table. My deceased grandmother gave it to me and it is fragile. I value it. It’s very special to me. I would even venture to say that it’s a part of me. What if in direct rebellion to my request and generosity you prop your boots on my coffee table and break it? I would be livid! And I would be perfectly right to be. So it is with God. He created morality because it reflects who he is…and you and I have broken it. We defame and disrespect him after he invited us into his house (his universe) and gave us access to all that is his.

The punishment for national treason is life in prison. However, the punishment for universal treason is life in eternal prison. Hell. We all deserve this. Even one sin indicts us. Therefore, it’s not about how much good we’ve done. It doesn’t matter how much community service a murderer has done…he is a murderer. We’re not on trial for doing good things; we’re on trial for doing bad things. Good does not outweigh bad. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. If Mother Teresa murdered somebody, she would go to jail. No questions asked. It really wouldn’t matter how good she was.

This is where it gets sticky. We are all in a divine pickle. We’ve sinned, and in so doing we have offended a holy and righteous God. And because this God is holy and righteous, he MUST punish our sins. If he doesn’t, he would be guilty of injustice. Think of it this way, in court, if a lawyer can prove that a witness has lied, that witness’s testimony is discredited and thrown out. It would be rendered useless. Now check this out. How is the Bible labeled? The Old and New “Testament”. The Bible is the “testimony” of God. Now if God is lying about punishing sin, his testimony ought to be thrown out and discredited. He is not a God we can trust if he is lying about punishing injustice. Our situation just got stickier. We are guilty and there is no way around it. God’s very reputation is at stake. He cannot and will not act out of character and let us go scotch-free.

This is where it gets interesting. Remember how I said that the gospel is good news? Remember my cancer analogy? Our sticky situation is like finding cancer in our body. Now remember how I said that the best "good news" is usually in response to the worst "bad news"? Well this is how God gets rid of our spiritual cancer. He decides to be our substitute. This is the very essence of the gospel. We celebrate Christmas because this is the day where God became a human. He didn’t stop being God, rather, he became a holy human. Remember how I said morality reflects him? Well when Jesus is on earth, he never once sins. It’s not so much that Jesus kept a bunch of random rules. Rather, it’s that Jesus is the manifestation of moral rules. He doesn’t steal because he is infinitely generous. He doesn’t murder because he is the creator of the human race. He doesn’t lie because he is infinitely honest. He is the perfect moral example of a human.

God has a plan in all of this. He lives a life of what the Bible calls, “righteousness” so that he can earn our spot in heaven. It’s not enough to be sinless, you must be “righteous” in order to get to heaven. Jesus then, acting as our substitute, goes to the cross and is willingly beaten, whipped, flogged and finally crucified…in our place. He dies…in our place. He is punished for sins…in our place. Three days later he rises from the dead in order to prove that he is God and to assure us that he can pay our punishment in full.

Now in the court of God, this is the perfect solution to our sticky situation. We owe God a debt for our sins and we must pay up. What Jesus does is he pays our debt and then deposits his righteousness into our spiritual bank account. Not only does this take care of our sin but it gives us a surplus of righteousness. Our sin was punished. Jesus took our punishment. That takes care of God’s justice. Our unrighteousness has been replaced with Jesus’ righteousness. That takes care of God’s holiness. Everything can be fixed. Our sins are taken care of, Jesus gave us his perfect record, we have a 4.0 morality GPA, God’s justice is upheld and we can finally be united to God for eternity. “This is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God” (John 17:3). The goal of all of this is that we would know God. That’s what you were made for.

However, this good news does not apply to everybody. There is a restriction. God will only apply this good news to those who relinquish control of their life, lay down their firearms, and turn to Jesus to save them. This is an act of humility. Essentially, becoming a Christian is like giving up. It is waving the white flag. It’s admitting moral defeat and accepting God’s peace treaty. God’s peace treaty is simple. It contains only three words. “Trust and obey”. Those who do not surrender will be prosecuted in the court of God. They will be founded guilty of sin and punished in eternal prison. But those who lay down their firearms, who do not seek to justify themselves, but rather seek pardon solely through the sacrifice of Jesus in their place, will receive new life. They will be filled with the spirit of God and know God. They will grow in their relationship with God and learn to love God!

God could have let us die in our sin. He is by no means obligated to give us a way out of our rebellion. After all, WE started it. But one of God’s attributes is love. Because he loves us and wants us to be fascinated by his glory, he created a way out of our condemnation. We are saved from the wrath of God to see the glory of God for the praise of God (1 Thess 1:10, 2 Cor 4:6 Eph 1:4-6). That’s the gospel. It’s good news! However, this news is not like the 7 o’clock news or like ESPN news. This news demands a response. It’s urgent news. It’s the type of news that if embraced, will change your life now and for eternity.

So what do you think?