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Are We Worshipping The Wrong "God?"
(04/21/2008)

Does it matter who God is? Is everything hunky-dory as long as we use the name Jesus and make at least a passing reference to the Bible or attend a regular meeting which might loosely be described as a “church?” What if someone claiming to know you or me spoke in public using our name and claiming to represent us but gave a cockeyed description of who we are? Would it matter to you? You see, the name Jesus and God have no meaning in and of themselves, it is only by virtue of the attributes associated with those names that they represent (as Francis Schaffer would say) “the God who is there” or a false god.
Let’s take a close look at the character and personality traits of the entity that we in the Christian church today worship. This question cannot be accurately assessed by taking a survey listing potential attributes and asking people to answer true or false. The reason is that most people would give "technically" correct answers concerning most of God’s attributes while actually feeling, thinking, reasoning, making decisions, evaluating, speaking, acting, and worshipping in ways that say that they believe the opposite. However, neither I nor anyone else can accurately quantify what the lives of millions of “Christians” say that we believe about God. But we can make relatively accurate general observations based on what is being taught and preached in the majority of our churches and through "Christian" media (books, television, and movies).
Is Something Missing?

It's Got A Beat And You Can Dance To It...

If we sat down and listened to a broad cross-section of messages coming out of popular Christianity today, I think God would be described consistently as:
God is love! As one popular ministry puts it, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” God loves you just as you are. He has an almost romantic longing for your company and He wants you to feel the same way towards Him. He loves you so much that He came to earth and died for you just so that you and He could be together. All He asks is that you fall in love with Him as much as He is in love with you.

If God loves and values you so much, then it only makes sense for you to love yourself. He wants to fulfill you and for you to respect and value yourself because you are His child!

Part of God’s love for us is His command that we love each other. We should try and treat others the same way that we want to be treated. That means only speaking and acting in positive and emotionally reassuring ways towards each other and helping each other when we can.

God is not waiting to judge us but to forgive us! He is forgiving and tolerant of us and our weaknesses and faults. Therefore, we must be forgiving and tolerant of others. It is wrong to say or do things which might be construed as negative or judgmental of others. None of us is perfect.

God values unity above all things. So disagreement and conflict are to be avoided because they only cause divisions.

God wants to be our best friend and He promises to be there for us whenever we need Him. He wants our relationship with Him to be casual and comfortable.

God is generous and He longs to give us the desires of our hearts. He put those desires in our hearts and He will fulfill them if we will just believe in Him.

God needs our money in order to achieve His purposes here on earth. But He doesn’t require all of it…just 10% of your income. To not give Him 10% is to steal from God but if we are faithful to give what He requires He will bless us beyond measure. Giving anything above 10% just increases God’s blessings!

God is filled with joy at the thought of us and He wants us to experience His joy every day! He wants us to be happy and to know that He smiles down upon us no matter what.

God’s presence always brings warm emotions of joy, feelings of being loved, and ecstatic happiness! Whenever you have such feelings, it indicates God’s presence and approval. Negative feelings such as guilt, inadequacy, and fear never come from God and are usually a result of poor self-esteem and a wrong understanding of who God is.

I think that covers most of the major characteristics we would come up with based on what is being taught and preached today. Does it sound familiar? Does it all ring true? Does anything essential seem to be missing?

While there are elements of truth in each of these observations, it constitutes a distorted and incomplete picture of who God is. It is so generic that it could actually fit quite well into almost any major religion’s view of God. Based on this view, God appears to be a cross between Santa Claus (who just wants us to be nice girls and boys) and a genie (waiting to grant us our wishes).

The Fear of Lord

The only reliable source for understanding the character of God is the Bible. And one must take a comprehensive view of the scriptures and not just pick out the verses which illustrate the things we like about God. We must have a balanced view of who God is…not who we wish Him to be. Our feelings, wishes, and experiences are not a reliable basis on which to determine who God is. To base your view of who God is on such things is to break the second commandment. You are essentially creating a “graven image” of who you want God to be and then worshipping it as God. If you have doubts concerning the reliability and authenticity of the Bible, then there are many resources available which can address them such as Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. The Bible stands apart from every other book claiming to be from God by virtue of its historical accuracy, prophecy fulfillment, and consistency. However, apart from a saving faith in Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit it is impossible to understand and useless to you. So don’t expect to “get it” if you choose to study it as a purely intellectual exercise.

Unfortunately, Bible literacy is at an all time low among “Christians” in America. We hunger for new and exciting spiritual experiences and rate their validity on an exponential scale of scintillating emotion instead of seeking to know God through His Word. So it is not surprising that there are such widespread misconceptions about God. How can you judge whether something you hear about God is true or false if all you have to evaluate it on are your own feelings and experience?

Isaiah 11:3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear
So let’s look at what God’s Word says about God. But where to begin? The Bible reiterates several times the idea that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 2:5, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33, Job 28:28). But based on what we “know” of God, why should we fear Him? Usually, our clergy explains it away as simple reverence or respect. And most of us assume that this is just an Old Testament concept that was done away with when Jesus came. Let’s look at what Jesus had to say about the fear of the Lord:
Luke 12:5 “But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”
Hmm…doesn’t sound like just reverence to me…sounds more like good, old fashioned fear. Well, He must have been talking about non-Christians. Why would we who are born of the Spirit fear God?
Philippians 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling

2 Corinthians 5:11a Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men

Romans 11:20b,21,22a Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God

Hebrews 10:30,31 For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY " And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God will judge who? "His people?" But I thought that we had escaped God’s judgment when we said the "sinner’s prayer?" Doesn’t 1 John 4:18 say that "perfect love casts out all fear?" If you are, indeed, born of the Spirit than you have been saved from eternal Hell. But as a good father, He will judge whether we are abiding in Him and being obedient and He will discipline us as needed (Hebrews 12:4-11). Not because He hates us and wants to make us suffer, but because He disciplines us with the understanding that we are eternal creatures and with a view of eternity in mind. And His discipline can be very severe and we need to have a healthy fear of it. Just take a look at what the people of Israel have gone through over the course of history. Historically, God has allowed entire nations to be destroyed and brought into slavery in order to discipline them and such actions are not limited to Old Testament times. Just take a look at the driving out of the believers in Jerusalem (Acts 8) or the almost complete destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. And don’t forget Ananias and Sapphira who were CHRISTIANS who lied about their giving and God struck them dead (Acts 5:1-11). And God is willing to do it to us if we make it necessary.
Acts 5:11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.
So, having begun with a fear of the Lord, let’s take a brief overview of what God’s Word says about His character. It does beyond doubt confirm the fact that God is love, that we should love Him above all others, and that we should love each other as we love ourselves. But we need to understand that for God’s love to manifest itself as forgiveness/salvation requires repentance and the death of self from us (Acts 2:38, Matthew 16:24). And our love for others needs to be secondary to our love for God and His commandments (Matthew 22:35-40, 2 John 1:6). And one of those commandments is to "preach the word" and "reprove, rebuke, exhort" "in season and out of season" especially in these end times (2 Timothy 4:1-4). And God is willing to answer our prayers but our requests must be in accordance with His will (1 John 5:14,15). He isn’t going to give you everything you ask for because as a good father He knows what’s best. And God doesn’t need your money but your brothers and sisters do (Psalm 50:10, James 2:15,16, 2 Corinthians 9:7) However, I think that enough airtime has been given to those attributes. I’d like to focus on some of the characteristics which have been neglected in order to provide a more balanced view of who God is.

Less Popular Attributes of God

Note that these are central themes consistent throughout scriptures and not verses picked out of context. However, as I said, it is not all inclusive.

God is Holy: (Isaiah 6:3, Psalm 99:9, Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:15,16, Revelation 4:8)

Revelation 15:4a Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy
The word holy has been watered down recently to mean simply "separate." However, it means far more than that. According to Strong’s Greek Lexicon, the word used in the Greek is "hosios" which means "undefiled by sin or free from wickedness." God is pure and perfect.

God is Just: (Genesis 18:25, Daniel 4:37, Isaiah 45:19, Psalm 89:14, Psalm 145:17, Revelation 15:3, Revelation 16:7, Revelation 19:2)

Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
God Hates and Punishes All Sin: (Exodus 32:34, Leviticus 26:14-39, Psalm 5:5, Proverbs 6:16-19, Isaiah 13:11, Hosea 9:15, Romans 6:23, Hebrews 12:4-11, Revelation 20:11-15)
Ezekiel 18:4b The soul who sins will die.

2 Peter 2:4-6 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter

God is Sovereign: (Psalm 33:1, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Job 42:2, Romans 8:28)
Daniel 4:35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

"When we say that God is Sovereign we affirm His right to govern the universe which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any."
– A.W. Pink "The Sovereignty Of God"

God Does Not Change: (Exodus 3:14, Psalm 90:2, Malachi 3:6, John 8:58, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 21:6, Revelation 22:13)
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Heard any sermons on any of these attributes of God lately? If so, consider yourself blessed.

For the most part, the church today is giving at best an incomplete picture of who God is and at worst preaching a false god and a false gospel. Oh, there are elements of truth to be sure. But as the late, great Christian musician Keith Green said of Satan in No One Believes In Me Anymore, "he puts some truth in every lie to tickle itching ears." The result is a God and a Jesus which sells really well but is very different from the God of the Bible.

The Return of the King

In fact, I often wonder if most of those attending church will even recognize Jesus when He returns as being the person that they’ve always believed He is. Even if they do, I don’t think they will like Him very much. He will toss out the window the tolerance and political correctness which they value so highly. If you want to know what Jesus will be like when He returns, just look in Revelation 19:
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”