DISAPPOINTMENT WITH GOD

I have been so distressed to hear the many testimonies of young people who have left the church and its faith. So many of these testimonies involve a simple equation: Their expectations about God and His promises have not measured up to the reality of their lives. They have lamented:

·       I prayed and trusted, but God didn’t answer my prayers.

·       I asked for His guidance, but He always remained silent.

·       I was confident that He had led me into my marriage, but He clearly did not. My wife took off with another man. I can no longer trust Him; nor do I want to.

My story had been similar. I was trying to follow Christ the best I could, but it wasn’t good enough. I became overwhelmed with depression and panic attacks, and God refused to answer my prayers. I couldn’t understand why He was allowing me to suffer so. He promised me His comfort, but it seemed that everyone else had more comfort than I. He promised to love me, but I felt totally unloved, unlovable, and utterly rejected. He promised that He would never leave me, but I felt entirely abandoned. From my perspective, the Christian life was a huge fraud.

If I had a viable alternative, I would have turned away, but I didn’t have one. I had already tried out every promising option, and each had all failed me. Either God would somehow come through for me or I was finished.

His silence convinced me of either of two things. Either I was so worthless that God wouldn’t waste His time with me, or God didn’t exist, and everything that I had experienced was just a matter of self-deception.

However, since I had nowhere else to turn, I began to read the Psalms and found that the Psalmists had the same problems. David had complained:

·       How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:1-2)

This Psalm made me think. David had been the man “after God’s own heart,” and yet he suffered such torment. His God had promised David that He would never leave him, and that He would establish an everlasting kingdom through his descendent. How then could David feel so forsaken? Clearly, he had been praying to God, but God didn’t seem to be answering him, and it wasn’t because He had rejected David. Perhaps He hadn’t rejected me?

Many of the Psalmists also complained that their suffering didn’t match up with their glowing expectations based on God’s promises. This was also true for His Chosen People, the Nation of Israel.  The Psalmist Ethan reviewed God’s glorious promises to King David:

·       “I [God] will maintain my love to him [David] forever, and my covenant with him will never fail…I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered…that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." (Psalm 89:28-37)

However, by the next verse, Ethan’s tone dramatically changed. Now, he began to accuse God of unfaithfulness:

·       But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one. You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins…O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? (Psalm 89:38-40)

According to Ethan, God had betrayed His people and had reneged on His promises. Israel’s present degraded status failed to measure up to what their God had promised them. Ethan seemed to be rejecting the faith of his Father’s.

I was drawn into this perplexing drama. It seemed that I wasn’t alone. The Psalmists also felt betrayed by their God, who had failed to live up to His promises.

The Psalmist Asaph had also felt betrayed by God. It was apparent to him that the arrogant enemies of God were living far better than the righteous. He therefore complained:

·       Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. (Psalm 73:13) 

According to Asaph, it had been a disappointment to serve God. However, these Psalmists had been the exemplars of the faith, and they were concluding that their faith had been a waste of time, just like the testimonies of those youth who had departed from the faith.

Even the Messiah claimed that His Father had abandoned Him:

·       Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

However, we know that this abandonment had only been temporary. By the end of the Psalm, He proclaimed that this “abandonment” had not been the end of the story:

·       For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. (Psalm 22:24)

Was there a lesson here for me? Perhaps I too had failed to see the big picture. Perhaps I was suffering from myopia. Did the Psalmist Ethan resolve His conflict with God? He simply concluded:

·       Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen. (Psalm 89:52)

It doesn’t seem that Ethan was able to see the big picture – that God would once again exalt His nation and show Himself faithful to His covenant, His promises to David. However, it does seem that he had concluded that there was more to the picture than what he was presently able to see.

Perhaps there was more to my suffering than what I was able to see. Perhaps my Savior had secretly been loving me in the midst of my tears, and even suffering along with me (Hebrews 4:15).

However, the Psalmist Asaph was subsequently blessed with a revelation. He entered the Temple and was shown the big picture – the prospering of the arrogant and the suffering of the righteous were only temporary. After this revelation, he gratefully proclaimed:

·       I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:22-26)

Asaph had not been able to contemplate any possible resolution for his conflict. The arrogant were prospering and the righteous were suffering. However, he had been shown otherwise. He had been enabled to see beyond his limited experiences and observations.

Perhaps also there was something that I was missing. Perhaps there was a purpose for my suffering as there had been for Asaph’s. Perhaps I was demanding too much – an immediate understanding about what I was suffering.

Perhaps also those who had left the church were also expecting too much. Perhaps they weren’t ready for the big picture of God’s plan. Perhaps, instead, God was requiring them to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

Why do some persevere and continue to look towards God, even in their perplexity, while others leave? I cannot answer this question. I just pray that they will return to our only possible Hope.

Meanwhile, I thank God for what I had suffered. I liken myself to the Psalmist David who confessed:

·       It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. (Psalm 119:71-72)

CHRISTMAS EVE AND THE ADVENT OF THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

My wife and I went to a Christmas Eve service at a local church – the type where it is easier to find a leprechaun than a pew Bible. The church was packed and we watched them as they took Communion, wondering whether they believed that they were singing about the Savior of the world.

However, it wasn’t this way for the shepherds in the field on what seemed to be a very ordinary night. Suddenly the boredom was shattered by the presence of an angelic messenger and the glory of the Lord.

The lowly shepherds, who had been living with their sheep in the fields, were perhaps by now, covered with dew. Instead of filling them with excitement, this divine appearance filled them with terror. Why? This was always how people experienced the presence of God. At the manifestation of God upon Mt. Sinai, the Israelites were so terrified that they thought they would die. The entire Mosaic sacrificial system informed Israel that they could not approach God without being struck dead. After all, they were still in their sins – they were under a curse – and their holy and righteous God had not yet been satisfied. Instead, He was breathing wrath.

·       But the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11)

They would no longer have to fear the presence of the Lord because the promised Messiah had already come, and it was time to celebrate. He would save them from their sins, something that the Law had been unable to do. The marriage between God and His people had begun. They would now be enabled to approach their Savior.

·       And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:13-14)

Peace? Yes! What kind of peace? Between God and His people! The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) had finally arrived in the most unlikely way – in a smelly manger, swaddled with strips of cloth meant to wrap the dead. The symbolism was unmistakable to the shepherds – a Child born to die, just as the sacrificial sheep, which they had been shepherding.

It was now grabbing my heart.  He is also my Savior. I hadn’t been waiting for Him, but He had been waiting for me to come to the end of my hope. I knew that I was an utter failure and felt deeply ashamed of myself. It was so tormented that it was hard for me to come into the presence of others, let alone the presence of God. I so hated myself that I was sure that others hated me.

However, this suffering, this consuming shame, this insecurity has been eradicated by the advent of this Child who became sin for me. Consequently, He is precious to me. He must have also been to the lowly shepherds who had been invited into His presence to celebrate His advent.

What He has done for us is very tangible:

·       Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

Consequently, we need no longer dread the presence of God. We can stand tall, even in the face of persecution. We know who we are, and no one can take that away.

I wondered whether the congregants of this church were just going through the motions. Did they understand what they were doing here and who they were singing about? I wanted to scream out, “Do you realize who this Child is,” but I didn’t.

“SOLA SCRIPTURA”: IS IT SCRIPTURAL?

From the very beginning, we find evidence of “Sola Scriptura,” only Scripture (OS), God’s Word, in God’s directions to Adam:

·       And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

The first couple’s welfare depended on whether or not they would put God’s Word above everything else, above every temptation and every fear. This doctrine didn’t mean that they couldn’t learn from other sources, like their observations and feelings, but God’s Word would have to take precedence over everything else.

Abraham passed this test when he placed God’s Word even above the life of his son, Isaac, and was ready to sacrifice him, according to God’s commands. And God rewarded him for his obedience (Genesis 22:15-18).

Nevertheless, some take issue with OS. A Catholic apologetics brochure reads:

·       It is the Church that produced Sacred Scripture, not the other way around, and therefore Scripture cannot be greater than the Church, which produced it… It is the Church that, under its teaching authority given by Christ, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, determined which writings constitute Sacred Scripture.

There are several points here, all highly problematic. First of all, there is the assumption that the RCC is the one Biblically ordained Apostolic Church. However, there is no proof of this, certainly not even Scriptural proof.

Next, even though the Church was instrumental in the writing and selection of the Books of the Canon, even the RCC acknowledges that both of these activities had been the work of the Holy Spirit. In fact, there are many verses that claim that the primary Author of Scripture is the Spirit:

·       Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

However, the RCC does not deny this. Nevertheless, they unbiblically claim that the RCC is somehow, as its author, above Scripture. As a result they claim that they also have the authoritative interpretation of Scripture.

However, if the RCC is to be consistent with their reasoning, they would also have to say that the “Scripture cannot be greater than … [Israel], which produced it.” This would mean that the rabbis are supposed to have the authoritative interpretation of their Hebrew Scriptures. However, if they do not, then the RCC does not.

Instead, Scripture teaches against this kind of thinking:

1.    Scripture is fundamentally acknowledged to be the Word of God and not the Word of the Church. Although Paul had referred to the Gospel as “My Gospel,” this was merely a way of distinguishing the Word that he preached from the erroneous message of others. Instead, he writes: “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).

2. God designed His gracious salvation in such a way so that no one could have any basis on which to boast (Eph. 2:8-9; 1 Cor. 1:26-30). Any institution that claims that it possesses the authoritative key to interpretation has created for itself a basis for boasting, even if this isn’t its intention.

3. Trusting in an institution or a person is something that is prohibited: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord…But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him” (Jeremiah 17:5-7). Our trust must be in Him alone: “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 62:5-6).

4. Our Lord explicitly states that He will not share His glory with another (Isaiah 42:8). This would seem to include the Church. If a church claims that it has exclusive authority to save or interpret Scripture, then it has exalted itself in an unbiblical way. Ultimately, our faith has to be between ourselves and God, not ourselves and our pastor or our church (Romans 14:22-23).

5. Paul castigated the Corinthian church for making an issue of who baptized whom. He responded, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Cor. 1:13). In other words, “Quit arguing about this! It doesn’t matter who baptized you (even if it was by false brethren!).” However, if RCC thinking is correct, then Paul had dismissed a very important distinction – which church, people or lineage could effectively perform baptism.

6. Although the early Church was intimately involved in the formation of the Canon, it shouldn’t get the credit, nor arrogate for itself a stature surpassing that of Scripture. God gets all the credit. Paul stated that he couldn’t even take credit for any of his works: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10). Even though God had placed him in a privileged role, he declared himself to be “nothing” (2 Cor. 12:11), let alone as necessary for salvation.

7. The RCC cannot make the claim to be THE Church. For one thing, this would mean that Catholics are the only ones saved, since the rest of us aren’t within the saving embrace of the RCC. Rather than creating unity, this claim further divides the already fractious Christian world. For another thing, the Orthodox Church can also make this claim. Who’s right? Such a claim only breeds contention. It’s better to acknowledge that there is no one right church, but only those who trust in Jesus.

8.    Jesus made a sharp distinction between the teachings of men (church traditions) and the teachings of God, claiming that the former constituted vain worship (Matthew 15:3-9).

Meanwhile, the RCC places their teachings above Scripture. The RCC brochure claims:

·       The ultimate criterion of what one must believe and do is the authoritative teaching of the Church, whose task it is to interpret the word of God, handed down to us by either Scripture or Tradition.

In “Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church,” Stephen K. Ray adds:

·       “Protestants must trust the declaration of the infallible Church to know which books make up their infallible New Testament. This is a great irony. It was the tradition and the authority of the Catholic Church that established their canon. However, while rejecting all the other decrees of the councils as nonauthoritative, Protestants arbitrarily accept without question the tradition establishing the canon of the New Testament.” (54-55)

Once again, the RCC cannot be consistent with the teaching of the RCC’s infallibility. If the RCC is infallible, then the RCC must also regard Israel as infallible in “establishing the Canon of the” Hebrew Scriptures.

Instead, there is no reason to believe in the infallibility of the Church. Besides, we mustn’t place our trust in any church or leader:

• Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he? (Isaiah 2:22)

Instead, we have to be like the Bereans, who, after hearing Paul preach, didn’t trust him, but instead checked everything he taught against Scripture. Interestingly, Scripture declares that they were “more noble” (Acts 17:11).

The Concept of the “Infallibility of the Church” is unnecessary. As always, God can work infallibly through very fallible people and institutions. He was able to infallibly demonstrate to the Church who was to be believed and what writings to be received:

·       This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. (Hebrews 2:3-4)

He was able to validate the authority of the Apostles through miracles:

·        God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. (Acts 19:11-12; 2:43)

The Holy Spirit guided their teaching:

·       But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26-27; 15:26; 16:13; 1 Cor. 2:10)

Consequently, Scripture was to reign supreme over all human proclamations and traditions:

·       All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Nothing else was to assume the stature of Scripture:

·       Rev. 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.

Scripture had to sit in judgment over all other truth claims:

• The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

All arguments opposed to Scripture had to be critiqued in its light and taken “captive” according to the revelation of Christ. There was nothing higher or more authoritative. Scripture was the Supreme Court where the buck stopped:

• When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. (Isaiah 8:19-20)

In regards to the things that Scripture taught, it was the supreme light. God’s word, “God’s instructions and the testimony of warning,” was above all else and without competition – sola scriptura! It was the source of blessing in a way that nothing else was:

• Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.  Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:7-8)

God warned Joshua that his response to His Word would determine blessing and curse. If he failed to follow it, he and Israel would suffer, if he meditated on it to do it, he would prosper. There was no other activity that could compete in importance with Israel’s response to the word of God. It occupied an unrivaled position. No amount of philosophizing, painting, poetry writing, or practicing spiritual disciplines could even come close. Scripture was in a league of its own. This was the uniform teaching of Scripture, not just a handful of verses.

All the Apostles recognized that God worked through the understanding of His word to accomplish great things (Psalm 1). Paul therefore recited this benediction over the Ephesian elders:

• “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” (Acts 20:32)

God would use Scripture to bless and transform. Conversely, when Christians strayed from the word, they would suffer, as Paul had warned:

• Learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other.  For 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? (1 Cor. 4:6-7)

Many in the Corinthian Church went “beyond what is written” and became proud to the hurt of themselves and their church. Instead, Scripture had to serve as their highest authority – sola scriptura.

How do we please God? We abide in His word above all else. Peter insisted that:

• If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God... so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 4:11).

Our church traditions should never be in competition with God’s word. This was the problem with the religious leadership of Jesus’ day. They valued their own traditions above Scripture. Against this lethal tendency:

• Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?... Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” (Matthew 15:3-9)

Our traditions or institutions cannot be placed on par with Scripture. The resulting worship is of no value! God intends Scripture to rule over all else – sola scriptura.

Jesus had the highest regard for Scripture, claiming that it could “not be broken” (John 10:35). Everything else could be changed but not Scripture (Matthew 24:35). It stood over everything else – sola scriptura! Even Jesus would not do away with Scripture:

• “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.  Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

Because Scripture came from God, it could not just be set aside. Instead, our standing in the Kingdom depended upon our response to Scripture. However, Jesus would fulfill it, according to Divine intention.

The deceased, ex-evangelical scholar, Clark Pinnock, decided that the Bible was merely a human text:

• It is important to insist that the Bible is a merely human text – written, copied, translated, and interpreted by fallible people. It contains all manner of internal contradictions, moral blemishes, legend and saga, inaccuracies, and the like. It is a collection of intensely human documents and is not an authority beyond criticism or correction. To regard it as God’s written Word is an idolatrous perversion of belief which must be dethroned.

However, Pinnock’s opinion was diametrically opposed to Jesus’!

• Jesus answered [Satan], “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

According to Jesus, life is about imbibing “every word that comes from the mouth of God” – Scripture! This means that we can’t sit in judgment over God’s word, selecting what we like or think inspired. Instead, every one of God’s words must judge us! Scripture must reign supreme!

Jesus had such a high regard for Scripture that He continually brought His disciples back to this wellspring of blessing. When Jesus encountered His disheartened disciples after His crucifixion, He could have spoken His own words to encourage them, but instead, He pointed them back to Scripture:

• “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”  And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:26-27)

Scripture is so central to our lives that Jesus opened their minds to understand it:

• He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44-45)

Never once do we see any indication that Jesus regarded Scripture as merely a human document. Instead, He copiously quoted Scripture, always as maximally authoritative. Consequently, if we want to call ourselves “Christian,” we should regard Scripture as did Jesus!

Besides, because Scripture is God’s authoritative word, we are not free to interpret it in any manner we choose:

• Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Although Scripture comes through the hand and sometimes even the vocabulary of man, it is still God-given. As such, it is above our own thoughts and philosophies. Therefore, we are not free to interpret it as we please. It is God-breathed in its entirety, as Paul revealed (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Only about Scripture can it be said that it can make us “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17) Clearly, the Word that God has breathed out transcends all other forms of knowledge – sola scriptura!

Pinnock insisted that “the Apostles never thought that they were writing Scripture.” However, this is obviously wrong. Only one example should suffice:

• And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. (1 Thess. 2:13)

There is nothing higher than Scripture. Consequently, we never are free to not obey it:

·       Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

To love Him is to place His Word above all else. This is the message of “Sola Scriptura.”