“Is God Ever Severe? Yes He is!”

That’s the title of my January 30^th post on St. John Studies.  Of course that title is designed to get your attention. Now let me write something that will make us all squirm [Christian and non-Christian alike].  We all deserve to go to Hell.  Not one human being on this earth can say “I deserve to live eternal life with God the Father.”

Is that severe enough for you?  Maybe it should be…

Matt Chandler in his book The Explicit Gospel is trying to tell us that we all need to wake up.  We all need grace.  But he goes further.  He has doubts that today’s Christian even understands what grace means and how it fits into a Christian’s life.  He does not think that people today recognize the necessity to admit to being sinners.  But here is the truth.

We are all sinners and we all need God’s grace.

In his discussion in Chapter 2 of The Explicit Gospel Chandler has already said that the God we worship is severe.  We might not want to see God that way, but He is.  The major question is why are so many not understanding the negative dimensions of God?  Because too many pastors preach that God is only a God of love, forgiveness and healing.  Furthermore, Chandler writes that today’s Christian has the attitude that “we work so hard.  We are awesome people.  Surely we deserve something!  Yes absolutely.”  It seems like Christians are trying to trade their holy work for eternal life.  Chandler counters: what we deserve is “eternal death in hell”.

Ok, I am going to cool it on the threatening language.

What does Chandler say we need to do?  We need to be honest about who we are and what we are doing.  Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  Sometimes we read that Scripture fast and skip over the important words but to me, the word that is most important is that little word all. 

I am included…

I sin. 

Sometimes it seems like I just can’t help it.  I have thoughts that just pop into my mind and those thoughts are not uplifting. Maybe they are based on some unnecessary need that I think I have to fulfill, but I still know they are wrong.  Sometimes I even act on those sinful thoughts and when I do, I am performing a sinful act.  When I find myself having to deal with other people, sometimes I find that I judge them.  Often that seems to be a natural process but when the judgement is negative, and unjustified, I know it is bad [it’s a sin].  Like most of us, I try to present the best version of myself to the world and there are times when I may not speak the truth about what I have done.  Exaggeration happens.  At least that is what I will call it, but really is it lying?  “Some” might call it that.  My list could go on and on.  I have barely scratched the surface.  Anyone would agree that I am not a perfect man, deserving of eternal life with God the Father. 

Today’s Christian (says Chandler) is into ticking all the boxes of what the Christian should do.  If we do all the things we are supposed to do, “God owes me mercy, right?”  Sadly that is just not the case.  Chandler writes “God owes no one mercy.”  What He owes us is wrath because He knows we just can’t accomplish enough “things” to deserve eternal life.  God is not obligated to extend His mercy to anyone.  Too many of today’s Christians just can’t deal with this and they cry out “It is not fair!”  “I’m not really bad” and “I deserve God’s kindness.”  It is almost like we are calling the shots about this eternal judgement thing but we aren’t.  God is in charge of this.  Complaining about God’s judgement of our behavior is the purest form of human narcissism. 

Chandler explains we have no negotiating position here.  If God chooses to save us, it is because He has extended His mercy to us and we have no right to question God’s mercy.  It is a pure gift.  Because we can’t help but be sinners, we certainly need it, but He is not obligated to extend mercy to anyone.  Paul likens this to the clay questioning the Potter “what are you going to make with me?”  The clay has no right to question the Potter and we have no right to question God about what He is doing. 

Chandler follows this train of thinking to the end by saying if we discount God’s severity, arguing that He should be kind to us; the next step is to discount the holiness of God.  The Scriptures support God’s severity and our lack of holiness but maybe God is the one who is fallen and it is we who are good.  We struggle to accept our humble place in this world.

God is all about His glory in this world.  We are supposed to operate as Christians in the world as His behest.  We exist to bring glory to Him.  He wants it.  He deserves it.  That’s what worship is all about and I am not just talking about church-day worship; I am talking about every day of the week loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Some refer to it as a continual heart attitude of bowing down in reverence and humility before the supreme Lord and Creator of the universe.  This bowing down is a daily practice.

Evangelical Christians today engage in what theologian John Piper calls “God belittlement.”  Thinking that hell could not possibly be my destination for my sinning is like saying God cannot be that “mean” to me.  “He wouldn’t do such a thing.”  Justifying one’s behavior by saying things like “I’m not that bad” is pure self-justification.  Who says you are not that bad?  Who says that you are the judge of your behavior?  Let’s be frank: isn’t that a bit “above your pay grade?”

We need to see clearly the place we have in this world.  We were not put on earth to “dismiss, deny or denigrate the severity of God, but rather to repent of our self-regard and throw ourselves back into His glorious self-regard, wondering ‘How big and mighty and infinite and glorious is God.’” [45].

What keeps us from seeing clearly?  “A refusal to be satisfied with the all-sufficiency of the God of the universe” [45]. We need to get our eyes examined.  We are sinners.  We need God’s grace.  If we can’t see that, we are indeed missing the point of the explicit Gospel and we may one day have to pay the consequences.