Are you a Christian Atheist?

Yes you read right! And it was not a typo, I am asking a genuine question and I think it is a serious one. It is possible to claim you believe in God and yet in actual fact you really do not believe in him. I strongly believe how a person lives says everything about what they believe. What you believe to be true- corresponding to reality is going to affect what you do (lifestyle). Let’s say I told you there is a bomb in the room and the timer says it will explode in 30 seconds and you say you believe me, but you remain unmoved and continue with your business. Either you have a death wish or you do not actually believe what I said. Your mouth claimed one thing but your actions said something else. Our actions and not necessarily our words will ultimately show what we believe.

Every sin springs from unbelief. Our actions, feelings and attitude spring from our thoughts. Whatever we think is true about God, our lives and circumstances will lead to feelings, attitude and actions. For example, if I think God is not in control in my life I will soon become discontent when things don’t go my way and it will lead me to take control of things and do it my way. If I don’t think God sees all things and knows all things, I will think I can get away with my thoughts and actions done in secret. Now one may proclaim with their mouth that God is all knowing but yet proceed to live a hypocritical and pretentious life and in the process confirm what they actually believe.

And it brings me back to the question, are you a Christian Atheist? Do you really believe the God of the bible exists? Do you believe He is who he says He is? And that all His attributes are true? If that is so, is your life a testimony of what you believe? Or are the words of scripture true of you when it says:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:19-21)

So what truths about God are you struggling with? Which of God’s attributes do you not believe at the moment? Are struggling with His sovereignty? Do you doubt His love, are you thinking He is not sufficient? Do you doubt His power and wisdom? Or maybe it is His grace and mercy? Do you struggle to believe that He is a just God? What do you believe about God?

“Are you frequently bored and empty, or restless and agitated? Does your labor seem to you like you are chasing after wind? Do you despise the routine and constraints of life? Is all your activity merely to dull the pain of an empty life? Are you frequently depressed and discouraged? Do you often feel alone, rejected and abandoned? Do you look for action because you have a hard time when left by yourself? Are you afraid to be by yourself because your thoughts when alone are too painful? God is poking you and reminding you that’s not how you ought to live. “(Berg, The secret to success. Lesson 3). Life in this world will only make sense and have meaning when we humbly turn to God and in faith submit our lives in worship and service.

The Untamable God!

As I been following our Bible reading plan for the year, I cannot help but be struck by the God that I continue to encounter in His written revelation. A God who creates the entire universe in a mere six literal 24 hour day span by His very Word (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3). Who promises to bring about the Deliverer to ultimately defeat the deceiver (Genesis 3:15). Who wipes out all of His sinful creation but decides to show grace to one man and his family (Genesis 6:5-8). Who does the impossible (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Luke 1:37). Who takes evil intentions and uses them for the good of His people’s salvation (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28). Who is the great I Am Who is, was, and is to come (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 41:4; Revelation 1:8). Who displays His great power in freeing His chosen people from slavery and through hardening the Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 3-14). Who thunders and appears as smoke and fire upon the mountain and warns unholy people not to get too close to Him (Exodus 19:18-25). Who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6). Who strikes down Nadab and Abihu for failing to treat Him as holy (Leviticus 10:1-3), as well as Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6-7), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), yet chooses to show mercy to sinners David (2 Samuel 11:1-12:15) and Paul (Acts 9:1-19; 1 Timothy 1:12-17). Who is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29). Who puts to death and gives life, wounds and heals, and from Whom no one can deliver (Deuteronomy 32:39). Who crushes His very own Son to death so that His chosen people may have life with Him for all eternity (Isaiah 53). Who does whatever He pleases, as He pleases, how He pleases, to whom He pleases (Exodus 33:19; Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 4:35; Jeremiah 18:5-10; Romans 9:15-18; Ephesians 1:11).

This is a God so holy that He cannot let even the smallest infraction of His perfect law go unpunished and so loving that He sent His only Son to serve as the perfect substitute for those who look to Him alone to be able to have a relationship with Him in spite of the sins that condemn them. This is a God to tremble at. A God who should bring us to our knees. A God fully deserving of all our worship and adoration. A God that you seriously don’t want to mess with. (You did read some of the examples shared in the last paragraph, didn’t you?)

I am reminded of a scene in C. S. Lewis’ children’s story, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, when the beavers are first telling the kids about the King of Narnia, the noble lion, Aslan. (Lewis wrote His Chronicles of Narnia series with the intention of teaching children about the faith with Aslan representing the Lord Jesus Christ in his stories.) As soon as they discover that he is a lion, they ask if he is “safe." The response they receive is that he is not safe, but he is good. And if anyone can appear before him “without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly” (New York: Macmillian Publishing Company; 1950; 75). He is a fierce and loving lion. What an accurate picture of God! He is not safe or tame, but He is good. He is both fierce and loving.

However, I am concerned that we have lost such a picture of God today. There has been a great attempt among many to try to “tame” God. To overemphasize His love to the exclusion of His holiness. To focus on the loving aspects of His character (His mercy shown to David and Paul as well as to all repentant sinners), while choosing to ignore His fierceness (His appearance on Mt. Sinai or His dealings with Nadab, Abihu, Uzzah, and Ananias and Sapphira as well as the eternal punishment He decrees for all unrepentant sinners). Those who do just that do not wind up “taming” God but actually “creating” a god of their own fashioning who cannot save and will leave one empty. As you continue to read through your Bibles this year, make sure to take note of the full picture of how God has revealed Himself. He is untamable and we must see Him for Who He is as He has shown Himself to us.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee

Questions To Ask Of The Bible Passage You Are Studying

Have you ever been reading your Bible and been left scratching your head? Trying to figure out what the point of the passage is that you were studying? Or wanting to know what you should take away from it? I think if we are honest with ourselves, we all have had times like this. Whether it would be trudging through those hard to pronounce seemingly endless genealogies in Genesis or Jesus’ puzzling parables in Matthew. Here are a few questions that very well might help you get more out of your Bible reading this upcoming year. Take the time to ask these questions about whatever passage you may be reading.

What Does This Passage Teach Us About God? The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. “Revelation” means “to make known.” It is through God’s Word that He makes Himself known to us. So, we learn the specifics about Who God is and what He does from the Bible. Ask yourself what characteristics about God do you see displayed in this passage. Does it say something about His love, His grace, His mercy, His wrath, His justice, or His holiness? Or do we see something that He does?

What Does This Passage Teach Us About Sinful Humanity? The Bible presents to us God’s commentary on mankind. We learn that God made man in His image. That this image became marred on account of the Fall in Genesis 3 and as a result of that act of disobedience, all men are born slaves to sin in need of salvation. Ask yourself what this says about our condition. Is there a certain sin that plagues mankind that is illustrated? For instance, the constructing of the golden bull calf by the people of Israel in Exodus 32 not too long after God’s redemption of them from their slavery in Egypt serves as a reminder of how prone to idolatry we sinful humans are and how much we need to constantly guard against such idols (which of course are not limited to statues). Or how does the passage point to our need of salvation that can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ?

What Does This Passage Teach Us About Jesus? We must realize when we come to Scripture that we are not the point. The main character of the Bible is God’s beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is His story, not ours. We are blessed that God has chosen to make us a part of the story in having Jesus save us in His death, burial, and resurrection and accepting us to become His people as He views us as righteous through our faith in Jesus alone. This means we need to be mindful of how the passage points us to Jesus. And this is just as true for the Old Testament as it is for the New. Those genealogies in Genesis begin to make sense when we realize that they are connecting us to Jesus. Moses is tracing the seed God promised who would come to defeat the sinister serpent, Satan (Genesis 3:15). He wants us to see that He will be the son of Adam, the son of Seth, the son of Enosh . . . the son of Noah, the son of Shem, the son of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the son of Jacob, and the son of Judah. Those difficult names actually serve a grand purpose in God’s ultimate plan of salvation! Also, much of what God has ordained to occur throughout Old Testament history somehow foreshadows the coming of Jesus. A good example can be found in Genesis 22 when the young boy Isaac, Abraham’s one and only son whom he loves, carries wood up the mountain for what originally appears to be for him to be offered up as a sacrifice. A couple thousand years later, God’s one and only son whom He loves, will carry a cross of wood up a mountain for Him to be offered up as a sacrifice. Where a ram served as the substitute for Isaac, Jesus served as the substitute for God’s people. Pay attention to what we can learn about Jesus from the text.

What Part Does The Passage Play in God’s Plan of Salvation?. We must keep in mind as we read through the Bible that it is all one story. There is the grand narrative of God’s salvation of sinners through the death and resurrection of His Son. Every passage serves as a puzzle piece that together forms the full picture. It is helpful for us to figure out how the passage we are reading contributes to God’s overall plan. Perhaps it might be helpful to divide this plan up into four parts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. “Creation” is found in Genesis 1-2 where God created everything good and perfect. The “Fall” is described in Genesis 3 when man disobeyed God in the garden. “Redemption” is the work of Christ to save fallen humanity and “Restoration” serves as the end of God’s plan when Jesus returns and restores everything back to the paradise it was when God originally created it. Where does the passage fit in this overarching plan?

What Does This Passage Direct Me to Do? Are there any commands in this passage that call us to some sort of action? Anything it explicitly states that I should be doing in my walk with the Lord which I am not? Anything specific I need to go to the Lord in prayer about, requesting Him to work in my life? Asking these questions will help you discover what to take away from your reading.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee