Playing the Flute

2006-11-21

Many things separate the God of the Bible from the other alleged gods throughout world history. God of the Bible created all things, while humankind created the other gods. God transcends His creation and does not submit to anyone else. He is alive, while the others are unfeeling idols.

Jesus uses some notable words to in Matthew 11:16-17:

“But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.”

The religious leaders of the day were expecting the Messiah to do whatever they wanted. They wanted Jesus to defeat the Romans, follow their traditions, give them signs, and most significantly, not interfere with their power. They believed their view of God was the right one, though nothing was further from the truth.

This is nothing other than animism, which is the basis for all religious systems, especially apparent in tribal cultures. In such cultures, people believe that the spirit world indwells all things and controls the events of their lives. They also believe that they need to consult a shaman to follow particular rituals in order to manipulate the spirits to survive.

Interestingly enough, we all often do the same things to a certain extent. We do things, in order to obligate God to serve us. If we have our quiet devotional studies, then God will respond to our felt needs. If we serve the community, do not commit major sins, memorize Bible verses, and whatever else, we think we can obligate God to do whatever we want. It is in the fabric of sinful humankind to believe that we can bargain with God as we do with any person we meet in this world. If we believe this, do we really know God at all? If we are trying to follow such a contrived religious system, do we worship God as He truly is, or have we invented another completely different god to follow?

Humankind is far removed from the living God of the Bible. This was the need for Jesus Christ to come to us and show us His will: to restore us to a relationship with Him. We did not invent God; God is real and we are accountable to Him. He exists independent of humankind and the created order. He has His volition, His own power, and His own existence apart from us. He loves us and appeals to us through Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the world, and rose from the dead. It is through a mandate given to the church to tell every tribe, nation, and tongue about this awesome news. This proclamation, when told in a culturally relevant way, will elicit faith, and they shall be saved.

We need to change our minds about who God is. The Lord provides for us because He unconditionally loves us, not because of what we can offer Him. He loves us because He sees us in Christ, and God is satisfied with what Jesus did on our behalf. His infinite capacity of grace revealed in our plight before Him should be our motivation to proclaim to the world of His greatness.