DOES GOD OWE US ANYTHING?
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According to LifeSiteNews, while speaking to crowds at the Vatican, June 7, 2017, Pope Francis declared that “God cannot be God without man:
∑ Dear brothers and sisters, we are never alone. We can be far, hostile; we can even say we are ‘without God.’ But Jesus Christ’s Gospel reveals to us that God cannot be without us: He will never be a God ‘without man’; it is He who cannot be without us, and this is a great mystery! God cannot be God without man: this is a great mystery!
Instead, this is a great heresy. God was certainly God before He created the world along with man, and from all indications, He was not languishing without us.
Is this unbiblical proclamation significant? Will it affect our relationship with God? Certainly! For one thing, God requires that we worship Him in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:22-24). When we worship Him with the belief that we have satisfied God’s need to be God, we are failing to worship and relate to Him as He wants us to do.
For another thing, that idea that “God needs us” can lead to boasting and arrogance – the very thing that God had purposely eliminated through His grace to the undeserving (Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:26-29). Admittedly, the Pope’s claim is very humanly appealing and self-exalting. Therefore, many cults make use of it and preach that “God also depends on us.”
To guard against such hubris, Scripture instructs us that we are unable to give God something that He requires to make Himself complete:
∑ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” (Romans 11:33-35)
If we have given God the gift of completeness, He owes us. Instead, He wants us to understand that grace and salvation are perfectly free gifts. Jesus didn’t die for us because He owed us but because He loved us.
When we believe this way, God will humble us. Jesus explained:
∑ …For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14)
BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY VERSUS THE PROGRESSIVE VERSION
A liberal/progressive Christian wrote me to explain why he prefers his brand of Christianity. I responded:
“Let me try to contrast the bright picture you have painted of Liberal Christianity with a more Biblical Christianity.
“Let me try to contrast the bright picture you have painted of Liberal Christianity with a more Biblical Christianity.
The first and greatest commandment, according to Jesus (and the rest of the Bible), is unequivocally:
∑ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” (Matthew 22:37-38)
How do we love Him? It is again unequivocally a matter of trusting in and keeping His
Word. This means that pragmatic considerations are secondary. It also means that loving others is a matter of keeping God’s teachings:
Word. This means that pragmatic considerations are secondary. It also means that loving others is a matter of keeping God’s teachings:
∑ By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:2-3)
This might sound harsh or sterile to you, but it isn’t to us. Actually, it is our life and a joy to serve Him. It is also to love others. Let’s use the example of transsexuality. If we really love those who want to pursue a sex change, we will warn them about the consequences.
First of all, we would be giving them a false hope by claiming that they can enjoy eternal life with the Savior and still refuse to repent and turn from their sins.
In contrast, some misleadingly claim that Jesus accepted all. Well, He did, but He also insisted that they had to repent:
∑ And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:2-5)
Secondly, we might talk about the empirical costs of this lifestyle which are overwhelming. However, I do not want to overwhelm you, so I’ll quit here.”
New York School of the Bible: http://www.nysb.nyc/
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