“When your god is small, you can still be the biggest thing in your world.”
I heard that on Sunday. It’s been in the back of my mind ever since. Small god. Small God. It’s a fascinating thought.
I can’t get it out of my head.
See, I know people who worship the small God, the God that is more concerned about rules and uniformity than about redemption and transformation. The small God doesn’t change you; he gives you rules and demands that you change. The small God doesn’t disciple you; he disciplines you for committing errors you didn’t know you’d committed. The small God doesn’t love you; he demands you love him.
The small God is not the true God.
Even now, there are people who are reading this and going ballistic. They hear words like love, redemption, transformation, rules, discipline, and they hear something very different from me. I am teetering on the edge of heresy by suggesting that God is not concerned primarily with rules and discipline and order and obedience. I’m leading people down a wrong path, a path of easy-believism.
The reality is the opposite. Easy-believism is when you tell people that if they’ll live their lives a certain way, according to to certain code, then God will make everything work out, and if it doesn’t, then it’s their fault for not living right. Easy-believism says that everyone else is wrong and you’re right, so there’s no need to have a conversation. Easy-believism says that only people who live by certain rules truly get God.
True belief is hard. It’s challenging. There are black and white areas to be sure, but there’s also a lot of gray. And it’s in that gray that a person is forced to lean into God, to dig into the word, to search Him out for answers. It’s in that gray that a person finds themselves being transformed. It’s in that gray that a person discovers that the small God is pathetic and mean and not to much different than a petty human being; that if God exists, He must by definition be something more than we can create on our own.
And that’s why the quote above resonated with me so much: people who worship the small God want to be bigger themselves. They want to be able to say that they are special, they are unique, they are gifted or holy or any other adjective that places emphasis on them and their ability to be blessed by the small God.
Maybe that’s the tell: if your God exalts you for following him, you’re worshiping the small God.
Because the big God, the real God, the God revealed in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ, isn’t concerned about you being exalted through Him. He wants to be exalted through you. And He does that not by piling the rules on you to the point of suffocation, but by freeing you up to be who He created you to be. He is exalted most when you live a life fully free in Him.
I get scared writing stuff like this. I get scared pushing against the small Gods out there, the gods of abusers and bullies who use religion as a weapon to secure their own power. I get scared because I know those types of people don’t like being called out, don’t abide people who stand up to their scare tactics. I get scared because I know people who live that way, and I don’t wish them any harm or want to hurt them. I get scared because I don’t want to become like that myself.
More and more, though, I find that this is something I want to write. That I feel driven to write on. More and more I feel like I need to say something that presses back against the small Gods so the people who wonder if there’s something more can know the truth: there is.
And He’s so much more than you’ve been lead to believe. Or dared to dream.
Don’t settle for a small God. Don’t settle for a world where, by simply following rules you become the biggest thing. Don’t settle for anything other than the one true God.
I haven’t been keeping up with the devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. From what I’ve read, it’s a sad and horrifying natural disaster, and the response of countless people with donations of time, money and supplies has been heartening. Sometimes, we forget that people are capable of tremendous acts of sacrifice and kindness. It’s a shame that we only remember when something like this happens. In fact, there are a lot of things that we don’t think about until something like this happens. The value of human life, the need for community, the presence – or absence – of God in everyday life.
Depending upon where you fall on the religious spectrum, you might have very strong feelings about that last one. Some people will tell you that the tornado is a message from God, a statement of destruction to wake us up to the various moral failings of our country. Some people will tell you that God wasn’t in the whirlwind at all, that nature just strikes at random and we are all held hostage until Jesus returns and reboots the universe for God. Others take a middle road.
And there are a great many people who will simply say they don’t know.
Why is it that we only look for God in times of tragedy? I’ve heard a lot of preachers expound on the topic, and the consensus seems to be that we’re selfish by nature; that human beings, by default, will seek only those things that satisfy themselves. Therefore in good times, there’s no need to seek God, because the circumstances of our lives dictate Him as unnecessary. Since we have what we need, we obviously don’t need Him. It is only when the universe becomes cruel, when we see rubble piled atop the tiny hand of a child, that we seek out God for accountability. Where were you? How could you let this happen?
The problem, this view suggests, is that we don’t see the world correctly.
I think there’s truth in that idea. But I don’t know that I agree with all of it anymore. I think we are self-seeking creatures, but for some folks that means seeking God in good times as well as bad; I think we do tend to take the good times for granted, but I think we often look harder to see the evil in the world than we should; I think we do turn to God in times of trouble, often in anger or despair, but we do so seeking for some sense of answer, some idea that the things that scare us can also offer us wisdom for healing.
We turn to Him for hope that we might not otherwise see.
Sure some might turn Moore into a referendum on God’s character, but they assume that God is capable of the evil found in the destruction and not the good that comes from the people who respond. They suggest that God is an impersonal force, and thus cannot be present in the humans who are there to help rebuild. They give Him credit only for those things that would discredit Him, as if His only purpose is to be the cosmic bad guy, a reverse deus ex machina that gives us a target for a rage we otherwise wouldn’t know how to express.
It’s funny, but in denying God, they embrace a big part of what makes Him God: His ability to absorb our anger, fear and frustration, yet still love us all the same.
I suppose I should answer a few questions before I close this post out. Do I think God caused the tornado? No, I don’t. Do I think God could have diverted the tornado? It’s possible, sure, but that line of thinking is usually a zero-sum game. Do I think God was present with the victims? Yes. Do I think God is still present in the aftermath, working through the people who will rebuild – both physically and mentally – the town and people of Moore, OK?
Without question.
In the Old Testament, an ancient prophet of Israel went up on a mountain to see God face to face. There was an earthquake, but God wasn’t in it. There was fire from heaven, but God wasn’t there either. There was a great whirlwind, but still the presence of God wasn’t there.
It was only after those events, only after the cataclysmic natural phenomena that left the prophet still searching for the presence of God, that the prophet found Him. The Bible says that God came in a still small voice that the prophet heard. And when he heard it, he knew he was in the very presence of Almighty God.
“I heard something not too long ago,” my friend, Dawn Hood, said one day while we were chatting in her office over coffee. “God is good, life is hard. Don’t get the two confused.”
If anyone would understand the power and wisdom in that statement, it would be Dawn; diagnosed with breast cancer while pregnant, she not only survived the surgeries, treatment and pregnancy, she came away with a fantastic son and a heck of story. The words, obviously, stuck in my head.
And now I’m living them.
After much prayer and consideration, I resigned from my position as the Youth Pastor of Chestnut Grove Baptist Church on May 2. It was hard. I was graciously offered a three-month severance to help my family through my time of transition because I’m leaving with nowhere to go. No job offers. Nothing immediate on the horizon. Just the overwhelming sense that God wanted me to stop and listen for His direction.
I know it will involve writing. That much has become clear over the last three years. It’s a passion I’ve had forever, one that I almost followed but turned away from because I wasn’t ready. I am, I think, ready now. What that will look like, what that will mean, I don’t know. But I can only do what I know God has directed me to do, and that is put my life completely in His hands and wait on His timing.
And that’s hard.
Not because He’s unfaithful. Not because He won’t deliver. It’s because I’m so used to having things lined up – so used to “helping” Him move me from place to place that being completely out of the loop on this round is a bit unnerving.
It’s also hard because of the people it affects. I spent a bit of time on the phone this evening with a wonderful, sweet woman who was just in tears over my resignation. It’s hard – or it should be – to break good people’s hearts. It should never be easy; at least, not to my mind.
And so I come back to Dawn’s words: “God is good. Life is hard. Don’t get the two confused.”
*This is the modified transcript of a message I shared last weekend with the students of Crossroads Church of Walton County during their Disciple Now Weekend. It’s only slightly different from what was actually delivered.
This message is about defending the gospel – or, to use a more technical term, it’s about apologetics. If you’ve never heard the term apologetics, let me define it for you in a way you can understand: nerd Christianity.
Just kidding.
Apologetics is being able to explain why you believe what you believe, and to answer questions about your beliefs in a way that shows their logical and reasonable nature. The golden verses of apologetics are 1 Peter 3:15-16:
“Honor the Messiah as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give a defense (apologia) to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear.”
The key words in those two verses are as follows:
Defense – a well-thought out and thorough explanation of your position. This does not mean you have to explain everything beyond doubt, or to the satisfaction of the person asking questions of you. It merely means that you have to make a compelling case that the evidence you have for your position makes sense with reality.
Reason – solid evidence. Evidence does not have to empirical to be valid; in other words, you don’t have to have God walk into the room in order to show that He exists. You can make a compelling case for His existence without Him having to be revealed. People do this all the time in the scientific world; don’t let their burden of proof be less than yours.
Hope – this is an expected outcome, a fulfilled promise with additional works to happen at a later date. Christian hope is not like we currently define hope; it’s not wishful thinking. It is looking forward to the completion of all of God’s promises – a confidence about what is to come.
Gentleness and respect – let me be clear: in the Christian life, how you live and present the Gospel says as much about the Gospel as the words you use. There is a weight given to both your words and your actions, and if you show arrogance, anger, or other contra-Gospel attitudes when you speak of Christ to someone else, you make one of the following two statements: either the Gospel is false, or you are.
And if you want evidence for that statement, I present you the Westboro Baptist Church.
So, now that we’ve set the parameters for what apologetics kind of is, let’s turn in the Scriptures back to Hebrews 11, starting with verse 32 and reading through chapter 12, verse 1:
11:32 And what more can I say? Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,
33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34 quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.
35 Women received their dead–they were raised to life again. Some men were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might gain a better resurrection,
36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.
38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and on mountains, hiding in caves and in holes in the ground.
39 All these were approved through their faith, but they did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect without us.
12:1 Therefore, since we have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.
I want to point out a couple of things from this passage, and then show you a video clip that kind of emphasizes those points. First, people of faith have done, are doing, and will do some extraordinary things. Some amazing things. Some awesome things. Such is the nature of living and walking in the Spirit and power of Christ. Second, people of faith have been hated, abused, despised, hurt, mistreated, tortured and killed, all because they refused to give up their faith in God. Jesus told us to expect it, because the world hates what is Godly.
Which brings me to the video clip. If you haven’t seen The Avengers yet…well, shame on you. This clip is from the end of the movie, after – SPOILER ALERT – the Avengers have saved the earth from the massive alien army led by Loki. Pay special attention to the dialogue.
Did you catch what was going on in that clip? The good guys have won. The bad guys have lost. And yet…people are demanding that the good guys turn themselves in. People want them to be held accountable for the damage caused by their conflict with evil. People are calling for them to be hunted down, registered, and forced to live by a different set of rules.
Collateral damage.
It’s the price that must be paid to be a hero. Not everyone is going to find your deeds heroic. We spoke last night about how we, as Christians, have a mandate to be heroes to the world around us through the power of the Spirit of Christ within us. We are called to take a message of salvation to a world under attack; we are called to face off against the enemy of our souls in the Name of our Savior. That means we have to take a stand on things; we have to draw a line in the sand and say, “Here. No further.”
We are called by God to stand for those things even as those things are being challenged, are being changed. It is part of our mandate. And in defending those things, we will become unpopular with some. We will become pariahs to others. There will be people who call for our heads, people who demand that we be held accountable for the chaos caused by evil’s attacks.
And the question you have to ask yourself is: am I willing to pay that price?
I have been an apologist for a long time. Didn’t always know to call myself that, but it’s been my life’s work. Over the past few years, I’ve come realize that taking a stand for what’s right – what’s Gospel – is not popular. And I’m going to tell you an ugly little secret: sometimes, the people it’s most unpopular with are the folks who are supposed to be your friends. Why is that?
Because we have allowed an Americanized version of the Gospel to take over. We’ve allowed the message of Christ to be hijacked by people, both malignant and benign, and used to promote agendas that have nothing to do with His kingdom and everything to do with the kingdom of someone else. There are enemies of the Gospel in- and outside of the church.
So when you stand on the Word of God, when you stand in the Spirit of Christ, be prepared – you will be called to give an defense for what you say. You will be challenged by people to explain what you mean, why you believe it, and why it should matter to them. There will be times when you’re seen as the scapegoat, times when the tables are turned on you and you are made into the villain. So be it. We don’t live for those moments, but by the grace of God, we live through them.
But many more will be the times when you stand on the Word, for the Son, and the life-giving message of the Gospel is received. And to those people, set free by the message of Christ’s life and love and sacrifice and resurrection, you will be a hero. Check that: Jesus will be the hero, and they will see Him and thank Him and praise Him. You’ll be part of that, and rejoice too.
Are you smart enough to talk about God with a preschooler?
I happen to have many friends and acquaintances who are interested in apologetics (being able to explain the Christian faith). We are an interesting crew, ranging from folks with highly advanced Ph.D’s to schmoes like me, and we are keen on being able to put our faith into words. We want people to understand that belief in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, is not a blind leap into an uninformed, unintelligent abyss, but a reasonable belief grounded in reason and evidence.
This desire for understanding puts us in the path of people who don’t always agree with our view of the world. In fact, many apologists actually seek out those with the toughest questions, the most skeptical of the skeptics. They do this not as a fool’s errand, but as an act of worship and charity; worship, because they want to tell of their glorious God, and charity, because they want their skeptical friends to hear the truth of the Gospel. And it is exactly encounters like those that keeps my apologist friends forever reading, researching, writing, honing their understanding of God’s universe and will.
We seek, to the best of our ability, to make God known.
All of this is well and good, but if we’re not careful we can get into a rut. To put it plainly, we cheat. We tend to think that the deep questions of the faith come from mature minds, from people who are able to critically assess the universe in which they live. So we build our answers around that presumption, importing large words and sophisticated sounding terms that are meant to impart wisdom as well as create the impression that we know of which we speak. We arm ourselves for adults and feel like we have things mastered.
But have you ever tried apologetics with a not-quite-four year old?
Now THAT is a test. Perhaps the real test of whether or not you truly understand what you believe.
Because a four year old doesn’t have the intellectual or moral hang ups of an adult. They don’t have the baggage of past sins, the experience of past hurts, or any other number of objections that make faith in God difficult. A four year old is just the opposite: so gloriously free of preconceptions that their questions are truly a search for knowledge.
You don’t think about this when you’re doing apologetics with adults. You assume there’s a knowledge base of some sort, and you go from there. With kids, it’s a blank page. And it’s hard. You never realize just how silly you can sound until you try out a fancy apologetic argument on a preschooler.
It sounds about as stupid as trying to explain superheroes. In your mind it all makes sense, but you can see on the kid’s face that what you’re selling, they ain’t buying.
And when a kid doesn’t get a concept, when they truly don’t understand – but want to – they ask the question that every parent dreads hearing, but every apologist thinks they’re prepared for: why?
Why can’t we see God?
Why does God live in heaven?
Why did Jesus have to die?
Why is there sin?
Why did my grandmother get sick?
Why do some people get baptized?
Why do you pray?
Why do some prayers not get answered?
Not all of a preschoolers questions are whys, though. You get a lot of interesting whats as well: what will heaven look like? What does Jesus do all day? What if God has stinky feet? What happens if we don’t love God?
And don’t forget the wheres, whens and hows.
It is astounding how quickly the philosophy in your head falls apart in a four year old’s hands, how guilty you can be of not thinking deeply enough so a preschooler can understand.
When Jesus said it takes the faith of a child to come to God, I don’t think he meant simple-minded in the sense we think of. I think he meant it in the sense that a child seeks genuine answers with genuine awe. As adults, we just seek answers that will shut somebody up, end the argument, get us through the day. It’s a utilitarian belief rather than a sincere one. That’s a broad statement to make, but I don’t think it’s unfair.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because both of my children have been asking some profound questions, but especially my son. He wants so badly to understand things that he can turn a five minute car ride into an interrogatory hell. He asks a million questions, often repeating the same ones, not because he’s not listening, but precisely because he is. And it pushes me to constantly reframe my answers, to drill down, distill, cut away the fluff that adults will allow until I get to the meat that he’s craving.
I’lll stand on a stage and face an audience full of adults any day. And they’ll probably think I’m smarter than my son does.
So for all you apologists out there who think you have the answers down pat, may I issue you a helpful challenge, one meant to hone your own thinking and help make you sharper for the adults you face?
Sometime in the next month or so, volunteer to teach your church’s preschool class, or give the children’s church sermon.
You’ll be amazed at how much the kids can teach you.
