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I have no idea why we did it, but somehow we’ve managed to take that which was originally intended to be clear and simple, and we’ve made it muddy and complex. The Christian Church has had access to the New Testament message for 2000 years. We have studied it, interpreted it, applied it, dissected it, and in some cases distorted it. It seems we’ve done everything we could do to it but take it at face value.
Jesus told us that if we didn’t come to Him as children, we couldn’t come at all (Matthew 18:3). I realize that He was speaking about the initial childlike faith that begins a trusting relationship with God; that this was not a matter of theology, but of relationship. But let’s not forget Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “Let no one corrupt you from the simplicity that is in Christ.” I am convinced that the more we understand of the Bible and the more clear the message of Christ becomes, the purer and simpler will become our spiritual lives. I believe that making the Bible complex isn’t necessarily a sign of intelligence. Spiritually, it would be a fatal misconception for us to spend our lives examining the Scriptures with the goal of getting some kind of vast intellectual grasp of the so-called deep things of God, only to discover at the end that we totally missed the heart of the Bible; that the “deep” things of God were things a child could understand. We don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we can’t see the forest for the trees.
I want you to try and picture a scene the Lord is describing in Hosea chapter 11:1-4,
“When Israel was a child, I love him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from Me...It was I who taught Ephriam to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them.”
Assuming most of you either have, or were, children (a fair assumption) then we can relate with one another when we are talking about our mutual experience of learning to walk. Bending down in front of us, our parents took us by the hands and gently led us forward as we stumbled and giggled along. We were so cute! Actually, we were ridiculous, but to our parents we were the greatest thing since sliced bread even though we basically knew absolutely nothing about life except that this “hand-walking-thing” was cool. We weren’t perfect; we weren’t great thinkers or great theologians; we weren’t even great walkers, but our parents were excited about us.
God was excited about Israel, about Ephraim, in spite of their many shortcomings. Whether He was holding their hands, freeing them from the yoke of slavery, or disciplining them for their (too often) rebellion, His love never changed. He was their Father; they were His children.
I’ve heard all the arguments about how it’s OK to be like little children when were young, but when we are older we must “put away childish things” and grow up, etc. Well, I think we may be putting away the wrong childish things. That phrase, found in 1 Corinthians 13:11, is addressed to an arrogant, immoral group of Christians who were being exhorted to move from childish pride to mature humility. Moving from childhood to maturity in the spiritual sense of those words does not mean moving from simple to complex; it means moving from being a little like Jesus to being a lot like Jesus. Spiritual advance has much less to do with intellect than it does with character.
Spiritual advance is an issue of character first and intellect second, and many in the church have totally reversed that! I know this may sound kind of hokey, but when I read Hosea 11, and when I read in the Gospels about how the Lord Jesus related to kids, I can see a child run into the room, hop up onto his parent’s lap and rest in that parent’s arms totally at peace. Is the child perfect? Of course not. Does the parent still have plans for the training, growth, and even discipline of that child? Yes. But they both know, at that moment, exactly where they stand with each other. They are in love and they don’t need words or affirmations, they know it, they relish it, and they are enjoying it totally.
I have a really difficult time expressing my feelings in relationships; I’m sure a lot of you do also; it seems to be part of what it means to be an American. But there have been times in my life with my wife, my children and others, when silent adoration was the greatest communication we could have had.
I will admit also, that I’m having a really hard time being so far away from my daughters who live in Eastern Europe. All of my kids are incredible and I ache to be near them whenever I’m not. We may not say all we need to say or all we even want to say, but sometimes it’s enough just holding each other and knowing, without any doubt, that we love each other.
What if it’s that way with God? What if our best moments with Him, and His best moments with us, have more to do with silent adoration and the deep personal assurance of mutual affection than anything else? One of the best paintings I’ve ever seen of Jesus and His disciples shows Jesus standing with His arms out and one of His followers, with eyes closed, is burying his face in Jesus’ robe. No words, no doubts; just quiet resting in the love of Christ. As they say, “It doesn’t get any better than that!”
The Christian life isn’t mean to be complex, distant, technical, or cold; it’s meant to be warm, living, innocent, simple and loving. It’s meant to be a relationship, pure and simple; a Father holding our hands and teaching us to walk with an occasional silent hug thrown in just for the peace and joy it can bring to both of us.
When this life on earth is over and we enter eternity there is a great deal we will understand that we don’t understand now. And we will be occupied with reigning with Christ and exploring the wonder of God. But the more we learn and the greater our spiritual life becomes, the closer we will get to God’s original intent in the garden of Eden – Creator and creature walking hand in hand in the garden in the cool of the evening. When our pilgrimage here is over and we understand all the mysteries that can be understood, we will find ourselves sitting on our Father’s lap in silent adoration – the place we were intended to occupy before time began.
Let no one corrupt you from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Trinity Baptist Church
711 Fairview Dr. Moscow, Idaho 83843
208.882.2015
trinity@moscow.com
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