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The upside down God of a backward minded people.

By Ernie Garcia

 

One of the most popular expressions in the church at large the last couple years has been the ole Don't put God in a box expression. I really think its neat that the church is finally willing to let God be God and put aside some preconceived notions about who God is and how God should act.

 

Its funny how when we read scripture in the gospels we find ourselves frowning on the behavior of the Pharisees who refused to break religious tradition in spite of the fact that the very God they were trying to please stood face to face with them. I know that I personally have found myself thinking what fruit cakes these people had to be. How could a Pharisee that had the whole entire Torah memorized not recognize his Messiah? How could they not have recognized the wisdom of Jesus as being divine?

 

At the same time that some of us ponder these kinds of thoughts, how many of us swallow bait, line and sinker every word of the doctrinal statement of the denomination or movement we are affiliated with just because someone said this is how it is? Now don't get me wrong I am certainly not saying that church organizations are all bad but what I am asking is this, do we really explore for ourselves what God is doing or saying or do we just take someone else's word for it for credentialing purposes? Jesus Himself said it best when He said I can only do what I see the Father doing What is the Father doing in your life? Have you stopped to ask Him or waited to see? Or do you let someone else tell you what the Father is doing in your life?

 

I think it would be interesting to see What Would Jesus Do if He was on earth today, physically like He was 2000 years ago. What would He be doing really? I know we all have our ideas of what he would be doing or who he hanging around and so did the Pharisees and Sadducees then and they were real surprised. They were so surprised that they couldn't accept Him as He is due to their traditions and preconceived notions of what and who God was supposed to be.

 

Am I trying to convey a tolerance message with this article? Absolutely not. How can anyone do that without putting God in a box? We have grown afraid to even deal with the possibility that God doesn't like some things. Even if we believe God doesn't like some things we sure better not express that idea for the fear of upsetting someone in our seeker sensitive setting.

 

I am real sorry to say this now but God actually hates some things that people do, he hates some of the things that I do. That is why the coming of Jesus to die on the cross was necessary in the first place.

 

But then there are those who say Don't force your God concept on me and I wont force mine on you. I wont claim that I have everything about God figured out or for that matter I don't think I have much at all figured out, but this I know ,the basic ideas of my faith have been around for like 6000 years and have withstood the test of time beautifully. Its not some thing I made up and shaped around my lifestyle or molded to my convenience. I've learned that suffering with Him is a part of my faith. I have learned that I will struggle with different areas of my life until I receive an eternal glorified body. This thing we call Christianity is a difficult thing and it takes time to develop as we are molded and pruned.

 

We westerners expect everything immediately, maturity, healing, wealth, fame etc. I serve the God that led his people around in circles for 40 years teaching them how to deal with the freedom He was about to give them. Spirituality takes time.

 

Think about it when we say we are broke and about to lose everything what does He say? He says give. When we say we are paralyzed from the waist down what does he say? He says take up your mat and walk? When we say Lazarus is dead he says Lazarus come forth He is the One that walks on water, the One who defeated death once and for all. He made eyeballs out of mud generated from dirt and saliva.

 

But our minds and traditions whatever they are want to dictate and summarize what He can or cannot do , what He does or doesn't do anymore (now that the cannon is established).

 

You know when I read of Saul of Tarsus it always intrigues me that this man was very passionate about persecuting Christians. He hated Christians and liked it when then were killed. He was appalled by their very existence and what they were about. We know the story in Acts about how he was converted but the part that gets me is the bible says he began to preach the gospel at once (Acts 9:20). Wow, what the heck happened to this guy? His whole world was turned upside down. Can you imagine what his friends thought? He had to have lost his parking place at the country club.

 

Jesus appeared to Saul as Himself, not some made up cardboard savior or tradition bound messiah. It was Jesus Himself the same Jesus that had compassion on adulterers, prostitutes, drunks, tax collectors, cripples, lepers, demonized and well you get the picture. Man you talk about outside the box He came to earth and hung out with the lowest of the low. Where would he hang out in this day and age if He was in your city?

 

The title I came up with for this article makes sense to me in that we think backwards it seems like compared to what He thinks about some things and also He tends to turn some things upside down by being Himself. I am learning that things really arent about what I believe about who God is but they are about who God really is. The challenge we have as His people is to get to know for ourselves through prayer, devotions, the Word, worship, whatever but learn to listen with your heart to what He is saying, He wants to share this with you because you are His creation , His child.

 

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Ernie Garcia 31,is the youth pastor of high youth ministries in Boone Co. He resides in Pueblo Colorado with his wife Francine and his daughter Sloan. High youth is a ministry of the Arkansas Valley Vineyard Church. E-Mail highyouthmin@aol.com  

 

 

  

  

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