Only As Children Will We See the Lord

“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:2-3

In our modernized world of idolatry of intellectualism and self-actualization, we have been taught and continue to teach the pursuance of everything and anything that takes us away from being a child. 

So whether it is going off to study in places of higher education as a way to join the adult world; or whether it takes the more rebellious form of adopting the less-than-stellar habits of the adult world, such as smoking, drinking, doing drugs; or whether it is a material migration in the form of moving out of the family home and adorning one’s life with the accouterments that signify adulthood (apartment, house, car, marriage), it seems to me that nobody would ever say they want to remain a child, or go back to that mindset once they’ve shed it. 

Why does Jesus say we must become like children to enter the kingdom of God, and why don’t we do it? His reasons and our reasons are intertwined:

Once we claim Christ as Lord, we give up our self-elected kingship over our own person (and for many, a hard-won personal kingship at that!). Many are opposed to giving up that control.

We don’t want to concede to our elders when we find ourselves—surprisingly—beginning to be drawn to the Christian faith of our parents or grandparents—the very faith we vowed to resist, re-invent, re-configure or reject altogether! The crossroad here is to either swallow our pride and follow the pull towards faith, or to rebel, headstrong, and turn the other way. 

It’s ironic that many who pat themselves on the back for being independent when they reject Biblical faith are in reality simply refusing faith because they can’t stand the thought of their parents and grandparents being right! These so-called “independent thinkers” are as far from independence as one can get, because they are allowing their obstinate determination to remain separate from their parents dictate their worldview. Thus, they are more connected than ever to their parents.

Other reasons one may balk at becoming childlike, and why Jesus insists upon it:

We may remember being vulnerable as a child, and who wants to return to that?

We’ve no interest in the things that interested us as a child: reading, for instance, or unfeigned innocence.

We may think becoming childlike means re-entering a past we are quite content with not re-visiting.

But the main reason, I believe, that folks don’t become childlike in order to enter the kingdom is because they don’t know they must! And that’s precisely why Jesus tells us.

A person close to me once said of my faith, “That’s great for you, I mean, you read books and you’re smart.”

Her implication was that faith in Christ is for “smart” people. 

I was incredulous that she saw being born again, along with Bible comprehension, as an intellectual exercise!

Is that what we’ve made it?

Because Christ certainly did not!

Here’s what I wish I had said to this person:

“Actually, it was because I was so highly educated that I had a very difficult time coming to faith in Christ!” 

Yes, my love of reading is what got the ball rolling and sealed the deal, so to speak. It was through my initial reading of Scripture (as a yet non-believer) that God quickened my heart and His Spirit began to secure me. But since I began reading it before I was actually Spirit-filled, just like the Ethiopian in Acts 8, I did not know what I was reading. It would be another five years of on again off again Scripture reading before I would meet Jesus head on and enter His world—and that His Spirit would enter me.

This is not to say that it’s more difficult for an educated person to enter the kingdom than an un-educated person. It means that educated or not, we all have to ditch our adult worldview and become like children. The woman who made the comment to me had to ditch her adult perception that only “smart” people can read the Bible.

If we are totally honest with ourselves, although we look like adults, speak like adults and live like adults, many of us are still very much like a child on the inside: fearful, lonely, sad, frustrated, misunderstood and bored. That is the brokenness of child and adult alike. And that is the state Jesus wants us to stop denying and instead confess directly and personally to Him.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-29

As children in the world, we were asked to do many things we did not want to do. Do the above words from Matthew sound like something we would not want to do? To me, it sounds like the very thing I craved as a child: a person I could go to who would do just that. 

I never found that person when I was a kid. But at the age of 38, I did find that person in Christ. I brought all of the child, long cast off, out into the open before Him. And in that lowly position, I was welcomed by Christ—not because He had ignored me all those years, but because I, in all child-likeness, could finally see Him and know His presence. 

I, who in hindsight ponder the many times I sensed Him but ignored Him as a child, finally, as a grown-up in childlike spirit, once and for all reciprocated His welcome held out to me all those years. 

“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” Luke 10:2

Eric Metaxas: Martin Luther's Conscience

This is an excellent excerpt from Eric Metaxas's book, Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World, clarifying the "appeal to conscience" often associated with the great Christian reformer Martin Luther:

"Much of what has been written about that moment homes in on the word 'conscience.' Luther declared, 'My conscience is captive to the Word of God.' He continued, 'To go against conscience is neither safe nor right.' But so many historians have conflated our modern ideas about conscience with Luther's very different ideas about it that we have accepted a deeply mistaken idea about what Luther meant, and therefore about what his stand at Worms meant. Of course Luther never said the English word 'conscience'; that word is a translation from his German and Latin. The words he used, usually translated as 'conscience,' cannot perfectly be translated as what we today mean by that word. The German word he used, Gewissen, really means 'knowing.' And the Latin word, conscientia, means 'with knowing.' But there is nothing about these words in Luther's day that even implies what we today mean by the word 'conscience.' The modern concept of conscience has come to mean something almost completely subjective, as though each of us has his own barometer and that barometer were sacrosanct, as though each person's truth were comparable to truth itself. Indeed, the subjective idea of each person's truth has fairly trumped the idea of an objective truth. It implies that each of us has his own truth, and that truth is one's conscience.
     Many of the toughest critics of Luther rightly aver that the line between the one and the other concepts of truth and conscience was crossed when Luther took his stand at Worms. Once the interpretation of the Scriptures and the concept of truth was taken away from the church itself, it was given away to each individual, and real and objective truth itself was effectively abolished. Once the authority of the church was broken up and the opportunity to disagree with the church was possible, anyone might disagree with any authority, and a thousand churches might spring up, each with its own version of the truth. This is indeed precisely what happened.
     But it is important to see that despite what both his critics and his defenders have often said, Luther was never coming near anything of the kind. His concept of the word 'conscience' was not our modern view, in which conscience takes its cue from the autonomous self. On the contrary, his concept of truth did not vary one iota from the accepted Roman Catholic view. The only difference between his view and the church's view was in the idea that one's conscience must obey God himself. The Catholic Church reserved the right to say that it and it alone spoke for God, whereas Luther, in pointing out that the pope had erred and church councils had erred, was saying that the church could not reserve the right to speak for God. Therefore, if the church--via pope and councils--was able to err and to sometimes not speak for God and God's truth, Luther asserted the idea that only the Scriptures could be that inerrant standard to which everyone--including the church--must repair. Thus, if the Scriptures plainly said something different from what councils and popes said, it must be the councils and the popes who were in error and were obliged to change their views. There was no other recourse. And Luther, in saying that he could not go against conscience, was simply saying that if his own understanding, his own knowledge, as guided by plain logic and clear arguments, showed him that Scripture said one thing and anyone else--even the church--said another, he had no choice but to go with what the Scriptures said. The Word of God trumped all else. So it was not Luther's conscience that trumped anything, It was the Word of God that trumped everything. One's conscience was only one's ability to understand these things, and because he understood the Word of God clearly, he had no choice but to follow it. Luther was one of few who during that time had studied the Word of God carefully, so he had opportunity to observe that it was inerrant in a way that the church councils and popes were not. He therefore concluded that only the Scriptures spoke for God. The church must therefore bow to that greater authority.
     But something else that arises out of this discussion about conscience has to do with the difference between power and truth. By demanding over and over that he be shown where he was mistaken--if he was indeed mistaken, as the church was saying--Luther appealed to the idea that anyone could understand what the Scripture said if one only dared to look at it. He knew that if he could force them all merely to look at it, to show him his error, they would see that in fact it was they who had been in error. There was no other way for him to convince them than to bother them to look for themselves. But because they were unwilling to do this, they were ignoring what the Scriptures said and were asserting the naked power of the church..."
     
     "...Many historians have put Luther forward as the first to put 'individual conscience' before the authority of the church and empire. But ironically, he was not at all asserting the freedom of the individual to do as he pleased. He was asserting the freedom of the individual to do as God pleased--if and when the church or the state attempted to abrogate that freedom. Luther was asserting the modern idea of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience for the first time in history. These things point not to man as a new free agent but to God himself...Just as Jesus  had called upon the Pharisees to stop their outward obedience to God and go far deeper, to inward obedience, so Luther called upon every Christian to cease the petty obedience to church that was nothing when compared to the freedom and joy of actually obeying God."
Eric Metaxas, author of Martin Luther

What Does Salvation Feel Like?

People who have not yet experienced it sometimes ask my husband and I to explain what took place at our Salvation. 

And what they mean is, not what Jesus did on the Cross for us; they already possess that head knowledge (even though it hasn’t transferred yet to their soul, spirit and heart). 

What they want described is what it was that took place within us, at the moment we were saved. What did it feel and look like? 

To answer that is a tall order, since the quickening of the Spirit that leads to Salvation in Christ is unique to each individual. 

For my husband, it was a sudden and overwhelming coming-to-the-end of his very self-sufficient and highly self-regarded self. His Salvation was attended by a bodily feeling of warmth. 

For me, it was a progression of God’s truth revealed in Scripture working on my heart and mind through a series of events that, little by little, brought me to the end of myself; mainly to the end of a severe reliance on my independence and liberal, secular-humanist worldview, along with the realization that, in spite of what the self-help books told me, I could not transform myself by myself. 

Throughout it all, and the very impetus of the process, was that I had picked up the Bible and been consistently reading it, “searching the Scriptures” just as the folks did in Bible times (Acts 8:26-39; 17:11-12). 

And yet, while the details of each Salvation in Christ are particular to each person, if I had to describe the awareness and perception which accompanied that Salvation it would be thus:

In the words of Job:

“Then Job replied to the LORD:

‘I know that you can do all things; 

  no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’

  Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, 

  things too wonderful for me to know.

You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you, 

and you shall answer me.’

  My ears had heard of you 

  but now my eyes have seen you.

  Therefore I despise myself 

  and repent in dust and ashes.’”

(Job 42:1-6)

In the words of David: 

“Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak 

And blameless when You judge.” 

(Psalm 51:4)

In the words of Isaiah

“‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, 

The whole earth is full of His glory.’

And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of Him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, 

‘Woe is me, for I am ruined!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I live among a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, 

‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’” 

(Isaiah 6:3b-7)

That is what it was like when the scales fell away and I knew the LORD through Salvation in Christ.

copyright Barb Harwood

“One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25b

“Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes…” Acts 9:18a

A Philosophy Formed on Self Leads to an Ethic of Self

More on anthropocentrism from Stanley J. Grenz, writing in The Moral Quest:

"The philosophical approach begins and ends with the human person, the self...
By beginning and ending with the self, the enterprise of philosophical ethics seeks to assist the self in becoming 'better.' To this end general ethics explores what it means to be 'good,' and applied ethics, in turn, seeks to assist us in fulfilling the universal human goal of becoming a good person.
The Christian ethic, however, departs radically from this focus on the self with its attendant agenda of making human beings 'good.' By its very nature Christian ethics must begin and end with God. It finds both the basis and the goal of ethical living in God. Christian ethical reflection draws from a biblical understanding of what God is like and what God's purposes are. Hence its concern is the discovery of the divine will. The purpose of such deliberation is to advance the ways of God in the world, so that God may thereby be glorified."

Grenz is making the point that "the human moral quest erroneously begins and ends with the human person" (emphasis mine).

And here is the reason it is erroneous:

"Every anthropocentric ethic suffers from the loss of a transcendent reference point from which to derive its conception of the ethical life. Indeed, for its understanding of the good no general ethic can appeal beyond the human realm...Nor can any such ethic draw from anything higher than the specifically human for the meaning of ethical concepts such as love or justice. Thus if we operate within the confines of general ethics, our court of appeal can rise no higher than the human person or human society for the content of ethical ideals, including what it means to act justly or even to love one's neighbor."

Contrast that human-centered approach to the Christian approach:

"In the Christian ethic, in contrast, the human does not serve as the ideal point of reference. On the contrary the ultimate court of appeal for the ethical life lies beyond the human. It is nothing less than the divine nature as embodied in the narrative of God's actions toward humankind. As a result central ethical concepts such as justice and love find their definition from the biblical story of God acting in human history, which reveals God's own character."

The Fear of the Lord Brings Peace

“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Acts 9:31

Note how peace, strength, encouragement in the Holy Spirit and growth in community all coincided with the people also living in the fear of the Lord.

One might protest that peace and fear cannot, in the popular current phrase, “co-exist.”

And yet, clearly they can—and have—to great benefit!

I read news reports on how technology has increased, not decreased, our sense of alienation and isolation from others. 

Any community we do happen to belong to is framed now in the confines of a 3 by 5 inch window of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram. 

Just sit and watch as people go by on a busy sidewalk and notice how many mothers are pushing strollers with iPhone in hand, or individuals are walking along with their heads down, engrossed in checking their text messages.

And yet, depression and suicide are on the rise. The opioid crisis doesn’t seem to be going away. And millennials are seeming to surprise everyone by being no different than those who came before them, smoking and drinking all the way.

A very well-known but apparently ignored nugget of wisdom is “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

The church in chapter nine of the Book of Acts broke the chain of insanity when they feared the Lord. 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Proverbs 9:10

Why? 

Because fear of the Lord, properly understood, is respect (and we come to this conclusion by reading the Bible cover to cover). 

Unfortunately, many people have a multitude of images and emotions that play across their inner movie screens when they hear the word fear: memories of haunted houses, scary movies, being home alone, and of overly strict, perhaps even abusive parents, schoolmasters, teachers, and other authority figures. 

But to understand the fear of the Lord, one must look at the entirety of Scripture.

We see a differentiation between the fear of God and other human fears in Matthew 10:

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:24-31

This passage contains some of the most compassionate messages in Scripture: while indeed there is much to fear in the world, specifically, people who could hurt or even kill us, we are not to fear them because our fear of God is stronger.

How’s that?

Yes, we are to fear (awe, respect) the One who will reveal and make known all evil.

In the meantime, we are not to fear things and people in the world, but focus instead on listening to the Holy Spirit, and engaging with God’s Word, growing in grace and knowledge of Him, who is the caretaker and protector of not only our bodies, but our souls as well. 

Many people end the reading or hearing of this passage at verse 28, the part about hell. That is merely a tactic to avoid a right understanding of Scripture in its full context so that they can self-righteously let themselves off the hook for having anything to do with the God of Christianity.

But the very next lines are, as I already mentioned, dripping with the compassion of God:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

This is our “get out of the jail of fear free” card! 

While many people grumble and “pooh-pooh” the idea of fearing God, preferring to instead create a God they can merely like, the God we are to fear frees us from all worldly fear!  

Think of what you fear most.

Now think of all the little fears that pebble your walkway.

Now, why do humans go on in life having no problem, apparently, carrying all these worldly fears inside of them, and even participating in activities that make them fearful (we still drive in cars, go to work, read newspapers and watch the news, in spite of the fear these things elicit), when they won’t do the same for God?

It is because the fear we have of worldly things is a different kind of fear, and deep down we know it. 

The fear of God is not the same fear as that of getting in a car accident. It is not the same fear as that of being shot on the sidewalk. It is not the same fear we have of our boss firing us at work. It is not the same fear of North Korea dropping a bomb on our neighborhood.

This illogical reaction to “the fear of God” is similar to the fact that every religious thought leader in history is intellectually accepted by almost everyone, and allowed to be discussed in almost any type of conversation, except for Christianity’s Jesus. 

Try it once: bring up Buddha, Allah, the Dalai Lama, maharishis, Hindu Swami, etc. and everyone will intently draw close and murmur “Mmm, yes, quite interesting indeed.” 

But bring up Jesus in a conversation and everyone suddenly has a need to clear their throats and find the restroom.

I digress. 

But the fear of the Lord has a following like that. 

Nobody wants to go there, so they don’t. And it results in them missing out on the compassionate freedom God is imploring us to receive as His gift to us: freedom from the daily fears that exhaust and overwhelm us and keep us awake at night.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

God is saying here, “Fear me” and all your fears will recede. “Fear me,” the one who loves you more than anyone, and who can protect you and keep you even if the worst happens and your body ceases to walk the earth. 

God knows when and why each sparrow falls. We are more valuable than sparrows: God knows when and why we fall, even at death. And He is there to catch us in His loving arms, here and now and there and then.

Why would a passage on fearing God also contain an overwhelming statement of His mercy and concern for us if our fearing Him meant being afraid of Him? It means we can fear Him in the sense of His power—in creation, in ongoing events, in each individual’s life—in the sense of His authority and economy—for our good and well being (not to be at all confused with prosperity). 

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgement; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Does that sound like a tyrant God—a God whose love for us gives us confidence—not fear— in the day of judgement through Christ?

David captures the compatibility of the fear and love of God in Psalm 23:

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He retires my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness 

For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Psalm 23

This is the love for God which entails the proper fear of God. It is the love of God that in the fear of God resulted in this contritely spirited prayer of David after he sinned:

“Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;

According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions.

And my sin is ever before me.

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And blameless when You judge.” Psalm 51:1-4

Look, we already know, deep down, our transgressions. 

And if we don’t discern them specifically, we know them, especially before we are saved, generally in a downtrodden, never ceasing attempt at self-actualization to make up for our vaguely or acutely perceived shortcomings. 

As Christians, the Holy Spirit and God’s Word will delineate the ares in our life requiring attention. As Christians, we can go to God in contrition, knowing that He knows what we know and only He can make it right. 

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 

That is the proper fear, out of a deep and abiding love for God, that brings transformation to our hearts and minds. And it is what brought the transformation of an entire community in Acts 9 so that it “enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.”

copyright Barb Harwood