Thoughts From Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves

Dear Friends,

Today’s “thought” has to do with your view of God. Or I could add in question form, what moves you to serve God? Is it fear? Is it a sense of responsibility, duty, or obligation to him considering all that he has done for you through Christ? Or is it his worth and beauty and unmatchable glory? Do you serve him because you feel you should or must, or because he has captivated and ravished your heart with the knowledge of how great he is?

This selection is from the book, “God Shines Forth” by Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves. And the subtitle speaks of the book’s overall theme – “How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church.” I found their words convicting—since I unwittingly fell into a couple of the traps he speaks of—and can therefore speak of their truth. Enjoy.

“Those Who look to Him are Radiant…”
Psalm 34:5

What we truly worship and cherish will, for good or ill, be revealed in our mission. It is possible to look completely theologically orthodox while serving God in this world. We may doggedly cling to the inerrancy of Scripture, the uniqueness of Christ, the doctrine of hell, and the substitutionary atonement while—all the while—exposing the world to an undelightful God. The God we know—or think we know—is the God we will show to the world…

Having spiritual life is vitally important, but simply being born again does not guarantee spiritual vitality and fruitfulness in mission. It is essential for our own hearts and for our own witness that we have a right knowledge of God; that we are ever deepening in our appreciation of his goodness and constantly refreshed in his kindness. Even the truly regenerate will fall into spiritual ill-health if they allow their knowledge of God to stagnate and become domesticated. When we come to Scripture and have our minds renewed in the truth of God, we will find not only our own thinking corrected and realigned, but also our proclamation beautified and sharpened.

Jonathan Edwards is famous for his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached in 1741. It is an unflinching exposition of the danger of hell for the unconverted. A few years later he was struck by a conversation with his friend David Brainerd. Brainerd had been preaching the Gospel to the Indians in New Jersey and reported, “It was surprising to see how their hearts seemed to be pierced with the tender and melting invitations of the Gospel, when there was not a word of terror spoken to them.”

Brainerd’s experience convinced Edwards that people could be converted even without the threat of judgment provoking them to fear. They needed to hear about God as the first and greatest priority. The glory of God in Christ was sufficient and powerful enough to draw unbelievers to repentance and faith. Of course, Edwards was not wrong to preach “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” and he never turned away from preaching judgment, but his growing desire was to have his preaching filled with the glory of God. After Brainerd died in 1747 and Edwards started Brainerd’s biography, his own writings were increasingly marked by an even sharper focus on God’s glory and beauty. As his knowledge of God was deepened, his mission and ministry were enriched.

Real fruitful ministry must begin with delight in God. This absolutely relies on orthodoxy (believing rightly), but affirming truths cannot guarantee it. Our hearts must be filled with the glory of God in Christ. His glory, more than simply boasting splendor and strength, exudes joy and beauty; awakening joy in us and fertilizing our proclamation of him. As one theologian has put it:

“God is glorious in such a way that he radiates joy, so that He is all He is with, and not without, beauty. Otherwise, his glory might well be joyless. And if a different view of His glory is taken and taught, then even with the best will in the world, and even with the greatest seriousness and zeal, the proclamation of His glory will always have a slight or dangerous degree of something joyless, without sparkle or humor, not to say tedious and therefore finally neither persuasive nor convincing.”

…We become like the one we worship. His happiness makes us happy; his kindness makes us kind. [The same with God’s love, mercy, compassion, graciousness, forgiveness, and so on. What we believe God to be like determines what we will become like – Ps. 115:8]

Then, made beautiful like our Lord, with compassion and verve, we will carry the blessing of Jesus to the ends of the earth. When Isaiah called the people of Israel to ‘arise, shine,’ it was because ‘your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you’ (60:1). This was no frustrated call for them to ‘get up and jolly well get on with it,’ but a promise that amid the darkness covering this world, ‘His glory will be seen upon you” (Is. 60:2). The Lord himself was to be with them, enlightening (60:3), enriching (60:5), and beautifying them (60:9). As God shines upon his beloved redeemed people (60:16), so he will shine out from us.”

Lot’s of Truth to Contemplate and Digest, Pastor Jeff