 Since we talked about the Wrath of God last week and whether it’s something to focus on or not, I felt that today would be a good time to address what it is that we are supposed to actually be doing.
Many people think we are supposed to spend our time correcting people’s behaviors, calling out their sins, and warning of the impending doom in their future. Again, as I have said off and on throughout the history of these blogs, I used to think this way before I learned who God really is and what He has called me to. Now, I see my purpose on earth as something relatively simple and easy to summarize. I believe the Gospel should be simple, and that we must guard it closely to be careful not to add anything to what we are actually called to do. For my brothers and sisters out there who believe we are called to warn and criticize, they typically cite scripture like Ezekiel 3, a scripture passage we call the Watchman warning. For years, I thought my calling was to do much of the same. I lived out Ezekiel in zeal, calling out people’s faults, mistakes, and ignorance in an attempt to cause repentance. I lived in a sort of fear that if I didn’t tell everyone I met that God was about to destroy us for our sins, then I would have to live with their blood on my hands for remaining silent. I didn’t understand my mission. I thought I had to speak about dreadful things and warn people of the terrible things they were headed for, even though those warnings have never done anything for me in regards to my own repentance and transformation… “Jeff, are you then saying that we aren’t supposed to speak to people?” I am in no way saying this. WE MUST tell the world! We have a specific job to do. We are Christ’s ambassadors, imploring people on His behalf to be reconciled to God. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 is beautiful: 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. So here in-lies our purpose: we are to carry a single message to the world- God does not count people’s sins against them. Talk about a hard pill to swallow. I was literally trained to believe that my job was to warn people of the wages of their sin. I believe that is Holy Spirit’s job… John 16:7-11 says, “7 But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 about sin, because people do not believe in me; 10 about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.” He, Holy Spirit, comes to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. You and I, however, are given a different task- to reconcile a lost world to their loving Father. Our task is that of the Prodigal son’s Father. What does that look like? Well, I believe it’s found in John 20:23. “23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” In a word, our ministry and message is a single word: Forgiveness. We are supposed to focus on God’s desire to forgive, not on God’s ability to judge. And lastly, how is forgiveness possible? The last part of our calling is simply to love EVERYONE. In 1 John 4:7-21, John wrote that we are to love everyone, no matter what. If we love them, we won’t have unforgiveness. We all know that when we truly love someone, it is easy for us to forgive them. Whether our spouse, best friend, or significant other if we love someone it doesn’t really matter what they do, we stick close and defend them, forgiving their faults. So, in short, our calling, our Mission on this earth is simple: tell people that God loves them and does not count their sins against them, forgive them when they make mistakes, and love them with a radical love that sees no wrongs and definitely doesn’t keep a record of wrongs.
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 Does God get angry?
Talk about a loaded question. Some people would answer quickly, “No!” Others would be fast to shout back, “Absolutely He does!” Both can quote scripture to prove their stance… For example, for those who believe He gets angry, they would quote Psalms 7:11- “God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses His wrath every day.” And those that would say God doesn’t get angry would quote James 1:20- “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” They would also share Ephesians 4:31- “Get rid of ALL bitterness, rage, ANGER, brawling, slander, along with every form of malice.” Isaiah writes in 24:7, “I am not angry.” So is God angry or not? It seems like a contradiction… one scripture says He is angry every day, while others says that all anger is bad, righteousness cannot exist where anger does, and that God himself says He is not angry. A lot of people say God has a righteous anger that is different than what we have, and that is what James was referring to in 1:20. I have heard a lot about righteous anger in my lifetime. I have yet to find that phrase in a bible, though. In actuality, what I find in scripture is a clear message that anger and righteousness cannot exist in the same place. And as a matter of fact, the quote from Psalms 7:11 is a bit challenging. When I read the Hebrew, I don’t see the word wrath. We would be looking for a word that sounds a lot like “hamat” like in Psalms 76:10 for example, but what David chose to write was the word ”zoem”- which means to denounce or speak against. What David actually writes in Psalm 7:11 is that God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his disapproving judgments every day. That doesn’t necessarily sound like anger to me. The Hebrew word for anger is “appeka,” and that word isn’t written here either. David used that word in Psalm 7:6, where David calls on God to get angry and to let rage flow against his enemies, trying to wake God up and judge them. David even goes on to tell God that he is righteous, and that God needs to attack the wicked people that are against him. As you can see, David is angry and wants God to be angry, and in the middle of this statement David says verse 11. But God, Himself, says He is not angry. Scripture does say that He was angry, but then it says He would not always be angry- Isaiah 57:16-17-- “’I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me- the breath of man that I have created. I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him, creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will heal them.’” God was angry, but then Jesus came, and He gave us peace (John 14:27). The angels came on the night He was born, and they sang in proclamation that Peace had come to the earth! And Romans 2:4 says, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you toward repentance?” So now, we can see that God wants us to know of His kindness. Ephesians 2:6-7 state that God has placed us on the throne with Him to show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. This means God is trying to show us His kindness because it will bring us into repentance. Speaking of Ephesians 2, in verse 3 you will find the word “wrath” again. But this time, the original words are in Greek. “Orge” is the Greek word for wrath. However, in Ephesians 2:3, the word written is “loipoi” which means- bereavement, as in the loss of a loved one. This is the wrath of God, now. This is His anger. Lastly, in 1 Corinthians 4:5 Paul talks about the judgment of God. He will bring light to what has been hidden in darkness, and He will expose the motives of men’s hearts. It seems pretty heavy, but the verse doesn’t end there. It has one more sentence, which says, “At that time each will receive his praise from God.” That has often confounded me. Here, Paul writes about the judgment of God and it seems so heavy, almost scary to me. Then, he ends by says that the judgment of God will be to praise us. That got me wondering if I could find a scripture to back up this idea… and I found one: Matthew 25:21, 23. Both times, the Master replies to the faithful servants, “Well done good and faithful servant!” Jesus then goes on through the rest of the chapter to explain more about judgment day and how God will receive those who are faithful. So does God get angry? I’m not sure. He is definitely not pleased with many, based on their relationship (or lack of one) with Him, but I'm not sure it is Anger. The point I am trying to make here is that if you have a relationship with God then He loves you, remembers your sins no more, and wants to demonstrate His kindness to you. If you don’t have a relationship with God, then He is not angry with you, either. He loves you and is trying to show you His kindness so that you will want a relationship with Him. He made us for relationship with Him. So I choose to focus on His love and not His anger, and I hope that today, you can focus on His love, too |
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July 2023
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