Individual or Person?

John Wayne and a lot of other actors personified a myth we see often in American literature, the 'rugged individual' who fights his or her lonely fight, and at some point in the story even turns away from those who offer comfort and shelter. I'm sure you've read books or watched movies along that line. The reality, though, is much different. Not one of us is

A Blessed Life

There are some great words of blessing in the Bible. Some of them are so wonderful they bring me to tears. The one I was reading last night with a couple of friends really struck me. Here it is in

Be Still and Know...Part 2

Last time we looked briefly at what silence is about, and some of its fruits. Let's continue to look at those concepts, and see what we

Invited Into our Father's Business

By Randy Bloom, Regional pastor for GCI

Trinitarian theology teaches us that God (Father, Son and Spirit) is “on mission” in the world and we are invited to participate! We participate as we actively engage with Jesus, by the Spirit, in

Being, Becoming and Doing as the Church

Last week I used football as an illustration of how, as followers of Jesus, our 'being and becoming' leads to doing Jesus' will, and how as we grow in 'becoming' like Jesus, we grow in 'doing' too. If you missed that post, click here to read it.  But did you realize the same

A Few Nothings about God

The Triune God -- Father, Son and Spirit -- are not limited in any way. God's attributes include being all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful.  So, here's a list of a few "Nothings" that apply to God:

Nothing that, from our perspective stands in our way, imposes an obstacle

"God Is" Equals "God Does"

Why did God send his Son into the world? John 3:17 answers that "God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him."  But why did God become

Love WHO???

Sometimes I don't understand Jesus. He's just a little too 'out there' for me. He's famous for the Sermon on the Mount, but that is a challenging piece! I mean, he takes the old command "don't murder" which is fairly straightforward, and makes it impossible with "don't call anyone else an idiot." Is that fair? (Maybe he only said that because he didn't have to deal with the drivers around here.) Not only that, he tells us we should love, not only our neighbors and friends, but even our enemies. That can't be realistic, can it? Maybe he had something else

Working at It Too Hard?

We can always be sure of this: God will always act in love. Why? Because we know he IS love (1 John 4:8 etc). To put it simply. God does what God is. The same is true of me and of you -- our actions come from

What Is God's Name? (Part 6)

The Bible names God as three Persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit; yet some scholars and
lay people feel those names are inadequate or wrong.  I hope this series of questions on this topic has been helpful to you!  Here's one more question:  doesn't the Bible talk about God in terms of feminine or motherly actions?  If so, why can't we call him Mother instead of Father, or Father/Mother?  There are good reasons to delight in the motherly traits described of God, yet still to call him Father.  (In this post I'm indebted to Peter Toon's work Our Triune God: A Biblical Portrayal of the Trinity.)

Let's look at one example, and then the principles involved.  Isaiah 66:13 says "I will comfort you...as a mother comforts her child."  Does this say God is a mother?  The word-picture here is a simile, where one thing is said to be "like" or "as" something else, for illustration, but the language is always of comparison, not literal statement, and nowhere is God named as Mother.  There are others scriptures, such as Deut. 32:11 and Isa. 31:5 where God is described like a bird hovering over a nest, caring for and protecting its young (Jesus uses a similar picture in Mat. 23:37), but nowhere does the Bible say God is a bird. 

God is described as Father in three ways.  First, in simile, as in Psa. 103:13, where God is said to have compassion for his children like a physical father.  Second, as a metaphor in the Old Testament, where he is described as the Father of a nation (Jer. 31:9) or a king (Psa. 2:7).  Third, Jesus reveals God as his own Father (John 3:16) of whom he has full knowledge (John 1:18 etc.) and reveals the Father to us (John 12:49-50).  "Father" then is not something we decided on and projected upward to God, but "this is God's self-revealed name and what it means is revealed by the One who is his 'Son' and by the One who is his 'Holy Spirit'" (Toon's words here).  This is no longer a metaphor but a revelation of the very name of God in Jesus' own words to us.  

Isn't God described as our Father also?  Yes, because we are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, the only begotten of the Father; but not through a separate relationship.  Jesus calls us his brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29, Heb. 2:11), and because he said so -- not because we became so on our own -- we are also the children of the Father.  

To conclude the series, then, we see that if we trust the Bible's words as accurate, we see God calling himself Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we are not free to name him otherwise.  If we are uncomfortable with those ideas, or a masculine-sounding context (never to be identified with gender in the human sense!), then it is we who need to examine our hearts and open them to God, as he is already open to us through Jesus.  Solo Dei Gloria -- to God alone be the glory!

What Is God's Name? (part 1)

If you want to get in trouble fast, try calling a loved one by the wrong name.  Those of us from large families sometimes got called a sibling's name by Dad or Mom, especially if we were in trouble -- and that just made it worse.  But what do you call God?  In the Bible, he's
Father, Son and Spirit, but a modern movement wants to neutralize these names because they're thought of as sexist.  I think you'll see that, far from being an esoteric argument by theologians in a back room somewhere, this discussion is key to truly understanding God, and resting assured in his love for us!  And for this series, I am indebted to the work of Dr. Gary Deddo, who has written clearly and with a deep love for God and others on this topic.

First, let's look at the objections, conscious and unconscious, to naming God with male terms.  Then, we'll look carefully for Biblical answers to each one. Finally, we'll see what difference it makes in our lives and our relationship with God, when we understand him for who he is, using his true names.  Ready?

When I was in college, desiring to know more of God, I ran into a roadblock:  a broken relationship with my human father leading me to mistrust God as a father.  Sound familiar?  I was afraid that God would be angry or impatient with me, as my dad often was, and it took many years to learn that he really wasn't that way.  That broken relationship with a father figure, so common in our society today, leads some to believe the cure is to change our words for God.  More about that in our next installment.

Another major argument is that the Bible was written in a society dominated by men, so descriptions of God were obviously male in character and ignored the needs of women and the true nature of God, who must have feminine traits and perhaps a female person.  If all that is true, it creates a lot of additional concerns for us!  We'll answer that too.

Finally, the argument goes, if the Bible really does ignore a female side of God and the needs of women, as some say, then the Bible and Christianity is simply another method for oppressing women.  If that's the case, then the whole foundation of Christianity -- including a male Savior -- is in a lot of trouble.  Would you like an answer for that?

Please bear with me!  We'll see that there are solid answers for all these concerns, answers that actually tell us a lot more about who God is.  By doing that, we will learn to trust his love for us more than ever! 

The Love of the Holy Spirit

The greatest human need is to know we are loved.  And most of us try to love others as well as we know how.  Most of the time.  Unless
we're upset with the other person, or they said something stupid to us, or hurt us in some way, or they got on our last nerve, or we just don't feel like it.  Then we retreat into our Fortress of Solitude, or sing Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock" to ourselves and pretend we don't need the other person anyway, so there.

The Holy Spirit changes all that.  He is the very essence of the love of God., and the Father sends him to give you and me God's love, which is the only way we can love anyone else (1 John 4:19).

Do you believe the Father loves you?  In fact, he loves you just like he loves his Son, Jesus!  "May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  (John 17:23).  He doesn't want you to live in fear and torment, but in a relaxed assurance of his complete love for you.  Let's look at more of 1 John 4:

• "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (verses 9 and 10).  
• "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.  And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us" (verses 11-13). 
• "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.  God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect" (verses 16-17).  
• And then John says, summarizing these verses, "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love" (verse 18).

If we are afraid of the future, it is because we don't grasp how much we are fully loved by God.  If we are unable to love others, it is because we don't grasp how much we are fully loved by God.  The Holy Spirit will fill you with the complete assurance of God's love for you, as you ask him to.  That's one of his main jobs. 

Are you ready to know God's love completely?  Just ask him!

The Holy Spirit of God

Pentecost is in just a few days (May 27).  This celebration, which started out in Israelite life as a harvest festival (Lev. 23:15-21) came to full life in the New Covenant era when the Holy Spirit was given to the assembled disciples:  "On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.  And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability" (Acts 2:1-4).  It was clear that a whole new era was beginning, and the church continues to celebrate the Holy Spirit's person and role on this day.   

But the Holy Spirit seems mysterious to us.  There are only a couple of dozen references to the spirit of God in the Old Testament, and none of them is very clear as to what's going on.  For sure, this spirit comes from God, and when the spirit appears, God's will gets done (see for example 2 Chronicles 24:20).  But there's not much more until Jesus talks about the Spirit in John 14-17, and quite a few more descriptive comments in Acts and in the epistles.  So today, let's look first at some of what Jesus said.   

In John 14:16, Jesus says "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you."  The Greek phrase used here is allos paracletos.  The word "allos" means “another (in this case, Advocate or Helper) of the same kind.”  Jesus had been teaching them, correcting and encouraging them, helping them know the Father, for three years or so.  Now he would send another just like himself to the disciples -- which includes you and me, of course. 

In John 14:23, Jesus continues "All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them."  And in verse 26, "But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you."  The Holy Spirit's role is to continue teaching, leading, correcting and encouraging us, by bringing the Father and Son to us in a living, ongoing interchange of love as they make a home in our minds and emotions.  We gradually learn to "hear the voice of God" and follow.  

There's a lot more, but let's remember:  the Holy Spirit is "another one just like Jesus" and is "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor 2:16).  So it's important we learn to recognize and follow his voice.  We'll keep looking at that for awhile. 

Face to Face (part 4)

Many people read the Bible and conclude there are two Gods -- a distant, demanding and judgmental "angry sky god" in the Old Testament, and a gentle, loving, compassionate and sacrificing Jesus in the New.  They want to hide from the old, angry one and get loved on by the new one.  Behind that idea is the unspoken concept that Jesus sneaked down onto the earth when the Father wasn't looking, figured out a way to save everybody by standing in the way of the thunderbolts the Father aimed at sinners, died on the cross and then had to get resurrected so he could explain the whole thing when he went back to heaven.  (The Father, according to this idea, had to forgive Jesus his sneaky insolence, because of the good result.)

Not so.   John 1:1 says the Word, who became Jesus (that name means "God saves") was 'face to face' with God from the beginning.  John 3:16 says "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son..."  John 4:34 says "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me."  John 5:19-20 says "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing...For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing."  And in John 8:29, he says "And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him."  


Jesus speaks of the intimate contact and love between him and his Father in John 17.  Verse 24: "you loved me even before the world began!"  Verse 11, "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one."  Verse 21, "I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you."  

There is no other God for us to know than the one we see revealed in Jesus.  In John 14:9, he says "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!" And in 17:26, "I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them."  What love is that?  17:23 says "I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me." 

There's the real kicker.  Knowing God is not some sort of five-page essay test, and if you don't get a high enough grade you're out.  Instead, when we look to Jesus, seeing and trusting him to bring us into that intimacy with the Father, we also get to see the Father, face to face.  When we do, we will begin to see the depth and magnificence of the love of the Father for the Son from eternity (John 1:1 and 17:24, see above); and we will come to see that the same exact love is given to us, for free, because of Jesus.  

Look at Jesus, and get face to face with the Father.  It changes everything!

Cats and God, part 1

The McCulley household once more includes cats, by name Haley and Susie. They are cute, I must admit, even though I'm not a cat lover. They do what cats do -- eat, sleep, play ChasePounce, stretch, test their claws on the furniture, and so forth. It's easy to see that they are cats; they act like cats. And the reverse is true: if I see claw marks on something, I know they've been around -- clawing is one of those things cats do (and I don't).

It's like that as we come to know God. We can know God by what he does (I don't care how many meteorological explanations there are for a sunset, God makes them!), and by what he tells us he is like in the Bible. And we can be sure that what we are told about him is not only true, it's according to his nature -- to who he really is in his being.

God told us a lot about himself in the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians usually call the Old Testament. But as the opening verses of Hebrews (the epistle in the New Testament) say, now God has spoken to us directly: "Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son." However, more than his speaking, but in his very essence, Jesus the Christ was the person of God among us: "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven."

If I want to know what cats are like, I watch cats. If I want to know what God is like, I watch Jesus, because he wasn't just a representative from God, he was and is God. That's why Jesus could say to Philip, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father" in John 14:9. Jesus wasn't an apparition, he wasn't an angel, he wasn't an exalted human, he wasn't just a special teacher -- he was (and remains) God in the flesh. He deserves all honor and glory and praise because he is God. And on top of that, we have an eternal debt of gratitude to him because he did us the eternal favor of dying to pay the penalty of all sin, so we could enter into shared life with him.

God really is who he reveals himself to be through the Son. We can fully trust that Jesus truly reveals the will and character of the Father, and his love for us. The surprise, when we finally get to see God, will be in the sheer magnitude of his person; not in what he is like. That, we already know, through the Son. Hallelujah!