False Ideas Christians Believe About…Temptation

Author’s Note: It’s been 2+ months since I wrote for this blog, and I’m excited to get back to it. A very busy season of life has finally eased up, and I want to catch up where we left off in the series on False Ideas Christians Believe. In order to speed the catch-up process, what you will read in the remainder of the series is the full sermon rather than the smaller portions, which was the approach I had been using. I’ll also be posting the current sermon series, which just started this past Sunday.

Remember the classic story of temptation, that of Adam and Eve in the garden when they were tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge?  After they give in to temptation, God asks them about it. Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the snake.  Certainly it wasn’t their fault!  This story is so powerful because we see ourselves in it. We struggle with temptation just like they did, as you will see in the phrases we’re fact-checking today.  Here they are:

  • The devil made me do it.
  • That just the way I am. Deal with it.
  • The temptation was too strong. I couldn’t resist.

When I found the picture above, I thought, “Yes, that expression captures the way this phrase is often used!”  Whatever that guy did, he is really trying to defer attention away from himself.  He knows it was all his fault, but he wants to make a joke out of what he did.  He wants us to think that it was no big deal!

Can we defer our sins onto the devil?  We can try.  And actually, I think we often do.  When we say, “The devil made me do it,” how seriously do we mean to talk about the devil?  If we seriously meant those words, then we would be saying that we were possessed by Satan or a demon, and that they took control of our body and made us do something that we actually didn’t want to do.  We would be insinuating that our free will was temporarily overridden by a more powerful sinister force, and there was nothing we could do about it. 

That’s not going to hold water for most situations.  You’d be better off pleading temporary insanity. 

The reality is we know what we did.  We chose to do the wrong thing.  It didn’t have anything to do with Satan or a demon.  We say “the devil made me do it,” though, because we got caught, or we’re about to be punished, and we don’t want to face the consequences.  Sometimes we say “The devil made me do it” like the guy in the photo above, with a smirk and an eye roll hoping to get a laugh from the other person to diffuse the tension a bit, and hopefully lighten the consequences. 

That said, we can seriously blame Satan, but in another way.  We might not say, “The devil made me do it,” but I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard people talk about Satan as involved in many circumstances.  Usually it is when a person is going through a rough time, and they say that Satan is at work. 

So how involved is Satan and his demons in our lives?  Is he constantly at work trying to tempt us?  Is he hovering around all the time?  Is he here right now? 

Many people in the Faith Church family have told me that they have been in the church alone at night and thought, “this place is super creepy.”  Me too. I walk through this place in the pitch black all the time.  But are Satan and his minions hanging out in churches waiting for us Christians to stop in after hours for some reason, and he is rubbing his hands together thinking, “Now I have them!”?  That makes for great TV and movies.  But real life?  What does the Bible say?

First, of all, Satan is real and he is powerful. 

In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter describes the devil as our enemy who is like a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour.  This is no joke.  Peter is saying that the devil is serious business and we need to take him seriously.  The devil does want to take Christians down. 

But that doesn’t mean we need to be walking around in fear all the time. 

Peter goes on to say, “Be self-controlled and alert.”  Further, Peter says, “Resist [the devil], standing firm in your faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 

Also, James 4:7 teaches that we can submit ourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from us.  James goes on to teach that we should come near to God, and God will come near to us.  So while Satan is real and powerful, our response should be to grow closer and closer to God, who is infinitely more powerful than Satan! 

We are not alone in this.  God is with us! 

Consider how Jesus himself resisted temptation.  We read in the Gospels that Satan tempted Jesus, and each time Jesus resisted Satan.  But Jesus chose a very interesting method of resistance.  Jesus could have simply overpowered the Devil, as he is infinitely stronger.  It is a no-contest.  But Jesus chose a method that fit quite well with his humanity.  Each time Satan tempted Jesus with a way Jesus could sin, Jesus resisted Satan by quoting from the Bible!  Jesus countered Satan’s lies with truth from God’s word.  Satan’s lies were incredibly similar to the lie the serpent told Adam and Eve in the Garden: “There is a better a way, God’s way is not the best way, indulge yourself.”  That lie sounds so good.  But Jesus shows us that we can stand firm on the truth of God’s Word.  Jesus serves as an example for all of us.

So we can make a practice of knowing the word of God! Study it, learn it, and become familiar with it.  Employ it, say it, use it to declare truth to a temptation.  As Psalm 119:9-11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”  Memorizing is a practice we ask children to do, but what about teens and adults? 

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the basics.  In God’s word we have gift.  Most ancient Christians had very little access to God’s word.  What they were required to do was memorize it.  So I would encourage you to consider your level of interaction with the Bible.  We can fool ourselves into thinking, “I know where it is if I need it…it’s on the shelf…or on my phone app.”  The reality is we so rarely go to it.  The Bible is not God, so we need to remember that we are in relationship with Jesus, not with the Bible.  We can grow our relationship with Jesus by studying the Bible.  That’s not the only way, but it is an important way.  It is especially helpful to do so in groups.  If you are not part of a small group for Bible study, I encourage you to consider it. 

Remember that Jesus himself gives us an example of knowing the Bible, and finding great help in the Bible to resist temptation. But what about when it seems that God’s help is not working?  Have you ever felt that?  Maybe you’ve prayed for victory over temptation, and you have prayed and prayed and prayed, and you just keep struggling. 

And you keep failing.  You keep indulging the temptation.   Frankly, that giving in to temptation may have even hurt you personally, and it may have hurt your relationships.  The pain has been real.  But still you can’t stop.  Still you give in to temptation. 

Maybe you’ve thought the next statement:

We can think like that, can’t we? 

I’ve mostly heard people use this statement two ways.  Both are dangerous.

The first way is almost a proud owning of a tendency in our lives.  For example, a person might say, “I’m just an in-your-face person, and that’s how it’s going to be.  You don’t like it?  Tough.  The truth hurts.  Deal with it.”   This kind of person knows their issue, and doesn’t seem to care that it might leave wreckage in their wake. 

The other way I’ve heard this used is by a person who doesn’t want to be a certain way, but after trying hard to change, has made little or no progress and feels hopeless.

The first person might say, “Well, God made me with free will.  If he didn’t want me to sin, he shouldn’t have given me the option.  That’s just the way I am.”

The second person might say, “Well, God made me with free will. And I don’t like it, but I’m afraid that’s just the way I am.”

In both people, there is a clear indication that it is God who made us this way, and though they don’t say, it is implied that it is God’s fault. 

Or sometimes we think in terms of biology and genetics.  “Well, I am predisposed to it, it’s been in my family for generations, so it’s not my fault. It’s God’s fault.  My dad was an alcoholic, and so was his dad before him, so that’s just the way we are.” 

For me, this one is personal, because I struggle with anxiety.  My mom does too.  It very well could be genetic.  The more researchers learn about DNA and the human genome, the more they are finding about how so many issues are genetic and passed down.  It would be very easy to say, “Well, I guess that’s how God made me, and therefore, that’s just the way I am, so deal with it”?

What about you?  It could be an anger problem.  It could be an addiction.  It could be an attraction.  Perhaps our bodies are guiding us and we have less free will than we think?

In James 1:13-15 we read that God doesn’t tempt us, but “each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” 

See what James is saying?  Temptation is so often not an attack on us from the outside, as if we are being assaulted by temptation, and it is just too strong.  James is saying that temptation so often comes from within us.  We have desires in us.  And we allow them to control us, giving them control.  We indulge them, and they grow and grow.  James is very clear that we shouldn’t be blaming others. 

So while there is a sense in which free will could mean that we do have an option to indulge temptation, we have to see that it is an option.  Giving in to sin is not just the way we are.  We can say no to temptation. 

And that leads us to our next phrase:

It sure feels like temptation is this strong powerful force, doesn’t it?  It feels like it is outside us and pulling us in.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 10.  He refers to episodes in Israel’s history when they indulged in sinful pagan revelry.  Paul is reflecting on times when Israel worshiped false gods and idols, when they committed sexual immorality, and even when they grumbled.  We don’t often think about grumbling and complaining as much of a temptation, but Paul mentions it in Philippians 2:14 where he adds arguing.  How often do we consider that we are tempted to be complainers, grumblers and arguers?  Here in 1 Corinthians 10, I’m glad Paul brings it up, because usually we only think of being tempted to steal or lie or lust or overeat or something like that.  We can also be tempted to complain, grumble, and argue.  We can be tempted to be jerks. 

What is Paul’s response to this?  He does not want the Christians to be anything like the Israelites.  Instead, in verse 11, he says that the Israelite stories serve as examples to us, as warnings.  In particular, they are warnings to us to be humble and teachable, so that we don’t think things like, “Well, that’s just the way God made me,” as if we are destined to give in, as if we cannot change.  I get it.  If you are a person who has a proclivity to a certain sin, it can seem impossible to overcome. 

Some of you have battled and battled.  Some of you, after reading biblical passages like the ones mentioned above, feel convicted about a certain behavior, and you pray to God for help, you receive his forgiveness to start fresh, and in fifteen minutes, you’ve committed the sin again.  It can feel so frustrating.  So hopeless.  In frustration, and maybe spiritual depression, we can say “That’s just the way I am.” 

To that God says in 1st Corinthians 10:13, through Paul, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

There is hope.  God is stronger than your sin.  There is a way out. 

Notice the imagery that Paul uses.  It is not an image of removal of the temptation.  That’s what I wish he said!  I wish he said, “But when you are tempted, God is faithful, and he will eliminate the temptation and you will never struggle and life will be easy.” 

Nope.  He said, God will provide a way out. I love that! Yes, give me an escape hatch, a way out, far far away from the temptation.  The way Paul is starting this image awesome.  But then Paul surprises us.  He says that the way out is not an escape hatch, but something that will help us stand up under the temptation. 

Wait?  Did Paul just bait and switch on us?  He gets us all excited and happy for the way out.  We who are so frustrated and worn out by temptation, and longing for a way out, are thanking God for the way out, but then Paul says, the way out doesn’t remove the temptation.  It is strength to endure. Strength to say no.  Strength to deal with it.  Strength to resist. 

Hmm…I’m not sure I like that.  I don’t want to have to resist!  Who is with me?  We are so used to life being easy and comfortable in our society, that we don’t want to stand up under anything.  We want to sit on a recliner or sofa or bed and lounge.  And that goes for the way we approach sin.  We don’t want to struggle with temptation. We’d rather it be easy to defeat.

But God says, “No, temptation will always be there, but not more than you can handle, especially because I will help you stand up under it.” 

What does that look like?  What is this help, this empowerment to stand up under it?

It could be the community of believers we call the church family.   We need one another.  We can and should encourage one another to stand strong.  We can and should hold one another accountable.  We can and should confess our sins to one another, and ask for prayer, for advice, for help.

It might need deeper attention though.  If you are battling and addiction and losing, you may need professional help.  Go get that help.  I’ve personally gone to counseling in two different periods in my life.   Six sessions each time.  Both counselors were incredibly needed and helpful.  You might need to see a counselor or a spiritual director too. In conclusion, let us know that there is hope and strength and provision when we face temptation!

God doesn’t expect that much from me? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 5]

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How much does God expect from us, really?

It is very tempting to think, “God does not expect that much from me,”  when you know you are so thoroughly loved by God, so thoroughly forgiven, and in fact rightfully believing that there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. We can almost theologically justify “God does not expect that much from me,” by saying that we are saved by grace through faith not by works. 

But that would be an improper way to live out the theology of grace.  Let me say clearly that this phrase is right only when it comes to our salvation.  It is true that God expects nothing from us in that sense, because Jesus did all the work salvation required through his birth, life, death and resurrection.  Only he could do that.  We could not. 

But our response, James says in James 2, is to have a faith that works in thankful gratitude for God’s grace.  Paul said the same thing in Titus 2:11 when he said “Grace teaches us to say, ‘No’ to unholiness and pursue a righteous life.” (my paraphrase)

Jesus also taught that God expects everything from us.   He told his disciples, “Die to yourself, and follow me.”  There is only one way to follow Jesus, and it is by giving your life completely to follow him.  Believing is not even close to enough.

Jesus told the rich young man, “Sell all you have, and give it to the poor.” Yet how many of us, upon hearing Jesus teach like this, think to ourselves, “Well…he doesn’t really mean that, does he?”

Sojourners magazine recently ran an article about wealthy Christians in the midst of so many in need.  The author talked about how Christians know there are people struggling with homelessness, for example, and yet we rarely give up our vacations or our hobbies in order to make a difference.

In the Deuteronomy series we talked about how Old Testament Law is not binding on Christians.  Consider how that relates to the practice of generosity. We Christians might say, “Whew…I’m glad I’m not bound to the Old Testament Law, so I don’t have to tithe like ancient Israel did…I don’t have to give to 10%!” 

But if you look at the New Testament teaching on giving, it is way more sacrificial than 10%.  In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul teaches the Christians to give generously, sacrificially, consistently and cheerfully.

And it is not just money.  It is about our whole lives.  Jesus lays claim to our entire lives, including our bodies. 

“You are not your own,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body.”

God’s desires for Christians is that we will give all to him.  All means all.  That might sound scary or too difficult.  But remember that God has your best interest in mind.  His ways are far superior to our ways.  Are we willing to trust him with our lives?  Go all in.

So as we fact-check this one, God doesn’t expect you to do anything to save yourself, but as a follower of Jesus, he expects you to give everything.

God wants me to be happy, not angry, and never to doubt? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 4]

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In 1 Timothy 3:12 we read that “all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”  Woah.  Maybe God doesn’t want us to be happy, and only cares about us becoming godly or holy, even if it takes us being persecuted? How are we to understand this?

Does God want us to be happy?  It sure seems like he would, right?

In this series of posts we’re fact-checking common phrases Christians believe, and in this post there are two phrase: “God isn’t interested in making you happy; he’s interested in making you holy.”  VERSUS “God always wants me to be happy.” Which is it? This takes some explaining.

First of all, God is most interested in our character, in our heart.  And sometimes going through trials is the way to get to our heart.  But as we have seen in previous posts in this series, the trials we go through are not necessarily from God.  The world is broken and fallen, and we will have troubles in this world.  God can redeem those struggles, though, as we strive to follow him in middle of our troubles.  And he promises that he will be with us always.  The result is that we do often grow in godliness during difficult times. 

But can we grow in holiness through joy and plenty and comfort?  Yes.  That’s why a life of spiritual practices and habits is so important.  God calls us to pursue practices like prayer, biblical meditation, silent listening, generosity, and disciple-making all the time, not matter if life is going great or if it is really difficult. 

So the phrase “God isn’t interested in making you happy” is wrong.  God DOES want us to be happy!

Remember the festivals in Deuteronomy?  God embedded happiness and celebration in the life of the nation of Israel.  Ecclesiastes talks about enjoying life.  Philippians says “Rejoice in the Lord always!”  And James 1:2-4, says “Consider it joy when you face trials of many kinds.”

It is very hard to feel joy in the middle of the pain. 

Is there a difference between happiness and joy?  Can we be joyful while being unhappy? 

Happiness is fleeting.  Joy is a choice.  It can be hard to distinguish the two.  Especially for those who struggle with anxiety.  “Consider it joy?”  This means that you can use your mind to control your emotions.   Happiness is an emotion, and emotions do not always tell you the truth.

So we need to remember verses like Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.” 

The song “Just Be Held” by Casting Crowns speaks to this when it envisions God saying to us, “if your eyes are on the storm, you’ll wonder if I love you still, but if your eyes on the cross, you’ll know I always have and always will.”   

Isn’t that so similar to the lamenters in Psalms?  In the pain they turned and ran to the Lord rather than running away from him.  And when they ran to him, they brought all their pain and doubt and anger to him.

And that is a great lead-in to the next phrase we’re fact-checking:God is not OK with doubt and anger.

We’ve referred to James 1 already.  Take a look at verse 6.   “When he asks he must believe and not doubt”?  Wait, is doubt wrong?  And later in verse 19, “be slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life God desires.”  So doubt and anger are wrong?  Or are they?

Read the psalms, the laments.  In them you’ll find gut-wrenching doubt and anger.  Raw pain. 

That means we can also declare that this is a false idea.  God is absolutely okay with doubt and anger. 

Saying that God is not okay with doubt is potentially dangerous, making it seem like a good Christian should never struggle with doubt. There is a sense in which God doesn’t want us to doubt.  He wants us to trust in him.   We should have faith in him.  But even then, we have to remember the promise of 2 Timothy 2:13, “if we are faithless, he is faithful for he cannot disown himself.”

In Mark 9:17, we read a fascinating story that relates to doubt.  The disciples were trying to cast a demon out of a boy, but to no avail.  The father of the boy brought him to Jesus to help.

Notice the father’s response to Jesus: “I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief.” We all doubt, and we all get angry.  Remember that there is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God.  But God’s gracious love for us should also not be an excuse to just stay in our doubt or anger.  Instead, God’s grace should motivate us, make us grateful, to trust in him and allow our anger to subside.  If you have an anger problem that keeps popping up, and you can’t control it, I urge you to get professional help.  It’s not okay to be angry and damage people. 

God’s love for me is determined by my behavior? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 3]

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How many of you have secretly wondered if we have sinned so badly that God actually doesn’t love you anymore?

I remember when my grandmother was in hospice near the end of her life, and she had really struggled with anger, and with treating my grandfather with unkindness in those later years, in a moment of vulnerability, when it was just me alone with her in the room, she said with tears in her eyes and an ache in her voice, “Joel, I have been a bad Christian.”  It was heart-breaking, and yet very authentic of her.  I don’t remember her doubting God’s love or fearing that she lost her salvation, but she definitely agonized over her sin. Many of us do the same, fearing that God no longer loves us.

That’s why in the post we are fact-checking the phrase: “God’s love for me is determined by my behavior.” Let me state this clearly: this phrase we can deny wholeheartedly.  Let me just read a few passages for you. 

First Psalm 103:8-12: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

And then Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God always loves you, no matter who you are or what you have done. 

But what are God’s desires for us? Check back in to the next post in this series, as we’ll fact-check more phrases related to that topic!

Religion/Ritual bad, Relationship good? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 2]

Is religion automatically bad?  Some Christians are very anti-religion because they feel it goes against the concept of relationship.  But does it? 

Read James 1:26-27, and you’ll see James suggest that religion is not only a viable way to view our connection with God, but that God approves of religion that has a heart for social justice and righteousness. 

Before we study this further, it could be helpful to define the term that James uses. What is religion? The word “religion” is defined as:  appropriate beliefs and devout practice of obligations relating to supernatural persons and powers.”[1] That definition is somewhat different from what we normally think of when we view religion negatively. We think of a ritualistic approach to worshiping God, an approach that is called “dead” or “rote” or “empty.”

Have people ever said to you, “you are very religious”?  In our society, the people who say that usually don’t mean “you are practicing empty rituals”.  They usually mean that you are pious, and maybe even that you have a close relationship with God, or that they wish they could live that way, and that is a good thing.

When we hear someone say to us, “you are very religious,” we might inwardly (or also outwardly) bristle at this suggestion because we evangelicals have made such a big deal of emphasizing that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship.  We can react quickly back, “I do not have a religion, I have a relationship!”  But I would suggest that we hold our tongue.  The people we are talking to might have very little idea of what we are taking about: a religion vs. relationship.  They almost certainly didn’t mean to suggest that we are practicing an empty, dead ritualistic approach to God. 

Instead they probably observed our relationship with God, assumed that it is religion because that is how they conceive of Christianity, and thus they were actually complementing us.  So a proper response on our part, when someone says, “you are very religious” would be to say, “Thank you.”  That kind of gracious response is much more likely to open the door to a conversation about faith in Christ, than if we were to respond curtly, “UH…NO!  I do not have a religion.  I have a relationship.” 

Instead, allow yourself to live with their viewpoint, and take their words as a complement, say “Thank you,” and pursue a line of discussion that is gracious and generous and kind, talking about how Jesus has been so meaningful and life-changing and that you have a real friendship with him. 

The other side of the coin is that a ritualistic approach to Christianity is not necessarily wrong.  That is what James is referring to back in James 1.  As Christians we actually do have a religion.  A religion is simply a word that refers to the set of practices that we engage in.  Think about what you do when you gather for worship with your church family. You sit in a room, practicing gathered corporate worship together.  Jesus even commissioned his disciples to regularly practice rituals like gathering for prayer, teaching, communion and baptism.

Many people in protestant evangelical churches might respond, “But we are not at all like the liturgical churches and all their rituals.” 

That is the impression that we have of ourselves.  That we are completely different, and we are right, and they are wrong.  I totally disagree.  Let me explain.  Yes, our liturgy is different than their liturgy. 

I remember when I was on sabbatical and went to the Orthodox church, and it felt like I was a on a different Christian planet. Nearly every surfaced is covered with religious art called icons, and their worship service could be described as highly ritualistic.  But you know what?  Every church that I visited on sabbatical had their own liturgy.  We do too. 

Liturgy is a term that pops up in the Bible here and there, and it simply means “the work or service of the people.”  This is why we call our gatherings “services”.  Used in relation to worship services, “liturgy” carries the idea of what Christian people do, the work we do, of worshiping God.  When it comes to liturgy, there is no one right way.  High liturgy, which features lots of rituals, can minister deeply to people, enhancing their relationship to God.  No doubt, Faith Church is much more on the side of what is called low church, involving less ritual.  But we still have plenty of ritual too.  We don’t print it in a bulletin, but when I preached this sermon, I asked everyone present to describe the order of service we typically use, and they were able to list it out. That order describes our liturgy, our ritual.

But here’s the important thing to remember about our ritual, our liturgy: it is designed to enhance relationship with God!  So both are true, Christianity is a religion, and a relationship. 

[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 530.

Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s desires for Christians. Part 1]

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What are God’s desires for Christians?  He just wants us to pray and read the Bible, right? 

Well, actually there are a lot of ideas about what God wants his people to do.   Unfortunately not all the ideas are based in Scripture. In fact, some of the ideas that Christians use to guide their lives, or to assure themselves that God is honored by their lives, are downright false.  Sometimes we create alternate Christian realities that insulate us from truly knowing and following what God wants for us.  What does God actually want for us?  In this series we’re going to find out that it might be surprising. God’s desire for us is sometimes in direct conflict with what Christians desire for ourselves.  Because that can be very hard to take, we can create false ideas about what God wants us to do, or how he wants us to live.  So let’s do some fact-checking about ideas that Christians believe about what God wants for us. 

Have you heard any of these phrases?

  • Christianity is not a religion it is a relationship.
  • God isn’t interested in making you happy; he’s interested in making you holy.
  • OR it’s opposite: God always wants me to be happy.
  • God’s love for me is determined by my behavior.
  • God is not OK with doubt and anger.
  • God does not expect that much from me.

Each week as I have displayed these lists of phrases, I’ve thought, “Whew…what are you all going to think?  There are some phrases each time that seem like they absolutely should not be on a fact-checking list, as they are phrases that are obviously true.”  Same goes for this week. 

Right off the bat, that first one is one that Christians say so frequently that it can’t possibly need to be on this list, right? 

Actually, last week, I had one of those strange moments when I was writing one line of thinking, while at the same time considering another thought to myself.  I wrote that, “God gives us free will because he does not want us to be robots, but wants us to be in a real relationship with him,” and at the same time as I was writing, the thought hit me, “next week you’re going to be fact-checking this!”

Am I now disagreeing with myself? I’ve probably said this phrase thousands of times: “Christianity is not a religion it is a relationship.”

So what is Christianity?  A religion or a relationship? When we think of religion we think of harsh rules and dead rituals, and in our evangelical tradition, we have reacted quite strongly against that, saying that Christianity is not a religion, instead it is a vibrant relationship with God. 

Let me start this fact-checking by saying, I agree with that!  Take John 15:12-17, for example. There Jesus says to his disciples, “I call you friends.”  He says that he so deeply wants to be in friendship with us that he lays down his life for us.   It’s not just an acquaintance; Jesus says he wants to be in close friendship with us.

He is describing real give and take. 

Think about relationships with me.  How does a relationship start?  And how is relationship maintained?  It takes lots of communication.  Real time spent together.  That’s what God desires to have with us!

As a result, some Christians are very anti-religion because they feel it goes against the concept of relationship.  But does it?  Is religion automatically bad?  In our next post in this series, we’ll look at the concept of religion more closely. For now, let’s take time to dwell on the words on Jesus in John 15:12-17. He wants to have a close friendship with us! In fact, he did lay down his life for us to make that friendship possible. Consider your own relationship with Jesus. Would you call it a friendship? How does it compare to your human friendships? What would it look like for you to pursue closer friendship with Jesus?

God works in mysterious ways? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 5]

Does God seem mysterious to you? Confusing? Distant?

In this fifth and final post in our series fact-checking phrases about God’s involvement in our lives, we’re seeking to evaluate the phrase: “God works in mysterious ways.”

This is related to “everything happens for a reason”.  When we say “everything happens for a reason” we are saying we believe God is working things for good, and though we might not immediately know that good outcome, if we look for it, we will find it.  Or we might realize it later on.  Sometimes it only becomes apparent many weeks, months or years later. 

But when we say “God works in mysterious ways,” we are saying that we might never figure it out.  That sometimes God’s purposes are unknowable.  Sometimes God is mysterious. In fact, the Bible teaches this.

In Isaiah 55:8-9 we read, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Or we could turn to, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)

So what does this mean?  Theologians tell us that one of the first things we need to learn about God is that he is incomprehensible.  What “incomprehensible” means in the theological sense is that we in our human capability will never be able to fully understand God.  God will always be somewhat mysterious to us.

But that does not mean he is totally mysterious, as he has revealed himself to us.  In fact we Christians believe that he has revealed himself quite extensively, to the point that we can know him well.  He has revealed himself in nature, in his Word, and especially in Jesus, who shows us a wonderful picture of what God is like. 

What do we learn about God through what he has revealed?  That God wants to be in relationship with us, and he has revealed enough about himself for us to have a close relationship with him. 

When we say “God works in mysterious ways,” however, we are often in a quandary, unable to figure out why a bad thing has happened.  Thus it can be our attempt to console ourselves.  There is, however, another way we use “God works in mysterious ways,” as expression of trust.  Though we don’t understand our pain, we still want to express our faith in God. This is in keeping with the psalms of lament which, after a major complaint against God, still include a statement of trust.

“God works in mysterious ways” can also be an expression of frustration or despair.  We might not want to be in the situation.  We want answers and details and they are not coming.  We don’t want God to be mysterious, and we rebel against the confusion. 

Think about Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he was going to be arrested and crucified.  What was God’s answer to Jesus’ prayer?  “I hear you, son.  But you will have to go through this.”  Sometimes God will answer in a way we don’t expect or we simply don’t like! 

The problem is that saying “God works in mysterious ways” can give the idea that God is random, or purposefully mysterious, almost like he is playing games with us, trying to be sneaky or tricky.  There is no doubt that there will be situations in life that we cannot figure out, but God also has tendencies, patterns, ways of working, and is not mysterious.   As you walk with God, you get to recognize his work in the world. 

To say “God works in mysterious ways” can be a way of pushing God to the margins of life, however, rather than embracing him in the midst of mystery.  Think again of the psalms of lament, crying out in complaint to God.  In those laments, the psalmists are fully embracing the mystery, and yet still reaching out to God, seeking to bring him close in the middle of the pain. 

So in conclusion, we Christians believe God is at work in the world.  Yes, there are times when we might not be able to figure out what he is doing or why.  But we use our free will to choose to follow him, to honor him, in the middle of the pain.

If you are trying to comfort or encourage people who are in pain, I encourage you to avoid these phrases we’ve studied in this series of posts.  I know it can be very hard to know what to say, and thus we often default back to what we have heard ourselves.  This is the tendency where as adults, to our horror, we realize, “I sound just like my parents!”  Even when we promised ourselves we would never say the things our parents said to us.  Now it’s coming out of our mouths!  Why?  Muscle memory.  We heard it said to us, and it just comes right back out.  Often we learn later in life that what our parents said was actually based in wisdom! But when it comes to these phrases we have been fact-checking, we would do well to battle the tendency to just let them spill out without thinking.  It might mean forcing yourself to be quiet.  It might mean giving the hurting person a hug and simply saying, “I’m here for you, I love you, call me anytime,” and then checking back on them over and over and over, not giving up on them.

Let go and let God? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 4]

I would like to recommend that you not say the following to people going through pain: Let go and let God.

This is popularized in Carrie Underwood’s song, “Jesus Take The Wheel.” 

Before I explain why this might not be a helpful statement, it is important to note that there is much to commend about “Let go and let God.”   Especially the idea of relinquishment, which is encapsulated in the common Christian sentiment: “Lord, have your way in my life.” 

Furthermore, this idea is biblical! My favorite expression of relinquishment is found in John 15:1-4.  There Jesus teaches that not only should we depend on God, but he also says that we humans need to see our powerlessness, and therefore depend on his power.  In other words, we have to depend on God because we are unable to accomplish the kind of life God desires for us apart from him.  God wants us to give up control of our lives to him, making him Lord of our lives.

So what could possibly be wrong about this statement? 

First, it might not be appropriate for certain people you are trying to reach out to.  A friend of mine told me a story about a fellow soldier in his National Guard unit.  This guy was a very typical alpha male, my friend said.  A “Get ‘er Done” guy, who could handle anything you bring him.  He is the kind of person who would receive “Let go and let God” as a weak statement.  We Americans have a tendency toward individualism, and it can be hard for us to give up control of our lives.  If you know you are talking with a person like that, it might be a bad idea to say to them “Let go and let God.”  It could even come across as offensive to them.  I would recommend looking for another way to reach them.

Second, this statement needs clarification: “Let go and Let God” does not negate the responsibility we have.  “Let go and let God” does not absolve us of effort on our part. It is very much connected to what we said in the series fact-checking common phrases dealing with difficulty when we talked about the phrase “God helps those who help themselves.” Take a look at how these two phrases could be in direct contradiction to each other: 

“God helps those who help themselves” emphasizes human responsibility to obey God.

“Let go and let God” emphasizes human dependence on God.

They could be conceived as contradictory, but I would like to suggest that these two phrases actually work together well.  Both are needed, providing checks and balances on each other.

God does not ONLY help those who help themselves.  As we saw last week, sometimes God helps people who are incapable of helping themselves, because he is merciful and gracious like that.

Likewise, when we “Let go and let God,” we must still be actively depending on him, and working to serve him and grow and become like him.  Depending on God, at least in part, means letting go of our ways of thinking, or our cultural ways of thinking, and doing things God’s way.  Following the way of Jesus.  Learning from him how to live. 

My conclusion is that “Let go and let God” needs some explaining. Avoid using it as guidance for those going through a difficult time, unless you balance it with further explanation about what it means to depend on God, and why that is so important. By itself, “Let go and let God” could be very vague and confusing, and as a result, counterproductive. At it’s root, though, is a wonderful concept of relinquishment that is vital for disciples of Jesus.

Check back in to part 5 as we fact-check our final phrase about God’s interaction with the world: “God works in mysterious ways.”

God is in control? [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 3]

If God is in control, why does the world seem totally out of control?

In the previous post in this series, I referred to three reasons bad things happen. Christians struggle to make sense of evil and pain in the world, just as anyone does. Why would God allow it? Why did he create our world this way? We often respond with a shrug, and a fairly tepid, “Well, God is in control.” Usually Christians understand God’s control in one of two ways, and we’re going to review them in this post.

First, some say that God has given us free will, because he wants to be in a loving relationship with us, and that requires free will.  In order to have a real, genuine give and take relationship with God, we need to be able to say “No” to him.  We need to be able to deny him, to turn away from him.   If we have no other choice but to love and obey him, that would not be a genuine relationship.  That means we would have no free will, or maybe we would have a seriously diminished free will, and I suspect few of us would really want that.

There are, admittedly, times in my own life when I say to God, “Lord, make me a robot for you, because I am so sick of my constant screwing up.”  But if God would turn off our free will, our person-hood would cease to exist, and we would essentially be robots.  The result of free will, though, is that we are NOT robots, and that means we often make terribly selfish choices against God, against each other, against ourselves, and against the world.  Those selfish choices lead to pain and disaster, as we see all the time on the news.  You might think, “Geesh, if that is what God did, creating free will…was it worth it?”  Because the pain and evil has been really bad, hasn’t it?  It has!  God took a massive risk in creating free will.  Thinking relationally, he risked that his creation that he loved, you and me and all humanity, could deny his love.  When you give people a choice, they can and do sometimes make poor choices. And thus there is much pain in the world.

So the free will view explains that God actually does give up a measure of control…and he gives it to us.  But we’re not all bad, right? We can do amazingly beautiful creative loving things with our power, limited though it is in comparison to his.  Throughout the ages, people have done acts of amazing artwork, invention, unity, friendship, commitment and love.  I’m not just talking about famous artists or world-changers.  We all have an opportunity to use our free will in God-honoring ways.  From how we parent and grandparent.  From how we neighbor, how we work, how we handle ourselves in school, and certainly how we participate in a church family.  Lest we get too negative and jaded, we need to look for the amazing results of godly free will all over the planet. 

So maybe the free will view could be summarized as saying that God is in control to the degree that we give him control?

That brings us to the second way Christians explain the presence of evil in the world. God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is about God’s control.  Free will gives humans control. Sovereignty says that God has never given up control, no matter how out of control the world seems.

We believe that God is control in the master plan sense.  Satan or evil people cannot ultimately thwart God’s master plan. Throughout Scripture we see this many times.  Nothing could stop Jesus from being born, from living his life, from having his ministry.  Nothing was going to stop the resurrection of Jesus, for example.  Nothing will stop him from coming back.  In that sense, yes, God is in control.

But he also gives us a measure of control.  My denomination, the EC Church, is in the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition and we believe God allows free will, and we must use our free will to choose him.  Many do.  And it is a primary aspect of the mission of God’s people to help others choose God too. 

But we also know many do not choose God.  So there is a proper sense in which the phrase “God is in control” needs some explaining.  If all we mean, when we say “God is control” is that he is going to work out his master plan, then it is a true statement.  But if we mean that God is going to make things great for people in suffering, then it is not a true statement.  He might allow the pain to continue.  We might never know why we went through the pain.  In fact, there might not be a spiritual reason.  It could simply be that we live in a broken and fallen world.  To people in those situations, it could actually be counter-productive and harmful to say to them “everything happens for a reason” or “God is in control.”  As we saw last week, there’s a much better way to come alongside people who are struggling.  And we’ll talk more about that in a future post in this series.

One thing I would recommend we don’t say to people who are struggling is the next phrase that we are fact-checking, and we’ll cover that in part 4.

3 reasons bad things happen [False ideas Christians believe about…God’s involvement in our lives. Part 2]

Does everything happen for a reason? Many people believe so, but as we discussed yesterday, sometimes things happen because of the kind of world we live. What do I mean by that? What kind of world do we live in? Our world demonstrates at least the following three tendencies that very much affect why things happen.

First, something scientists call the second law of thermodynamics – this is a principle of heat transfer that says things, generally, move from order to disorder.  The technical word for this is entropy.  Things rot, they rust, they wear out, they break.  It is the super-rare exception that a car, for example, would improve its working order.  Cars break down and need tune ups.  Our bodies heal, yes, but the normal tendency is that they age and break down.  This is what Paul is likely referring to in Romans 8:21 when he says that creation is in bondage to decay.

Second, Satan is in the world, tempting, lying, and as we read in Scripture devouring. And he is no joke.  We should be cautious in our view of Satan’s influence.  I so often hear that a person is going through a difficult situation because of Satan.  But we really don’t know that Satan is responsible, do we?  If your car is broken down, it’s almost certainly not because of Satan; it is because cars follow the second law of thermodynamics, and they break down.  It seems to me that we are generally too quick to blame Satan, and maybe we blame Satan when it was actually our own fault.  He is real, though, and powerful, and he does tempt and devour.

The third way to describe our world is talk about the broken and fallen nature of people.  People are in the world using their free will in ways that are selfish and harmful.  Sometimes we are dealing with pain of our own making.  Sometimes the pain is brought on us by others.  Sometimes it is both.  Because we have free will, and we don’t always use it in a way that is in keeping with God’s Kingdom, it leads to pain. 

But does that mean God is hand’s off?  Deism is a view of God that says this.  God created the universe, he set things in motion, but is now hand’s off.  Like a bowler releasing his bowing ball.  Is God like that?

Or is God in control?  That is the second phrase we’re fact-checking.  I’m bringing them together at this point because they are related.  “God is in control” is very much connected to the idea that “Everything happens for a reason.”  Usually we think of God like that.  He is in control, and therefore the pain we’re going through must have meaning or a purpose.  There is a reason. 

But does God control things like that?  If he does, then why is there so much pain and evil in the world?  Some people state, assuming that God is good and that God is all-powerful, that he would control the world so that there would not be pain or evil. Because the world is obviously filled with pain and evil, they conclude that either God is not good or God is not all-powerful.  As a result, some say, God doesn’t exist. 

These are deep questions, hard questions, scary to bring up.  But let’s face it head on.  What do we Christians do with this situation of evil and wickedness in the world?  Is God in control? 

We Christians respond to this in a number of ways.  And that is what we will investigate in our next post, so check back in!