Feel Good God | MISQUOTED
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· 22 viewsOur highly spiritual culture tends to understand God and religion as “therapeutic." We want God/religion to helps us feel good. On the contrary, the gospel presents us with a suffering Savior who calls us to also take up our crosses and follow him. In this, we can be confident that God is at work through your pain and suffering to conform you into the image of Jesus.
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Wk 2 - Misquoted
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In our culture, suffering is viewed as bad. Something to be avoided at all cost.
So much of our lives are geared around avoiding suffering.
Automatic car wash
Robot vacuums & lawn mower
Smart home (lights, hubs, thermostats, etc)
Hiring a landscaper, maid
Hiring a maid
We can now even have our TacoBell or McD delivered! As if the high fat and astronomical caloric intake wasn’t enough, we now won’t even get up and walk to the car so we can drive through the Drive through. Getting fast food used to meant I got 15-20 steps in—both ways. Now, just click a couple of buttons.
Feel Good God
Feel Good God
Through his extensive study of youth and religion in America, sociologist Christian Smith coined the phrase “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” to name the prevailing religious belief of youth in America.
Each of the terms captures a popular, but not orthodox, belief about God and spirituality:
Each of the terms captures a popular, but not orthodox, belief about God and spirituality:
“Moralistic” - meaning that “God wants me to be a good person and not a jerk”
“moralistic” (meaning that “God wants me to be a good person and not a jerk”), “therapeutic” (meaning that “God or religion should help me feel good”), and “deism” (meaning that “God is a concept to decorate our lives with but not an agent who really does anything”
“Therapeutic” - meaning that “God or religion should help me feel good”
“Deism” - meaning that “God is a concept to decorate our lives with but not an agent who really does anything”
Albert Mohler, Briefing 5/22/19, - Secularizing America: The Worldview Divide in the American Electorate is Not Just Political, It’s Also Theological
Max Boot (The Washington Post, May 8th) - “Among the 21 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, virtually every ethnic, religious and sexual identity is represented. There’s a gay man, six women, three African Americans, a Chinese American, multiple Catholics and Protestants, even a Hindu. (Hindus are 0.7 percent of the population.) But there is one conspicuous absence: Not a single candidate publicly identifies as an atheist. That’s not to say they are all religious believers. But if they aren’t, they are keeping it to themselves.”
Among the 21 candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, virtually every ethnic, religious and sexual identity is represented. There’s a gay man, six women, three African Americans, a Chinese American, multiple Catholics and Protestants, even a Hindu. (Hindus are 0.7 percent of the population.) But there is one conspicuous absence: Not a single candidate publicly identifies as an atheist. That’s not to say they are all religious believers. But if they aren’t, they are keeping it to themselves.
A 2015 Gallup poll found that more respondents would refuse to vote for an atheist for president (40 percent) than for a Muslim (38 percent), gay (24 percent) or Jewish (7 percent) candidate.
A 2015 Gallup poll found that more respondents would refuse to vote for an atheist for president (40 percent) than for a Muslim (38 percent), gay (24 percent) or Jewish (7 percent) candidate.
Yet people who profess no religious identity (“nones”) are one of the largest and fastest-growing demographic groups in the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, 22.8 percent of Americans are “nones,” slightly fewer than the number of evangelical Protestants (25.4 percent) and slightly more than Catholics (20.8 percent).
Of particular interest today is the “therapeutic” idea of God
There are plenty of passages in Scripture that reinforce God and his plans for blessing His people materially and spiritually.
But the issue, once again, is that these promises are abstracted from the gospel as known through Jesus Christ
“God (abstract) will bless you (abstract) if you ________.”
This has created disillusioned Christians who quickly fall away as soon as trials or suffering enter their life. ()
This is the danger of the prosperity gospel
I thought God was supposed to make my life better… easier…
I’ve said the prayer — still broke
I’ve said the prayer — my relationship is still a mess
We throw around verses like:
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
philip
Paul said this while in prison or under house arrest.
Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.
Because of your generosity—your suffering—God will supply all your needs.
And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
Same Jesus said:
Sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor, then come follow me. ()
Count the cost. ()
Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. ()
Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. ()
I believe in these verses.
We can’t remove them from the greater narrative. The bigger picture. The whole of Scripture.
>>> Does God want to bless you? More than we can comprehend. Does God want to give you a rich and satisfying life? He made it His personal mission to do so. Does God exists just so you can simply feel good? Not really.
Joy in Suffering
Joy in Suffering
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
James says, contrary to the therapeutic view where God exists to make me feel better, we should consider trouble and trials as an opportunity for great joy.
As the passage in James points out, trials and tribulations will come to us even if we are Christians. James is clearly writing to believers as he uses the term “brothers and sisters.” God’s plan for us is not that we will avoid suffering and be happy-go-lucky all the time if we follow him, but God’s plan is that even through our suffering, he is working to produce character, perseverance, and Christian maturity, and he is ultimately forming us in the image of Christ.
As the passage points out, these trials and tribulations will come to us even if we are Christians.
James is clearly writing to believers as he uses the term “brothers and sisters.” Common term.
Not making a distinction between unbelievers & believers.
When you face a trial, consider it as an opportunity for great joy.
How can he say that?
God’s plan for us is not that we will avoid suffering and be happy-go-lucky all the time if we follow him. Instead, God’s plan is that even through our suffering, he is working to produce character, perseverance, and Christian maturity—ultimately forming us into the image of Christ.
James did not say that a believer should be joyous for the trials but in the trials.
Trials should be faced with an attitude of joy. Trials should not be seen as a punishment, a curse, or a calamity but something that must prompt rejoicing. Furthermore they should produce “pure joy” (lit., “all joy”; i.e., joy that is full or unmixed), not just “some joy” coupled with much grief.
When surrounded by these trials, one should respond with joy. Most people count it all joy when they escape trials. James said to count it all joy in the midst of trials
James did not say that a believer should be joyous for the trials but in the trials.
When surrounded by these trials, one should respond with joy. Most people count it all joy when they escape trials. James said to count it all joy in the midst of trials
Trials, rightly taken, produce the sterling quality of endurance.
This is no new revelation. It is a simple reminder. James wrote, because you know, literally “knowing through experience” (ginōskontes). Everyone has experienced both the pain of problems and the ensuing profit of persistence. There is no gain in endurance without some investment in trials.
The reason I can have joy in my trials is because I know that God is ultimately working it together for my good.
Walk it out. Let endurance have its full effect. See this thing through. Don’t stop now—there’s too much at stake.
God is making you mature and complete—lacking nothing.
A Better Life?
A Better Life?
Honor your father and mother. Better or worse? >> Involves suffering.
Don’t commit adultery. Better or worse? >> Involves suffering.
Don’t lie, cheat, or steal. Better or worse? >> Involves suffering.
Scratch Sheet
Scratch Sheet
“If you haven’t had a head-on collision with the devil lately, it may be because you’re running in the same direction.”
- Steven Furtick, Crash the Chatterbox
Your level of generosity should cause you to suffer
I could almost double my standard of living…
In God’s eyes, I’d be the biggest loser
Your level of serving should cause you to suffer
King David - I won’t give to the Lord what didn’t cost me
Your commitment to the Great Commission should cause you to suffer
Trials should be faced with an attitude of joy. Trials should not be seen as a punishment, a curse, or a calamity but something that must prompt rejoicing. Furthermore they should produce “pure joy” (lit., “all joy”; i.e., joy that is full or unmixed), not just “some joy” coupled with much grief.
A Suffering Savior
A Suffering Savior
What is being called into question here is our concept of God.
James did not say that a believer should be joyous for the trials but in the trials.
What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.
When surrounded by these trials, one should respond with joy. Most people count it all joy when they escape trials. James said to count it all joy in the midst of trials
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God
Trials, rightly taken, produce the sterling quality of endurance.
This is no new revelation. It is a simple reminder. James wrote, because you know, literally “knowing through experience” (ginōskontes). Everyone has experienced both the pain of problems and the ensuing profit of persistence. There is no gain in endurance without some investment in trials.
The difference between abstract and concrete is best understood by an illustration. If I ask one hundred different people to think of a beautiful painting, there will be one hundred different paintings being visualized, because the idea of a beautiful painting is still abstract. But if I show the same people van Gogh’s The Starry Night, they will all have the same beautiful painting in their minds, because the painting has now become concrete.
Jesus is God become concrete. The fullest picture we have of God is Jesus hanging on the cross. He was “a man of suffering” ().
The fullest picture we have of God is Jesus hanging on the cross. He was “a man of suffering” ().
We don’t have the freedom to create God in any likeness we please, God has definitively and concretely revealed himself fully in Jesus ().
It is into the image of this Savior that we are being formed.
Future Suffering
Future Suffering
In , Jesus is getting ready to send out His disciples. Before they leave He gives them a little pep talk:
“Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
matt10.16-
We live in a culture that is becoming more hostile towards what we believe and profess as followers of Christ.
We shouldn’t be surprised by this.
It’s an opportunity—that we should seize with great joy—to declare the Good News about Jesus Christ.
At times it will be uncomfortable. Other times, it will hurt like hell.
Don’t give in. Don’t capitulate. Let endurance have its full effect.
Your reputation might suffer—but the Gospel will be advanced.
Your shot at the promotion might suffer—but the Gospel will be advanced.
In the eyes of man you may look foolish, and you will suffer—but the Gospel will be advanced.
So be shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves.
HEAR: Ranting, raving, and blasting people on social media is rarely effective.
Instead, speak the truth in love. Look for opportunities to show up and engage. Truly love one another, even those you disagree with.
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Prayer & Close
Prayer & Close