God with a Capital G

Religion Binds

(NIV): Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

(NIV): “Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’

‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’”

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

What these texts have in common is the theme of religious communities who to some extent did not share the values of the God they purported to serve.

Religion always seeks to remake God after our own image. The word “relgion” itself is thought to come from the Latin relgiare, “to bind”. This has been used as an illustration to point out they ways in which religion binds people. However, people are not by a long shot reliigion’s biggest victim: That distinction belongs to God! What we desire is a tame God who does our bidding in our way according to our rules. Consider some of the many attempts to limit God. Is God limited...

To Solomon’s temple? (NIV): “‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.’”

To the ark of the covenant? (NIV) “When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, ‘What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?’ When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. ‘A god has come into the camp,’ they said. ‘Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.  Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!’ So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”

When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. ‘A god has come into the camp,’ they said. ‘Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.  Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!’

10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

To the Holy of Holies? (NIV): At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.”

What we desire is a tame God who does our bidding in our way according to our rules.

To the mountains? (NIV): The man of God came up and told the king of Israel, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, I will deliver this vast army into your hands, and you will know that I am the Lord.’”

To the Jews? (NIV) “ But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?’”

To Jerusalem? (NIV): “‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’”

To Sabbath regulations? (NIV): “So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.”

To dietary law? (NIV): “Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,  because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.”

To ascetic principles? (NIV): “Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”

To circumcision? (NIV): “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”

Evangelicalism? The modern Pentecostal movement? The Church of God? The United States? Republicans? To people who look like I do? To people who think like I do?

Notice that the attempts to limit God are inevitably done in a way that makes the one(s) doing the limiting feel special. However, the plain fact is that...

God is NOT Bound (cf. , )

He is not like an algorithm or a mathematical formula. Such things are useful but predictable. The Word of God makes clear that first and foremost God is a person with a distinct personality, with likes and dislikes. Because he is a person he is free like a person, but because he is God Most High, his freedom is a radical freedom, a freedom which he would do well to remember, God is sovereign, to do what he wants, when he wants, how we wants, whether you and I agree to it or not, and whether we understand it or not.

Quotes about Allan from the Chronicles of Narnia:

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” “He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

Christian writer, Philip Yancey has suggested that it is possible to do a personality profile of God:

He noted that. God is shy!

Let us add that God is sarcastic and witty, though his wit often has a bite (cf. the prophets)

God likes using object lessons (cf. Hosea, Isaiah, Ezekiel)

God is keenly interested in the taking care of His belongings. Consider the 3 parables of .

In , God is loosely pictured as the shepherd with the wandering sheep, as the woman with the drachma, and as the Father with the wayward son(s).

Note that even the pictures of God in this text defy our expectations. The shepherd leaves his flock in the desert place in order to go after the sheep which Had wandered off—(Israel and the Gentiles). The woman(!) is a woman, for one thing. God couldn’t care less about our sexist ideas. In the beginning he created them in his image, male and female ().

God is so grand, and so far beyond our understanding that the following statement is true: 1/3 of God is 100% a human male. (The Biblical doctrine of the Trinity and it’s particular outworking is a perfect illustration of how far beyond our limited thinking God really is!)

God rejoices over different things than we do (, , , )

God looks at things differently than we do. The older son said, ὅτε δὲ ὁ υἱός σου οὗτος (“this son of yours”), but the Father countered, ὅτι ὁ ἀδελφός σου οὗτος (“this brother of yours”). God is not interested in our divisions, because he loves all of us.

Because God is unbound, so are we

Remember this: it is not our kingdom, nor is it accomplished by our power, nor is the outcome for our glory .

In , God demonstrated that his concern was for the whole world,

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Peter’s mission to the gentiles begins in taking a trip from Joppa (v. 23). It is surely not accidental that Jonah went through Joppa in his own mission (see )

“He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.” “He'll be coming and going" he had said. "One day you'll see him and another you won't. He doesn't like being tied down--and of course he has other countries to attend to. It's quite all right. He'll often drop in. Only you mustn't press him. He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

God’s concern was shown to be for the entire world in

God has made a way for everyone and everything to become clean. See (NIV): “About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”’ The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean”’

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

(NIV): “This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.” The tri-iteration may well have been to show that this was the legal status of things by command of the court in Heaven. This is because of the legal procedure outlined in (NIV): “One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. “

16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

As Peter figured out in his mission to Cornelius’ house: God does not show favortism (v. 34)

Consider (NIV): “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. “

Even the name Yahweh suggests the radical, sovereign freedom of God, and what if means for us, Yahweh is not so much a name as it is a riddle:: “I will be....” What while He be? All you need and precisely what you need.