August 27, 2008

[Part 6 in a series on The Glorious Throne taken from Jeremiah 17:12 – “A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”]

Whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, the sovereignty of God takes priority over everything else in all of His creation.  His throne is from the beginning.  Nothing comes before it and everything derives from it.  Sovereignty is not an afterthought that God was forced to enact after the fall of man to deal somehow with our unruly nature and lawless tendencies.  It is not a concession on the part of God to appease our tainted desire for majesty.  Nor is it the callous threat of a capricious God to lord it over his wayward creatures.  It is from the beginning and therefore takes precedence over everything that follows.

That which is from the beginning sets the stage for all that comes after it.  An overture is the orchestra’s introduction to a musical drama.  A prologue helps to establish the setting for the story or play to follow.  Site work is preliminary preparation for the foundation, construction and the building eventually to be raised.  That which is from the beginning gives shape, definition, meaning, purpose.  Your life cannot properly be understood apart from that which gives rise to your very existence.  Your identity cannot rightly be ascertained without knowing from whence you’ve come.

The vast majority of people in our world today possess an entirely erroneous self-concept.  Some see themselves as products of their environments, some as victims, some as heroes, some as failures, some just getting by while others seem to have it made.  The tendency is to see ourselves based upon a combination of what others have said about us, how others have treated us, and what we perceive others think of us.

However, God is the One who determined the exact times set for you and the exact places where you should live. (Acts 17:26)  You were placed here on earth precisely on time and right where you should be.  It is He who has numbered the very hairs on your head. (Matthew 10:30)  He knew the number of your days before one ofthem ever came to be. (Psalm 139:16)  He knows when you sit and when you rise. (Psalm 139:2)  He knows every word you say, before it is even on your tongue. (Psalm 139:4)

Proper self-concept begins with going all the way back to the very beginning.  You are here today precisely because of Him who has been sitting on the throne from the very beginning.  “It is He who made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 100:3)  You are not an accident, mishap or mistake.  You are not here by luck, chance or fate.  God has known you from the beginning and has declared a purpose for you from before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4)

So the truth is, you and I better begin to adopt a higher view of ourselves than we have ever thought possible.  Whatever your biggest dreams have been about your life, they have been far too small.  Whatever your wildest imaginings about your destiny have contained, they aren’t nearly enough. (Ephesians 3:20)  “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)  Your heritage does not simply go back to your parents or your grand-parents.  It does not stem from a famous family patriarch or matriarch of years gone by.  It does not just trace back to our nation’s Founding Fathers, the Roman Empire, Alexander the Great, Mother Mary or Father Abraham.  Your legacy begins all the way back at the very beginning.  You are the creation of an All-Knowing, All-Powerful Almighty God sitting on His glorious throne, on high, from the beginning.  Now doesn’t that just change everything!?

Walking together with Him!

Scott

August 20, 2008

[Part 5 in a series on The Glorious Throne taken from Jeremiah 17:12 –“A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”

There is a popular stream of thought proliferating in pseudo-Christian circles today, which settles for far too small a prize.  The Secret to really living, we are being told, is found in attracting all the good, beautiful, glorious, positive things in the universe to ourselves, so we can be all we deserve to be and have all we deserve to have.  According to this teaching, the ultimate objective lies within us – we are the center, and all these positive things revolve around us.

This is not a new concept.  In fact, it first appeared in heaven itself before it ever attacked planet earth.  One day an angelic creature decided that God was holding out on him, and he wanted to be the center of his own universe.  In a staccato burst of rapid-fire arrogance he declared: “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.  I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:13-14)  This rebellion was immediately put down, and serves to instruct us for all time that there is only one true God.  His Throne is established on high.  There is none higher.  Period.

This spatial reference to God who reigns “on high”, outside of time and space, is for our benefit, and reminds us never to get too big in our own minds.  No matter how great, how grand, how powerful, how influential we think we may be or should be, always there will be God whose throne is on high.  There is always a higher plan, a higher purpose, a higher perspective.  There will always be a higher way to look at things, a higher way to do things.  “’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.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

You do well to establish practices and habits that reinforce this truth for you regularly throughout your day.  “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:67)  Every time you give thanks and ask a blessing before eating a meal, you are acknowledging Him who reigns on high.  Every prayer of blessing you speak over your family members as their day gets underway acknowledges Him who reigns on high.  When your day doesn’t go as planned and you are quick to say “Lord, You order my steps,” you acknowledge Him who reigns on high.  When you deliberately choose to walk away from something you know is an affront to His throne, regardless of what others may be doing or saying, you are acknowledging Him who reigns on high.  When you abandon the path of least resistance and embrace the narrow path of His leading, you demonstrate for all to see that there is One who is higher and wiser than you.  When you admit that the universe does not revolve around you, but rather your life revolves around The One who created it, you acknowledge Him who reigns on High.

This, in reality then, is the true secret to abundant living: not having everything you desire attracted to you, but rather you yourself being attracted to Him who reigns on high.  Not having the universe come to you, but you coming before the Sovereign King of the universe.  There can be no higher achievement.  No accomplishment can be grander or more impressive.  Nothing else will radiate more splendor or amass more glory.  There is nothing more powerful.  There is nothing more influential or possessing more authority.  There is nothing that will satisfy you or bring you more fulfillment in life.  If you settle for being attracted to anything less or attaining a lesser “prize”, including yourself, you will sell yourself short, cheapen your self worth and abandon your true identity.  As Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.  What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25)  You were created for a much, much higher purpose.

Walking together with Him!

Scott

August 13, 2008

[Part 4 in a series on The Glorious Throne taken from Jeremiah 17:12 – “A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”]

The next clue Jeremiah gives us about the place from which God rules is that it is a seat of authority.  The Throne of God is a symbol of His supreme power to wield any force necessary to accomplish His express purpose and pleasure.  It is a seat because the right to exercise such authority has already been established.  Contrary to popular opinion, the jury is not still out.  The Prince is not still in the process of “winning his spurs”.  The sovereignty of God is an eternal truth that lies outside the confines of time and space.  The universe was created out of this reality and derives its very identity from it.  “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s Throne is in heaven.” (Psalm 11:4)

Those of us who have grown up and were schooled in a democratic society are at a complete disadvantage here.  We are products of entitlements, the right to have a say, freedom to express ourselves any way we choose (as long as it doesn’t “hurt” anyone), and a multitude of other freedoms of independence we take for granted.  Aside from occasional wariness around local law enforcement, we generally run our lives the way we see fit.  The old adage, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” certainly applies.  Culturally, we have adopted a relativistic approach to life and values.  If it feels good, we do it.  If it seems right, we embrace it.  If it makes sense, we adopt it.  We place great stock in popular opinion, trends, surveys and polls.

Now all these freedoms, in and of themselves, are not being represented here necessarily as a bad thing.  Rather the point being made is that, because of their collective influence in our lives, we really have no concept of sovereignty.  The notion of kingship or lordship has become a lost and archaic curiosity – more the stuff of fairy tales than the real world.    In fact, it actually offends our “enlightened” sensibilities to imagine someone wielding sovereign authority, power and control over our lives.  It is a concept we tend to mock as long as it isn’t threatening to affect us directly.  However, when backed into a corner, we have demonstrated

historically that we will fight to the death rather than live under a supreme ruler. 

I am not advocating, here, a return to our monarchial roots.  This is simply a demonstration of the fact that those of us born and bred in a democratic system genuinely struggle to comprehend rightly the concept of kingship.  We don’t know how to think of it.  We don’t know how to relate to it.  We don’t know how to respond to it.  And we certainly don’t know how to respect it.  Sovereignty is defined as “supreme power free from any external control” and therein lays the rub.  We can’t conceive of not having a say in things, of being completely and utterly at the disposal of the One sitting on the Throne.  We can’t imagine being without a choice or a voice when it comes to running our affairs.

So when it comes to God sitting on His throne, we simply find it very hard to relate.  We resort to identifying Him on a level we can better understand.  Thus we call Him our Friend, our Father, our Comfort, our Healer, our Provider, our Shelter, our Creator, our Sustainer.  These names are all true, but the richness and depth of their meanings will only be discovered in the context of God as our King.  You will never fully know God as your Father if you do not first know Him as your King.  Otherwise you will project onto Him the failures and disappointments you have encountered in the human realm of fatherhood, and not see all His sovereign resources enabling Him to be a Father with absolute perfection. You cannot expect to understand God as your Provider if He is not King to you first.  Otherwise He will be only a celestial vending machine rather than a benevolent Sovereign who has fully obligated Himself to ensure your safekeeping and wellbeing. 

It is high time we learn to embrace sovereignty.  It begins by learning proper respect for the King.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10)  “His Kingdom come and His will be done” demands it.  If you sincerely desire to walk with God, it is essential.  When you sing “I want to know You,” it is prerequisite.  If you call Him Lord, it is non-negotiable (Luke 6:46).  Give careful consideration to how you should approach God.  Would you simply toss up casual prayers while multi-tasking on other projects?  Should you give Him the leftovers of your time, energy and resources?  Would you use His Name lightly or take it in vain?  “For the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.” (Psalm 47:2)  You exist for His glory and serve at His pleasure.  You are not your own.  Your time, your possessions, your relationships, your livelihood, your dreams and ambitions, indeed your very life is entirely at His disposal.  “O worship the King, all glorious above!” (William Kethe, 1561)

Walking together with Him!

Scott

August 6, 2008

[Part 3 in a series on The Glorious Throne taken from Jeremiah 17:12 – “A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.”]

Jeremiah tells us that God’s Throne is, first of all, a Glorious throne.  There is not now, nor ever has been, nor ever will be a comparable throne.  Once upon a time, an attempt was made to surpass the glory of God’s throne, but it was doomed from the start and was met with swift and utter defeat (Isaiah 14:12-15).  The Glory of God is inherent in the All-Glorious One.  It resides in Him and radiates from Him.  His Glory is self-sustaining, never ending and never fading.

Glory belongs to God and to God alone.  He Himself defines what is glorious.  Whenever we witness a “glorious” mountain vista, hear a “glorious” symphonic concert or participate in the “glorious” experience of bringing a brand new human life into the world, we are just getting a glimpse, the tip of the iceberg, of the Glory of The Creator.  “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1)  

We really don’t know how to conceive of glory any more in our culture.  We have allowed everything to become commonplace, redundant, familiar.  The things or events to which we do attribute glory are, in reality, simply above average feats accomplished by above average people.  We have completely lost sight of anything supernatural, and gone is the wonder of anything larger than life.  We have become so enamored with man-sized, that we have forgotten God-sized.  We have lowered ourselves to accept most anything man-sized and above average to be worthy of our undivided attention and our loudest, costliest, most extravagant declarations of glory and praise.  One only has to observe professional sporting events, red carpet affairs or the current “reality show” phenomenon to see this principle in action.

But at what cost?  The truth is that in succumbing to this debasing degradation of true glory, we have paid an extremely unaffordable price.  We dishonor the Glory of God to our own demise.  Our very sense of self-worth or self-concept is inherently tied in to Him who is the universal Source of glory.  We were created in the image of God.  When you dismiss the Glory of your Creator, you are dismissing the glory that resides in you as His child.  As a man or woman created by God, for His Glory, you are a glorious creature blessed, chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, secured and made an heir, all to the praise of His Glory (Ephesians 1:3-14)!  There is no getting around this point.  Your view of yourself necessarily revolves around your view of God.  People who think too high or too low of themselves have a distorted self-perception precisely because they’ve lost perspective of who God is.  The only way you will ever see yourself accurately is when you begin to see God Almighty in all of His glory, splendor and majesty.

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1)  It is foolishness to dismiss God.  Every morning when you walk out of your house forgetting God in the rush of the morning, you are on a fool’s errand.  Every business transaction you complete without consulting God is folly.  Every decision you make without first asking “Where is the Lord?” is futility.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10)  Your glory is inseparably bound up in the Glory of your God.  When He gets honor and glory, it accrues to you as his child.  When something you do or say detracts from His glory, it diminishes yours.  Even if you cannot see this ebb and flow of glory taking place in your life moment by moment, day by day, nevertheless it is happening.  Angels are witnesses to it – they’ve been observing this spectacle for millennia.

God will not give away His glory, but He eagerly desires for His children to share in it with Him.  The Westminster Shorter Catechism of 1647 says: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”  This should be the summary of your life’s greatest work, that “the Glory of God found expression in you.”  You do yourself the greatest service by serving the Glory of God.  You will find fulfillment in life, ultimately, only by living out the purpose for which you were created.

Walking together with Him!

Scott