God Motivation and the Mountain Climber

Jesus was a mountain climber...with a purpose.  He didn't use grappling hooks or get ready for His climbs by doing one-finger pull-ups or even ascribe to Captain Kirk's reason for such ascensions when asked why he climbed ("because it's there") .  He instead gathered a group of unlikely disciples and took a hike with them up a steep hill where He would be in view of a large crowd that was interested in what He had to say.  Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him (Matthew 5:1).  Many have heard of this speech that He gave, this "Sermon on the Mount" as we call it.  It takes up the better part of a few chapters of Matthew's gospel account and includes in it everything from beautiful and comforting words to ideas that rattled the established religion of the day to concepts that still stir up controversy in the church.  It is used to call Christians to an unbelievably high standard of righteousness through phrases like be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (5:48) and is used by some to justify their own sin and get people to leave them alone through the quoting of, judge not, that you be not judged (7:1).

Whatever we do or don't know about Jesus and however familiar we may or may not be with His words, the sermon on the mount should have a profound effect on us.  If it doesn't--if we dismiss them as archaic or scoff with rolling eyes--we will discover in the end that the joke is on us.  My plan in the review of each section will be to hold it up against the very end of Jesus' discourse and ask myself and anyone who might read the post, "What are we building on?"  Jesus ended His sermon in this way: Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it (7:24-27).  Rest assured, the rains, floods, and winds will come.  Will we stand in the end?  That all depends on the foundation our lives are built upon. 

God Motivation and the Love Slap

Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
(Hebrews 2:1-4)

Just prior to the words here, we're given the second "Jesus is better" lesson--Jesus is better than the mighty angels.  Because this is true, the argument then follows that the message Jesus brought is heftier than everything else in the Old Testament.  It's not that what Jesus taught was in opposition to what was written there; in fact, it carried right along with it and even reinforced all that was before.  It's simply that the whole deal is tied up in Jesus.  He fulfills it, gives it all its intended meaning, and adds a weight to it that makes the truth of the Scriptures that much more substantial, bringing a new hope for a great salvation.

The author was likely writing to people who already had an appreciation for their Bibles.  They took God's Word seriously and saw that to do otherwise was foolishness.  Sin was punished; God was a righteous God of justice.  And then Jesus came and brought before their eyes a new flavor of grace, mercy, and love--things that they didn't have as complete a picture of before.  When He left, His message continued through the apostles, and their words were confirmed through the amazing things God did among them to reveal that they were not acting on their own.

Why then was the author of Hebrews concerned for his readers, giving them a warning not to ignore or drift away from the message of salvation that Jesus brought?  I think the answer is simple--that's what we're tempted to do when we get slapped with grace-filled love.  "Oh, God is no longer into the justice and punishment thing?!  I get it--cool!!"  For whatever reason, what tends to happen once we realize we're a bit "safer" is that we decide it's OK to start ignoring God and arranging our own lives instead of holding on tightly to our magnificent Savior, saying with delighted exuberance, "Just say the word, Jesus, and I'm all over it!"  Somewhere that cry of our heart gets lost.  And somewhere along the way we forget that the big and final Judgement Day really is a coming reality, a prophesy that's as true as all the other ones that have been fulfilled, as true as the ones that told us Jesus was coming in the first place.  As we hear and receive the message of salvation that came through Christ, God should all the more be our motivation for all that we think, do, and say.     

God Motivation and the Prophet Smasher

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
(Hebrews 1:1-3a)

Familiar to those who have read the book of Hebrews is the concept that Jesus is better.  As jobs, functions, or roles and the people or beings that fill them are looked at, the spotlight is shined on Jesus, and the author proves that nobody can hold a candle to Him.  Jesus vs. whoever = Jesus the Victor.  That is what is going on right from the get-go in this letter.

Prophets (like Malachi and a score of others) carried God's message to people who needed challenging, encouragement, rebuke, warning, insight, direction and anything else that God wanted to communicate.  Our Bible is chuck full of information that He delivered to us through the utilization of prophets as His mouthpieces.  Praise God for the prophets!  But then something happened, something that many of the prophets talked about happening: the Father used a different mouthpiece and His name is Jesus, God's Son.  The scorecard for the prophets isn't really given here because it didn't need to be.  They were blades of grass that were born, flourished for a short time, and then returned to dust.  Again, we're thankful for them, but that resume isn't all that impressive.  How about the scorecard of Jesus?  What's so amazing about Him? 

For one, He's got everything.  He's the Son that all things we see (and don't see) belongs to.  God the Father didn't just open the door to the garage and show Him some amazing wheels that were to be His.  He instead pulled back the curtain to the cosmos, said, "Here ya go" and then folded up the curtain and handed that to Jesus as well.  Secondly, Jesus as God's Messenger didn't just walk onto the scene, get invested in by the Almighty for a season and then receive this amazing everything as if it was a surprise barrel of loot.  In the beginning of it all the Son was like the magnificent prism of light that the Father shined His glory through and exploded everything into being.  He sorta didn't really do that with the prophets.  Thirdly, although the prophets (and all of us really) are meant to increasingly show things of the beautiful character and nature of God, Jesus actually was/is Him, reflecting Him perfectly so that we not only got a true message about God when He came to earth, but the embodiment of the message itself.  And finally, it's a teeny little thing, but if Jesus quit thinking about me, this computer, you, or the existence of everything that was, is, or ever will be, it would all immediately come to nothing--it all holds up because of His say-so.

Jesus is better than the prophets and the message that He carries is so much more magnificent for all those reasons.  As the God motivated mind would try to wrap itself around all that, it needs to move itself quickly to the place of worship.  There's nowhere else to go.  Praise God that He provided Jesus, the more excellent Messenger...and so much more.

God Motivation and the Middle Step

“Your words have been hard against me, says the LORD. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts? And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
(Malachi 3:13-15)

Though it's a little less conventional than the other exchanges, I nearly forgot about the final question God's people had for Him in the book of Malachi!  The LORD was displeased with their words that testified negatively about His character and ways of operation in the world.  The things that the people were frustrated about are similar in nature to what we may struggle with.  In looking at how events play out around us, in seeing that "doing good" doesn't always yield immediate amazing results and that "doing bad" sometimes seems to advance people, we might wonder about what that says about who God is.  Why doesn't He hand out hugs and spankings in direct accord with the proper and profane?  And if He doesn't do that, what good does it do to be good at all?

What is striking about this exchange is that God does not give a direct answer to those struggling with these things.  After this passage, what we see some of them doing instead is pausing after their wrestling, talking things through with one another, and coming to the conclusion that they needed to take all that God had revealed about Himself during this time of Q&A and run with it in faith.  They had to say, "We don't have every answer to everything we have questions about, but we see how we've been foolish, how God has been wise, and how we must trust Him."  A very interesting thing happened then.  The LORD spoke of these people with great favor and promised that there would come a time where the distinction they sought between the righteous and wicked would be evident once more (3:17-18).  First came the revelation of the character of God, then came the faith of His people, and finally there was a fuller display of God's purposes and ways.  That middle step is the step where God motivation has to show itself--it's where trust in Him must be fleshed out.  It comes by His grace as all good things do, but it's also where the call for self-abandonment rings out, begging for an answer.  Don't trip over the middle step.

God Motivation and the Toilet Bowl

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
(Malachi 3:7-10)

This is the last of the Q&A time in Malachi.  The pattern has been for the people to hear a statement from the LORD, question it, and then receive an explanation.  This instance is no different.  God issued them a challenge, informing them that there had been a long line of disobedience through an ignoring of His statutes; "return to me" is His command with the promise that He will come to them in the same way if such repentance takes place.  But like we often do, the people of Malachi's day pleaded ignorance, not knowing what it looked like to come back to God.  Perhaps by this time they were beginning to sense that they really did have issues they were needing to work through, but there was still a lack of understanding concerning what was really amiss.  And just as in times past, God clarifies--they had robbed Him of the tithes and offerings they were called to give.  What we can gather from the text as a whole is that people were struggling to make ends meet.  Things with the crops were not going well and the people were not even thinking about giving the required tenth to the LORD.

You can hear in all of this the downward spiraling as disobedience yielded withdrawal of blessing which then yielded further disobedience.  On one level, the people were not willing to see God as their Master to be reverenced and obeyed.  On another level, they were not willing to trust Him as their Provider and Sustainer, essentially failing to see Him as Savior.  So it is all too often with us.  While I'm not going to answer the question here of whether or not the New Testament calls us to give a tithe to God, I am going to speak to the fact that we get ourselves in a tizzy or even harden our hearts against Him when He clearly presents Himself as the only One we need both in this life and in the one to come.  We may in one moment confess Jesus Christ as the Lord with full authority but then deny that we believe such when He calls us to do that which is uncomfortable.  We may pledge our allegiance to Him at one turn but then refuse to trust He will supply us what we need for the battles of life, for the daily bread for our bodies, and for the energy to persevere when the day grows long.  We suddenly start to feel ourselves spinning in the same downward spiral, stuck in the toilet of despair and desperation looking to the refuse for rescue as it too heads in the same direction.

We don't have to be there...not for another instant.  God says, "put me to the test," a statement from Him that we usually observe as something we aren't supposed to do.  But this isn't the kind of test where we push God with our distrusting actions to see if He will come through but rather the kind where we push Him with our faithful obedience to see if He is the God who keeps His promises.  He asks us to make Him our motivation for what we do rather than seeing what we can get away with and still make it out alive.  Put God to the test today; taste and see that He is good.