INTERIM INSIGHTS with Pastor Jim

Exodus 33:12-23 gives us this report:

12 Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”

14 The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” NIV

I was contemplating this passage, in particular the part of it that describes how God would not allow Moses to see his face.  God’s back was OK, but not his face.  Why?  Because, says the Lord in his best Jack Nicolson impression, “You can’t handle my glory!”  OK, I made that up.  But you get the idea.  The awesomeness, holiness, purity, and righteousness of God is beyond our human capacity to experience and then talk about it; if we were to see it in its entirety, it would kill us.  God very graciously tones it down so we get to see some of it, bits and pieces as it were, but in truth, without a radical transformation of our existence, the fullness of God’s glory would wipe us out.

What is church about?  A fire escape from hell?  A service organization?  The moral conscience for individuals and society?  The place of duty and ritual?  In a very limited way, these four are true.  But all these are true only to the degree that the church is about its real calling: to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves.  Let’s look at them.

Church has often been understood as the fire escape from hell.  But it is so only because God’s great love made a way in Christ’s death and resurrection for us to enter into a blessed relationship with God, one in which we will eventually see God in all his goodness and glory.  The corollary of this relationship is that we spend eternity even now with God, and miss eternal separation from him.

In some modern liberal thought, the primary purpose of the church is to serve as a social service agency.  It is thought that the church should not worry so much about individual behavior, and that if the structures of society are doing what they ought, people will become good because the structures will prohibit them from wandering in wrong directions.  Therefore straighten out the structures and the Kingdom of God will come in.  And if structures don’t exist, create them.  The fallacy behind this is that flawed human beings create flawed social structures, and even the best structures are both inherently flawed by their natural limitations, and have the possibility of being manipulated by unscrupulous individuals controlling them.  Yes, the church should most certainly be concerned for what’s happening in society, and should do what can be done to meet human needs, as this church did with The Place, but this cannot be the church’s primary focus.  It’s too narrow, too human centered.

Is the church to be the moral conscience of society?  Both liberals and conservatives have thought so.  Much yelling has gone forth in the name of Christianity from both sides, proclaiming the righteousness of their perspective.  Sometimes poorly argued, other times intellectually well argued, it seems too often the two sides are like ships passing each other at night.  The interesting change of our times is that, other than politicians soliciting votes from religious voters, the public in general no longer cares what the church has to say, or at least not what moral pronouncements the church may make.  In a Christianized culture, society might have paid more attention, but in these days people do what they want, regardless of what the church thinks.  In many cases, people literally don’t know what the church has to say on a moral subject, and are often surprised to discover their attitudes and actions are contrary to biblical teaching and even plain common sense.  For all our shouting, this purpose just doesn’t work.  We can’t agree on what the moral stance should be, let alone convey it with persuasion to society at large.

What about worship?  We speak of worship “service”, with the implication of attending because of duty.  We go through certain rituals (depending on the church tradition, some are more rigid and fixed than others), presumably with the goal of pleasing God and honoring him.  But God blasted the Hebrews and Jesus critiqued the Pharisees for keeping the Law outwardly but failing to keep it in their hearts.  Whatever our worship tradition (or expectations) might be, our first remembrance must be that our actions are for the glory of God, not our own pleasure.

Experiencing the glory of God, even in a minimal way, and living in a new positive relationship with God in light of it, is the call of the church.  If we have encountered the Risen Christ adequately, we will want to proclaim the Good News of salvation in Christ for all.  We will want to find ways to heal the sick and wounded through social structures.  We will want to live holy lives and by our demonstration of love, lead others into holiness.  We will want to honor God directly, with not only our actions but with our hearts, the deepest part of us.

When it’s all said and done, consider: one day we will all depart this earthly existence.  If anything lives, at some point and in some way it will die.  Some ways we consider better than other ways.  The church proclaims the Lord’s love for this life and the next.  The church proclaims that a positive relationship with God is possible here and now, and will reach a fulfillment in the next life.  But imagine, what a way to go: beholding the face of God!

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Jim