Faith— 11/05/2020

“Your God is too small!”

By Pastor Ron Buxton

True story. A family was traveling through Florida on their way to a reunion. Wanting to enjoy the beauty of the beaches, they kept looking for a place to pull off. Suddenly, they noticed a sign saying Naturist Camp and quickly turned down that exit. As everybody sprang out of the car in the parking lot, neither parent was prepared for the next thing that occurred.

Their five-year old son’s face tipped them off. His mouth was wide open as a naked group of bicyclists sped past their parked car! You see, the “Naturist Camp” was a nudist beach. And now those parents had some explaining to do! But their son beat them to the conversation. “Look, Mom and Dad,” he said pointing, “they’re not wearing safety helmets!” And they certainly were not!

When Christ called upon His followers to become as children (Matthew 18:3), He was talking about an attitude of innocence and not an ignorance of God’s Word. Big difference. Sadly, too many church-goers have been duped with overly simplistic slogans regarding Christianity. They are told to just love God and love others—without defining either the term “God” or “love”. And, frankly, that has made their concept of God too small!

History is repeating itself. In the 1930’s, there were two main Protestant groups: the Fundamentalists and the Liberals. And what arose from the latter group was known as the “Social Gospel”. Basically, liberal theologians lowered the authority of the Bible, and in its place exalted a secular moral ethic derived from the “love your neighbor” statement of Jesus. And so, for them, God became just an abstract force referred to only when necessary. Tragically, their God was too small, and millions of people were possibly damned through that heresy!

Folks, that’s what we have today with the so-called “social justice gospel”. Liberal theologians have once again pulled out that slogan “It’s really simple: Love God and love others!” And, as was the case a century ago, their definitions of love and God are not derived from the Bible. And their God continues to be too small!

Modern liberal theology has falsely led people to think of God as only being benevolent. And, secondly, their definition of love doesn’t come from the Bible either. You see, the Bible kind of love does not always equate approval. And that’s the big problem when modern churches pander to folks who live in willful disobedience to God’s Word–which is the most unloving thing that they could do!

Certainly, God wants us to be child-like as to innocence, but not ignorant in regards to His Word. It might not be “simple”—nor pleasing to your selfish lifestyle—but it is the Bible truth!  Unlike that funny story at the beginning, the reality of our nakedness before a holy God is not so funny (Hebrews 4:13). Thankfully, God wants to “clothe” us with truth from the Bible to avoid more than an eternal embarrassment!

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