I was driving down the road a couple of days ago, and I came across this church sign. Brian and I have often joked about making a photo journal of church signs, both good and ...well...aweful. When I read this sign, after I laughed out loud at the silliness of it, I really started thinking about it! My mind started going in dozens of different directions. I will share some of these thoughts with you. Please feel free to comment.
Here was one of my first thoughts: If God really did have a wallet we could investigate, we probably wouldn't be looking for our photo. In actuality, we would be going straight for the BIG BILLS! Isn't that what we commonly hear today? "Come to God, and He will make you rich?" Or, Come to God, and He will make all your problems disappear!" God will make you rich, just not in earthly goods. Yes, my Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills! But look at what Jesus said in Mattew 6:19-21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21
Click here to listen to Pastor Jonathan exposit John 6:16-29 from July 6, 2008 titled "Food that endures". In this passage, Jesus has just fed the five thousand and the following day the crowd is seeking Jesus. Jesus tells them that they are only seeking signs and food that perishes, rather than the food that endures eternal life that is only given by the Son of Man.
Let keep going with this thought about the sign: If God really did have a wallet, would we be looking for our photo? Let's pretend this were even possible. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea! After all, the Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith. Certainly we should not wait until the day of Judgement to find we are not heirs. How are we to examine ourselves? Pastor Justin posted this list of questions on his blog and I thought it would fit in great here. He took this exerpt for John Bunyans book, Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, Works, p. 279. (Justin updated the language for readability.)
Do these things characterize your life?
1. Are you burdened with your sin, recognizing it as an exceedingly bitter thing?
2. Do you run from your sin as you would a deadly serpent?
3. Do you recognize and flee from the insufficiency of your own righteousness in the sight of God.
4. Do you cry to the Lord Jesus to save you?
5. Do you see more worth and merit in one drop of Christ's blood to save you, than in all the sins of the world to condemn you?
6. Are you tender of sinning against Jesus?
7. Is Jesus' name, person, and undertakings more precious to you than the glory of the world?
8. Is faith in Christ precious to you (as a means to connect you to Christ)?
9. Do you savor Christ in his Word, and do you leave all the world for his sake?
10. Are you willing (with God's help) to run in harm's way for his name?
11. Are his saints precious to you?
If you find you are not "in the faith", I pray that you would run to the all-sufficient Savior and pray that God would open your eyes to see His truth. Ask him to grant you repentance and faith in Him. Turn to Him and relinquish any hope you thought you had in yourself. And then, next time you see a reference to God's wallet, you can simply pour out from your heart gratefulness
because God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8.
And God doesn't want what's in your wallet. Because, you can't buy, earn, or borrow salvation...But, that's another post!
6 comments:
I do have something to share but will not post online. I will send you the email if I can find it that I send to someone in the church family about it. It is about the church's sign near my house that I saw that I didn't like at all.
Hungry to eat His Word!
'Guerite ~ BoldLion
Great post Shannon! One of the things that strikes me is the man-centered nature of that sign. It's obvious that this is the air we breathe in American evangelicalism. From the gospel of prosperity & self-esteem to the purpose movement, we are finding more and more ways to make it all about us. I heard a Christian song the other day that was beautiful but, when referring to the Savior, had the unfortunate line "you would rather die than to ever live without me." I was sickened by that line. Who receives the glory in such a statement?
This is a great article by the late AW Tozer:
http://www.faithbiblechurchnh.org/tozer_new_cross.htm
I see the sign differently. When I think of God having a picture of me in his wallet I think of Granddaddy Moore. He was so proud of all his grandchildren, all 150 of them. He would show pictures of them from his wallet at the gas station on a regular basis. It didn't matter how many children there were, he was proud of us all. I remember knowing that if we gave Granddaddy a picture, it would make him smile and beam. If God was that proud of me and smiled and beamed, it would make me have such a warm and safe feeling b/c I'd know that he was proud of me too.
One of the problems with the message of this sign is that it is on a sign. The sign assumes this is true for everyone who sees it.
Certainly it is true that our God cares for and loves His children (Christians). He sent His Son to live and die in our place to demonstrate that love.
However, the Bible is clear that people apart from Christ are objects of God's wrath (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 1:18).
The other problem with the sign is what Brian mentioned: it is man-centered. If God the Father had a wallet, all the pictures in it would be of His precious Son.
This is the gospel: God loves sinners like me not because of me, but because of the accomplishment of Christ in my place. Friends, that is the best news in the world today.
Great post Shannon and well said Justin. Sound doctrine is so important. If it were not so then why did Paul charge Timothy to hold to and teach sound doctrine in 1 & 2 Tim. and to Titus also. Thanks for your insight.
Harlan
Great post Shannon. Like Shannon and Justin said since God demonstrated His love for us by sending His son to die for OUR SINS, for those who are in Christ Jesus(as Romans 8:1 describes)..."we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry Abba! Father!...that we are children of God."(Rom. 8:15,16) He doesn't need a picture of us in His wallet because He can see us all the time anyway..and He searches and can see our hearts. He KNOWS us as John 10:14&27 says!
Also, as Shannon said that 2Cor.13:5 tells us to "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith"...for those that are in the faith go a step further and know that is for keeps...forever...eternity.
John 10:28,29 "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
Tiffany
Post a Comment