Hey, Cobblestone,
And now a few words from an older brother none of us has met,
Mr. Aiden Wilson Tozer:
“A fairly accurate description of the
human race might be furnished to one unacquainted with it by taking the
Beatitudes, turning them wrong side out and saying, ‘Here is your human race.’
For the exact opposite of the virtues in the Beatitudes are the very qualities
which distinguish human life and conduct.
“In the world of men we find nothing
approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous
Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of
pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness,
arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, ‘I am rich
and increased in goods and have need of nothing’; instead of mercy we find
cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers
we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we
find them fighting back with every weapon at their command.
“Of this kind of moral stuff
civilized society is composed. The atmosphere is charged with it; we breathe it
with every breath and drink it with our mother’s milk.”
(A.W.
Tozer, The Pursuit of God, Chapter 9)
Welcome to 2023, by way of 1948.
When Tozer first published his trademark book, his homeland
was fresh off a resounding victory in the second of two World Wars he would see
in his lifetime. You’d think he’d be more optimistic. Wasn’t it a vindication
of the human spirit that the good guys won, again? Or maybe he was still
stinging from the fact that, after the first World War – aka “The War to End
All Wars” – there was another one anyway. And you might have noticed: the first
edition of The Pursuit of God was
published the same year as George Orwell’s 1984.
The snippet of Chapter 9 quoted above is not a fair representation
of Tozer’s work. By and large, his writing is some of the most uplifting you’ll
find anywhere, his go-to tactic being to turn the hearts of men and women to
their Maker. Apparently, he was setting up a contrast. So am I.
For two-plus years, these letters I write each week followed
our all-church through-the-Bible reading plan… mostly. This year the letters
will (mostly) follow the Sunday teaching plan that encompasses several genres,
including topical studies, book studies, and spiritual formation. The January
topic is worship. Just ahead of the first Sunday sermon of 2023, I’ll pry open
the subject by asking – Why?
Why do Christians worship the Lord? It’s not a rhetorical
question; several good answers come readily to mind. Ex nihilo – the Lord God spoke all things into existence, “out of
nothing.” That’s reason enough to worship him. Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man become a
living creature (Genesis 2:7). Well done, Lord. The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness… and in his temple all cry,
“Glory!” (Psalm 29:8, 9). ‘Nuff said. Or maybe not: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke
19:10). That’ll work. Shall I continue? God
made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God (2Corinthians 5:21). Nobody else does that. And we
haven’t even started on the Revelation, the “already” reasons to worship that
are not yet manifest.
For all the obvious reasons to worship, I’d like to propose
one that the human spirit usually has to be jogged into: Worship the Lord
because he is right.
A.W. Tozer again: “Jesus never uttered opinions. He never
guessed; He knew, and He knows… He spoke out of the fullness of His Godhead,
and His words are very Truth itself. He is the only one who could say ‘blessed’
with complete authority, for He is the Blessed One come from the world above to
confer blessedness upon mankind.”
Right-ness has but one reliable source. You and I will
stumble into rightness now and then; Jesus operates in rightness full time.
Rightness exists because he exists. If there were no other reason to worship
him, that would be enough.
In the first week of this new year, I wonder if we’re ready
to take on a challenge. Read Matthew 5:2-12 – the Beatitudes, as we’ve come to
know them – and simply live them. Would your life look radically different? Of
course it would, and so would mine. And before the wave of guilt crashes over
us, just forget the challenge. I’m finally beginning to learn that when I try
to received blessedness, or confer it on others, outside the terms Jesus put
forth, it goes sideways in a hurry. Why? Because he’s right and I’m wrong. And
so are you… wrong, that is. Or, as Paul put it to the Romans: Let God be true, but every man a liar (3:4).
God has ordained that those
who love him, who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28), will be conformed to the image of his Son (verse
29). Over time. On his schedule. Not all at once, but surely. Meanwhile, we
worship. Oh, Church, worship the Lord in the beauty of his rightness. Worship
the one into whose image you and I and all our brothers and sisters are being
conformed. You might start as I started this morning, praying, “Jesus, you are
right and I am wrong.” You might continue in prayer as I continued: “Father,
whatever resemblance I bear to Jesus right now, let me use it to work your will
in this world. And based on your promise, I may certainly expect to be more like
Jesus tomorrow than I am today. Glory to you, Lord God!”
Tozer’s description of the human condition was painful to
encounter, but only for so long as he left out the remedy – two-plus paragraphs
of darkness before dawn. True to form, he was eager, like another older
brother, one John the Baptizer, to yell, “There he is, the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the world!” I was compelled a few weeks ago – by the
Father, I’m sure – to reread The Pursuit
of God. Sadly, I had convinced myself that I had given away the last copy
from my library. But rooting through the bookcases Tuesday night, I found not
just any old copy, but the first one I had read, with notes and highlights
going back almost twenty years.
In other words, I was wrong – glory, Hallelujah!
Grace and Peace (and Resemblance),
John
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