Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Surrounding yourself with “positive people” who only speak about their love for Jesus, how much God loves them, and the great plans He has for them, who speak as though He is smitten with them, constantly thinking of them, how He just loves to shower them with blessings, and making them the center of all things, is not the same as being among those who are informed by Scripture, whose minds are shaped by truth, and who speak rightly of the love of God.

Such people have fashioned a god around themselves. Everything revolves around them. He exists to answer their desires. He created all things for them. He cannot imagine heaven without them because they believe His love has found something so worthy in them that He must set His affections upon it.

The sappy, weak, and impotent Jesus that many speak of and build one another up with is not the God of Scripture. It is a distorted, sentimental version of love, far beneath even what men would call shallow affection.

To hear some speak of God’s love provokes revulsion in anyone with a biblical understanding of that love. God does not love because there is something in us that attracts Him or draws Him to us. He is not compelled by something in us. He is not moved by human worth. Yet many will affirm this with their lips and deny it in every other word, bringing God low and presenting a god that is mocked by the world and rejected by those who refuse the true God of Scripture.

The issue is that many love certain attributes of God that they can twist to suit themselves. They reshape them according to their own desires and then encourage one another in the worship of what is nothing more than an idol. They love a god that His attributes can be brought low, manipulated and added to their human effort to achieve their desires. They love a god that serves them and delights to do so. They love scripture so long as they can manipulate it to serve their desires. They love putting words in His mouth that He did not say and they love claiming an intimacy with God that allows them to hear Him speak to them all the time what their sinful hearts desire. They take the desires of their hearts, isolated verses of scripture, and listen for God to speak to them confirming all their hopes and dreams. Why wouldn’t He? Their god is an idol. He bends and conforms to their will, their desires and lives to bless them and reward them for their “faithfulness” to what they are told they must do to receive what they desire. They take what is beautiful and holy and desecrate it. They fashion a god by the name of the God of scripture into their own idols and they know not that they are deceived and deceivers.

The attributes of God, His perfections, are not divided. He is not holy at one time and gracious at another, setting aside His justice, His wrath, or His righteousness. He is perfectly all that He is at all times. Yet men take the truth that God is love and redefine it according to their own affections. They imagine a god who is consumed with them, eager to give them everything they desire, eager to bless them as they define blessing, eager to fulfill their plans. This is not the God of Scripture. It is an Americanized gospel and a sentimental Christ.

They begin with themselves and bring God down. Scripture begins with God.

It is true that God has good purposes for those who are called according to His purpose. He does bless His people. He has set His love upon a people, predestined them, called them, made atonement for them, saved them, and is conforming them to the image of His Son. He will bring them to glory. He does all of this for His own glory. His decrees stand. He rules and governs all things. His providence extends over every detail. Even trials, suffering, loss, and persecution are not outside His sovereign will but are part of His perfect and purposeful plan.

It is not about us. It is about God, His rule, His reign, His sovereignty, His perfections, and His glory. And yet He does love His people. But that love is not drawn out by anything in them. It is a love set before the foundation of the world, a sovereign love by which He determined to display His grace, His mercy, His power, and His goodness upon an undeserving people. Those who understand this are humbled by it. They do not exalt themselves. They marvel that they have been made recipients of such undeserved favor.

The man-centered religion produces songs, sermons, and words that many love because they elevate man. They speak of a god who is trying his best to bless, who is hindered, who waits upon human effort, who needs men to speak things into existence or to act in order for him to move. This presents a god who is weak and dependent. This is not the Lord of Scripture.

The God of Scripture is sovereign. He accomplishes all that He purposes. His will is never frustrated. His decrees cannot be overturned. He does not attempt. He does not hope. He ordains and brings to pass.

Do you not despise the weak and pitiful Jesus of the modern pulpit? He is not the sovereign Lord who rules and reigns. He is a fabrication, embraced by those who prefer a god that serves them rather than the God who commands them.

Is your God the God of Scripture, or the powerless god proclaimed in man-centered pulpits, praised in emotional gatherings, and adored for how he makes men feel?

Friend, return to the God of Scripture. The whole counsel of God, from Genesis to Revelation. See His love rightly. It is not sentimental. It is not indulgent. It is a love that commands repentance because He is Lord. It is a love that sent the Son to take on flesh, to live in perfect righteousness, to die under the full weight of divine wrath for His people, to rise in victory, and to return in judgment and glory.

It is a love that draws sinners out of darkness, clothes them in righteousness, and conforms them to the image of Christ. It opens blind eyes, grants new hearts, and produces a hunger for holiness, truth, and righteousness. It is a love that does not set aside justice but satisfies it. Every man will either bear the judgment for his sin or have it borne for him in Christ. That is love.

Any man who sets one attribute of God against another reveals his ignorance and stands in need of correction. If the Spirit of God dwells in him, he will submit to the truth. If not, his profession is empty.

Do you know Him? Or do you possess a form of religion, speaking the language of Christianity, speaking of Jesus, the cross, and love, while holding to a Christ of your own imagination?

Many claim to love Jesus. But they do not love the Jesus of Scripture.