Humanism, Enlightenment, and the Glory of Jesus Pt. 3

continued from Humanism, Enlightenment, and the Glory of Jesus Pt. 2

  Right now the most influential philosophical schema is probably pragmatism.  Although the actual tenets of pragmatism are much more complicated, the way it is applied is somewhat simple.  If it works, it is good!  Reality is mostly defined by how functional it is.  God, if He is useful for our goals of happiness and fulfillment, is real.  Apart from that He is irrelevant to us, because the only reason for existence is the furthering of man's goals.  Prayer, for example, can be seen as useful because it gives us psychological fulfillment, but it is of no real use other than that.
  What, then, does the Bible have to say about existence and the Gospel?  Why do you and I exist?  Why did Jesus come?  Obviously, the Bible tells a very different story than which we have seen since the advance of Hellenism by Alexander the Great.  Have you ever read the Bible from cover to cover?  One thing that usually stands out to people is that the Bible isn't really a collection of stories or arbitrary themes.  The Bible has one subject matter from Genesis to Revelation.  Jesus.  Explaining the sum of the revelation of the Old Testament,  Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;"(Jhn 5:39 NASB)
  Paul wrote a letter to a thoroughly Gentile community of believers in Colosse, and being largely ignorant of the central theme of the Jewish Scriptures Paul writes this:

16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. (Col 1:16-18 NASB)

  In the 'all things' you can insert yourself.  We were made for Him.  Humanism and it's influence in the church portrays God as subordinate (a servant) to my plans, and serving the ultimate glory and honor of man.  In reality, existence is subordinate to the glory of Jesus, and God's interactions with mankind serve the purpose of producing love and affection in the human heart for Him.
  The church in America is in a crisis of identity and purpose.  If we exist for the glory and honor of man, then we have no hope but to hear the gospel again and be saved.  If Christ is a means to the end of human happiness then every labor is distorted, and even worship times become idolatrous.  Even our times of corporate singing have become measured by how we felt about them.  Typically, we are looking for some kind of pleasant experience in worship that serves the end of our own pleasure.  Worship, like the rest of existence, exists solely for His pleasure.
  The Scripture is also clear that God, full of steadfast love, has deep desire for the well-being of humans.  He is not willing that any should perish (referencing the Lake of Fire), He longs for me to be near to Him, He has redeemed our fallen lives to God:

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  (2Pe 3:9 NKJV)

  The difference is that the well-being of man lies fully in them giving glory to Jesus.  There is no well-being for man apart from our complete and wholehearted devotion to Jesus.  The age to come and the judgement seat of Christ will simply be a full disclosure of our agreement in this age to live life for His glory only.  The Day of the Lord (or the second coming) is a coming day when every attempted rival to His glory is removed from the landscape of humanity.  Everything that is exalted and glorified will be brought low so that He alone can be glorified.

12 For the LORD of hosts will have a day of reckoning Against everyone who is proud and lofty And against everyone who is lifted up, That he may be abased. 13 And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up, Against all the oaks of Bashan, 14 Against all the lofty mountains, Against all the hills that are lifted up, 15 Against every high tower, Against every fortified wall, 16 Against all the ships of Tarshish And against all the beautiful craft. 17 The pride of man will be humbled And the loftiness of men will be abased; And the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, 18 But the idols will completely vanish. (Isa 2:12-18 NASB)

  Along these lines Luke Wood, a good friend of mine, recently spoke to our house of prayer community about the absurdity of most people's reaction to the existence of houses of prayer that 'just sing worship songs all day'.  The existence of Taco Bell, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens pharmacy that stay open 24/7 to serve people is never considered as abnormal in society today.  It is normal because it serves the needs and well-being of people.  However, the existence of 24/7 worship seems eccentric, if not dangerous, because it only serves to glorify and exalt Jesus.  Responses like, 'Show me a verse for that...'  unfortunately betray the belief that Christianity is about men unless there is an exception.
  It really shouldn't surprise us that the Gospel has been so distorted if any of this is true.  Rather than mention again the painful distortions of the Gospel, let's talk about what the Bible says of the Gospel.  I have underlined the actual message to make it easy to read through:

15 and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, WHO MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM. (Act 14:15 NASB)

42 "And He ordered us to preach to the people (the Apostle's understanding of what Jesus told them to tell people. i.e. the 'Gospel'), and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. (Act 10:42 NASB) 

16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. (Rom 2:16 NASB)

4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2Cr 4:4 NASB) 

6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters." (Rev 14:6-7 NASB)

  My goal for this short blog series is not really to reform the church.  That is Jesus' job.  What I do want to do is use any influence that I have to call others to give Him glory, to honor, and fear Him.  Going back to my first paragraph in Humanism, Enlightenment, and the Glory of Jesus Pt. 1, I want help answer the question of why do I think about things the way that I do.  The truth is for most of those who made it to the end of this third part of the blog that you are mostly attentive to this message.  What keeps us from reconciling my existence to the glory of Jesus is that my emotions govern most of what I do.  And like I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, we feel the way that we do because of our worldview.  The blog was an attempt to cast doubts on the way that we perceive reality so that we can begin to ask the Holy Spirit to give us revelation of the truth.
  Paul prayed for the Colossian church that they would be filled with the knowledge of the will of the Father.  He also writes to the Ephesians, who were a more mature church, reminding them that they already knew what the Father's will was:

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (Col 1:9 NASB)

9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him (Eph 1:9-10 NASB)

  This is the same objective that I have.  I want you to know and to be convinced that this is the Father's plan.  That all things would be brought together in His Son.  As we receive revelation about the preeminence of Jesus then it will begin to shift our emotions in the mundane areas of life.  For example, what rises in my heart when someone mistreats me will change to the degree that I believe that I exist to make much of Christ.  If I believe that my own existence, the existence of the one mistreating me, the existence of the onlookers, and God's existence are to make me happy, then I will act to employ them all to do it by any means necessary.  However, if I actually believe that all things are for His glory then the movement of my heart turns to worship like Paul's did and I have opportunity to glorify God by my response like Jesus did while suffering mistreatment.
  What glorifies the Father is no longer a mystery.  Look at the life of Jesus.  This is what glorifies God.  The end of the age will see carnal American believers, once living at enmity with God (while calling themselves followers of Christ), become fiery lovers of Jesus who will lay everything down so that the fragrance of Christ may fill the earth.  I am not talking about THEM...I am talking about US.  I am not talking about THAT GUY...I am talking about ME.
  The glory of Jesus was the focus of the church at the beginning, and the Gospel was the means of calling others to live for His glory.  It will be at the end too!  Enabled by the blood of Christ, the saints will not shrink back to give Him glory on the earth...even if it costs their own.

11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. (Rev 12:11 NASB)