society

Our View of God–Where We Go Wrong

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

How do we view God?  This is perhaps the most important question we can ask ourselves.  A.W. Tozer says that “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

And far too often, God is not God to us.  Too often, God is not God to me.  I fail to honor His authority.  I fail to rest in His supreme love.  And I fail to surrender my all to Him.  And before I begin this post, I admit my own failures, and submit to you, my reader, that the following words are meant for me as much as anyone else.

We live in a society where religion supersedes relationship.  We are too pleased with going to church on Sunday, giving change, and just simply “showing up.”  Woody Allen, the filmmaker, said that 95% of life is “just showing up.”  I heard that quote for the first time yesterday, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth.  I mean, seriously?  Is that what God wants from us, for us to simply “show up?”  We see God as someone who’s looking for a good effort, and that earns our place in His presence. 

I submit that we simply “show up” out of fear.  We’re afraid of going to hell, but there is no fear of a wasted life.  We fear eternal damnation, but not enough to surrender material things.  We fear God’s wrath, but we completely miss God’s amazing love for us in Christ Jesus, which is able to give us full, abundant life.

We live in a society where God is not God, but a means to an end.  Christ is able to give us full, abundant life, but that life is IN HIM, not FROM HIM.  It is through union with Christ, a trust in Christ, and Holy Spirit, grace-driven obedience, albeit inconsistent at times, to Christ that gives us full life.  It is when we are in God’s will, and in union with Him, that we have full, abundant life.  Christ is not a means to an end.  He does not intend to be used to a healthy, happy, successful life, apart from His will, but indeed, a God-exalting, Christ-honoring, and Holy Spirit-driven life IN His will.  This destroys the heresy of the prosperity gospel.  God’s greatest gift is Himself.  God is not a butler, ready to serve us with material things.  God, for believers, is a heavenly Father that intends to use us for His glory, giving us joy in Him, as we walk in relationship with Him.  We don’t use God.  We find joy in being used by Him, as we submit to His will for our lives, realizing that our hope is in Him, not in this world.

We live in a society where God’s authority is not respected.  We live in a world where it’s all about me, myself and I.  We have NO respect for God’s authority, and we try to fashion God to be who we want Him to be, instead of submitting to who He is.  We say that we’re cool with God, as long as He meets our expectations and our agenda.  This is the same problem the Pharisees had.  They expected Jesus to be this great king that would lead them from under Roman rule.  When Jesus didn’t meet their expectations, they crucified Him.  While this was God’s plan, it does not mean that the people were not responsible.  Peter tells them plainly in Acts 2 that it is Jesus “whom you crucified.”  The good news is, these people were “cut to the heart,” and looked to the one who defeated sin and death on their behalf for forgiveness and new life.  We must do the same. 

We live in a society where doing good things is not about loving other people or loving God, but about feeling better for ourselves.  We care more about our image than we do about God’s glory.  There’s a charity of some sort, whose name I can’t remember, and they have a trailer somewhere in the Alabaster/Montevallo area.  On it, their slogan says “Get that good feeling!”  That slogan disgusts me.  If we do good things just so we feel better about ourselves, that’s not love.  That’s selfishness and hypocrisy. 

We make Christianity out to be all about taking bad people and making them into pious people who meet once a week and do good things.  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13 about love.  Love is to separate us from the rest of the world.  Not an emotion.  Not a feeling.  Not just a general liking of other people.  But a love that takes up our time, our money, and forces us to humble ourselves and make ourselves nothing.  A love that ultimately leads us to the gospel, to God’s love.  If it isn’t heading towards the cross, then all we’re doing is being good philanthropists.  I can do all the community service I want, but in God’s eyes, if that’s done for anything else than His glory, and my motivations aren’t right, it’s sin.  If I’m not doing it with eyes open to opportunities to share the gospel, then I’m missing the point altogether.

We put social action in front of the gospel.  Human trafficking, AIDS, corrupt governments, and other social ills need to be addressed.  Hear me out.  Due to the influence of events like Passion, young people are more motivated to end human trafficking.  And that’s a great thing.  But if it’s not done for the sake of the gospel, it is worthless.  Again…if social movements and social justice are done for anything less than the gospel, it is worthless.  It will not last.  We are so focused on this life that we fail to remember that there is an eternal life that awaits all of us, either in hell or in heaven.  And even if we free women and children from the bondage of human trafficking, if we fail to share the gospel with them, it is meaningless.  We’ve freed them from slavery in this life, but we haven’t told them of the one who frees them from slavery to sin, from God’s wrath and from eternal damnation.  And too often, going back to my last paragraph, we do it out of guilt, or out of a need to confirm our own identity.  We do it to make ourselves feel better, with no true concern for other people.  It should disgust us when we hear people talking about doing “good things” because “it just makes you feel good about yourself.” 

Christ didn’t die so that I could feel better about myself.  He didn’t come to give me self-worth.  He came to rid me of dependance on myself for identity.  He came to give me a new identity in Him!  He didn’t come and die, paying for every sin that I ever committed and ever will commit, so that I can have my “best life now.”

No…Jesus came and lived a righteous life so that I could trust in Him, not my good works, to make me right with God, by His righteousness which I love and trust in.  Jesus came and died on the cross and took the wrath of God for me, not so that I can see Him as a means to an end, but so I may rest in His grace and love, that I may rejoice and worship Him for the great things He has done.  Jesus came to die and rise again so that I may follow Him as Lord, as Ruler.  His authority is a good thing.  It keeps me from going back to the old man.  It gives me joy in Christ.  It makes me new.  In the gospel, our view of the law changes.  The law, God’s authority, whatever you may call it, is now not a ladder we must climb, but a way in which we know God more.  We learn to love what He loves and hate what He hates.  We are free to follow and obey out of joy, in a desire to grow in Him by the power of the Holy Spirit, trusting that Christ first kept it for us to give us salvation.  We now have joy in walking it out in sanctification.

And a gospel-centered view of missions doesn’t stop at social action.  It sees social action, movements like the End It Movement and other similar projects, as a way to share God’s love with the world, that they may be saved, eternally.  Let us fix our eyes on eternity, and consider how we spend our days.  Let me do this.

So what is your view of God?  Is He a tyrant?  Is He someone you respect?  Is He Lord?  Part of following Jesus as Lord is confessing and repenting when we realize we have acted in such a way to say that He is not Lord.  Is God someone you trust?  Do you look to Him for a better life, or do you look to Him for life itself?

I’m tired of being lukewarm and cozy.  I’m tired of inconsistency.  I’m tired of hypocrisy.  I’m tired of seeing my own wrong views of God.  I’m tired of holding back.  And I’m tired of not pursuing God in everything I do.  I’m tired of not finding ultimate joy in Him.  I’m tired…just flat out tired of immaturity in my own life, where I fail to honor Jesus as Lord.  I know I’ll mess up again, and I’m trusting that Jesus will pick me up.  But I refuse to stay the same.  I refuse, and invite God to come and change me, once again.  I invite you to join me at the cross, where Jesus stands ready to forgive and make new, through His once-for-all sacrifice for all my sin.  I believe it.  I trust Him, that He did that for me.  And by His blood, by His grace, through this faith, because of what He has done, He tells me I’m saved.  But saved for a reason.  To follow Him.  Join me in this, dear reader.

Lord, I repent of my failures, of my sins, of my immaturity.  I have failed in so many ways, and honestly, find it hard to believe at times that you forgive me.  But you are God, and you ordained all things, and said that forgiveness is granted to those who ask it.  You took the punishment for my sin.  You took the wrath of God for me, and you truly paid it all.  I can trust that all my sin is paid for.  So I can confess boldly, knowing the payment has been made.  But may I never forget at what cost it came–Your blood, Jesus.  I ask you to come lead me as Lord, once again.  When I fall down, pick me up, remind me of the cross, and help me grow.  Lord, help me put off laziness.  Help me grow spiritually, and not be content with complacency, excusing it as struggles that everyone has.  Your authority is good, and I joyfully submit to it.  Make me right with God, Jesus, not because of anything I’ve done, but through your righteousness.  I trust in You.  Help me to love you and continue to follow you.  Come and work in and through me by your grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  None of this is possible unless you move.  Come, Lord Jesus.

May we never forget the cross, where Jesus made an end of all our sin, for those who will believe in Him and trust in His work.  May we be quick to confess our sin, and be diligent in putting it off.  May we seek to renew our mind, with the right view of God.  May we seek to love Jesus more, and make Him known.  May all that we do bring Him honor and glory.  May we always trust in Christ and the cross, and the empty tomb, where our salvation comes from. 

“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.”–Psalms 20:7

God bless,

Neal E.

If you have any questions, comments, or future blog ideas, feel free to comment on here, look me up on Facebook or Twitter (@NealEmbry) or email me at rembry@forum.montevallo.edu.  I’d love to hear from you!

 

Freedom Week–Small University Seeks to End Modern-Day Slavery

/ Neal Embry / 1 Comment

This is a story I wrote for a magazine writing class.  I’m hoping to have it published in Collegiate magazine, a Christian magazine produced by LifeWay.  The story is about Freedom Week, the event to raise money and awareness about human trafficking that took place on Montevallo’s campus earlier this month.  Enjoy.  Blog version (more information, my take on Freedom Week) coming later.

The mood in Palmer auditorium changes as she takes the stage at “Freedom Night.”  There is no more chatter, no more laughing.  Every pair of eyes are watching her intently as she tells her story:

“There is a circuit from Atlanta to Birmingham to Nashville to Memphis to Chattanooga, and you’re trafficked quite often.  But it’s not about transportation,” she says calmly.  Looking into the crowd of college students, she continues her story:

“I have been raped more times than I can count.  I stopped counting at 21.  My throat has been cut, and a gun has been placed at my head and the trigger pulled.  By man’s law I should not be here.”

Tajuan Lewis became a victim of sex trafficking at age 15.  She was prostituted, beaten, and raped.  It took her more than 25 years to understand what had happened to her.  She was in and out of prison until one day, her eyes were opened to the gospel, and she received Jesus as Lord and Savior.  She met her husband Kelly, and soon after, she was called to open the Well House, located in Birmingham, which serves the needs of victims of sex trafficking, caring for and helping women who have been abused.

Her story is just one of millions.  27 million, to be exact.  According to the U.S. State Department, there are more slaves now than in any other period of history.  The International Labor Organization reported that human trafficking generates more than $32 billion annually.

At the University of Montevallo, located in Montevallo, Alabama, students stepped up to make a difference during Freedom Week, held March 5-9, 2012.  The event raised money and awareness for modern day slavery and human trafficking.  A campus ministry, Ecclesia, led by Brian Fulton, sponsored the event as a result of hearing about trafficking at Passion Conference in Atlanta.

“We took a group to Passion Conference, and God had already been giving us a heart to help students find a way to be involved in providing and taking care of the poor and the oppressed.  It just made sense to do this and get involved,” Fulton said.

The goals of Freedom Week were to raise $5,000 to go toward three different organizations: The International Justice Mission, The Well House, and She Dances.

Fulton quoted Isaiah 58:6-7, which says “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”

“My hope is that people would begin to see that we are responsible, that we owe people justice.  Humans are made with rights, and I believe, as a Christian, made in the image of God.  Therefore, we owe justice.  Justice isn’t a suggestion,” he said.

The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14.  Almost half of all forced labor victims are under the age of 18, and more than one million children are trafficked every year.  Sexual exploitation drives almost 80 percent of all human trafficking.  The Lewis’ believe that the best thing people can do to fight these evils is to talk about it, confront it, and take the chance to be wrong.

“If you’re not willing to take a chance on being wrong, you’re not taking a chance on pulling someone out of the situation that they’re in, and they might be in bondage.  You can’t see the chains, but the bondage can be there,” Kelly Lewis said.

On the night of March 6, more than 250 students attended Freedom Night, the headline event for the week.  The event featured Jeremy Springer from She Dances, Tajuan Lewis, and Olivia Terry, a Montevallo graduate working with Make Way Partners.  After the week was over, $5,700 had been raised.

“God blew our expectations for Freedom Week out of the water. The entire campus became aware that trafficking is rampant today,” Fulton said.

Brett Roney, a member of Ecclesia, added that the week was not simply for money, but for future efforts to help those in need.

“My hope is that through Freedom Week, one student will take the week’s heart-felt purpose, duplicate it in their lives outside of school, and carry it with them into their futures so that others will also come to stand for something bigger than themselves,” Roney said.

As the students continue to listen, Tajuan, becoming emotional, continues to speak.  She explains how trafficking works, and that most victims that enter the Well House come from the state of Alabama.  She says trafficking and prostitution can happen anywhere, and is not just limited to big towns like Los Angeles or New York City.

“In March of last year, there were 40 people arrested in Fort Payne, Alabama.  Fort Payne is rolling green countryside.  It doesn’t happen there.  Or that’s what we think.”

Fort Payne, Alabama is where Tajuan was once abused.

“What’s sad, and what breaks my heart, is that 26 years later, we’re going back to the same house…in the same town,” she cries.

As she finishes her story, she ends on a positive note:

“I’m no longer a victim, and I’m no longer a survivor.  I’m an overcomer!”  She boldly proclaims that she knows Jesus saved her.

Tajuan’s story brings hope.  Hope can be such a fragile thing.  If not for the stories like Tajuan’s, the 27 million slaves around the world might not have any hope.  If not for people like her and other organizations like The Well House, hope would seem like a laughable joke, an object of wishful thinking, not a tangible reality.  This week, this event, and these students, weren’t just raising money or awareness.  They raised something else, something more powerful.  They raised hope.