We live in a society that has created for itself an idol. I live in a suburb of Nashville, which is right smack in the middle of the Bible belt, with more than its fair share of every kind of Baptist that you can think of, plus a few more. The point to that isn't that Baptist are bad, or that even that living in the Bible Belt is bad, although there's some major drawbacks and hypocrisies that reach epic proportions, but that's another story for another day.
This idol that has been created is what I'm going to dub, "The feline of judah". The Church has made Jesus out to be an innocent, calm, gentle, totally incapable of destruction, little innocuous god. It is not very often that you hear of anyone being fearful of a God that is capable (and willing) to bring judgement. People who ought to be terrified of God's judgement, have no fear, no worries, and when something happens in their life that may very well have been judgement, or discipline, they brush it off as happenstance, that it was just the circumstances that allowed this to happen.
The Church has created a benign god that never judges.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend who had listened to a sermon from Paul Washer. In this sermon he was telling me that Paul Washer was making a point about how God didn't spare His own Son from His Wrath. During this conversation John 3:16 clicked in my headed in a manner that I've never had before.
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
There's a rather large point that is missed here, I believe mostly because of how we have romanticized this text. However, Romans 8:32 sheds a great deal of light on this by saying, "He who did not spare his own Son". I believe that all to often we look at this and miss the big idea of what spare actually means. We interpret this to say that God sent his Son from heaven, all the while missing that the sparing was the very wrath of God (Isaiah 53:10).
Jesus took on himself the wrath of God; He satisfied God's wrath (Romans 2:23-25).
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Here's the big idea: If God did spare His own Son, Jesus, then He isn't going to spare those who are outside of Christ. If we are not hidden in Christ, when the day of judgement comes (in this life or the next) we are not going to be spared the very wrath of God. When the people of Israel were preparing the first passover feast, they were doing so because they had to have the blood covering of an innocent lamb, because when it comes to judgement, there is no one who is innocent (Romans 3:23) outside of Christ. Had there been an Israelite who didn't do as he was commanded and shed the blood of a lamb and covered the doorpost with it, they would've been judged on that night.
I see this benign-god being talked about and preached from the mountain tops of the social world all the time e.g. the latest hit song Same Love is a great example of this. With lines like a "God loves all his children", and "Whatever God you believe in we come from the same one' strip away the fear underneath it's all the same love". It would take at least one long article to unpack those two lines, so I'm going to stick to the point, which is, this god that Mackelmore is talking about is a god that is only love, and according to his definition of love - it isn't love at all. This god has no judgement in him, and whatever you want to do, you are free to do because there is no judgement, only love.
As I pointed out earlier, if the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, according to scripture, then this is very bad news for anyone who has not put their trust in him. If God wasn't willing to spare his Son, He is not going to spare you eternal judgement.
The severity of God's anger, judgement, wrath, is what reveals his righteousness, grace and mercy.
The reality of this inoculated god that is preached in pulpits all over America has people who are totally unafraid of God. If you're not terrified about God's ability to judge you, in my opinion, you are in some very dangerous territory - Matthew 7:21-23 territory.
I pray that you put your trust in Christ, repent of you sins, pursue Jesus and let your life be hidden in him. (Colossians 3:3). When we put our trust in him we are justified by him and him alone (Romans 5:1).
Romans 8:33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
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