A few weeks ago I was reading a book by N.T. Wright titled "After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters". I've not finished the book yet but the basic premise of it says that we are saved for a purpose and what we do from the time we place our faith in Jesus till the time we die, matters. It matters very much.
A few weeks back the pastor was talking about treating God like a vending machine in our prayer life. He was dead on, as far I'm concerned, because it seems like that's how we treat Him. Deposit coin, God help me with..., deposit coin, God get me this job..., and so on and so forth. Now I want to say that these prayers are perfectly fine, however, if this is the only way we go to God in prayer then we do treat Him as a spiritual vending machine.
Now there are a ton of reasons that people who are way smarter than me have come up with to explain this. Entire books have been written about it. So why am I going to tackle it? Because I think I have a different idea about why some of us might do this. I'll begin with a portion of Wright's book.
"...part of the problem is that for many centuries Christians have assumed that virtually the only point in Jesus's death was 'to save us from our sins,'...But for the gospels themselves, that rescue of individuals (which of course remains a central element) is designed to serve a larger purpose: God's purpose, the purpose of God's kingdom. And in God's kingdom human beings are rescued, are delivered from their sin, in order to take their place (as Jesus already called the disciples to take theirs) not only as receivers of God's forgiveness and new life, but also as agents of it."
"...for Paul the whole point of the achievement of Jesus and his death and resurrection is that, through Jesus, a redeemed people has come to birth, and that through this people the creator will ultimately set the whole world to rights." 1 Cor. 5: 17 and Gal. 6: 15 come to mind in reference to new creations.
Now for my original thoughts about God the vending machine. The American church has spent a considerable amount of time focusing on communicating love to its congregations and the people they are trying to minister to. God is love after all as 1 John 4: 8 says. All of this is absolutely true. When people continue to hear over and over again how much God loves us and that he died for us and that he wants what is best for us, our sinful nature, I believe, begins to twist these amazing truths. How so? I think somehow being told over and over again that God loves us so much that He died for us we start to believe that God exists for our purposes and not us for His. Like He created us so He could serve us. In someway we start to look at God like He's hanging around waiting for us to ask him to do something for us.
Another reason I believe we treat God this way is because only one side of the salvation story is told. The salvation story is often told like this; God created man in His image, man sinned and it corrupted all of mankind because of that sin, sin is what separates us from God, we can't get to God with our own efforts, God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to be a ransom for sin, Jesus never sinned and was therefore a lamb worthy of paying for our sins, His death and resurrection means that once we place our faith in Jesus we no longer have to pay for the sins that separate from God. Jesus died so we wouldn't have to, end of story. And that is often where the salvation message ends with people.
And then this is how we start to think: How nice of God to love us that much, how important must we be if God sacrificed His own son on our behalf. I must be really important because God loved me that much. So since God loves me that much He must want what is best for me, so I can ask anything of Him and He'll grant it to me. I'm saved now, I'm good to go. What I do after this doesn't matter. Do you see how this thinking can start to happen?
Wright does a wonderful job of helping us to understand the other side of the salvation story. God does love us in a crazy sort of way, He loves us with the plan that we are delivered and declared not guilty so that we can help usher in His kingdom that is now. We can't help usher in His kingdom when we are still separated from God by our sins. We are saved for His purposes. What we do with our lives from the day we decide to follow Jesus till the day we die matters.
I have 4 children and I've been telling them about Jesus and how He died for our sins so we won't have to pay for them. The scary thing is that I'm telling them something that is true, but I've realized I'm only telling part of the story to them. I personally love the fact that I get to help usher in the kingdom of God that is here and now. That I get to be are part of God's transforming work on this earth as it is today. That every time a person turns from sin they are getting a glimpse of how God created us to be originally before the fall and how we will be after He returns. I must tell my children and others that when you accept Jesus as Lord you were saved to be part of His kingdom that is here and now, not just so that we don't have to pay for our sins. It is the reward that we are promised that motivates us to love others and tell others about Jesus... so that they can be part of the reward that is motivating us to tell them about Him.
This is good news and a truth that I want to be a part of. It's important for us to communicate this truth to people about why we were saved. My kids are now starting to understand this. I'm happy for that. Now, do I believe that because they are starting to understand this that they won't treat God like a vending machine, no, but I believe that if we elevate and only speak about one aspect of the person of God that we begin to distort the immensity of who He is and wants to be for us. Specifically I'm saying that God's love has been or can be elevated above other characteristics of Him. God is love, but he is so much more and demands so much more. (1 Peter and Leviticus says "Be holy for I am Holy) I'm not trying to lower the love of God, but what I am saying is that God has bigger plans for us and his kingdom and that everything is about Him. Love is His instrument that He has given us to use for the ushering in of His here and now kingdom. Love is not the end of the story, it is the beginning and it is what transforms us into vessels that He can use to transform others. When we realize this truth we can begin to stop treating God like a vending machine and more like the Lord that He is.
A few weeks back the pastor was talking about treating God like a vending machine in our prayer life. He was dead on, as far I'm concerned, because it seems like that's how we treat Him. Deposit coin, God help me with..., deposit coin, God get me this job..., and so on and so forth. Now I want to say that these prayers are perfectly fine, however, if this is the only way we go to God in prayer then we do treat Him as a spiritual vending machine.
Now there are a ton of reasons that people who are way smarter than me have come up with to explain this. Entire books have been written about it. So why am I going to tackle it? Because I think I have a different idea about why some of us might do this. I'll begin with a portion of Wright's book.
"...part of the problem is that for many centuries Christians have assumed that virtually the only point in Jesus's death was 'to save us from our sins,'...But for the gospels themselves, that rescue of individuals (which of course remains a central element) is designed to serve a larger purpose: God's purpose, the purpose of God's kingdom. And in God's kingdom human beings are rescued, are delivered from their sin, in order to take their place (as Jesus already called the disciples to take theirs) not only as receivers of God's forgiveness and new life, but also as agents of it."
"...for Paul the whole point of the achievement of Jesus and his death and resurrection is that, through Jesus, a redeemed people has come to birth, and that through this people the creator will ultimately set the whole world to rights." 1 Cor. 5: 17 and Gal. 6: 15 come to mind in reference to new creations.
Now for my original thoughts about God the vending machine. The American church has spent a considerable amount of time focusing on communicating love to its congregations and the people they are trying to minister to. God is love after all as 1 John 4: 8 says. All of this is absolutely true. When people continue to hear over and over again how much God loves us and that he died for us and that he wants what is best for us, our sinful nature, I believe, begins to twist these amazing truths. How so? I think somehow being told over and over again that God loves us so much that He died for us we start to believe that God exists for our purposes and not us for His. Like He created us so He could serve us. In someway we start to look at God like He's hanging around waiting for us to ask him to do something for us.
Another reason I believe we treat God this way is because only one side of the salvation story is told. The salvation story is often told like this; God created man in His image, man sinned and it corrupted all of mankind because of that sin, sin is what separates us from God, we can't get to God with our own efforts, God loves us so much that He sent His son Jesus to be a ransom for sin, Jesus never sinned and was therefore a lamb worthy of paying for our sins, His death and resurrection means that once we place our faith in Jesus we no longer have to pay for the sins that separate from God. Jesus died so we wouldn't have to, end of story. And that is often where the salvation message ends with people.
And then this is how we start to think: How nice of God to love us that much, how important must we be if God sacrificed His own son on our behalf. I must be really important because God loved me that much. So since God loves me that much He must want what is best for me, so I can ask anything of Him and He'll grant it to me. I'm saved now, I'm good to go. What I do after this doesn't matter. Do you see how this thinking can start to happen?
Wright does a wonderful job of helping us to understand the other side of the salvation story. God does love us in a crazy sort of way, He loves us with the plan that we are delivered and declared not guilty so that we can help usher in His kingdom that is now. We can't help usher in His kingdom when we are still separated from God by our sins. We are saved for His purposes. What we do with our lives from the day we decide to follow Jesus till the day we die matters.
I have 4 children and I've been telling them about Jesus and how He died for our sins so we won't have to pay for them. The scary thing is that I'm telling them something that is true, but I've realized I'm only telling part of the story to them. I personally love the fact that I get to help usher in the kingdom of God that is here and now. That I get to be are part of God's transforming work on this earth as it is today. That every time a person turns from sin they are getting a glimpse of how God created us to be originally before the fall and how we will be after He returns. I must tell my children and others that when you accept Jesus as Lord you were saved to be part of His kingdom that is here and now, not just so that we don't have to pay for our sins. It is the reward that we are promised that motivates us to love others and tell others about Jesus... so that they can be part of the reward that is motivating us to tell them about Him.
This is good news and a truth that I want to be a part of. It's important for us to communicate this truth to people about why we were saved. My kids are now starting to understand this. I'm happy for that. Now, do I believe that because they are starting to understand this that they won't treat God like a vending machine, no, but I believe that if we elevate and only speak about one aspect of the person of God that we begin to distort the immensity of who He is and wants to be for us. Specifically I'm saying that God's love has been or can be elevated above other characteristics of Him. God is love, but he is so much more and demands so much more. (1 Peter and Leviticus says "Be holy for I am Holy) I'm not trying to lower the love of God, but what I am saying is that God has bigger plans for us and his kingdom and that everything is about Him. Love is His instrument that He has given us to use for the ushering in of His here and now kingdom. Love is not the end of the story, it is the beginning and it is what transforms us into vessels that He can use to transform others. When we realize this truth we can begin to stop treating God like a vending machine and more like the Lord that He is.
