Stephen
Terry, Director
God's
Call to Mission
Commentary
for the October 21, 2023, Sabbath School Lesson
"On that day a great persecution broke
out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered
throughout Judea and Samaria...Those who had been scattered preached the word
wherever they went." Acts 8:1, 4, NIV.
Our lesson quarterly this week
begs the interesting question, if the early church had not been persecuted,
would it eventually have had the global impact it did? Would God send
persecution to drive conversions? The quarterly authors see a parallel between
the scattering of the people that Nimrod had organized to construct the
infamous Tower of Babel. There, God confused the languages (hence Babel),
causing the work on the tower to cease and the people to disperse across the
globe according to their language groups. This seems a unique understanding of
the character of God in relation to suffering.
Theodicy has troubled mankind
for millennia. The Book of Job was an ancient attempt to derive meaning from
suffering. But it did not cross the line of attributing God as the source for suffering.
It took the safer path of asserting that there are conflicts playing out beyond
our knowing that result in suffering here. Some would maintain that because God
is all powerful and could stop the suffering, he remains ultimately responsible.
Others would point out that God limits his intervention so that free will might
have room to exist in our world. The first point leaves hearts cold over God's
indifference to suffering. The second point differs in that it allows for love.
John told us in his first
epistle that "God is love."[i]
That implies that he is all about free will. If we are created in God's image,
then we were also created to love and to have the freedom to choose to love.
Genesis does not tell us how long that image continued in our being, but
eventually we decided love was not enough, we wanted more and reached out and
took it despite the damage it would do to our first love with God. We betrayed
the trust of that initial relationship. Although we had freedom to choose all
along, we felt that we were deprived, missing out on something that was being
withheld from us. Our love for God and each other was spontaneous, not forced. But
as too often happens, we began to take it for granted and started to wonder
what we might be missing. From there, it was a very small step to betrayal of
that special relationship. It is a story told millions of times over through
the ages in the detritus of broken marriages and divided families. Then to add
to the betrayal, we blame God for it all because he doesn't step in and start
hurting people until they obey and start loving him and each other again. This
is what troubles me about the lesson quarterly this week. This is what the
authors seem to think God should and does do.
If God does indeed use suffering
to drive the saints to obedience, then what is the point of thousands of years
of such suffering in bits and drabs? Why not just be done with it and drive
them all the way to obedience in a single generation and devil take the
hindmost? Why do we keep buying into the idea that God is all powerful and
angry, and we better get right, or he will kill us? I can see a Hitler, a
Stalin, or a Mao using fear to drive people, and I can see the miserable lives
their people live under such motivation. I also note the millions who have died
under such regimes. But it would be an aberration to say that these leaders
loved their people. Their love was a love of power over those people, and they
willingly usurp God's relationship of love with his people to claim their right
to sweep as many of them as they wish into the grave.
But let's look at the insinuation
that God would drive his people out to evangelize through fear of persecution.
How would people who believe that portray God's character? Many years ago, I
was visiting a local state college campus during the noon hour. I heard a lot
of shouting coming from the quad, so I went over to see what was going on.
About half a dozen young men were haranguing the passing students, telling them
they were going to burn in hell if they didn't repent and convert. I was
shocked. Even the Apostle Peter at Pentecost never mouthed such threats to the
people. I asked them what about God's tremendous love for us as we are told in
John 3:16-17 and in 1 John 4:8? Their response was to shout all the louder so
others would not hear me. There is so much energy expended in this world on
representing God as some kind of ogre out to destroy anyone he doesn't like; it
is little wonder that so many turn away. But God is not found in all the noise
and bluster. He is found in the gentle voice of love.[ii]
When relationships fall apart
there always seems to be a blame game. It is far more desirable to pick out all
the failures of the other person that caused the relationship to crumble than
to admit that we are not perfect ourselves. Is it any wonder then that we do
the same with God? We point to the distortions of God's character in the Old
Testament, and like a jilted spouse, we boast that those are exactly the
reasons God is to blame for our failed relationship. We sought separation. Now we
need only justify it, so it is clear to everyone who the bad person really is.
Why do we do this? It is the age-old practice of running someone else down to
make ourselves look better, smarter, wiser, more perfect than the other, even
if that other happens to be God.
So many of us have been hurt by
betrayal and the sufferings brought on by our own bad choices (Remember free
will?) that we have difficulty accepting that we deserve the kind of love God
offers. We are damaged goods, not even sure we can find happiness with another
human being, let alone God. It is hard to learn to trust again. This is
especially so if we have been running others down and blaming them. So much of
what we put out into the world has come back to bite us that we expect they
will do the same to us. Even worse, when we hear that idea reinforced by those
who claim to be Christians, that we are worthless scum just waiting for God to
get around to destroying us, how do we ever find our way back to faith and
hope? How do we walk again in the light of the love that Adam and Eve enjoyed?
All that is required is the
smallest of steps. Like the woman who had been bleeding for twelve years who
said to herself, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment."[iii]
Her simple act brought profound change and healing to her life. Slight though
it was, Jesus instantly responded, and his love and compassion not only touched
that woman's life but the lives of everyone who read of it or shared the story
for centuries since. In the same way, we cannot reach out to God, even in the
slightest way, without opening a portal for his love to flow into our lives.
That love has a way of growing from a tiny trickle to an overwhelming flood of
grace and joy that will see us through maelstroms whirling all around us while
we remain calm in the eye of God's presence.
The Bible tells us that a day
will come when Jesus returns. When he does, we are told that those who have
helped perpetuate that image of anger, hatred, and revenge as being the native
character of God will hide themselves in the rocks and caves.[iv] They
believe he will do to them what they would do to others out of a spirit of
revenge. But they are wrong. Those who have understood the true, loving
character of God will greet him in an entirely different spirit. The prophet
Isaiah shares with us what it will be like. Those who really know and love God
will say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us:
this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his
salvation." (Isaiah 25:9)
Much of the world sees
apocalyptic events unfolding and they are filled with fear. In their fear, they
blame God for the suffering occurring everywhere. They fail to see that instead
of breathing hope into the world, their choices have spread fear and despair,
and it has come back to fill their own hearts with fear. Jesus warned us about
these times. He said, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will
betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive
many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow
cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:10-13)
Betrayal and hatred, abandoning
the relationship with God, false prophets preaching a false character of God,
leading people to fear God instead of loving him, and an ongoing climate of tit
for tat wickedness that will tempt people to grow cold toward one another and
toward God seems to be a description of what we see around us. But there is
still hope for the one who endures, the one who manages to keep on loving
despite it all. That is the message God calls us to take to the world.