Introduction
What is the
motivation for obedience?
Why should we do
God’s will, or be fruitful, or use our gifts?
What should be
the real motivation behind our obedience to God?
NOT fear of
repercussions, NOT religious obligation, NOT duty, CERTAINLY NOT guilt!
Proposition –
God’s Love
God created
everything with such love and care. Despite knowing that giving human beings
freewill would cause him so much pain, God did so hoping that many would choose
a relationship with him … rather than the emptiness of denying God a place in
their lives. God desired relationships with his creations, and he has never
deviated from this desire.
Over recorded
history, God has often been frustrated by a lack of response to His Ways. We
see this time and time again in the Old Testament. There have been a few shining lights,
like Abraham, Moses and David, but so many instances of apathy and rebellion.
So many calls to reform their ways and tackle injustice had fallen on deaf
ears. The people of Israel found themselves defeated by foreign nations and
taken into exile because they had lost their way. Sacrifices were made seeking
forgiveness, but lives remained unchanged. So God gave up!?! No!!
The people were in
need; and God’s love had been seen in His care for the universe. What would God
do? The prophets longed for an answer. Isaiah cried out these words, “O that
you [God] would tear open the heavens and come down” (64:1). Sometimes we’ll
get a job done on our property while we’re not there, and when we get home we
find that it just isn’t done right. We’ll get on the phone and try to describe
the problem, but in the end, the boss will need to come out and see to the
issue in person. “O that you God would tear open heaven and come down”, and
deal with this!
This is exactly
what God eventually did – the heavens were “torn open”. God would respond to
this prophetic cry by bringing grace right into the hustle and bustle of the
human environment. In Matthew and Luke we have the birth narratives (that we
read at Christmas) where we discover that Jesus was the Son of God sent to
earth. The Gospel of John opens with those great words about the “Word becoming
flesh”. In Mark, at the time of Jesus’ baptism, we hear that the heavens have
been “torn apart” (Mark 1:10).
The root of the
Greek word used here is “schizo” – the word from which we get the medical term
‘schizophrenic’ – meaning a divided or torn mind. In the context of “heaven”,
there has been a separation – a tearing away. Never let us think that this was
a simple or uncomplicated thing for God to do – this was the greatest act of
love since creation itself. The community of God – the Trinity – Father, Son
and Spirit, had always been together (to this point), and together created the
world and everything in it. This was a tight community!
God’s extreme
response to the need of humanity was to ‘tear apart’ this community, and send
the Son to earth. And the Son would be sent as a human being – a human being
vulnerable to hurt, rejection, betrayal and violence. Jesus would experience
life, in a particular time and place, like we experience life; yet in a way
that we couldn’t help but notice – in a sinless and messianic way. And Jesus
would experience death in a way that would bring us new life – because his
death was actually our death.
God would suffer
a loss of community … for the sake of offering us community.
Through this act of love, we could be drawn ourselves into relationship with
God’s community, as well as into a new community of people of faith. Jesus
would leave many aspects of his divinity behind in heaven so that he could
personally experience what it is to be human. Not that God didn’t know already
something about human suffering – it’s just that we would get to know how Jesus
experienced the breadth of being human, and see how he handled this.
Jesus brought
together the fullness of the love of heaven with the vast need of humanity.
Jesus too would have a sense of loss, intensified on the cross (Mark 15:34) –
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani”? This is unprecedented love, radical love,
extraordinary love! We should say again, that God was here reengaging with his
original desire to forge eternal intimate relationships with his created
beings, and paying a great cost to do so!
That Jesus was
fully human is seen through the fact that he needed the Holy Spirit, just like
we do, if he was to fulfil God’s will. It will be this Spirit that Jesus relies
upon to guide him through his ministry. The Holy Spirit would be needed to
effectively deal with all the needs, expectations, problems, diseases and
opposition that lay ahead. In the very next verse, the Holy Spirit ‘drives’
Jesus out into the wilderness, so that he might endure and rise above all
temptation, before embarking on all the challenging ministry that lay ahead. As
all members of the Trinity participated in the first creation, all members
participate in the new work of re-creation (RA Cole) … God in the sending,
Jesus in the redeeming, and the Spirit in the guiding!
But the main
point I am making, is the magnificent extent of God’s love … that he would let
his Son go … that the perfection of the community of heaven could be torn apart
for our sake. But God judged this to be worth it – for the human Jesus, with
the Holy Spirit on side, would indeed change everything. That this would not
be without cost, is indeed amplified in those heart-rendering words (of Jesus
from the cross), “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34). This
was an expression of isolation, of broken community, and the weight of the
burden that had been placed upon Jesus.
A Second
Tearing
So the heavens
were torn open to allow Jesus to take up residence on earth, but then the
heavens were torn open again. There was a part of the temple (called the ‘Holy
of Holies’) reserved for the high priest – this was behind a curtain. There
were all sorts of perceived barriers that separated people from God symbolised
by this curtain. The law had to be addressed in all sorts of rigorous ways,
sacrifices had to be made in a certain way. It was really only the high priest
who could fully commune with God.
But had this made
any real difference?!? When Jesus died his perfect death, for the remission of
our sins, what happened to this curtain??? It was “torn in two from top
to bottom” (Mark 15:38). This symbolically demonstrated that heaven had again
been thrown wide open, with Jesus ushering the way for us to
engage fully with God. There was now unrestricted access to God. Now there
could be real relationships forged based on mutual love; that could in turn
lead to much more natural, spontaneous and heart-felt responses.
In previous days
there had been knowledge about God, certain experiences of God’s power, calls
for obedience to God’s commandments; but all from something of a distance. Now
heaven had been torn open. Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope, a sure and
steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the
curtain …”. There was now an opening for a direct and personal connection with
God. There was now to be complete and unhindered access to God, for anyone who
sought this.
There should be a
sense of excitement here! The full capacities of heaven are now available on
earth! We can have an open relationship with God now! A heavenly relationship
is there for us to be lived here and now on earth. In this we are completely
engulfed and fuelled by God’s love – a very personal love – a very gracious
love – a very active love – an unrestrained and passionate love – a very costly
love – and that is why we would want to be obedient, fruitful, and using all
the gifts available to us for God’s glory!
Heaven is NOT
just a place to be enjoyed later, but a place to be experienced here and now.
Heaven, that has been “torn open” in the greatest demonstration of love,
defines how we live now. This is why we were taught to pray these words … “Your
Kingdom come; Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
When the heavens split open (at Jesus’ baptism), it is the Holy Spirit that
comes forth. As this Spirit guided Jesus, this same Holy Spirit will be our
companion on the journey of accomplishing God’s will.
Heaven Torn
Open
So, the heavens
were “torn open”, and Jesus came as a human to identify with us. Jesus was
baptised to identify with a death to life experience, and received the Holy
Spirit through which to undertake a thorough ministry of redemption. In this,
Jesus removed all the barriers that stood between us and God … such barriers as
sin, guilt, shame, pride and selfishness. As Isaiah put it seven centuries
earlier (53:12), “… he was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin
of many”. This would allow us all to enter new life; and whilst remaining on
earth, express the priorities of heaven.
Such was the
depth and significance of the scene of the cross that a Roman Centurion,
perhaps one who earlier might have been involved in gambling over Jesus’
clothes, came to this conclusion … “Truly this man was God’s Son” (Mark 15:39)!
Here, the Roman Centurion knows what God knows, and agrees with what God has
said earlier – “You are my Son the beloved” (Mark 1:11). This was the most
unlikely of persons to make such a statement. If this ‘hard-nosed’ Roman
soldier could say this, then anyone could say it! This statement begs the
question as to whether we can say these words – “Truly this man was God’s Son”!
Here, in Jesus, was God’s agent of salvation – heaven is torn open – this
changes everything – eternal life starts now!
This Roman
Centurion, in making the statement he did, has switched his allegiance from
Caesar to Jesus (and chosen a new king); in so doing switched his life orientation from one of
violence to self-sacrifice. This was an absolute change of direction that would
affect everything (if it was real)! So this is where we find our
motivation for obedience, fruitfulness and the use of our gifts!
Not in guilt, fear or obligation!! We aren’t
obedient to gain God’s love – it doesn’t work that way! God first loves us, and
out of this … our hearts, minds, hands and feet are engaged in God’s purposes.
It is God’s extraordinary ground-breaking life-changing love that makes us want
to love him in return, and respond to him in ways that make a difference for
good. This mutual love relationship we develop enlivens us … and impels us.
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