Buffalo Bills receiver Steve Johnson may have won the award for the dumbest tweet of the year (after dropping a game-winning touchdown pass in the Bills’ overtime loss to the Steelers on Sunday), but he did the Church a great favor in bringing to light a very common attitude among Christians. He wrote (caps his!) I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS? HOW?!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…. This is some pretty staggering arrogance, but I’m seeing it more and more in the modern church – the idea that we all deserve God’s blessings and that all we have to do to receive them is to “jump on the bandwagon”, engage in some basic Christian exercises, and then begin to roll in God’s favor. There’s only one slight problem – it’s not true. Many a Christian has become frustrated watching Christian personalities preach this message (in place of the historical gospel I might add), and find themselves still on the outs in their mind, and NOT experiencing what they think God is required to do for them.

Stevie, you may have a hard time hearing this from an avowed Dolphins fan, but the truth is that God is not under any obligation, no matter what, to do what you think He ought to. The second is this – just because you “praise Him 24/7” (which you obviously don’t), doesn’t make you God’s intimate friend. Jesus made it abundantly clear that it was not the one who spoke of obedience, but the one who actually engaged in it, that walked in the favor of God (Matt. 21:28-32). If you want to get to such a place of spiritual intimacy, it’s attainable, but not by our standards. Salvation may be a free gift; intimacy is another story – that’s costly.

But the greater problem isn’t the theology of the ignorant. The greater problem is the foundational assumption that we are worthy and deserving to receive God’s favor in the first place. When what we want doesn’t happen, we feel empowered to shake our fists at heaven and blame God. As soon as we employ the attitude of deservedness, we kill off gratitude, for His favor becomes a matter of our inherent worthiness, and not (as scripture teaches) the natural result of our habitually walking in obedience.

So is that in you? Here’s a little self-test to bring it out of the realm of the theological and into the world we live in: While you’re judging someone for being “holier-than-thou”, have you ever considered that they may very well be? When someone accuses me of being so, my response is to ask them “What in the world would make you assume that I WASN’T holier than you are?”. That may sound arrogant, but I say it to illustrate a truth. Not because I know myself to be more holy than they are, but because the very idea that I’m “of course” not, is absurd and unbiblical.

For those who are having a tough time with that last paragraph, I’d like you to ask yourself these questions: “Why would Jesus speak of greater and lesser rewards?” (Matt. 16:27), “Why would Jesus speak of some receiving harsher and lighter judgments? (Luke 12:47,48)”, “Why would Paul speak of some receiving great reward and others barely making it into Heaven as if ‘escaping through the flames’? (1Cor. 3)”, “Why would Jesus say that John was the ‘greatest man born of woman’? (Luke 7:28)”, or that greater and lesser places of honor in Heaven have been assigned by the Father? (Matt. 20:23). The idea that every human being is on an equal spiritual level with the next guy is modern, western theology, but has little in common with historical Christianity. Paul differentiates even between people in the church when he says “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature” (1Cor. 2:6).

There is a difference between saying “God is no respecter of persons” (which is absolutely true), and extrapolating that because God is no respecter of persons, we all possess the same spiritual empowerment and intimacy. Why? Because God IS a God that respects and responds to applied understanding. The unmerited favor of God is what allows us all equal access to intimacy – it does NOT guarantee that we are all, or will all end up at, the same spiritual plane – either in this world or the next. This is why Jesus commended the woman with the issue of blood, and the centurion, and the woman who washed His feet with her tears. The reality is that there are things each of us don’t know, that if we were to learn, would allow us greater intimacy with the Father; there are actions of obedience that if I engage in, will bring me nearer to the Father’s heart. I desire to grasp the things I’m not yet understanding, so that I can more regularly and powerfully experience God’s manifest presence in and through me. That’s our choice – to either come to grips with that truth and pursue God in greater and greater measure, or to delude ourselves into believing that we have all we can get. Jesus said it clearly that the one who is faithful with what he is given will be given even more (Matt. 25). That couldn’t be possible if I already have all I can attain. Oh, I could pretend I’m some great spiritual giant, but far better to simply acknowledge that I still have a long way to go.

So how do we get there? Well for starters we need to get around people who ARE powerful in the Lord, and who ARE intimate with Christ. To watch them, learn from them, and imitate them. The Bible says that “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Prov. 13:20). It tells us that “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” (Prov. 27:17). And it also tells us that “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1Cor. 15:33). Who we surround ourselves with will make all the difference in terms of our spiritual maturity, attitude, and habits of obedience which produce the fruit of spiritual intimacy.

A man once said to me “But Pastor – when you make people think they need to be more like someone else, they create a goal of being like that person, but they leave God behind!” That’s simply not true. Throughout scripture we’re encouraged to pursue the qualities of individuals in scripture. We understand that this does not mean leaving God behind at all, for in fact those qualities were given by God in the first place, for “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father” (James 1:17). I have no problem whatsoever looking to people like Elijah (whom James commends), or David, or Moses, Mary, and so on, and desiring to imitate the qualities they possessed that allowed them to experience intimacy with God on a greater level and with more frequency than I’ve experienced. Jesus Himself said “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did” (John 8:39). Paul says in 1Thes. 1:6 “You became imitators of us AND of the Lord”, and in 1Cor. 11:1 he says “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

So Mr. Johnson, you need to understand two things; One, that God is not your own cosmic vending machine. You can’t praise Him, then fault Him for your own lack of concentration. Kick the Coke machine if you must when it doesn’t give you what you paid for, but your praise is not the currency that forces God to do what you want Him to do. Secondly, if you want the kind of intimacy with God that you apparently see as your birthright, then you need to understand what it takes to get there. It’s attainable, but it’ll cost you plenty. Some are willing to pay that price, and some aren’t. But I have a feeling that if you pay it, and get there, you probably won’t see dropping passes as life or death issues, and you certainly wouldn’t see them as license to shake your fist at the One who created that fist in the first place. I hope that becomes true of God’s Church as a whole.

Pax Christi,

Dave