18/12: Depth Perception
While seeking the Lord recently on what He wanted me to preach on, He gave me an image of a tightrope walker. The focus however was not on the walker himself, nor the wire, nor that which he was crossing. Rather, it was on his balancing tool...the long pole held horizontally in his hands. This gave him stability and made the safety of his journey more likely. When walking a thin line, it is best to have a balancing tool.
I believe what the Lord was showing me was a message for His church. God's Church / His people need to have a tool to help keep them balanced. While this message could have gone a number of different ways, and still may, right now the focus He gave me was our need for balance when it comes to understanding exactly Who He Is. Below are some of the things that I believe the Lord gave me as pertaining to this message.
The first is depth perception. You and I as human beings are able to perceive depth because we have two eyes...i.e. two reference points. Our brain is able to take the imagery and information from both eyes and help us perceive depths and distances. Without these two reference points our perception of the world around us would be vastly different. I experienced this first hand when I began going blind nearly nine years ago. I was walking into people, pushing buggies into cars, jamming straws up my nose and crashing into walls constantly. This happened because I lost over 90% of my left eye first. (God has already healed me.)
The same concept applies to our understanding of Who God is. We tend to see God with one eye wide open and the other shut up tight. We only see what we want to see of God. I honestly believe this is one of the foundational problems of churches today...one reason that leads ultimately to the Lukewarm church that Christ vomits out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16. There are many areas where this is true, and I will discuss them here as the Lord leads. Some deal with the 'isms' that are the illegitimate offspring of prideful men desiring to sow tainted and synthesized tares instead of the good and organic seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Others are simple one dimensional, ear tickling, non-offensive, views of God that are preached and re-preached each and every Sunday from pulpits, tv's, radios and computers across the globe.
To bring this idea home to Scripture, consider again what makes our depth perception (3D) possible. We need to have 2 different reference points to perceive the 3rd dimension (depth). So if we are going to perceive even the slightest depth of God, we need to combine what we know of Him from different reference points. The primary verse that the Lord led me to was Romans 11:22 "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off."
Notice the first part: "...consider the goodness AND severityof God."
I cannot tell you how many times when I share and counsel with individuals that they ultimately say basically, 'well doesn't God just forgive everybody?' or 'how can a God of love send people to Hell?' People seem to have a problem grasping the fullness of God. How can there be a realization of Grace if there is not punishment for Guilt? How can there be acceptance of Divine Mercy without promise of Righteous Judgment? How can their be a Salvation if there is no Condemnation? There can't.
Worth noting here is that the word above for the 'severity' of God does not mean 'severe' as in harsh or mean. It actually means to sever, as in cut-off. This is another lesson all in itself as it pertains to true and false converts.
The Scriptures are full of verses just like the one in Romans 11:22. Consider some of the ones below as just a small sampling.
BEHOLD THE GOODNESS AND SEVERITY OF GOD:
Numbers 14:20-23 “20And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:” (KJV)
Joshua 23:11-16 "11Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,that ye love the LORD your God. 12Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: 13Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 14And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. 15Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 16When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you." (KJV)
Romans 2:1-11 "1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11For there is no respect of persons with God."
I believe that the root of the problem with not having proper depth perception of God is a misunderstanding and application of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus commands us all to, "19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
I think we get the 'make disciples' part (although I don't think we are doing it right), what we are missing I believe is the 'baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' part. I know that in most traditional churches we physically dink people in water and say, 'I now baptize you in the name of...' and it seems as though that is taken to be fulfilled.
When you look at the original Greek words in that passage, the word translated as 'baptize' means to flood or immerse. 'In the name of' essentially means the name, character, nature, position, purpose, rank, etc. So if we could rewrite it with these words expounded it would read:
"Go therefore and teach all nations, flooding them with the knowledge and understanding of Who God the Father is...His character, nature, etc., and flooding them in the knowledge and understanding of Who God the Son is...His nature, character, position, purpose, etc., and flooding them with the knowledge and understanding of Who the Holy Spirit is...His nature, purpose, how He operates, how He is grieved, etc., while teaching them to observe all of the things I have commanded you..."
Consider the following rewrite based on how we do traditional do things today, "Go teach...dunk them in water...then teach some more."
You see, the first rewrite makes more sense as it is all about teaching and not just dunking. Does the Lord want us baptized? Absolutely. But I think we as a church today are missing the mark on our Great Commission. Most people in church today really do not have a good and balanced picture of God the Father nor the Holy Spirit.
In order to have a working and fruit bearing faith in God, we have to have both eyes open and perceive His depth. We have to understand and acknowledge both His Goodness and Severity. The same rings true for accepting His undeniable sovereignty and our chargeable free will. That tightrope walker's balancing tool would be worthless and even dangerous if it only had one side. The balancing tool itself had to be 'balanced' to be helpful. So too can our doctrine quickly turn to poison if we do not have an accurate depth perception of our God.
There is a reason God saw fit than to reveal more than one aspect of Himself to us. It would behoove us to take careful heed to all He has revealed to us.
I will build on this next, Let me know your thoughts.
I believe what the Lord was showing me was a message for His church. God's Church / His people need to have a tool to help keep them balanced. While this message could have gone a number of different ways, and still may, right now the focus He gave me was our need for balance when it comes to understanding exactly Who He Is. Below are some of the things that I believe the Lord gave me as pertaining to this message.
The first is depth perception. You and I as human beings are able to perceive depth because we have two eyes...i.e. two reference points. Our brain is able to take the imagery and information from both eyes and help us perceive depths and distances. Without these two reference points our perception of the world around us would be vastly different. I experienced this first hand when I began going blind nearly nine years ago. I was walking into people, pushing buggies into cars, jamming straws up my nose and crashing into walls constantly. This happened because I lost over 90% of my left eye first. (God has already healed me.)
The same concept applies to our understanding of Who God is. We tend to see God with one eye wide open and the other shut up tight. We only see what we want to see of God. I honestly believe this is one of the foundational problems of churches today...one reason that leads ultimately to the Lukewarm church that Christ vomits out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16. There are many areas where this is true, and I will discuss them here as the Lord leads. Some deal with the 'isms' that are the illegitimate offspring of prideful men desiring to sow tainted and synthesized tares instead of the good and organic seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Others are simple one dimensional, ear tickling, non-offensive, views of God that are preached and re-preached each and every Sunday from pulpits, tv's, radios and computers across the globe.
To bring this idea home to Scripture, consider again what makes our depth perception (3D) possible. We need to have 2 different reference points to perceive the 3rd dimension (depth). So if we are going to perceive even the slightest depth of God, we need to combine what we know of Him from different reference points. The primary verse that the Lord led me to was Romans 11:22 "Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off."
Notice the first part: "...consider the goodness AND severityof God."
I cannot tell you how many times when I share and counsel with individuals that they ultimately say basically, 'well doesn't God just forgive everybody?' or 'how can a God of love send people to Hell?' People seem to have a problem grasping the fullness of God. How can there be a realization of Grace if there is not punishment for Guilt? How can there be acceptance of Divine Mercy without promise of Righteous Judgment? How can their be a Salvation if there is no Condemnation? There can't.
Worth noting here is that the word above for the 'severity' of God does not mean 'severe' as in harsh or mean. It actually means to sever, as in cut-off. This is another lesson all in itself as it pertains to true and false converts.
The Scriptures are full of verses just like the one in Romans 11:22. Consider some of the ones below as just a small sampling.
BEHOLD THE GOODNESS AND SEVERITY OF GOD:
Numbers 14:20-23 “20And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: 21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. 22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:” (KJV)
Joshua 23:11-16 "11Take good heed therefore unto yourselves,that ye love the LORD your God. 12Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you: 13Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 14And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof. 15Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. 16When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you." (KJV)
Romans 2:1-11 "1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? 5But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; 10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: 11For there is no respect of persons with God."
I believe that the root of the problem with not having proper depth perception of God is a misunderstanding and application of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus commands us all to, "19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."
I think we get the 'make disciples' part (although I don't think we are doing it right), what we are missing I believe is the 'baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit' part. I know that in most traditional churches we physically dink people in water and say, 'I now baptize you in the name of...' and it seems as though that is taken to be fulfilled.
When you look at the original Greek words in that passage, the word translated as 'baptize' means to flood or immerse. 'In the name of' essentially means the name, character, nature, position, purpose, rank, etc. So if we could rewrite it with these words expounded it would read:
"Go therefore and teach all nations, flooding them with the knowledge and understanding of Who God the Father is...His character, nature, etc., and flooding them in the knowledge and understanding of Who God the Son is...His nature, character, position, purpose, etc., and flooding them with the knowledge and understanding of Who the Holy Spirit is...His nature, purpose, how He operates, how He is grieved, etc., while teaching them to observe all of the things I have commanded you..."
Consider the following rewrite based on how we do traditional do things today, "Go teach...dunk them in water...then teach some more."
You see, the first rewrite makes more sense as it is all about teaching and not just dunking. Does the Lord want us baptized? Absolutely. But I think we as a church today are missing the mark on our Great Commission. Most people in church today really do not have a good and balanced picture of God the Father nor the Holy Spirit.
In order to have a working and fruit bearing faith in God, we have to have both eyes open and perceive His depth. We have to understand and acknowledge both His Goodness and Severity. The same rings true for accepting His undeniable sovereignty and our chargeable free will. That tightrope walker's balancing tool would be worthless and even dangerous if it only had one side. The balancing tool itself had to be 'balanced' to be helpful. So too can our doctrine quickly turn to poison if we do not have an accurate depth perception of our God.
There is a reason God saw fit than to reveal more than one aspect of Himself to us. It would behoove us to take careful heed to all He has revealed to us.
I will build on this next, Let me know your thoughts.
