Could Jesus be hoodwinked? Is he ever perplexed, with furrowed brow, wringing hands, as he watches the world turn? And I am not talking about your grandma’s favorite Soap Opera. My main query is wondering whether or not if God is ever dazed and confused or caught off guard when considering the actions of the human race?
Personally, I think he is.
But how can this be? God is Sovereign, he knows and sees all things. According to Isaiah 46:10 he is the one who “declared the end from the beginning.” So, theoretically speaking, he can never be caught off guard. Right?
Some argue that God figures things out as he goes along. There is a teaching out there that says he is often surprised at some of reality’s unforeseen twists and turns – – and he certainly is perplexed at our quirky human foibles. For instance, in the last 20 years, some progressive thinkers have implemented a curious new interpretive schematic called the “Redemptive Hermeneutic” when trying to understand the Bible. The Redemptive Hermeneutic teaches that “the moral commands of the New Testament do not always represent a perfect or final moral system for Christians.” They are rather a pointer that “provides the direction toward an ultimate destination, but its literal, isolated words are not always the destination itself.”
In other words, at the time the Bible was written, God was still in the dark about a number of complex ethical issues. You could say, he was still working out his redemptive theology, along with our cooperation and insights, and it has taken the last 2,000 years for both of us together to come to the brighter light of interpretative truth.
Two issues that these left-leaning cultural critics point at to illustrate God’s growth in understanding are “slavery” and “consensual homosexual unions.” The person who first presented this idea was the writer William Webb. He believes “our contemporary culture” has a better ethic than what is found in the words of the Bible. The Bible at the time of it’s writing wasn’t fully complete. God was still in process.
And logically speaking, a God in process is not a God fully in the know.
So when it comes to slavery, Webb says the bible at the time of the writing “approved of slavery with many abuses.” But now, after fighting all our civil rights battles, “our culture is much closer to an ultimate ethic than it is to the unrealized ethic reflected in the isolated words of the Bible” So God, along with us, is still learning. And if God is learning, he can be caught off guard.
This approach can also be taken when it comes to supporting homosexual unions. As one pro-gay writer states, “The Bible routinely, clearly, and strongly classifies all sex acts outside of the bonds of marriage as sinful. But, because when the Bible was written there was no concept of gay people—let alone, then, of gay marriage—the Bible does not, and could not, address the sinfulness of homosexual acts within the context of marriage.” In other words, God was caught off guard again. He never considered the idea of a pure and loving homosexual relationship. It took the brilliant minds of the people living in the 21st century to bring to light the concept of noble ‘gayness’.
In both cases, slavery and homosexuality, supporters of The Redemptive Hermeneutic want us to believe God was caught off guard. Or at least they want us to be gullible enough to accept the extremely arrogant idea that he is now pleasantly surprised with the results of our ever-enlightened civility. Human history became his laboratory to help him flesh out his redemptive ethics and bring clarity to the new societal changes that he wasn’t able to foresee when he first had men pen the bible. God needed us to help him.
How silly. How blasphemous.
God wrote a perfect and flawless bible, as Proverbs 30:5-6 says, “Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” To say he didn’t give to us a fully complete canon is both patently offensive, and it paints the Holy Spirit’s work of inspiration as incomplete. The truth is God is more than clear about the sin of stealing humans and selling them as slaves (Exodus 21:16, 1 Timothy 1:10), and he is equally straightforward about the sin of homosexuality (Romans 1:26-27). God was not caught of guard, nor was he waiting for us to evolve to a new state of understanding. No, this teaching is nothing more than a bunch of ignorant fools casting God in the role of an idiot.
And God is no idiot, and his Bible is infallible and true. However, I still think there is one thing that does have him confused…or at least it causes him untold frustration. This one thing is found in Luke 6:46…
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
God is perplexed when human beings claim Christ as Lord, and yet treat him as chopped liver. You may wonder what is the big deal, we are giving him props, aren’t we? Isn’t that really all that God wants? Our praise? When we call him Lord we are doing exactly what he told us to do. He loves it when we sing. He loves it when we pack our churches, pump up the volume and shout our lungs out. Doesn’t he?
Aren’t we doing his will when we find the best looking people with the best voices leading “sold out” believers in praise? Why do we think singing and crying is being “sold out”? We are such silly people. Anyone can sing. Anyone can cry. Few obey.
Let’s slow it down a second: What do we mean when we call Jesus Lord? I’m not sure we know what we mean, but I know what God thinks it should mean. And listen closely, it will rock your world:
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name…Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will not accept an offering from your hand. For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts…Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock, and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says the Lord of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations.” (Mal. 1:6, 10-11, 14)
Did you catch that? When you call Jesus Lord you are saying he is”Great!” You believe “He is to be feared.” And yet most of us pay him only lip service. God can melt mountains, and tear open skies! And yet we demand he serve us!
How dare we. How dare we demand Him to let us sleep with whoever we want, how dare we demand Him to look past our sick deeds of lust. How dare we pervert His word to suit our needs and act as if He is the one who sanctioned it!!! And do you know what is even worse than all that? When we don’t listen to him but presume upon him to listen to our prayers and expect him to obey us.
Is Jesus God? Is He a great Lord?
If He is, then…do what He says.
