"As He Is: God's True Nature: Losing Your Religion Part 2"

Losing Your Religion— Part 2

For the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing with you truths from the word of God concerning His true nature and character. Here’s a quick review of what we’ve talked about thus far:

• God is who He is regardless of what you believe about Him. But, who you believe God to be will affect your relationship with Him. To you God will be who you believe Him to be. (Matthew 16:13-19; Ephesians 3:20) “Who do you say that I am?”
  

• Your life will be a reflection of how you perceive God. Your perception/impression of God determines how you receive from Him. The primary reason your life is the way it is, is because of your perception of God; and the reason our perception is distorted is because we have not fully seen Him as He is. Therefore, if we see God truly, we will begin to reflect Him truly. (2 Peter 1:2-3; 1 John 3:2; 2 Cor. 3:18; Hebrews 11:6 –believing God is_______)
  

• Jesus is the True revelation of God and all knowledge of God must come through Him. (John 1:16-18; John 14:6; 2 Peter 1:2-3) “I am come to do the will of my Father…” “He who has seen me has seen the Father…”
  

• The reason we are not reflecting God truly is because we have been deceived about His true nature and character, what He has done for us, how He relates to us, and how He wants us to relate to Him. The reason many Christians are mean, self-centered, judgmental, condemning, unkind, etc. is because they perceive God to be the same way. They are conforming to the image of who they believe their Father is.
  

• There have been perversions (contradictions) of the gospel and the primary source of this deception has come from people who represent Christ (Matthew 24) and most deception stems from these basic concepts: Jesus did not represent God perfectly and God did not mean what He said concerning what Jesus has done. Any teaching contrary to what Jesus did in His flesh is anti-Christ, or against Christ (1 John 4:1-6).
  

• The results of this teaching and seeing God for who He truly is will also produce the “hamster-like” behavior in you when someone tries to put you back into bondage; and also will cause you to react like you have Montezuma’s Revenge after drinking bad water.
  

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds), casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. [2 Corinthians 10:3-5]

This passage is teaching us that EVERY teaching of God we hear MUST come into the obedience of what Jesus taught, represented, and accomplished in His flesh. This is vital because we have many churches that are teaching doctrines that are not consistent with what Jesus taught, demonstrated, and accomplished, yet they come from the Bible. Just because what they are teaching has come from the Bible doesn’t make it the gospel. We have many examples of this, of which I will cover in the next few weeks.

However, we have a good example from the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus was being challenged by the religious leaders after He proclaimed that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:17-18). The Lord then begins to tell them that in spite of their knowledge of God, they did not truly know Him, because if they did, they would have recognized Jesus to be God in the flesh.

But I have greater witness than that of John. For the works which the Father has given me to finish, the works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. And the Father himself, who has sent me, has borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. And you have not his word abiding in you, for whom he has sent, him you believe not. Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life. I receive not honor from men. But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that comes from God only? Do not think I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe me words? [John 5:36-47]

Jesus said that although these religious people knew God’s word (meaning they had intellectual knowledge of it) it did not reside or abide in them because if it had, they would have known that Jesus was God. Jesus then points to the Scriptures, saying that the Old Testament scrolls testified of Him, but because Jesus did not adhere to their religious traditions and rituals (a result of their misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the OT types and shadows), they did not view Him as God, but instead, they accused Him of being of the devil.

Jesus then says, But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. The revelation of God’s love results in everything God has given us—because if we truly understand love, we would truly understand God. And, as the Bible says, and we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. [1 John 3:2]

The Bible says, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend will all saints what is the width, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. [Ephesians 3:14-20]

Do you believe you know what true love is? Have you ever been hurt by love? When I ask this question, I always receive a unanimous answer of “Yes”. Below are the lyrics for the Nazareth song “Love Hurts”. This is one perception of what love is—and unfortunately, we all too often relate to love in this way:

Love hurts, love scars,

Love wounds, and marks,

Any heart, not tough,

Or strong, enough

To take a lot of pain,

Take a lot of pain

Love is like a cloud

Holds a lot of rain

Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

I’m young, I know,

But even so

I know a thing, or two

I learned, from you

I really learned a lot,

Really learned a lot

Love is like a flame

It burns you when it’s hot

Love hurts, ooh ooh love hurts

Some fools think of happiness

Blissfulness, togetherness

Some fools fool themselves I guess

They’re not foolin me

I know it isn’t true,

I know it isn’t true

Love is just a lie,

Made to make you blue

Love hurts, ooh, ooh love hurts

Ooh, ooh love hurts

I asked the question, “Who has ever been hurt by love?” and all of us raised our hands. You see, we have bought into this same perception about love—that it brings pain and hurt—not in the pain of correction or discipline from a parent, but the grief, sorrow, heartbreak, abuse, and sometimes murder at the hands of people who say they love you.

The Bible says, God is love [1 John 4:8,16] so does this mean that God has hurt you?

Saying that you have been hurt by love is a reflection of an incorrect understanding and knowledge of love, because if God is love, and you believe love hurt you, then you must also believe that God hurt you, and continues to “hurt” people. Do you see how we have believed a lie? We have many Christians proclaiming that God is the one who sent the tsunami to the South Pacific, and the hurricanes to New Orleans and the gulf coast region, that perhaps God was behind the tragedy of September 11, and many other “acts of God” as the world sees it, or that God causes sickness or withholds healing as punishment, teaching, or some other redemptive purpose (See my teachings The Offense of the Cross and Is God Glorified in Sickness and Tragedy?) As we discussed before, we have people who believe God caused tragedy in a person’s life in order to draw them closer to Him and also to give them a ministry. But these same people also say, “God loves you!” That kind of behavior does not compute to love if we would only think about it. If I were responsible for any of those things, they would put me in jail, right? And I doubt they would support my defense, “I did it out of love!”

This reminds of an incident that occurred when I was a police officer. I was called to a house where a man had doused his live-in girlfriend with kerosene and set her on fire. The man came home after a night of drinking and in a jealous rage, committed this horrific act. During the interview, I asked the man why he’d done such a thing, and he replied, “Because I love her and I didn’t want anyone else to be with her.”

Now, it’s fairly easy to see the perverted perception of love this man had, but sadly, when I talked to the woman (victim) at the hospital, she said, “I know he loves me.” Talk about perverted, but this is exactly the same response many abused women give when speaking of their abusers.

Most people have heard that God is a “jealous god” and because they do not understand what this means, they have applied the human concept of jealousy or envy for selfish reasons to our God who is love. If God is love, and love does not envy (1 Corinthians 13:4) how then can God be a “jealous god”? This “jealous god” preaching has been crammed down the throats of people for the same reason jealous people act the way they do—to CONTROL OTHERS. This needs to stop and we need to get a correct understanding of what being a “jealous god” is all about. I will deal with this toward the end of this teaching when I teach through 1 Corinthians 13.

Just to let you know how much an impact an incorrect perception of God and His love can make on the world, I’ll give you the example of Oprah Winfrey. I was viewing a video of one of her recent broadcasts where she was relating the fact that she grew up in a Baptist church and the preacher would preach about God being a “jealous god” which did not sit right with her. She drew the same conclusion as most do: “If God is love and love does not envy, then how is God a jealous god?” Most people, instead of seeking the truth, conclude that God is a hypocrite, having a “do what I say, and not as I do” way of thinking….after all because He is God. And sadly, this is what Oprah did, which turned her away from God and allowed the devil to deceive her into the New Age beliefs she now promotes. Currently, Oprah rejects the truths of the Bible which say that Jesus is the only way to God. For those of you who revere Oprah Winfrey, I strongly encourage you to stay away from her teaching. She influences millions of people through her deceived way of thinking.

Do you see now how our own misunderstanding about love can affect our perception of God? Because if God is love and our definition of love is not correct, we will not see God correctly. Our understanding of love hinges upon our understanding of God—and vice-versa.

The Bible also says that faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). If you read the passage from Ephesians 3 again, you will see that the knowledge of God’s love as revealed through Jesus will result in you being filled with all the fullness of God. Therefore, our faith will skyrocket through a revelation of God’s love, and the exceeding abundant blessing of God will be realized in your life (Ephesians 3:20) meaning that your experience of God’s blessing is proportional or according to your revelation of His love for you.

If you knew how much God loved you, fear would never have place in your life. Neither would worry, sorrow or grief. Neither would doubt, anger, and unforgiveness. Neither would sickness because all these things are works of the devil, and Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, right? (1 John 3:8)

You may not like the way I say it, but this knowledge is an intimate knowledge like intercourse is an intimate act as Adam “knew” his wife and she conceived. This is why the Pharisees knew (or had knowledge of) God through the Old Testament, but this knowledge was not intimate (they had not yet had intercourse with it—it was not abiding in them as a man “abides” in a woman in intercourse) and therefore, they did not know God as He is, which is why they did not recognize Him.

And while we can give them a bit of slack for not recognizing Jesus as God because they did not have the Holy Spirit indwelling them and bearing witness of this truth in them, we must go to the words of Jesus that says, Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they which speak of me. This clearly states that if they had the word abiding in them, their understanding of the Scriptures would have revealed Jesus to them. This cannot be an excuse—just as the world has no excuse for NOT knowing God because He has revealed Himself through creation so they would be without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).

However, the issue is that WE now have the Spirit of God dwelling in us, but how is it that we have not correctly discerned who God truly is? We conclude that while it is the Spirit that bears witness to these things, it is obvious that we play a role in conjunction with the Spirit to know God intimately, and this “knowledge” comes from information—either from the word of God or from external sources like people.

Let me ask this question: If someone came up to you and said something completely false about a person you hardly know, and then tried to say the same thing about someone you know either intimately (like a spouse) or very well (like your best friend), which lie would you be more inclined to believe—the one about the person you hardly know, or the one you know well?

Of course, you would more likely believe a lie about someone you hardly knew because of the fact that you hardly know them. On the other hand, because you know your spouse or best friend intimately, you would not believe a lie about them (hopefully). This is the way it is with God. Because we do not know Him intimately like a spouse or best friend, we are vulnerable to believing a lie about Him. And this is what has happened in what you believe about God. Even though His word says that He loves us unconditionally, and that His grace has been given to us completely independent of our performance, we still believe we have to “do something” to earn His favor. If we were fully persuaded of this truth, we would not say some of the things we say, or believe the things we believe.

Sad to say, this is what we have been taught about God—that He is not true to His word—and because we do not know Him intimately, we will believe a lie about Him.

Other Articles in this series

Perception is Reality

Losing Your Religion Part 1

Losing Your Religion Part 2

Losing Your Religion Part 3