Bible Readings Where has God gone? Is the church still church? Morning Worship, Lord s Day 1 st February 2009, 9.30am New Testament: John 1:1 14 Old Testament: Ezekiel 11:1 15, 22 25 Hymns/Songs 1. Approach: I joyed when to the house of God 2. Forgiveness of sins: Christ is the world s Redeemer 3. Thanksgiving: We sing the praise of Him who died 4. Response: Your hand O God, has guided. Main Points 1. Introduction 2. God in the midst of his people 3. God departing from his people 4. Vision of restoration 5. God amongst his people 6. Conclusion Rev D. Rudi Schwartz 1 1. Introduction In 1966 the magazine TIME published a story, headlined with fat letters on the cover page: Is God dead? This echoed the voices of some theologians who subscribed to the God is Dead Theology. About 30 years later the same magazine revisited the topic and made the following remark: He s [God] is still not dead, but these days in Europe, He s not always in the same old places. So it s worth asking: Where has God and Christian faith gone? It further makes the following remark: Parish life is essentially gone. Last Christmas Polly Toynbee, president of the British Humanist Association and honorary associate of the National Secular Society wrote a stinging article in London based newspaper The Guardian and made this remark: 1 Feel free to copy, quote or duplicate this document.
Where has God gone? 2 There is, of course, no evidence that God fearers ever behaved better than the ungodly. One of the great mysteries of religion is why, even when people believed that heaven awaited the virtuous and everlasting torment was the destiny of sinners, there is no sign it made them any less prone to all the sins flesh is heir to. Yet they turn on atheists for lacking any moral base without a God. There is something terribly wrong with Christianity if one has agree with this atheist. I am afraid, her assessment is to a great degree true, but her conclusion that Christianity has nothing to offer is based on her personal observation and not on the Scriptures. Perhaps she should read more about the history of Christian missions and about the Reformation. Fact is cathedrals are still visited, but not by worshippers. Thousands of tourists flock into church buildings to admire the architecture. Millions of dollars go into the upkeep of these buildings which have become monuments of a forgotten Saviour. We ask: Where has God gone? He is not dead. His church shows signs of fatal sickness, but God is not dead. What has happened? What is happening? Many reasons can be posted. The TIME magazine quotes some. Religion has gone private. A British politician called for public action and private action. He says: This is not a theocracy. I am concerned about the spiritual state of Europe, but we can t solve that in the constitution. Prayer is a much better answer. With this God is removed from public life and humanism has taken over. This (humanism), by the way, is not a philosophy, it s a religion. Church members say that lost faith in the church. They call us to believe and be led in faith by them, but I doubt they have that have themselves, one said. What an indictment! Another says: When I come to church, I avoid making contact with the clergy. With so many priests and church leaders caught up in sexual misconduct, little wonder! 2. God in the midst of his people What separates the church from all other institutions in the world is the fact that God, by his grace and mercy, called unto Himself, a people whom He saved and sanctified to worship Him. All of this began way back at the beginning of time. He created Adam to worship Him. The world rebelled and God destroyed it, but not before He called Noah, the preacher of righteousness. Once again the people rebelled and God called Abraham to be the father of all who believe. The line continues through Isaac and Jacob. The children of Jacob were later known as the Israelites, whom God called out of Egypt to worship Him. On their way out of Egypt God s presence was known to them by a pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. His presence was their protection. These symbols were for them to know God is with them and that they were heading the right direction under God s protection. In the desert, on their way to Sinai, they grumbled against Moses as they craved for the food of Egypt. Moses then said:
Where has God gone? 3 In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. (Exodus 16:6 7) God answered his promise to feed them. Verse 10 of Exodus 16: While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud. (Exodus 16:10) At Mt Sinai, God appeared to them to constitute them as his peculiar nation. They knew who He was, because once again the mountain was covered in the cloud. We need to pick up a very important expression in the Bible here. Let s read about it in Exodus 24. Here God confirmed the covenant with those who were rescued out of Egypt. It was the same covenant as the one He made with their forefathers. He gave them His law and commandments which would separate them from all other religions and peoples on earth. Moses was called up the mountain. Now, the phrase: When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. (Exodus 24:15 17) The Law constituted Israel as God people the church. But God constituted their form and even their place of worship. He gave them the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle and the tent of meeting. The ark was symbol of God s presence. Everything had to be made just as God commanded, and when it was finished, the following happened: Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34 35) To complete the sacrificial system and form of worship that would please God, Aaron and his sons were ordained as priests who would intercede for the people in the presence of God. On that day, once again we read: Moses and Aaron then went into the Tent of Meeting. When they came out, they blessed the people; and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown. (Leviticus 9:23 24) Joy? Why joy? Joy, because now the way to God, to know his presence and guidance, was accepted. God was with them. They did not see God face to face, but they saw the glory of the Lord. And for as long as this glory of the Lord was in their midst, they were save and secure on their way to the Promised Land. Even after the Israelites had settled in the Promised Land for many years and Solomon built the temple for the Lord (once again God was very exact on how the temple had to be constructed), when the ark of the covenant was brought into the Most Holy Place, the pattern repeated itself. We read in 1 Kings 8:10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. Then Solomon said, The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have indeed built a magnificent temple for You, a place for You do dwell forever. (1 Kings 8:10 13)
Where has God gone? 4 3. God departing from his people The Lord appeared to Ezekiel during the Babylonian captivity of Juda. At the Kebar River he had his first vision which made a huge impact on this prophet. He saw the glory of the Lord. God s people were in spiritual blindness because of their stubbornness and rebellion. Why were God s people taken into exile? God would show Ezekiel as He gave him more visions that would take him back to the cause. God revealed to him the sins and disregard for the law and covenant of God. Chapter 8 records the idolatry in the temple. First Ezekiel saw the glory of the Lord. Then God showed him the detestable things. An idol that provoked the jealousy of God. Then the Lord said to Ezekiel: Son of man, do you see what they are doing the utterly detestable things the house of Israel is doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable. (Ezekiel 8:6) As Ezekiel was shown the perverted worship of God in his temple, he saw something very significant. Now the glory of the God of Israel went up from above the cherubim [most Holy Place of the Ark of the Covenant], where it had been, and moved to the threshold of the temple. (Ezekiel 9:3) God is preparing to leave the temple. He is about to remove his presence from the people of Israel. He is on the threshold. And in the process, destruction fell upon Jerusalem. God sent out a messenger to kill the unfaithful, for the Lord has forsaken the land. Now the glory of the Lord rested upon the cherubim who caused destruction. And then, the most troublesome and disturbing of the whole drama: The glory of the Lord left the threshold of the temple, the city itself and departed to the mountain east of Jerusalem. God was in the city no more. God was in the temple no more. God left his people. Worship was hollow and meaningless. What is worship without God? What is worship if the glory of the Lord is not in it? There are cathedrals, yes! There are churches, yes! People still attend, yes! There is theatre and dance and bands and singing, yes! Where has God gone? Is God dead? No! But where He is not Head of his church, and where He is worshipped by standards other than the ones He set, He leaves. And the church dies. The main activity is to keep up the buildings; to have street stalls and cake stalls; to arrange concerts, organ recitals and talent quests; or to have interest groups where people talk about their psychological misgivings and how they can improve their self esteem. 4. Vision of restoration To reverse this is to start afresh. God gave Ezekiel a vision of restoration. A visionary temple, not a real one, was shown to Ezekiel. What did he see? After all the instruments for worship were restored a new priest were ordained, we read the following:
Where has God gone? 5 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. The vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when He came to destroy the city and like the visions I had seen by the Kebar River, and I fell facedown. The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. (Ezekiel 43:1 5) A new temple, a new worship, and the presence of God afresh amongst his people. O, how we long to see that! Paul wrote to the church in Corinth which was unruly in their worship of God as everyone desired to speak some word in a different language: But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, God is really among you! (1 Corinthians 14:24 25) This restoration would be a complete act of God. Man was not be rebuilt it, and he was given no part in the restoration. It had to be from God to be perfect. 5. God amongst his people: Christ Of course we don t have temples today. Churches are no temples. The people are God s temple. Something wonderful and glorious happened: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) He restored our relationship with God. Christ is the centre of our worship. We enter into the presence of the Father through Him our High Priest. Once again He is the glory of the Lord. He dwells amongst us to show us the grace of the Father. He gives spiritual birth through his Holy Spirit. He assembles for Himself a new church. Not Israelites born into the line of Abraham by blood; no, now sons of Abraham by faith, born of God. The apostle Peter writes: As you come to Him, the living Stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Pe 2:4 5) He also states: But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9 10) This is the way God would do his restoration: through Jesus Christ. It was not accomplished by men trying to reach out to God to make amends for their sin. It was God reaching down to man and to make them into what Christ achieved for them. He gave them mercy and made his church into a spiritual temple where each member would as a priest under Christ to proclaim the praise of Him who called them. This is what the church is, and should it lose sight of this salvation and mission, God departs from it as He did in the time of Ezekiel. 6. Conclusion The church of today stands before a watershed. The world scoffs and laughs as it asks:
Where has God gone? 6 Where has God gone? God is not dead, but maybe He departed from his church because his holiness requires it. The worship of Him as not a man made concoction. Where has the church gone? The church is called to turn back, to repent and worship God according to his standards. And the glory of the Lord will return to his body as a witness of his holiness. Amen.