All Or Nothing

Because I’m so new to this blog thing, I’m not really sure how to get started this week, so I’ll just jump in and hope for the best.  Over the course of 28 years in ministry, I have occasionally had people express concern over my doctrinal beliefs or my personal practices based upon something I said or did in a sermon.  Now please understand, my goal in every sermon I preach is to be clear and honest not just about the text I am expounding but also in the illustrations I am sharing.  Of course, being a flawed human being, the thoughts and words don’t always come out the way I intend.  On more than one occasion my children have informed me of new words I have created or of ways I twisted my thoughts or words in some way.  
 
Having admitted my shortcomings, here’s the problem.  One sermon or one illustration is not the sum total of what I believe or of who I am as a person.  As every pastor knows, one cannot possibly say in a single message all that could be, or perhaps even should be, said on any given topic or passage of Scripture.  The same thing is true when it comes to a personal story or illustration.  For example, a personal story about a failure in parenting does not necessarily mean that failed parenting takes place all the time.  Taking one fact or one piece of truth does not necessarily define or describe the whole.
 
Sadly, and I believe tragically, what happens at the human level can and does happen at the divine level as well. 

This past Sunday, my small group was discussing the justice of God as part of a larger study on the attributes of God.  As the questions and conversation developed, we identified the fact that people often define or explain the events of life based on one aspect of God’s person.  For example, I shared with the group that recently I was sent an email that described the tragic events in Japan as God’s judgment upon that country for various sins and shortcomings. Now don’t misunderstand, God can and does use any means He desires to bring discipline and judgment to bear, but I also know that God’s purposes go way beyond bringing judgment.  One could only speculate as to all the things that God is striving to accomplish through pain and hardship in Japan including bringing people to Himself in salvation, growing the influence of His church, and bringing His people to depend upon Him in greater and deeper ways. The point is this, we need to be careful to take one attribute of God and apply it as if God was only that attribute.
 
I see that exact thing happening in another way (my primary reason for writing).  Recently a pastor in our area has come out with a new book entitled, Love Wins. Based upon some of the interviews I have seen (I haven’t read the book yet), he apparently believes that all people, regardless of their relationship to Christ, will end up in heaven. Based upon what I have heard him say, he believes this to be so because he cannot reconcile how a loving God could condemn anyone to hell.  Do you see the problem?  God isn’t just love! Among other things, He is also holy and just and because He is, not only does He, but He must bring judgment on sin.  To do anything less would be to violate His character.  
 
Please understand, I’m not seeking to critique the book as much as I’m really trying to warn God’s people.  When it comes to God, it is all or nothing.  Just as we can’t know a pastor from a single message, we don’t know God based upon one attribute.  And can we remember this as well?  God and His ways are far beyond us.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Let’s be careful. Though the voices around us may try to define God and His actions in simple or single terms, in reality He is far beyond our comprehension and I for one am glad He is!