Abundant Life: Behind the Post
This week I wrote a column on preaching that I don’t think should be particularly risky but that I know is. It’s about when Jesus says that he comes that we might have not just life, but abundant life. Why should it not be risky? Because it’s about God’s love. So how controversial can that be, right? I mean, Christians are supposed to be all about God’s love.
But here’s why it is risky, why I suspect it may annoy or frustrate or even offend some readers. Because in it I say that Jesus comes to tell us that we are loved, that we are worthy, that we are enough. And a huge part of the theology of a lot of Christians is precisely that we are unworthy and definitely not enough; in fact, for these Christians it is precisely our unworthiness that is our defining characteristic. After all, that’s what makes the whole system work. We are, the theory goes, not just undeserving of God’s love but because of human sin we deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. And so Jesus comes to endure that punishment in our place. And if we believe in him – and usually that means believing in him in a certain way – then we can be forgiven and thereby receive God’s love.
But I just don’t get that theology anymore. I say “anymore” because at one time, a fairly long time ago, the logic of that system made some sense to me. It all added up like a nice, neat math problem. But now I can’t quite figure out why, if God loves us, God has to punish us, punish Jesus in our place, or, for that matter, punish anyone. The typical answer is “justice.” “If someone broke into your house,” the argument runs, “you’d want justice.” Maybe, but why is justice only achieved through punishment? Why can’t justice be achieved by the person apologizing, or by the person making amends, or by any number of ways that don’t involve punishment? “Ah,” the questioner counters, “but what if it wasn’t just breaking in to your house, what if it were murder? How can someone amend for that?” Fair enough. But I still don’t understand why the scales of justice must be balanced through violence? Does taking one life really replace another? What kind of justice is that? And, finally, do I, as the offended, still not have the prerogative to forgive someone who has done something wrong to me, even something terrible? Does justice preclude forgiveness? And can you call it forgiveness if someone – anyone – had to be punished for it?
Well, these are some of the questions that swirl in my head about life and love and justice and forgiveness. I have a hunch that eventually we have to make a choice. Either Jesus comes in order to make it possible for God to love us – the justice-punishment scenario – or because God loves us – which is what I believe. If that’s true, then we are already beloved. We are already enough.
Notice I said “enough,” not perfect. Sometimes I’ve heard that people that who emphasize God’s love a lot – like me 🙂 – don’t take sin seriously enough. But I don’t think that’s true. You can be enough without being perfect. By “enough” I mean worthy of love, dignity, and respect. For those with kids, which of them is perfect? None of them. But which is worthy of our love, care, concern, and respect? Exactly – all of them.
Which is why I think it’s a huge mistake to start your theology with a sense of our unworthiness and lack. Are we perfect? No, definitely not. But are we enough – enough, that is, to deserve love? Absolutely. Again, I think you need to make a choice. Either God sends Jesus to make us worthy of love or because God already loves us. I think the very fact that God sends Jesus demonstrates God’s profound love – in fact, conveys a kind of “worthiness” on each and every human being on the planet, regardless of whether they recognize, understand, or accept God’s love. Again I’ll go to an analogy from parenting. Even if your child doesn’t recognize, misunderstands, or even runs away from or rejects your love, does that change just how much you love him or her? Of course not.
I think that behind Jesus’ promise of abundant life stands God’s promise of abundant love. You can’t have one, I’d argue, without the other. So maybe what’s at the heart of all this is a simple question: when you think of God, do you think about God primarily as a kind of cosmic king that demands absolute and perfect obedience, or do you think of God more like a loving parent who will do just about anything to let God’s children know how much they are loved?
So what kind of God do you believe in? On that question, I think, just about everything else hangs.
Thanks David,
I have been preaching for some time now…and year ago I came across this phrase that I have used in many a sermon that I believe is similar to your thoughts above. It comes from a very old book (1971) Being Me, by Grady Nutt.
“I am a person of worth created in the image of God to relate and to live!” It has worked for me and whole host of friends.
David Beard,
Trinity Lutheran Church of Pleasanton
Because God loves us! And, I could never quite understand those who preach the unconditional love of God and then set the conditions to receive it. Don’t bother with the “well, even if you are given a gift you have to receive it.” Either God’s love in unconditional or it is not. Then, let’s explore the difference between judgment and justice, whose justice, and how God’s justice is nothing like human justice…err… judgment?
Thank you for articulating what has been in my heart for a very long time. Yes, it is the foundational understanding on which everything is built: self worth; relationships; life style; life view.
Thank you for putting these thoughts and convictions so eloquently. You’ve said much of what I’ve been thinking for a long time, but I’ve been unable (or afraid) to find a way to say it. I am CONVINCED that the kind of God we believe in IS what everything else hangs on.
The kind of God you believe in does indeed hang on this matter of whether we are loved or despised in the midst of our humanness. Thanks David.
I think when you actually explore what we are supposed to be worthy or unworthy OF — you reveal the dysfunction in some of the traditional theological thought. So, I can buy the idea that I am unworthy, until I think — wait, am I saying I’m not worthy of God’s love? God doesn’t think that….
I talked about this a few weeks back after a confirmation small group guide (a adult and parent of a kid) came up to me and said, “I know you said grace and love are free, but don’t we have to do SOMETHING to get it?” The response I gave her of, “Nope!” just baffled her.
So many people’s thoughts were expressed right there, and in a lot of ways, a big part of it is that somehow we have to do something or be something better to be worthy of getting what it is we’ve got…
But as some here have shared, our theologies and our culture has taught us all that we aren’t enough in this world.
We need to be and to help others be the voices of the God who created this world that yells, “You are enough! You are loved!”
Not just “What kind of God do we believe in?” but also, “What kind of God do we project to the world around us?”
We’re known by our love, right? And God’s love is enough for anyone.
We live in a life governed by the law – you get what you deserve, ideally nothing more and nothing less. Which is what makes grace so surprising and, often, obtrusive. But when that conversation next comes around, turn the subject to love, love of a parent or sibling. What did we do to deserve that love. Same answer: nothing.
Thanks for sharing, Jonathan.
Thanks for your thoughts! While I was reading the post, I was torn between agreeing with you and something not sitting right with me. It took me a couple readings to figure out what was stirring.
You write “Either Jesus comes in order to make it possible for God to love us – the justice-punishment scenario – or because God loves us – which is what I believe.” I agree.
“If that’s true, then we are already beloved.” I agree.
“We are already enough.” I disagree.
In the first two statements God is the one acting. God loves us. We are already beloved [by God].
The third statement makes us into the actor. We are enough [which you mean “worthy of love, dignity, and respect.”]
Are we worthy of God’s love? No, I don’t “think” so. Isn’t that what makes God’s love so amazing? So powerful? That while we reject God, refuse to live in God’s image, God still loves. Not because we are worthy. But in spite of our unworthiness.
And maybe I’m splitting hairs here. Perhaps you’re saying, “We are enough, we are worthy because of God’s love already upon and within us.”
It is this love of God that makes us worthy of love, dignity, and respect.
These are just some of my ponders and “questions that swirl in my head about life and love and justice and forgiveness.”
Thanks for stirring the pot a bit.
Ben
Thanks for your comment, Ben. I’ll reach for a parental analogy. Not perfect, I know, but still fairly biblical. What parent looks at a child – even a child who has repeatedly disobeyed laws made for his or her own good and say, “You are not worthy of love, respect, or dignity. But I will love you anyway.” Have we done something to merit God’s love? No. Yet I believe a) because God created us and b) because God sent God’s Son to us in love, we are worthy. If it helps to say this isn’t something we’ve done – I’m not sure how you can do worthy – fine. But I think we risk denigrating God’s creation but not imagining that we are worth of love, dignity, and respect. Again, look at the people around you – your children if you have them, a sibling, a friend, a parent, and tell me that you feel comfortable saying to them “you are not enough; you do not deserve dignity and respect and love.” Maybe that makes sense in the abstractions of some philosophical/theological construct about God’s holiness and our sinfulness, but in actual life and practice I just can’t do it. Again, thanks for continuing the dialogue.
David,
I read your original post in my office yesterday. I read your response to my comment this mirning while sitting on the floor next to my 10 week old firstborn daughter. And having just read ” Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You,” what was stirring yesterday has settled, and your parental analogy hits home. I’ll continue to ponder these things. In the meantime, its time to read ” Froggy Learns to Swim”
Don’t forget Runaway Bunny – a fabulous analogy, I think, to the Incarnation. 🙂
Enjoy your 10 week old. She’ll grow up so fast!
David,
I think you are right and wrong. I don’t think it has to be either/or. I think God loves us, and as it says in John 3:16 that is why the Son was sent. In the other hand, the Bible also in Romans 5:10 “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”
or again, in Psalm 8 the Psalmist writes of our lowliness in comparison to God’s greatness. So you see, we are loved beyond measure, beyond anything we can fathom, but that does not mean that we deserve it or are worthy of that love because of anything we do, think, or believe. God’s love is apriori to creation and the fall and not conditional on us, in fact it is just the opposite.
And that is precisely why the Good News is such Good News! I am loved even though I am not worthy, but because I am loved I do have worth, I do have value and dignity. That in God’s eyes, I am worth dying for, and knowing that makes me want to get know the one who died in my place a whole lot more.
So is it really an either/or -or- is it really an indicative/imperative?
I’m just not sure, Shane, why it’s an important part of your theology that you are not worthy? What does saying that accomplish? Sure, let’s say it’s God’s love before the foundations of the world that makes us worthy. I’m happy to say that everything that God made, as well as all that God came to redeem in Christ, is worthy of love, dignity, and respect precisely because God loves us. But then, precisely because God loves us, we are worthy. And by saying that we invite ourselves to see and treat each other and ourselves as those who bear God’s image and deserve love, dignity, and respect. That’s what saying we are worthy and enough means to me – not that we are perfect, or sinless, or equal to God or anything remotely like that. Just that we are worthy of dignity, respect, and love.
But what does saying we are not worthy accomplish? Is the only way to magnify or praise God’s glory by making us seem like worms in comparison? I think the Bible witnesses to more. Psalm 8, of course, is a hymn to the wonder of humans and how richly endowed and blessed we are by God. And just two verses before the one you quote in Romans, Paul says “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” Note that: God proves – fantastically interesting word choice – how much God loves us while sending Jesus to die while we were still sinners. The cross does not make us worthy of love, it proves God already loves us.
On this point, I think we do need to make a choice.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, Shane.
Thanks plenty David. We are finite beings, mere mortals attempting to make sense of and draw some sort of understanding to that which is infinite and immortal. You make a cool point in comparing how society today targets and attempts to build an audience by making them feel insufficient/not enough – so true. I like how you are saying: thats not where our theology should start, but that God see’s and loves us inspite of our situation(s). Never is it about us, it is always about God. Again, when I start off by saying we are finite beings – I attempt not to degrade the state of mankind since the fall, but only trying to describe how AWESOME God is, in the eyes of one who feels overwhelmed in the daily presence of HIS love.
Thank you so much.
I admit it. I bought into the “you are not worthy enough” theology.
But, in the beginning it was the “you are enough” that made me come to Jesus.
I did this in my sermon this morning … provided sheets of paper with the two columns. The very interesting thing which I did not expect was that the older people (pardon me, more mature people) found it much easier to list blessings and harder to list wants, while the younger people found it more difficult to list blessings and much easier to list wants. An interesting thing, and worth some reflection … but at the least it seems to me that there is room for some mentoring activity around this issue. Perhaps the church can actually be a community of moral reflection, as James Gustafson liked to say. Food for thought …