by Rich Bregitzer
(St. Louis, MO)
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Psalm 51:16-17
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are c a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
I’ve been reading a lot of books on theology lately. I’ve done that on and off for years. For the last few years I’ve mostly read authors that have a liking for what they call “post-modern” theology.
Now I didn’t always read these kinds of books. As a convert to a more dedicated Christian life I read mostly books by pastors and authors who ascribed to a more fundamentalist approach to God and this Christian life.
On the one hand the post-moderns or “emergent” folks have a very liberal and mysterious concept of God. While the fundamentalists are quicker to define things for you.
As both camps move away from God and into doctrine you find the post-moderns are full of grace and mercy and that they are quite quick to admit what they do not know. The fundamentalist camp can be very “fire and brimstone” and are not afraid to let you know a thing or two about hell or sin.
As I have read all these authors and as I have had discussions with people with ideas somewhere between these two theological extremes certain passages of scripture come to mind and bring up all together different questions.
Before we get into that let’s first come up with an understanding of what theology really is. In a nutshell theology is your understanding of God. By picking up any book from an author elaborating on the Abrahamic faiths; Judaism, Christianity or Islam; you will find that author's theology.
Keep in mind you are not finding ultimate truth; you are finding that author’s theology.
Admittedly, some authors seem to have a better understanding of God than others...not because they necessarily understand God, but because their limited understanding matches our own.
Problems really begin though with the things we really do not understand and, if we were honest, we could conclude that there is an awful lot about God that we just don’t comprehend.
That sort of confession causes some to think that this makes God irrelevant or is, in some way, an insult to faith. I disagree. Confessing that we don’t always “get” God isn’t an insult to God and it doesn’t mean that God is irrelevant. It simply means, we – who play at being armchair theologians- need to check our theology, because Romans 11:33 and 34 suggests that we will not get it.
The scripture reads: 33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom andi knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
Ok, if that is the case then why are so many authors writing so many books? Why are so many convinced that they are right when it comes to having God all figured out?
Rather than answering that let me suggest to you that the relationship that God desires could be one where we don’t have to understand him. It could be one where theology, as we know it, doesn’t make a bit of difference. Preach that at some of the bigger seminaries and you may be brought up on a charge of heresy, but hear me out.
As I considered today’s verse I couldn’t ignore that it looks as though God is not looking for people to be able to relate to Him. God isn’t like some angst riddled teenager longing to be understood by the world, but it does seem to be that he is looking for us to trust Him.
See, in our endeavors to understand God we come to a point where the finite minds we have must face the fact that we are trying to search out a God who is unsearchable by adding to that search rules, regulations, routines and regimes when what is needed is a relationship of trust.
As all the man-made, added things are tacked on and begin to pile up we find ourselves entangled in the do’s and don’ts of doctrine and dogma; “this is what you need to do”, “give this up”, “serve in this capacity”, but look at today’s verse – David had a relationship with God. He knew God wasn’t looking for sacrifice. God’s happiness wasn’t dependent upon a religious exercise.
So, let’s ask David: David, what is it? Enlighten us? What does God desire from us? What makes him happy? According to the verse David realized God rejoiced in a broken spirit and a contrite heart. Not that he liked to see us in that pitiful state, but I’ll say more about that in a moment.
First things first: What does a broken spirit look like? Is it the property of a theologian who has all the answers? Is it the property of the Christian author who sells the most books? Does it belong to the pastor that makes the congregation feel happy every Sunday morning? Is it possessed by a group of people dedicated to church growth?
Brokenness enters our lives in many different ways. Is it always the result
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