More Joy in Heaven

There are times when our ways of thinking about God throw us off the track of truly following him.

This was true of many of the Pharisees and scribes in Jesus' day. It was not that they had a low view of God or even an unbiblical view. Rather, they had come to over-emphasize certain aspects of God's holiness and separateness. In light of how they saw God, they focused on the duty of people to obey God and to come up to his standards.

So they were appalled by Jesus' behavior. Jesus claimed to know God. Yet he did not behave as the Pharisees expected. "By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, 'He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends" (Luke 15:1,2 Peterson). And that certainly isn't what the holy God would do!

Luke 15 contains three stories which Jesus told in response to their grumbling. Basically, Jesus was saying to the religious folks of his day: "You know a lot about God, but if you don't know this, you don't really know the heart of my Father."

And what was the characteristic of God which the Pharisees and religion scholars had lost? It was the passion of God's searching heart, the intensity of his love for all humanity, the extravagance of his grace, God's consuming longing that people should be restored to deep fellowship with himself.

Jesus tells the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. And he concludes each story with a statement about the intensity of God's feelings for those who have been lost:

"Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. " "... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7,10,32).

What arouses joy in the heart of God is every person who returns to God's family. Searching for the lost, and lavishing his love and grace on the repentant, is at the core of God's character. And Jesus concludes that if you don't know this about the Father, you don't really know the Father.

Sometimes I wonder if our problem as evangelicals today isn't similar to that of the Pharisees of Jesus' day. We have so emphasized the static qualities of God that we are missing his passion.

I went back to a systematic theology textbook published by InterVarsity Press and written by one of my heroes. The first 180 pages of the book are devoted to the nature of the Bible and the attributes of God. What is emphasized is God's self-existence, self-sufficiency, sovereignty, holiness, changelessness, omniscience, omnipresence, transcendence, goodness, righteousness, and so forth.

Certainly God has all those characteristics. But as I read those pages, the fundamental view which came across was that God is a static, unapproachable, and self-contained being; that his primary concern is being holy, (wholly) himself.

I fear that one of the results of that view of God and of responding to or emulating his character is that what we want to become is holy, self-contained, righteous, obedient, and unaffected by the evil culture. Certainly that is the kind of character that would please this kind of God.

But the God of the Bible is not primarily described in these terms. This is not to say that God does not possess these characteristics, but to think of him only in terms of his transcendent attributes may lead us in the wrong direction when we try to answer the question, "What is God concerned about?"

The God of the Bible is consistently presented as the God who is involved, who acts. He creates, he communicates, he loves, he leads, he calls, he heals, he redeems, he reaches out, he never gives up. God expresses himself by creating everything that exists and loving it all, especially humanity -- who are created in his image. He longs for relationship and even after the fall he passionately pursues humanity, calling men and women back to himself and providing for their redemption and restoration.

In Jesus, God enters into the very fabric of the broken world and in the end puts his life on the line for the sake of the very enemies of God: sinful, disobedient, rebellious people.

This is not an unflappable, detached, transcendent God who is mostly into himself, but a compassionate, hot-blooded, missionary God who is stirred to tears for those who have wandered and are finally alone in their lostness. He eagerly pursues, and, because of the shed blood of Christ, forgives, embraces and heals all who turn to him.

I like the way Peterson translates "There is more joy in heaven ...." as "... That's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."

My suspicion is that if we as evangelicals spent a little more time focusing on the creating, loving, missionary character of God, we might grow in our compassion for the things that most concern God. We might grow in our desire to participate in what God really cares about in the world, namely the reconciliation of all things to himself in Christ.

I notice that there are several ingredients that undergird people with a heart for witness.

1. They have a real and contemporary experience of Christ's redeeming love. This means cultivating thankfulness for God's grace not only in the past but in my present circumstances. And it means knowing how greatly God rejoices over those who respond to his love.
2. They have confidence in the gospel. This means that I am utterly convinced that the Good News which I have embraced is also the word of hope for the world around me. It's the confidence that Paul voices in Romans 1.16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; I see it as the very power of God working for the salvation of everyone who believes it, for the Jew first but also for the Greek" [Phillips]. Or Peter: "Salvation comes no other way; no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one: Jesus" (Acts 4.12 Peterson).
3. They have love for lost people. Our hearts must be broken for the things that break the heart of God. And that means that our characters must be shaped by the love and compassion of Jesus. Bruce Hansen, a staff worker and team leader in California told me recently: "My bottom line assessment is that the reason our students and staff don't have more authentic relationships with non-Christians is because they don't really love non-Christians." Bruce believes that we spend time with the people and things we care about.
4. And they have opportunity. I find that the Holy Spirit frequently opens for me opportunities for witness. The issues for me are faithfulness and courage when the opportunities are so apparent. And I need to be open to letting God challenge me with new possibilities. God is at work and my responsibility is to look for what he is doing and participate in it.

Steve Hayner
7 November 1995
InterVarsity Leadership Meetings
at Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL