The one point the Church needs to be clearest on appears to be the point on which it is the most vague: what does God want? And nor is it vague by intention; denominations strive to be precise on this matter, it’s just that they disagree. An impartial observer who wanted to investigate the claims of Christ would have no trouble finding sincerity on the part of his followers, just consistency. So how about we take a step back and see if there cannot be some sort of simplification and distillation of the Biblical record to answer that most important question: what does God want?
The Biblical record doesn’t comprise more than two chapters before trouble develops between God and his creature, man. It is said that as a result of the Fall, there is enmity between God and man; God is mad at us, and we are mad at God. The first sign of this enmity was that when God was looking for man during his walk in the cool of the day, man was ashamed and hid himself. Thus, the prevailing reaction most people have to God, even to this day, is the desire to flee and hide.
Now the Bible is clear as well that God would undertake steps to deal with his enmity towards us first through the Law and then through a Son, the Messiah. The life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth was focused on his sacrificial death on the Cross on Good Friday. He came not to teach, but to die, that his Father’s enmity toward the human race might be expiated through a substitutionary atonement. Having submitted to this sacrificial death, during which all the accumulated sins of humanity were placed on him, Jesus declared all humanity justified; forensically guiltless and rehabilitated in his Father’s eyes. Once again, God walks in his creation, looking to have fellowship with his sons and daughters, you and me.
This scenario leaves one important point untouched, however, and that is the enmity we feel towards God. We still feel the shame of nakedness in front of God, and even though the Gospel declares our relationship restored, we will have none of it. We continue to run from him and hide whenever he approaches. This sense of nakedness before God, the resulting shame and tendency toward flight are thus the keys to answering the question: “What does God want?” Clearly, what he wants is for us to realize that we’ve already been justified and to stop running away. Thus, what he wants is not a positive contribution, a “work” in the sense of a Pelagian effort that springs from our own virtue, but a negative, the cessation of something that springs from our own false perception.
Now you may well say, “I don’t run from God. He doesn’t scare me.” Yet think of the ways we do run. We hear him in the Garden no less than Adam, as we watch friends and neighbors change for the better when they encounter Christ. And those very friends tell us of a God who has already forgiven us, and who does not judge us for our sins. Yet what do we say in reply? We drag up all our offenses against God and man, and act as if they are still in between us. We postpone our divine encounter until we can stop them on our own, something that will never happen. Or we deny that we’ve done wrong at all, saying that these things are fine and of no consequence to God or ourselves. Both these responses are wrong. The Biblical record says that we are justified by Christ’s death, but we are saved by his life. We will not be judged for our sins; they have been atoned for on Good Friday. What we will be judged for, however, is fruitlessness. Having already been forgiven by God, do we stop running, walk with him, and let the Spirit that animated his Son dwell in us as well so that fruit might be born in a lost and broken world?
So we see that it is possible to be clear on this question of what God really wants. And it’s not something we do, a work, but something we stop doing, a rest. A rest from justifying ourselves by denying moral law, or from striving to make ourselves moral without the aid of the Spirit of Jesus. We are born as responsible moral agents, and at the age of majority are challenged by the Gospel to see how we will react. Will we deny the Biblical record and claim we have no sin, or the ability to stop sinning on our own? Or will we simply say, “I am not at enmity with God any more. If he’s not mad at me, then I’m not mad at him. When I hear him walking in my life, I will not run, I will not hide, because I’m no longer naked. I’m clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and I trust that the Spirit will not bring me ruin but success.
