A Boring and Irrelevant God

A poll was conducted years ago to find out what are the reasons behind why people ceased attending Church. This survey was directed at people who previously were members of a local Church congregation and eventually ceased attending their respective Churches. The main and most popular reason why churched people quit Church is because, from their point of view, Church was boring. The second reason is that Church was irrelevant. The dry liturgy. The long non-entertaining sermons. The singing of hymns where it seems that it is done with the same emotional investment people give when asking the question, “Do you want ketchup with that?” These are some of the observations such people have about church. From their eyes church was so boring, so irrelevant that attending the Lord’s Day meeting is a total waste of time.

In the Scriptures, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, we see a variety of reactions and dispositions men and women display when they encounter the God of the Bible. The moment they enter the presence of God, an array of emotions is expressed by different people, in different times and places. Sometimes the expression of exuberant joy is displayed. Sometimes they come in weeping and utter brokenness. Sometimes they are left in dread and terror.

What I have discovered however, is that in the midst of these variety of emotions displayed by all sorts of different characters in the Word of God, one disposition is absent. I have yet to read of any person in Scripture that got bored upon entering into the presence of God. I have yet to read of any person in the word of God after encountering the Sovereign of the universe that would say, “Well that was an irrelevant experience.”

Hostility, yes! Unimaginable terror, yes! Inexpressible joy, yes! But utter boredom in the presence of the living God? To even consider such a thought is blasphemy.

God was in This Place,
and We Did Not Know it

I look back to the book of Genesis, in the 28th chapter. Here we see that narrative of “Jacob’s Ladder”. The famous dream of Jacob where he saw a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD re-established the covenant that He had promised to Abraham and Isaac now to Jacob. Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said,

“Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

—Genesis 28:16-17

Do you hear that? Do you see the significance of that? It’s so easy to read this passage and miss the weightiness of what the Word of God is telling us. Like most passages, we skim over things so quickly and miss the significance of what we have read. I’m convinced that there are a few things that are more tragic and more sorrowful in all of Scripture than this particular narrative. Dear beloved, what a terribly tragic thing it is, for any person, to be in the presence of God and not know it.

Literally thousands upon thousands of professors in Christ live each day paying lip-service to the God of the Bible. But how is it that these same such professors, and supposed believers in the Son of God would literally live each day as if God were not there. As if, it is a factual reality at that moment, that God was irrelevant.

I remember a story a Pastor shared about counseling one of their to-be-married couples of their local congregation. They were asking about the lines that must be drawn in terms of intimacy between the two prior to marriage. Eventually they confessed to their Pastor that they have crossed the border a few times in the past.

The pastor then asked if anybody saw them in what they did, if there were any witnesses to what they have done. They said that there were none. The pastor leaned over gently towards this couple and said in response, “I know someone who did.” The pastor, for some mysterious reason, knew somebody who witnessed what this couple has done.

The couple began to sweat, they thought to themselves that perhaps the pastor saw them in one of their acts of undue intimacy. They were gripped with anxiety. Shame began to creep in. They nervously asked who it was that saw them. And when asked about who that witness was, the pastor declared, “It was God who saw you.”

After a pause of unbelief the couple exhaled a sigh of relief, thinking that they escaped the shame of immediate ridicule and scoff from those who would have supposedly seen them.

It’s interesting isn’t it, in the presence of finite men and women such as ourselves we have a tremendous vested interest to present ourselves in the best possible manner as we can. If there’s anything that we hate as human beings, that is to make ourselves of disrepute before our fellow man. The couple felt fear and shame in the thought of being seen by men, but they felt little shame when told that the living God witnessed all that they have committed.

How is it that when we think back and realize that there is One who sees all things, all our actions and the very intentions of our hearts; when we realize that there is One who is everywhere, even in the heavens above or in Sheol beneath, he is there (Psalm 139:7-8); how is it that knowing this reality and being reminded repeatedly of this reality throughout our lives we still have the audacity to live on in indifference toward it, towards the God of all the earth?

Indeed, what a terribly tragic thing it is to be before the presence of the Holy and know it not.

Why is it? I’m convinced that one of the main reasons why we feel indifferent before the presence of God, that of which is everywhere, is because we have no sense of who God is. Our hearts and minds have been so short-circuited, so drowned in sin that we have become perfect examples of what the Lord defines of hardened men, “seeing they wouldn’t see, and hearing they wouldn’t hear.” (Matt 13:13, Luke 8:10)

Coram Deo

As we live before the face of God this day, let us repent of the apathy and indifference we live our lives upon. Let us remember that, as Christians, we have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20), not by silver or gold that perishes, but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ the Lord (1 Pet 1:18-19). May God grant us the grace of weaning our eyes, hearts and minds away from this dying world, and lift them up to that which is eternal; the eternal worth of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor 4:6).

May He be pleased to grant us faith in that we may never again dwell in the presence of God and live as if He were not there, as if He did not exist. Indeed, what a terrible and horrible sin it is. Dear God, forgive us.

Heavenly, gracious Father, by Your Spirit, through Thy Son, please help us, for your glory and for our good, Amen.

The Holiness of God

I. A Boring and Irrelevant God
II. Do You Tremble When You Come Before the Holy?
III. The Great Exchange: Replacing the Glory of God for a Lie
IV. How Then Shall We Live, Before The Holiness of God?