On visiting the anglican cathedral in Liverpool last Wednesday I discovered a stone memorial of John Charles Ryle, with a carving of him as if stretched out for burial-although he is actually buried in All Saints Church, Childwall.
The cathedral itself is beautiful, built with red cheshire sandstone and vibrant, modern stained glass. Even the size of the place is quite breath-taking, not only from the outside but from the inside, especially when you stand in the central space and have to almost arch over in a crab like position to examine the masonry and carvings. I always find it quite amazing in some of these grand churches that God has given such skills and an eye for beauty to such ordinary people. Yet for all of its visual beauty I coudn't help but feel that it rather displayed a certain idolatry of man rather then a worship of God. The central space is no doubt well-used and I was pleased to see a local charity set up there. It's encouraging at least to see that the local community want to use such a building and maintain it for future generations to cherish.
However I think it is quite telling that the first bishop of Liverpool, Ryle himself, apparently had no time for such a building scheme. You can imagine my surprise then, knowing only a little about Bishop Ryle, that amongst all of the grandeur and worship of the 'given' and the 'created' there was a worthy memorial to such a christian man whose tracts and books have enriched so many christians' lives. It is not that such buildings are sinful; the creation of them is not in itself sinful, nor are the craftsmen who worked on such a project necessarily guilty. But what is clear and disappointing to see is the notion that God is only experienced in these kinds of surroundings. That the peace of God, salvation, communion with God and worship of Him are only so transiently experienced as if the expression of God's character is only limited to the works of men's hands is a foolish, yet common belief. This notion was aptly summarised in the writing above the main doors of the cathedral: 'I felt you and I knew you loved me.'
It is true that God loves, 'for God demonstrates His own love toward us in this, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.' Romans 5:8. But this is not some kind of love like so many of the soap operas and blockbuster films would have us think. It is not merely 'felt'. I am capable of feeling many things for as a woman I have a whole range of different emotions! But feeling is not the same as love. A feeling of love is transient, fallible, weak, changing, deniable, unbelievable and untrustworthy. How many poor men and women have married with this feeling of falling in love with someone only to find that a few years down the line that they have 'fallen out of love' with their spouse and 'fallen for' somebody else? 'But that's love!' some would have us believe. If that is love, I want nothing of it. It is only proved-and I use that term lightly- by the sheer emphasis and stress upon the feeling that one is loved but it cannot be proved in the evidential way. In short, there is no action or demonstration of that so called 'love' that can be relied upon enough for there to be no room for doubt. Doubt will always exist.
But the love that God speaks of is demonstrable; it is proved (Romans 5:8). Anyone can experience God, though many choose not to. I can see His work in nature, his intelligence in creation, his eye for beauty. But what I cannot experience is that God loves me, nor that He is just or worthy of worship, that is until I see the proof of all of this. Jesus Christ is that proof because when I was still an enemy of God, when I still refused to admit that I was wrong, that my way of life was in direct rebellion against Him, Jesus died as a substition for my sin. That is to say, I should have suffered for my own wrong doing and thus experienced in the true sense all that I am actually worthy to experience; the just wrath of God upon my sin.
'Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.' John 15:13 I was not a friend of Christ's when He died for me. In fact it was nearly 2 millenia before I trusted that Christ's death was the proof of God's love for me. Therefore He did die not on the basis of me being a 'good person'. Nor upon the fact that I was an 'honest member of society'. In fact Christ only calls sinners to repentance and grants them salvation, so if you don't think you're a sinner then you have a problem.
But this is how I can know, trust and therefore fully experience the love of God; because He gave His own Son for Me. There is no better or more beautiful piece of evidence of God's love for those who trust Him than that when there was no beauty in us, He gave all for us. Do not rely upon a transient feeling, but rather look at the evidence of God's love and be certain that Christ died for you. That is love without doubts or uncertainties.
No comments:
Post a Comment