Approaching God On His Terms

Approaching God On His Terms

By Eric Owens | PULPIT MINISTER, WESTSIDE CHURCH OF CHRIST

We approach God because we want to commune with Him. Our approval or rejection depends on our approach. The only way to find His approval is to approach God on His terms.

GOD DESIRES US TO APPROACH HIM

God’s desire to commune with us can be seen by our creation (Genesis 1:26-31). God made us in His image and communicated with us. When Adam and Eve sinned God came to them, confronted them and sought to restore the communion with them (Genesis 3:7-24). Ultimately, God provided Himself a lamb so that he could forgive sin and commune with us (Isaiah 53, John 1:29, 3:16). He didn’t make our approach so difficult we couldn’t do it. Neither did He decide that only a special few could approach Him. God’s desire is expressed in phrases like “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come’” (Revelation 22:17) and “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). God’s creation of us, His coming to us and sending Christ for us teaches that God desires us to approach Him so He can commune with us.

GOD DECIDES HOW WE APPROACH HIM

Because no one can read God’s mind, He always reveals His mind to man. His revelation provides man the clear detailed information he needs to know for how to approach Him. How would Adam and Eve know which tree was forbidden and which ones were acceptable if God didn’t tell them? Noah couldn’t have known God had a specific type of wood in mind and specific dimensions for the ark if God didn’t tell him. Paul made the point of the necessity of revelation when he wrote:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9-11). Without God’s revelation we would have no way of knowing how to approach Him on his terms, because we wouldn’t know the terms. Paul knew by the Spirit’s revelation; he then wrote it so we could read it (Eph. 4:3-6).

GOD DEMANDS WE APPROACH HIM ON HIS TERMS

God doesn’t take our approaching Him lightly precisely because He tells us how to approach. Failure on our part to approach God as He revealed leads God to reject and condemn us. God provides examples for us to learn (Romans 15:4). God rejected Cain and his offering
(Genesis 4:5).

Moses was met with this sober warning: And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Don not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” (Exodus 3:3-5).

After Aaron’s son’s disobedience, God had Moses tell Aaron a profound truth: Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace
(Leviticus 10:1-3).

To approach God on His terms is the only acceptable way to approach God. Joshua told Israel they needed “sincerity and truth” Jesus told the Samaritan woman that
God was looking for a certain kind of person to approach Him.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

The sincerity and spirit spoken of by Joshua and Jesus is the human spirit. An insincere approach is unacceptable. Both also said “and in truth”: This demands God’s Word, the very revelation He gives to tell us how to approach Him (John 8:31-32; 17:17). When we reject, ignore or alter God’s Word, we are no longer approaching Him on His terms. We may claim to be sincere, but we can’t be sincere while rejecting God’s Word. Samuel and Saul’s conversation discussed approaching God on his terms.

And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king” (1 Samuel 15:20-23).

To approach God on His terms means to obey the God who gave the terms.