Essay 39 (8-7-04)

 

ENJOYING GOD

 

  In thy presence there is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. -- Ps. 16:11

 

The catechism of the Westminister Confession of Faith begins with an impressive question and answer:

 

  Question: What is the chief end of man?

  Answer: The chief end of man is to know God and to enjoy him forever.

 

  I suspect the divines who framed that question and answer saw a close relationship between knowing God and enjoying God -- that is, to know God is to enjoy God, and to enjoy God is to know him. And, in the light of Scripture, they might well have related both to loving God. After all, Jesus named love for God as the greatest commandment. But I suspect he would agree that knowing and enjoying God are the fruit of loving God.

 

  That phrase "enjoy him" particularly impresses me, and I find it curious that the divines would name it as the point of life -- to enjoy God now and forever is our chief end. I'm not sure that the Bible ever puts it quite that way, though the psalm quoted above gets close. We love God, obey God, worship God,  but do we enjoy God? We talk of enjoying a movie, a book, a meal, or a date, but do we enjoy God? I find myself on the defensive. While I like the idea, I'm afraid I fall short of the catechism's ideal.

 

  As if the catechism were not enough, I recently came upon a similar emphasis in Alexander Campbell's Millennial Harbinger (1851). In an essay on time, Campbell says that God has given us time so that we might learn to honor and glorify God, and to enjoy him forever -- as if he might have been influenced by the Westminster catechism. Then he says, "I am persuaded many of us have but a very inadequate conception of the sublime significance of these simple words -- enjoy God." (Emphasis his)

 

  Campbell goes on to say that we might claim to enjoy the Bible, but he questions whether this is enjoying God. I disagree. If exulting in the beauty and wisdom of the Scriptures is not enjoying God, then how would one enjoy God? But I suppose someone with a different spirit might enjoy the Bible -- as a literary masterpiece? -- without enjoying God.

 

  Campbell tells us what it is to enjoy God:

    To enjoy God is to know him as he is; to love him, as he is altogether lovely; and to obey him as the great proprietor and ruler of the universe; to attain to something like a comprehensive knowledge of his glorious, eternal, and immutable attributes; to appreciate, admire, and love him for his infinite beauty and perfect loveliness, and to feel our hearts subdued, by a sympathy divine, into a harmonious agreement and concord with his will, till our obedience shall not be from a sense of duty; not because of a written law; but the spontaneous outburst of a desire to please him, and to be like him; an expression, in fact, of our own highest pleasure, because of the perfect responsive sympathy between our every emotion and his holy and adorable will.

 

  He goes on to say, "In enjoying God we participate in all that is his; and thus the universe and all the high and holy beings of the universe shall be ours to enjoy." He takes the reader to heaven itself and anticipates what joy it would be "to sit for a few centuries and listen to the heavenly eloquence of one of these lofty, pure, holy beings discoursing on the time when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy!"

 

  Campbell is doing  what the psalmist is doing in the opening quotation -- saying it in poetry. And some things -- such as enjoy God -- might best be explained in poetic terms. In thy presence is fulness of joy -- at thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore  -- but what does that mean? It is a poet's way of saying we enjoy God by being in fellowship with God.

 

  This is what theologians today mean by spirituality. The old term was piety. The pious (or spiritual) person is one with a heart for God, one who meditates on heavenly things, and whose heart and mind are filled with praise and prayer.

 

  I agree with all this. It is what Paul must have meant in Col. 3:2: "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." This can be and should be a way to enjoy God. But some of us -- who are less mystical, less poetic, less pious, and less gifted in the meditative arts -- need a more practical way of enjoying God.

 

  One effective way to do this is through "imaginative participation" -- a term I borrow from Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck of the University of Durham -- in the great acts of God in Holy Scripture. It is when we participate in the good things of life -- whether marriage, parenthood, sports, a banquet, travel -- that we experience joy. We are to be participants, not just spectators. The Bible allows us -- by way of imagination, a gift of God -- to participate in what God has said and done (facts) through the ages. In doing so we enjoy God as well as honor and worship him.

 

  When Jesus took three of his disciples into a mountain to be transfigured before them, and to be declared the Son of God, we are allowed to go along and -- through imagination -- participate. As we read the account -- such as in Lk. 9:28-36 -- we can put ourselves in the picture, and we can see and hear what the apostles saw and heard.  When Moses and Elijah appeared to talk with Jesus about his upcoming sufferings, we can be there to see and hear. And when Christ appeared in his glory (as he will be at his coming?) -- and God declared him his Son --  we can be as overwhelmed as was Peter, who was so excited he wanted to build three churches! That is enjoying God!

 

  The biblical writers do that for us. They take us right into the action -- if  we use a little imagination -- and allow us to participate. We hear the conversation between Abraham and Isaac as Isaac is about to be sacrificed. We can feel the agony of the moment. We are there when the God of heaven speaks to Moses out of a burning bush, and we are as numbed by it as was Moses. And when Easter morning comes we are allowed to go along with the women, expecting with them to anoint a dead body and wondering how the huge stone will be moved -- only to find the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. We are there to hear the angel proclaim the good news, He is risen!  Wow! Talk about joy!

 

  Imaginative participation serves us well as we stroll through the "Cathedral of Heroes" in Hebrews 11. We can walk with Enoch as he walked with God, only to have him suddenly taken from us into heaven! (You may have been there to see it too!) We can listen to Abraham as he talked wistfully of a city beyond this world, "a heavenly city whose builder and maker is God."  We can see the look in Rahab's eyes when the spies sent by Joshua knock on her door. We find brethren who stopped the mouths of lions and escaped the sword, while other brethren were devoured by lions and slain by the sword. Victory and defeat, but the same faith. And we marvel -- are even dumbfounded -- by the ways of God, which are past tracing out.

 

  And its OK to be dumbfounded. That goes with enjoying God.

 

Personal Notes

 

  Ouida and I are back from Scotland and England. We were in the company of Curt and Sue Burton, who are enough younger to watch after old folk like us. In Scotland the four of us were tutored by Ian Davidson, a native Scot and a retired banker, who knows Scotland better than I know Texas. He is also a consumate Campbellite, and probably knows more than anyone about the ways of Alexander Campbell in Scotland -- both as a student in Glasgow in l809 and his extended visit as a renowned American reformer in 1847 -- during which time he landed in jail! Ian took us to see Campbell in Scotland! I may tell about this in my next essay.

 

  In Brighton, England we attended the 16th World Convention of Churches of Christ, which is held every four years in different countries. In 2000 it was in Australia; in 2008 it will be in Nashville. When I first started attending 30 years ago I was the only one from Churches of Christ. Now there are many, with some serving as officers. Brethren are there from scores of countries. We especially appreciated seeing once more dear friends from Australia, whom we first knew from our visit there in 1994. At each Convention certain ones are named to receive a "Special Citation -- for contribution to the life and mission of the church." We were surprised and humbled when our names were called at this Convention to receive the award -- both of us were cited. I tease Ouida about being world famous!

 

  We are gradually getting out of the book-selling business -- it goes with retirement -- but I may occasionally mention books that you may order from us, particularly my own, which we will continue to offer. We get encouraging responses to my autobiography, A Lover's Quarrel: My Pilgrimage of Freedom in Churches of Christ. A common response is that the reader identifies with my rather stormy life in the church I refuse to leave but with which I have a lover's quarrel. If you order from us, send a check for $14.95 to us at 1300 Woodlake Dr., Denton, TX 76210, and we will pay the postage. My history of our people, The Stone-Campbell Movement, is still in print, and we'll send you a copy for $35 postpaid. This is a 573-page book, the revised edition.