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Moses Wannabes
But something is awry and amiss out there in that vast amusement park known as evangelicalism. I haven't seen Moses bobblehead dolls yet.....well, maybe I have, but that's beside the point. Moses- not Jesus- has become a major focus of contemporary Christians. And not in a way that is Biblically healthy or balanced. Moses is a major part of the unfolding story of God's Gospel. Aside from being the traditional author of the first five books of the Bible, Moses is a major character in both the Christian and Jewish scriptures. In the New Testament, Moses represents the Old Covenant and the Law. In fact, to say "Moses" is to say "scripture" for many New Testament authors. In addition, Moses makes for a fascinating character study. In my high school Bible survey classes, we talk a great deal about Moses' mixed race background, his search for an identity, his issues with anger management and his conversations with God. At least three popular movies use Moses as the primary character. I understand the appeal of Moses. He is a combination of common human experiences and an extraordinary relationship with God. Some of the most well-known passages of scripture are stories about Moses. The baby in the basket. The burning bush. "Let my people go!" The passage through the Red Sea. Scenes from Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in "The Ten Commandments" are etched in the minds of several generations of Christians. As prominent as Moses is in the Bible, he is rarely held out as an example to Christians. One place where he is mentioned as a person to imitate is Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11:24-28 By faith Moses, when
he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with
the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He
considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the
treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By
faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he
endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept
the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of
the firstborn might not touch them.
In fact, a rather large portion of the New Testament book of Hebrews is devoted to making sure Moses is never given any place over Christ Jesus. There's no animosity toward Moses in that exposition, but both text and subtext make it clear that Moses is not the paradigm of Christians for living the life of faith. So please don't think
I'm being hard on a good guy, because it's Christians who have
decided to make Moses the focus of two significant movements in
evangelicalism: Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God paradigm of
Christian experience and the current interest in "Seeing God's
Glory," particularly expressed in a remarkable amount of
contemporary worship music. Experiencing
God is a
phenomenon in evangelicalism, particularly among Southern Baptists who
revere its author, Henry Blackaby, as a spiritual mentor and prophet to
the contemporary church. Others have
done a good job of critiquing EG,
and I will leave it to my readers to sort through the good and the bad
in
Blackaby's work. I have concluded that EG, despite some strong points,
has contributed to a shift of focus away from scripture and toward
direct revelation to individuals. This shift has remarkable
consequences, and deserves examination on it's own. In EG, Blackaby
presents Moses' experience at the burning bush as a paradigm for the
entire Christian life. This paradigm is presented as the well-know
"Seven-Realities" of EG. (A diagram
that presents these points is found in EG.)
Obviously,
these points from EG are all
substantially Biblical and true in some contexts (though Blackaby's
comments on them are
often highly anecdotal and problematic. ) The question is "Can an
outline derived from the story of the burning bush be presented as the
"key" to knowing God and experiencing supernatural direction in the
Christian life?" Is an incident in the life of Moses a model for
how one
comes to "know God by experience"? Blackaby's method is the approach to
Biblical stories that is used by hundreds of thousands of preachers of
every kind. Taking an incident in scripture and hanging teaching points
on the narrative is common in all sorts of sermons. I have used such an
approach many times, but my disagreement with Blackaby comes precisely
at
that point, because I know the hazards of the method. I believe he
errs seriously in claiming that it is this
story that contains a significant pattern for all Christians to
follow; a pattern that can be called the "key" to coming to "know God
by experience." The New Testament
does not use the burning bush incident, or any teachings derived from
it, as particularly important in the Christian life. Blackaby's
discovery of the realities of EG in the Old Testament is much like
Bruce
Wilkinson's discovery that the key to "enlarging your territory" lay in
the obscure prayer of Jabez. Evangelical Christians are surely aware
that Jesus taught extensively on how we "know" God, and he does not use
the burning bush episode as his focus. In the Gospels, it is in
believing, abiding
in Christ, obeying Christ and trusting Christ that we come to
know God. God has revealed himself in Jesus in a way far clearer than
in
any Old Covenant example of experience. More troubling is the
experiential side of this teaching. Are we all supposed to have a
burning bush experience? Does the Bible say that the pattern of Moses'
experience will be our own? The Bible certainly shows us examples in
the Old Testament that are useful to the Christian, but the purpose of
these examples is to show that the same God who spoke to Moses in the
burning bush and on the mountain, has now spoken to us even more
clearly
in and through His son, Jesus Christ. Our personal experience is a sovereign work of the Holy Spirit, and will not follow in the pre-determined pattern of the experience of Moses or anyone else in or out of the Bible. Putting the burning bush episode as the template for all experiences of being called, or for the Christian life in general, is putting too much importance on a passage outside of its relationship to Christ. For example,
look at how Jesus uses the
Old Testament story of "Jacob's ladder" in John 1. Rather than say,
"Every Christian should have an experience of coming to know God
through a revelation that wherever he or she is, God is with him or
her," (a good application of Genesis 28,) Jesus says "Truly, truly, I
say
to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and
descending upon the Son of man." (John 1:51.) The story of Jacob's
ladder
is interpreted in the Gospel of John as pointing to the greater
revelation that Jesus is God himself; "God with us." How harmful
is it to teach New Testament Christians using
Old Testament examples? This is not a problem, if the Bible is
rightly divided. But saying that the key to knowing God is not in
exclusively in
Christ, but in a direct, Moses' like encounter with God, is dangerously
misleading. Thousands have taken the EG course and have begun putting
their focus on hearing directly from God. "God spoke to me and said..."
has become the final authority for many Christians as they shape their
own spiritual lives around the experience of Moses. The
New Testament consistently states that what the
Christian has in Jesus is greater than any aspect of the Old Testament
record. What we know of God in Jesus is greater than any revelation
given to Moses, including that face to face encounter on the mountain.
If that is the case, then why is so much contemporary praise and
worship music concerned with that very episode?
I caught a glimpse of Your splendor
When I climb
down the mountain
And get back to my life
When I first heard this song used in a worship setting, I was
somewhat confused as to what the lyrics meant. Soon I realized it is
about Moses' "glimpse of glory" experience on Sinai. The chorus,
however, is among the most
common sentiments in contemporary worship music: We/I want to "see" the
glory of God.
Far be it from me to attempt an explanation of the huge theme
of God's glory as it is revealed in scripture. It is a magnificent
topic that comprehensively ties together much in the plan of God in
Christ. But to
understand contemporary worship music and preaching's interest in this
topic, we need go no further than the story of the Exodus, and Moses'
encounters with God on Mount Sinai. Here, the glory of God was visual
and observable, first to the people in acts and presence of God,
and
then to Moses as he spent time with God on the mountain.
It is curious that the tradition of Christian hymnody did not
pick up on this theme, yet modern CCM can't get enough of it. This is
probably the result of contemporary preachers applying the "glory"
theme in the Exodus and Moses passages to worship and
the Christian life. While this is just my theory, I think anyone can
see in the song above the evidence of sermons they have heard that
spoke about
"mountaintop experiences,""coming down from the mountain" and so
forth.
As churches have put more and more emphasis on experience in
the corporate worship setting, "glory" language became more common.
Revivals are the "glory" of God descending on a church. Manifestations
of the Spirit are God's glory in the midst of his people. Intense and
emotional worship experiences are glimpses of God's glory. The
Charismatic/Pentecostal side of evangelicalism is not without stories
of God's visible glory descending in a cloud during a meeting.
This hunger for a repetition of visible glory, and equating
personal and corporate experiences with such glory, has made it much
easier to sing about the glory of God in the way we encounter in
contemporary worship music. We want to see your glory, say the
songwriters. Meaning: We want to have an experience that we have
labeled "the Glory of God."
In his book, Before
the Face of God, author and theologian Michael Horton
demolishes
the current resurgence of a gnostic "theology of glory" by reminding us
that the glory of God was a traumatic, even deadly experience to sinful
humans and even to God's
people. The entire Exodus and Moses narrative teaches the need for a
mediator, and it is the New Testament's affirmation that the glory of
God has now come to us in the person of Christ. In fact, an even
greater glory than that seen by Moses is now seen in the Gospel. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory
of the Lord, are
being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another;
for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." (II Corinthians 3:18)
Here Paul is concluding a chapter that contrasts all the different
kinds of visible glory in the Old Covenant with the glory of God
revealed in the Gospel. When you read this chapter, you have to
wonder....why are modern Christians singing about Old Covenant glory? The reason is that they are actually singing about
their own experiences. What Moses experienced has been equated with
what may happen in corporate worship or in the mystical subjectivity of
personal spirituality. Moses' glimpse of glory isn't the glory that was
revealed when Jesus came to be the savior of men (John 1:14) but a
glory of another kind- a far less glorious glory, because it is the
glory of individual experience. I can safely assume that Moses, given the choice of
the glory of Sinai or the glory of knowing Jesus Christ, would have no
trouble choosing. Certainly, Moses would never mistake the glory of any
Charismatic worship service for the glory of the Son of God. The
"glory" sought after in worship theatrics and music is hardly worthy of
the term. I've been a bit factitious saying that these
Christians are "Moses wannabes." Moses knew that all of God's
redemptive plan pointed to a savior, not to an experience. The mistake
of modern Christians is in finding the heartbeat of Christianity in
their own experience rather than in the glory of the cross and the
empty tomb. They aren't following Moses. If they were, they would
eventually come to Christ and want nothing else but Him. Is there a glory of the new covenant that we should
desire to experience? The glory of this new covenant age is the Holy
Spirit poured out to exalt and magnify Jesus. New covenant worship
isn't glory centered, but Christ centered. The new covenant community
isn't praying to see the glory, it's following Christ, serving Christ
and teaching Christ. The glory of the new covenant is not seen in
breath-taking visions, but in the amazing fact of a foot-washing,
cross-carrying Christ. |
I like Moses.
I didn't get up this morning and decide that I didn't like Moses.
I don't have a Moses complex. I am not Mosesaphobic.