Theology of Leverage - a Proposal

I've been playing around with a theological idea for the last couple of years. The idea goes like this: God using our small efforts, small obedience, or small attempts as "seed" or "priming" so that God will do much greater things.

So, for example, when I decide to be more obedient and hold my tongue more consistently, that small effort at self-control allows God to do a greater work in my life and I become better at self-control. Or when I obey God by giving him back a small portion of my income, he might turn that small obedience into greater blessing in some other area of my life. Or when I decide to start reading and taking the Bible seriously, he starts showing me transforming insights about him and my world.
The point is that God takes our little effort and leverages it to disproportionate blessing or effect.

The Bible seems to have a "Theology of leverage." Here are a few examples that I've come up with:

• Genesis 12: God talks to Abraham and tells him that he will make his not-yet-born son into a great nation. Later, Abraham is confused and discouraged - no children have come. God says there would be a son who would produce uncountable descendants (Gen. 15). One child into a nation from Abraham's wife Sarah (Gen 17). Yet Abraham (finally) believed that small truth so to even deny his inheritance to an "illegitmate" child, Ishmael. Of course, great nations arose from Isaac and Jacob
• Exodus 12: God tells Moses that the last plague is going to happen - firstborns are going to die. But if the Israelites would do a simple thing: sacrifice an innocent lamb and splatter the blood on the doorways, then the plague will pass-over them. The death of an innocent animal will prevent the death of humans
• Exodus 14: Moses and the children of Israel have escaped and have been trapped with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian army behind them. God says for the people to go forward and Moses to do this little thing: lift his staff. Then God parted the sea by a wind storm that blew all night. The people stepped forward and God delivered a nation
• Joshua 3: as the children of Israel are about to enter the promised land. They come to the Jordon filled to the banks during flood stage. This is an effective barrier. God tells them to do a simple and easy thing: carry the Ark of the Covenant and *not until the sandals of the guys carrying the Ark got wet* did the waters stop, pile up in a heap, and cause flooding upriver. God did a great miracle by stopping the Jordon, but only after a small act of faith - stepping into the river
• 1Kings 17: the prophet Elijah goes to a poor old woman asking for some food. She doesn't have enough flour or oil to bake a decent loaf of bread. What she has she was going to make to provide a last meal for herself and starving son. Elijah asks her to make bread for him first. Simple: Just make some bread. She did and the weirdest thing happened: Elijah stays at the house for many days and the food never ran out
• Psalms 16:4 provides a negative example. Here David states that idolatry, the denial of the true God, will lead to multiplied sorrows. What seems like (to many people) a small "error" of theology creates multiplied problems in life
• Mark 6:35 begins the story of a mob of hungry people listening to Jesus (a good thing), but they are in a remote place, there are no restaurants around, and the people are getting hungry (bad thing). Jesus tells the disciples to do something about this situation. They are clueless about what to do. So they give Jesus what they have: five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Not much and completely inadequate. Jesus somehow takes that and feeds thousands
• Romans 8:26 tells us that in the spiritual realm, this principle also works. Paul tells us that we are incompetent dorks when we pray. We don't know how to pray and we don't pray the way we should. But we are told to pray anyway - just try our little best - and the Spirit seems to "translate" our feeble prayers into deep groaning prayer. We pray in weakness and the Spirit takes that and converts it to Heaven-shattering intercession
• 2Corinthians 9:10 - Paul, in the middle of a section on giving and possessions, makes a slight detour and tells us that God will multiply our gifts given into greater personal righteousness. Here it seems that Paul is affirming that how we handle money and possessions (would seem to be a minor thing in the grand scheme of life)  has an unexpected spiritual effect (listen to my sermon on 1Timothy 6 here)

Some suggest that God asks us to get moving; that "transforming faith ... happens in the context of movement. The power of God comes to those who obey." I agree. It seems that, indeed, God gives us power as we act and step out. Once we step out in our little obedience, God seems to give us what we need (and more) as we go forward.

Now, please, do not misunderstand me. This is not at all to suggest that we can manipulate God to do miracles if we go through some minor actions. That is magic and God is Very Opposed to magic (mostly because the magician is trying to be Boss 1Sam.15:23). Rather, this is God encouraging us to do the right things - to "take the next best step." He has a whole agenda of good works for us to get busy with (Eph.2:10) and wants us to walk trusting him (2Cor.5:7; Heb.11:1-2).

God Is Moral And We Are Not

I recently was studying Genesis chapter three and came across a thought. I'm putting it out here to generate comment.  

Over a couple of decades, I've tried to understand the word, "moral." Here is a working definition which captures what I know of this word. Moral means, “knowing the difference between good and bad." Dictionary.com seems to agree when it defines moral as an adjective meaning "of, pertaining to, or concerned with the ... distinction between right and wrong."

Are we all OK with that definition?

So, we get to Genesis three and morality is the presenting issue. The serpent - who we later are told is an embodiment of God’s angelic adversary, “Satan” or “Lucifer” – brings this characteristic before Eve in chapter three, the first five verses. The serpent asks Eve about the one restriction placed on her and Adam. He then tells her that she is missing something; she is missing “morality.”

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

 ² And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,

 ³ but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

 ⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

 ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen 3:1-5 ESV)

By the definition we have above; is God “moral?” Sure – and the serpent affirms that: God knows good from evil. God being moral is a good thing. Remember, at this time God had declared that all was "very good."

But, at this point in time, are humans “moral?” No – that’s exactly the point that the serpent is making. Humans are not, yet, moral – is that a good thing or a bad thing? It’s a good thing because, again, God had described the situation as “very good”.

But Eve is deceived (2Cor 11:3) into thinking that “morality” will make her more wise. She eats the apple – gives some to Adam and he eats. Are their eyes opened to “morality?” Yes.

What’s the result? It is not good.

I’m going to mess with you a bit.

Is “morality” a good thing?

In my reading of the text, there were two options presented to Adam and Eve. One was “obedience” to God’s clearly revealed will. The other was the promise of “morality.” As it turned out, which was the better option? Obedience to God’s clearly revealed will is always better than “morality.”

Not obedience to ungodly man-made rules.

Not obedience to an ungodly philosophy of life.

Not obedience to ungodly dogma or ideology.

Not obedience to some obscure or bizarre interpretation of God’s word.

Obedience to God’s clearly revealed will.

Humanity does not use morality well, at all. Our consciences are unreliable (Rom 2:15; 1Cor 8:7 1Tim 1:5, 4:2; Tit 1:15; Heb 10:22). In fact, we genetically pre-disposed to do very badly at morality. That is because we are born broken and act accordingly. 

The problem is that while God being moral is a good thing, human “morality” is always messed up and many times creates judgmental attitudes, oppression, legalistic rules and regulations, and sometimes even monstrous evil.

Yep, we learned about good and evil. But we are so small that when we try to do good, we accomplish evil instead.

I think of a five year old child in grandpa’s tool shed. He looks at the shiny and powerful chainsaw. He knows he can probably start it up – he’s seen it done. Does anyone think that’s a good thing for the child to do?

Only when we get God’s help do we have a chance at doing morality well. Why? Because he is God and we are not. 

So now, humanity is “moral.” 

Yay.

Comments, questions, concerns?