TCH Sheffield are currently in the middle of a teaching series in Hosea called The Passion of God: A Heart for the Harlot. The talks of which can be found here.
We’ve learned that we belong to a passionate God; a God so passionate that he did everything, at great cost to himself, to welcome us home. Hosea has shown us how passionate God is for a people who are faithful to Him. We see God’s righteous anger at Israel’s sin that doesn’t fit with them being His people and also God’s future promise of grace that He will win a people for Himself. Seeing God’s passion for a passionless people who worship other things is jarring. God demonstrated his passion for his people when he asked Hosea the prophet to marry a prostitute who was ultimately unfaithful and yet Hosea still goes out to the market place to buy her back from slavery to her lovers. God’s passion for his people is immense and yet His wrath falls on those who throw this back in His face like the Israelite’s were.
Praise God that this wrath, this passion for holiness, has ultimately fallen on Jesus so that we might be the blameless people that God desires. The passion of God is so clear at the cross. In that gruesome setting as Jesus hung there dying the most horrific death He demonstrated his love for the unlovely. Jesus was a man of passion to his very last breath. He had passion for the Father’s glory since he said ‘not my will but your’s be done’ and he had a passion for the lost as he died to pay the penalty they deserved that they might share in his glorious inheritance. We worship a God of passion. This has illuminated for me a line from a song we regularly sing in TCH, written by one of our own…
Our King is a king of passion
‘It is finished!’ he cried out and gave up his life
So we could be his family:
Our King is a king of passion.
So often we sing the words of song but never really get what they mean on deep level that impacts our emotions. God has used the book of Hosea to bring that line from that song home to me in a big way. Jesus shows us that we worship a God of phenomenal passion.
However that said, throughout this series in Hosea I’ve been struck time and again how little passion I have for God. I don’t really want to live for Him in so many areas of my life and seem to have completely conflicting priorities for my time, money, energy ect. Furthermore, I don’t get excited about God much. I am often cold towards God and I don’t delight in Him for who He is and what He’s done. I simply go through the dutiful motions as I continue to worship other things (my ‘Baals’ to use the language of Hosea). Much like the Israelites, so often my heart goes after created things rather than the Creator. I lack passion for the One who desires and deserves ALL of me.
It’s easy to make excuses for our lack passion towards God. I hear myself saying in my heart ‘my GC doesn’t encourages me enough’, ‘other people’s singing in the gathering on a Sunday is too flat’ or ‘I don’t have enough time to pray or get excited about God’s word, he’s given me too many responsibilities to take care of’. These are all lame excuses. I am responsible for my own heart and allowing it to grow cold to God. I have been the one that has entertained the world too much and have listened to it rather than my Father in Heaven. I have lacked the will to pray when I don’t feel like it, I have lacked the will to read God’s word I feel distant. Only I have lacked the will to sing to God when I can’t be bothered to. I have lacked to will to remind myself of truths that I have allowed to become too dutiful and familiar. I have lacked the will to explore grace and instead have cheapened it to a number of points I give assent to intellectually from time to time. I have lacked compassion for lost and so often don’t even reflect that people are lost and heading to hell without Christ when I have the words of eternal life but won’t speak them. Ultimately I have forgotten the first commandment to ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and you neighbour as yourself’. I lack passion for God and I lack passion for the lost.
Well thank God that we are not the saviour because I’d be done for.On our own we could never defeat the things we make more import in our lives, the things that crowd out God. The only way we can defeat these passion destroying idols in our lives is by them being blown away by something greater – Jesus. We need Jesus to shout out these other things vying for our attention and devotion. Ultimately we can’t work enough to achieve this so I guess that turns us to our Heavenly Father in prayer. We should pray that the Holy Spirit would not only keep our minds focused on Jesus but also our hearts soft towards Him, that we might reflect a genuine passion for the Saviour to all people. We need to pray hard and earnestly.
This brings me to my favourite group of saints from history, the Puritans. These guys knew how to pray truth to themselves daily to keep their hearts soft towards God and the Gospel. Here’s one of my favourite Puritan prayers (with slightly modernised language). It reflects on what a great saviour we have and shows the ways only he is qualified to be the saviour. It’s been a source of encouragement to me at times when I’ve been convicted of how I have tried to become the saviour and when I’ve needed a shot of passion for God. I hope and pray it encourages you too…
The Saviour
Heavenly Father,
You have given us a Saviour,
produce in us the faith to live by Him,
to make Him all our desire,
all our hope,
all our glory.
May we enter Him as our refuge,
build on Him as our foundation,
walk in Him as our way,
follow Him as our guide,
conform to Him as our example,
receive His instructions as our prophet,
rely on Him as our high priest,
obey Him as our king.
May we never be ashamed of Him or His words,
but joyfully bear his reproach,
never displease Him by unholy conduct,
never count it a glory if we take it patiently when buffeted for a fault,
never make the multitude our model,
never delay when your word invites us to advance.
May your dear Son preserve us from this present evil world,
so that is smiles never allure,
nor its frowns terrify,
nor its vices defile,
nor its errors delude us.
May we feel that we are strangers and pilgrims on earth,
declaring plainly that we seek a country,
our title to it becoming daily more clear,
our meetness for it more perfect,
our foretaste of it more abundant;
and whatsoever we do may it be done
in the Saviour’s name.
Amen.
