Pursuit of God

On a monthly visit to Koorong, I (Jordan) picked up two books I have long been wanting to read – ‘The Pursuit of God’ by A.W. Tozer, and ‘The Practice of the presence of God’ by brother Lawrence. I am yet to read the latter, but I wish to share some of what I read in Tozer’s 1948 classic. The title captures its theme – characteristics of a life in hot pursuit of God. A marvellous image somewhat reminiscent of Paul’s ‘throwing off of all that hinders’ in the daily race toward eternity. To appreciate Tozer's insight, it is somewhat important to understand his history.

In the words of one editor:

Born in a poor home in the hills of western Pennsylvania, he had known hardship from as long he could remember. Forced by his home situation to forfeit an education, Tozer entered the ministry without either high school or college training. …Having become a ‘lay preacher’, Tozer found himself in disfavour with his church (Methodist) and decided to join with The Christian and Missionary Alliance where he found opportunity to use his gifts. (The Pursuit Of God, Preface, pages 1-2, Authentic Publishers, 2004).

I reproduce that which interested me most:

A concomitant of the error which we have been discussing is the sacred-secular antithesis as applied to places. It is little short of astonishing that we can read the New Testament and still believe in the inherent sacredness of some places as distinguished from other places. This error is so widespread that one feels all alone when he tries to combat it. It has acted as a kind of dye to colour the thinking of religious persons and has coloured the eyes as well so that it is all but impossible to detect its fallacy. In the face of every New Testament teaching to the contrary, it has been said and sung throughout the centuries and accepted as part of the Christian message, the which it most surely is not. Only the Quakers, so far as my knowledge goes, have had the perception to see the error and the courage to expose it.

Here are the facts as I see them. For four hundred years Israel had dwelt in Egypt, surrounded by the crassest idolatry. By the hand of Moses they were brought out at last and started toward the land of promise. The very idea of holiness had been lost to them. To correct this, God began at the bottom. He localised Himself in the cloud of fire, and later when the tabernacle had been built he dwelt in fiery manifestation in the Holy of Holies. By innumerable distinctions, God taught Israel the difference between holy and unholy. There were holy days, holy vessels, holy garments. There were washings, sacrifices, offerings of many kinds. By these means, Israel learned that God is holy. It was this that He was teaching them, not the holiness of things or places. The holiness of Jehovah was the lesson they must learn.

Then came the great day when Christ appeared. Immediately He began to say, ‘Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time – but I say unto you’ (Mt 5:21-22). The Old Testament schooling was over. When Christ died on the cross the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. The Holy of Holies was opened to everyone who would enter in faith. Christ’s words were remembered, ‘The hour cometh , when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father…But the hour cometh, and now is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth’ (Jn 4:21,23).

Shortly after, Paul took up the cry of liberty and declared all meats clean, every day holy, all places sacred and every act acceptable to God. The sacredness of times and places, a half-light necessary to the education of the race, passed away before the full sun of spiritual worship.

The essential spirituality of worship remained the possession of the church until it was slowly lost with the passing of the years. Then the natural legality of the fallen hearts of men began to introduce the old distinctions. The church came to observe again the days and seasons and times. Certain places were chosen and marked out as holy in a special sense. Differences were observed between one and another day or place or person. ‘The sacraments’ were first two, then three, then four, until with the triumph of Romanism they were fixed at seven.

In all charity, and with no desire to reflect unkindly upon any Christian, however misled, I would point out that the Roman Catholic church represents today the sacred-secular heresy carried to its logical conclusion. It’s between religion and life. Its teachers attempt to avoid this snare by many footnotes and multitudinous explanations, but the mind’s instinct for logic is too strong. In practical living the cleavage is fact. From this bondage reformers and puritans and mystics have laboured to free us. Today, the trend in conservative circles is back toward that bondage again. It is said that a horse, after it has been led out of a burning building, will sometimes, by a strange obstinacy, break loose from its rescuer and dash back into the building again to perish in the flame. By some such stubborn tendency toward error, fundamentalism in our day is moving back toward spiritual slavery. The observation of days and times is becoming more and more prominent among us. ‘Lent’ and ‘holy week’ and ‘good’ Friday are words heard more and more frequently upon the lips of gospel Christians. We do not know when we are well off….

The chapter continues and ends on this note:

The ‘layman’ need never think of his humbler task as being inferior to that of his minister. Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary. His entire life will be a priestly ministration. As he performs his never-so-simple task, he will hear the voice of the seraphim saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.’

Comments on this post are encouraged.