Getting Along Very Well Without God

'God is teaching us that we must live as men who can get along very well without him.' 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This startling quote was brought to my attention by my son, Toby, and it has prompted a lot of thinking on my part. I have to say, I haven't chased up Bonhoeffer's context, and so my reflections are more on the simple idea of the statement, not on the wider argument that Bonhoeffer follows wherever it is he makes this statement: my thoughts in no way claim to mirror those of the great Dietrich.

In our contemporary evangelical culture, the idea of dependence upon God is stressed. Bonhoeffer's statement seems to say that in fact the opposite is the will of God, that, as we grow in Him, we become less dependent and reliant upon him, and more dependent and reliant upon ourselves. This progress is virtuous. This is a shocking idea to evangelical people! Try saying it in a Bible study group and see what reaction follows! 

It would be fairly obvious that there are many people who, at the level of day to day life, get along very well without God. The thoughts of God, of heaven, of hell, would not pass through their minds in many, if any, days. They are like those Jesus spoke of: "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark.... It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building (Luke 17:26ff)."  Jesus points out the foolishness of such an approach: the end of the age is coming, and account must be given to God of our relation to Him.


But Bonhoeffer is speaking of something other than this practical atheism. His statement encourages us to see ourselves in a very responsible light.


Geoffrey Bingham used to speak of the intention of God in creation as being that we become a peer community with Him in His action in  history and into eternity. The intention of God at the creation of the man and the woman in Genesis 1 is that they be fruitful, fill the earth, subdue it, and to rule over all the living creatures. Humanity has a given co-regency with God. The broad parameters of humanity's serving of God are given in the commission but not the day to day nitty-gritty of it.  All of the gifts and talents given to humanity are with a view to our responsibly taking up this commission and making something of it.


Life in the fulfilling of this commission involves the making of a multitude of decisions every day. Humanity must make these decisions. We must weigh the options, consider the possibilities and then finally we must act. The person unable to make decisions is a crippled person. Such a person cannot be entrusted with responsibility. 
 
In many decisions—most in fact—we are faced with the fact that God Himself does not tell us what to do. We have to act on what we know of God, what we know of His will for creation, and what we know of our partnership with Him in the outworking of that will. In this way we have to get along very well without God. We don't have Him looking over our shoulder telling us what to do next. It is a truth that ennobles us enormously. We are truly peers alongside Him.


Of course it is true that all the gifts and abilities and resources we bring to this task are gift to us from Him. There is a deep and fundamental dependence. But it is not a dependence which results in a perpetual infancy or adolescence before Him, but which grows into a maturity, in which finally we stand in equal stature with Him as His son.


Perhaps it is the favour and kindness of God our Father that in our first days and early years as Christians He leads us with a greater immediacy than is so later. And it is the same favour and kindness that the immediacy of that direction is lessened and removed as we grow in maturity. We become men and women grown up.

Geoff Bingham, a dear friend and mentor, a teacher and encourager in the great grace of God, died early on Wednesday morning and entered the joy of the Lord.

I came to know Geoff through his ministry with university students when I was a young and woolly student at Adelaide University. I had only recently become a believer in Christ, and I wonder now how much of that was of God. Certainly as Geoff taught the grace of God in those days I found myself swinging between two opinions - why does he teach such obvious things? and why does he teach such obscure things? I needed still to discover the secret of the Father's sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. For all my confusion about Geoff's teaching, I found that there was something inescapably compelling about what he brought from the Scriptures.

Through Geoff, and through those who had learned from him, the day came when the truth of God's Fatherhood broke in upon me like a river of flooding love. I came to know that the grace of salvation was in the Father's heart and initiative, and not something forced upon Him by a loving Jesus. It changed my whole life.

Liz and I spent the early days of married life travelling nearly every Saturday morning to hear Geoff teach at the New Creation Teaching Centre. Geoff saw our family grow, and saw us grow as we learned something of being parents. We learned from him that even our family life has to be subordinated to the kingdom of God, and that we must not make an idol of family. At times, this learning seemed to be imparted fiercely, but we know that Geoff has loved us even when it seemed he was strong in his approach to us. Liz and I compared notes today and agreed that quite likely without Geoff's teaching and ministry our marriage may not have lasted the stresses and strains of sin that has had its play in our lives. The grace of God, which we found in his opening of the Scriptures, has been the rock of our lives.

Geoff always wore his heart on his sleeve. He was an unfeigned man. The Geoff you knew was the Geoff with all his warts and wonders. He could be so because he knew that he was a sinner justified freely by the grace of God in Christ.

At one New Creation Ministry School Geoff gave a study on the ministry of encouragement. It was the last study of the school and the culmination of all that had been taught over the week. I was moved to the depths of my being by Geoff's study, and wept and wept for the beauty of the Lord, the glory of His grace, the love of the Father, the kindness of God for the salvation of the world. I simply could not stop the flow of tears of joy that came from the goodness of the Gospel. Geoff was one of only a couple of people who seemed to understand what was happening in me.

Geoff and Laurel have been encouragers and supporters of Liz and me in our ministry. He has helped in the parish at Largs, visiting to preach. He was available for me to come and to talk through the things that were on my heart, and also to bring to me things that I needed to think through. He prayed for me, and cared for me.

I have learned from Geoff how important it is to exercise faithfulness in friendship, and to give to those from whom you receive. A giant of a man like Geoff, towering in his ability, energy and self-control, is one from who I gladly received. I failed to see for too long just how much there is reciprocity in all human relationships, and how much friendship which expresses itself to others in their needs, and seeks to understand their needs, is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and is in fact an expression of the life of God among us.

Geoff's poetry made a large impact on me, and perhaps his simplest and most profound poem, Angel Wings is the best way for me to wind up these personal reflections which could go on for so much longer.

Angel wings, beating my face,
Forcing me into grace.

Dear eyes, loving my soul,
Drawing me to the goal.

Strong word, piercing my brain,
Bringing me holy shame.

Pain's cry welling within,
Lifting me up from sin.

Red hands, clotted with blood,
Thrusting me up to God.

Angel wings, beating my face,
Forcing me into grace.