99 Problems, but I'm Not One

Everyone has a book coming out on problems. The problem with your marriage. The problem with the economy. The problem your anger. Everyone seems to have an answer in a problem filled world, but nothing seems to be giving any long-term help or satisfaction. Yes, some problems allow for a quick fix every now and then, but we no nothing of long-term joy, contentment, and hope. In the category of self-help we have aimed for too practical and haven't thought enough about the big picture. We haven't rooted our problems back to the underlying cause behind everything. In short, we need a Savior. Someone outside of ourselves to save us from ourselves. All our problems can be boiled down to 2 realities. Only 2, really? Think about it.

1.) Too Much of Man
This is the beginning of all of our problems (noticed I said all). Every single one of us sits on our own throne and thinks the world revolves around us. Pride is at the root of all sins (Proverbs 16:18). It is what made Lucifer fall and what made Adam and Eve forsake God's perfect rule for an apple. Pride got us into this mess in the first place and it still ruins us to this day. Why do you get mad when someone cuts you off in traffic? Why do you get worried about the future? Why do you get angry at a friend? It all goes back to the fact that we want our way. We love our way. This is the essence of sin. Sin isn't a behavior problem, but rather a treasuring problem. We treasure ourselves more often than God and this in turn leads us into trouble. What are you treasuring? I think we'd all be lying if we didn't say us. We love us. We have made the finite (man) seem infinite and in there lies all of our troubles.

2.) Too Little of God
If you take a honest look at the world today, I don't think anyone is disagreeing with me here. We have made much of us, and in turn made little of God. It always works like that. You can't have a high view of man and God. John the baptist agrees: "I must decrease. He must increase" (John 3:30). Paul Tripp, a biblical counselor, claims that "only the worship of God can destroy the worship of yourself." God is not worshipped because we don't see him how he really is. We see watered down versions of Him in our culture, entertainment, and, God help us, in our churches. When God becomes small, man becomes a big and problem on top of problem begins to multiply. So what do we need? We need to discover the Godness of God. We need to see God not just for what he can do for us, but for who He is. Who God is goes a lot farther than what He does. We need a bigger God.

What about Jesus?
But isn't the Bible about Jesus? How does Jesus fit into this theory of "bigger God and smaller you" fixing all of the world's problems? Check out this chart.

As we get a greater awareness of who God is and what's He's done (aka Bigger God), we will get an awareness of our sinfulness (aka smaller man). This is what happened to Isaiah:

"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with 2 he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!' And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:1-3, 5)

Don't miss this. If we think we are something great and worthy to be praised, we are missing who God really is. A greater, grandeur view of God will always make us feel small. Really small. Too often we hold ourselves into comparison with other people that we've handpicked because we know that we are better than them. But when we bring ourselves into comparison with a Holy, perfect God we always come up way short. Now enter Jesus into Isaiah's vision:

"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." (Isaiah 6: 6-7)

As God becomes bigger in our lives, we become smaller and the cross becomes greater and more precious to us. The cross always puts us in right standing before God, despite of our sin because Jesus took our sin and gave us his perfect righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). A sign if we are growing in our faith is if we need Jesus more and more each day, because we are seeing God as bigger and seeing ourselves as smaller. Day by day of this (less of me, more of Him, treasuring Jesus) will change the world. We need to see a bigger God. We need to see a smaller of us. We need to see how great Jesus truly is.