Introduction

Despite my flair for the dramatic, I can’t get away from a very down to earth topic that must be dealt with if we are ever to see long term spiritual transformation. “Revival,” “signs and wonders,” “power,” and the like sound exciting, but the Spirit of God seems more concerned right now with the issue of respect. By “respect” I mean the recognition, in attitude and action, of the worth a person has before God.

This has been dramatically brought to the fore in recent times here by the “flying head butt” (captured on camera) delivered by a Perth resident to an arresting police officer. Struck from the rear, the policeman has been left paralysed down one side. The principal scandal of this affair, which has provoked rallies outside parliament, changes to laws and massive community outcry, is that the offender was acquitted. I believe that the core issue that has galvanised a usually laid back city is the lack of respect shown to the man in uniform. This has touched upon a matter foundational to God’s order for any society.

State of a Nation

“This is a, as I said in Parliament, this sadly, in you know in the words from the Bible, this is like a dog returning to its vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly, and that is exactly what they’re doing here.”

These words, spoken recently by the leader of the opposition in the Australian Federal Parliament, contain a deeply unpleasant insight into the failure of our national leaders to respect one another. Generally speaking, “question time” in our legislative assemblies has the reputation for being disgraceful name calling fiascos. Yet, if “God gives a nation the leaders it deserves.”[1] our politicians are imaging a national character trait deeply embedded in every level of community life[2].

On the back of cabs is a poster, “Anti- social behaviour in taxis will not be tolerated.” In any hospital you will see signs everywhere, “Zero Tolerance Staff Abuse No Excuse”. There are now cages between the bus driver and passengers, security staff on trains and so on. The aged are placed in homes or treated as “old fashioned”[3], the detected deformed are aborted, remote indigenous communities are rife with sexual abuse. Respect is not hard to understand.

We show respect by being at appointments and answering invitations on time, never being late in paying taxes or bills. The Lord expects us to return phone messages and emails promptly. Speaking to all manner of persons in a grace-filled tone, and “standing up for the aged”[4] is what God expects in a culture of respect. This is not easy.

In the light of such moral corruption, we must ask, where respect has gone. This is not a question about recent history, but about the state of the human race.

The Rejected Father

The root of all issues to do with respect can be traced to the rejection of the principle of fatherhood. As God says, “If then I am a father, where is my honor?” (Mal 1:6). God is no longer honoured because the Fall was an exercise in patricide (Father- killing). Adam and Eve, who had never seen a physical death, must have understood that rejection of the divine Word, “in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”” (Gen 2:17), entailed the death of a relationship with God. Disrespect for God’s Word[5] is an attack on his heart as a Father[6].

It should not surprise us that scripture brackets “haters of God” with being “disobedient to parents” (Rom 1:30)[7]. The command, “anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death” (Lev 20:9), only seems extreme because we fail to understand the inner connection between divine Fatherhood and human parenting[8].

Parents stand in a unique relationship to their offspring because they perpetuate God’s likeness. “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. 2 … and named them Man 3 … Adam …fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. These parallels show that human parents communicate an image of the image of God (themselves) to their children. Parents are to be unconditionally honoured because God has bestowed upon them this highest of callings in the original created state. To despise father and mother, the pro-creators, is to reject God as Creator.

On a broader note, parents are the foundational expression of the universal pillar of societal order, obedience to God –given authority. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God…whoever …resists what God has appointed…will incur judgment.” (Rom 13:1 – 2). The passage explains that disobedience incurs “God’s wrath” at the hand of the human authority (Rom 13:5 – 6). Sadly, in a fallen world, the image of God as an Authority conveyed by parents is always distorted. This means that unquestioning imitation of parental modes of authority, as well as rebellion[9], brings divine judgment.

There seems to be no way out of humanity’s dilemma. The nations “rage” against God[10] because they believe his judgement is unjust, and so come further under his wrath. Nothing can change this vicious cycle until the anger of God is seen as justified. Australia is a nation particularly trapped in this net. What sort of image of fatherly authority was projected onto the first white settlers of this nation, convicts, who were sent here as a punishment. If the mainstream Australian psyche holds an image of an angry Father, then the coolness and distance of most Aussies towards theism is fully understandable. What is the church doing about this confusion?

State of the Church

A Jesus-less image of God certainly doesn’t help. Last Sunday’s newspaper quotes a street preacher in the Perth CBD, “The main thing we seriously believe is there is a heaven and a hell, and anyone who has broken (God’s) laws will go to hell.”[11] Condemning preachers reflect a condemning God. But, those who speak of a gospel without the background of wrath deceive the people.[12] The seeker – sensitive movement has marginalised the biblical vocabulary of judgment as a relic of a bygone era, this is an insult to the majesty of God. What we need is a recovery of respect for all the divine attributes. The severity of judgment is not an exception[13]. In asking the Lord, “How are we to respect your righteous anger?” I believe that I have received a surprising answer, as always, through Jesus.

Jesus Alone Honours God

Jerusalem is the place where Jesus would bring his God- glorifying life to a climax. What characterises Jesus movement to Jerusalem is grief. Firstly, grief on account of the divine retribution that will fall on the city that rejects him, “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 … your enemies will set up a barricade around you …44 and tear you down to the ground…And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”” (Luke 19:41 – 44). Secondly, grief on account of his own suffering. “And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” (Mark 14:34, 36). The “cup” is not physical pain but the terror of the divine wrath[14]. Jesus’ grievous sorrow is about separation from his Father.

The cry from the cross, ““My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” (Mark 15:34) means he has entered into the Fallen place where God is dead. Not as though man’s sin can literally kill God, but it can seem to sinners that this is so, it can seem that there is no God worthy of that name, it can feel as though a distant God in a world full of evil and injustice is dead to us, unworthy of any respect[15]. What is happening here is deep beyond words.

First, Jesus enters into a place where he loses the respect of men, “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isa 53:3). Secondly, the very nature of Jesus appeal marks it out as fully God-centred and so God esteeming. The two fold expression, “My God, my God” is only found in Psalm 22:1 and here on the lips of Jesus in the moment of his intensest agony. The repetition makes the plea most urgent and emphasises that God alone is the source of the Son’s honour.

Finally, Jesus cry of dereliction absolutely honours God’s wrath by grieving over its necessity. He reveals that the way to respect the fiery wrath of God is to weep, lament and groan. Since he has entered into our state as Father- killers, it would be a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to cry out, against the burden of his heart, “My Father, my Father”. This, as a faithful Son, he will not do. The cry from the cross offers God maximum respect under maximum conditions of alienation. Finally a human being perfectly honours the divine anger, and so takes it away[16] for us all.

Walking in Respect

It follows on that the thing the church can do to reverse the action of the divine wrath against our society is to weep and mourn for the lost state of our culture. The scriptures are often full of this language. In the prophets we read, “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer 9:1). Paul exclaims, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” (Rom 9:2). And for the state of an immature church, “For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.” (2 Cor 2:4).

Conclusion

The above word is a hard one to bear because it is hard to live. Yet respect is central to the fabric of all human life. “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour.” (Rom 12:10)[17]. The trouble with us is that we focus on the “big things”. Yet Jesus said, ““One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?”” (Luke 16:10 – 11). The principle here is not limited to such a small thing as money, our Lord is counselling us to pay attention to all the “small matters” of life, because none of them is small to our Father. One thing is certain, that until we revere God by respecting all those whom he has set in authority over us, all those he has placed around us, and fulfil all our responsibilities in society with our eyes on the Lord[18], we will never be see a lasting move of the Holy Spirit in our land. Until this time comes, wrath will remain on our nation. May God grant us wisdom to ponder such things in prayer and to bear forth the fruit of godly sorrow.