Deity Dancing
Jackson
Snyder, August 12, 2004
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Deity: The essential nature or condition of being a god; divinity. Used with the: “the Deity.”
Snyder
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This message references John Claypool’s The
Preaching Event, 1994
Preview
these great resources from John Claypool:
Tracks
of a Fellow Struggler: Living and Growing Toward Grief
John
Claypool Ser.2, V.16 Vision Video /
1998
Preview
Ethel Waters’ autobiography, His
Eye is on the Sparrow
John
3:16-21 (SSBE) For Yahweh so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For Yahweh sent not the Son into the world
to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him. He that believes on him is not judged: he
that believes not on him has been judged already, because he has not believed
on the name of the only begotten Son of Yahweh. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were
evil. For every one that does evil
hates the light, and comes not to the light, lest his works should be
reproved. But he that does the truth
comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been
worked in Yahweh.
John 5:19-20 “Very truly, I tell
you, the Son can do nothing on his own . . .”
Thomas 22b: “When you make the two
one, the inside like the outside . . .”
Psalms 68
1. Let Elohim arise, let
his enemies scatter, let his opponents flee before him.
2. You disperse them
like smoke; as wax melts in the presence of a fire, so the wicked melt at the
presence of Elohim.
3. The upright rejoice
in the presence of Elohim, delighted and crying out for joy.
4. Sing to Elohim, play music
to his name, build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Yahweh, dance
before him.
Gen 12:1-9 Now Yahweh said to Abram, “Go from your
country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show
you. {2} I will make of you a great nation, and
I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. {3}
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and
in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” {4} So Abram
went, as Yahweh had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. {5}
Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions
that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and
they set forth to go to the land of Canaan.
When they had come to the land of Canaan, {6} Abram passed through the
land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. {7} Then Yahweh
appeared to Abram, and said, “To your offspring I will
give this land.” So he built
there an altar to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. {8} From there he moved on
to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on
the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to Yahweh and invoked
the name of Yahweh. {9} And Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negeb.
{FAST}
I was never one for dancing: too ignorant to lead; too clumsy to follow. Maybe you’re that way, too. I always avoided having to get out there on
the floor. I never felt comfortable
tripping the light fantastic, only tripping.
Do you want to know the secret to beating the call of the dance floor? Join the band.
Did you ever think of our relationship with
the Almighty as a clumsy dance? A dance
with Deity? ¿When are we supposed to
move and when is He? How do we avoid
stepping on his toes? How do we keep
from getting squished under his? And
what about those “big dips?” Maybe we
can find out if “we take a little dip” into the philosophical fish tank we call
divinity.
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Pre-eminence
In our understanding of the dance with
deity, there are two extremes. One
extreme is called “divine pre-eminence,” which proposes that God does just
about everything in our lives and we do practically nothing. “Let go and let God” is the motto of those
who ascribe to “divine pre-eminence.”
In order to let go and let God, we must completely empty ourselves,
renouncing all personal initiatives and desires, allowing the Almighty to take
complete charge. The student of this
ideal proclaims that, “In my life, God must be everything, and I must be
nothing! I must decrease; God must
increase.”
Once upon a time an Indian chief converted
to this form of religion, but was unable to share his faith in words to his
tribe. So he formed a circle of dried
leaves and threw a fat earthworm into the middle. Then he set the circle of leaves aflame. His companions watched the Lumbricus
terrestris instinctively and frantically trying to escape. Finding no way out, the worm went limp and
gave up, accepting its fate. But then,
at the very last moment, the Indian’s companions watched as their Chief plucked
the creature from a fiery destiny. The
Chief held the relieved worm up in the air and witnessed to his friends, {ala Karloff in
Unconquered}“This is what
it means to be saved.”
Maybe you can see how “letting go and
letting God” might enable us to see ourselves as “worms”: there’s no escaping a
hopeless situation except Heaven pluck us out.
This is actually called “worm theology.” Of course, there are times when we have
little alternative but to “let go and let God.” But in doing so there’s always the danger that when Yahweh
doesn’t move as we suppose, we get mad at Him, or ourselves, or somebody. Or, we are disappointed and lose hope.
Distance
Another extreme is the notion that God has
very little input in the lives of humans at all. He already gave us everything we need: wisdom, compassion,
resources, a brain, a body – all to get the job done on our own. This individualistic style of faith is best
characterized by the untiring social worker and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams
(1860-1935), who challenged, “If not now, when? If not you, who?” In other words, “Something’s got to be done,
and it has to be done now, and you’ve got to do it, and you’ve got to do it
now!!”
So many understand the Creator this
way. He’s like the Rolex factory – he
created the finest wristwatch in the universe, setting it into motion by a big
bang and keeping it there by the perfect rhythm of the atom. Now, from time to time, he looks down at his
wrist, checks the time, and listens to his Rolex tick-tick-tick. (Oh, yeah. If it ticks, it’s not a Rolex.
The Rolex features the “sweeping second hand.”)
Those who believe in tick, tick, tick say
things like, “The heavens and the earth belong to us – whatever is to be done
must depend solely on our human ingenuity, goodness, and courage.” The problem remains, if he created the first
men and women intelligent and emotional for companionship, then imagine
just what kind of blunder he made!
Those who see the Creator as a factory will never be decent companions.
Biblical Relationship
But if we choose to see the Creator
biblically, the interaction between the Creator and the created approaches
neither of these extremes. Yahweh is
not recorded as the sole actor in the screenplay of salvation history,
nor are humans simply biological entities or “cast extras,” abandoned to do as
they will. The relationship between
Creator and creature found in the Bible is “covenant”; a mutual agreement; a
partnership, a yoke-fellowship, a marriage.
In terms of art we might say a duet or better, a minuet.
When two are gathered in his name,
something is created that couldn’t have been with only one. Why?
Because not only is “one the loneliest number you can ever do” but “it
takes two to tango.” Yahweh the Son has
often been described as the “Lord of the Dance.” We’re his partners in a ballet He calls “The New Creation.” Partnership empowers us to do and be immeasurably
more immeasurably better than was possible as a simple biological
unit. When partners stir in perfect
rhythm and learn the dance, then they can be one in it.
Remember Jesus in the garden? When he prayed for total unity?
John 17:20-21. “I pray not only for these but also
for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me. May they all be one, just as, Father, you
are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world
may believe it was you who sent me.”
He did not pray
these words with great drops of blood coursing down his brow in a vain hope,
but that they might come to pass in every generation of joyful yoke-fellows:
that the world might see and desire to know him too and join in the
Dance of the Divine Life.
Life Without Father
OK.
Look at Abram. At his father’s
insistence, Abram “sojourns” from Ur to Haran up north – about 500 miles – no
little journey in those days. His
father had controlled Abram’s every move all his life. But now, father’s dead. Abram doesn’t know what to do without
Daddy, and he’s seventy-five years old!
He wonders if he should go buy an idol – that’s what Daddy would
do. A golden idol! Only a golden idol could be more powerful
than Daddy. There’re plenty of idols in
his brother’s god-shop – of clay, wood, stone, jewels, silver and gold.
But Abram’s not buying idols today. You see, a heavenly voice beckons him
now that Daddy’s idols no longer bar the way.
The words that this Voice utters will affect every person who’ll draw
breath for the next 4000 years.
Abram Had Millions
The Yahweh of Heaven offers Abram a
proposition; to wit: if Abram will “go
forth” as Yahweh’s covenant partner, he’ll receive many wonderful
blessings in return: land, a big family, servants, cattle, fame, and, most
importantly, the anointing to bless everyone. Furthermore, Yahweh Almighty and Abram would share a
relationship not of slave to master, but one of respect and
friendship. As Abram’s friend, Yahweh
promised to personally bless those who blessed Abram and curse those who
cursed him and his. How
could Abram go wrong? All he was
required to do was GO FORTH IN THE WAY.
Abram told his wife, Sarai, all about his
new Deity and new Direction in faith.
They gathered up their belongings and relatives, people and cattle, and
off they went 500 more miles southwest toward the Negev desert, a
hostile and infertile land. ¿Could such
a place ever be called “the promised”?
Abram had a new role to play: one that
heretofore had never been known: that through the obedience of one man, all
people forever might be blessed – ALL PEOPLE. Look around at how you’ve been blessed in your life. I know some have had it harder than others,
but the fact is, whatever blessings you’ve had came about because of Abram’s
faithfulness. ¿Shall we not claim
the same covenant today as Abram did yesterday? Certainly! We have a
posterity that we cherish also. If
we’re to get in line for our posterity’s share of the blessings of Abram, we
must be willing to dance when it’s our turn.
And it’s our turn now!
In a world that seems to have so little
future, we can hardly afford to be wallflowers along Destiny’s soft
shoulder. Neither dare we, out of our
own self-sufficiency, try to take the lead once we embrace our G*d on the slick
dance floor. After all, dancing is a partnership. Yahweh will never find the floor so slick
with sweat that he will fall. And,
while we’re in his arms, even if we slip, he’ll keep us in step until the orchestra
finishes its swan song, “Make the World Go Away and take it off my shoulder.”
In that day, Jesus will reign and all who are in Him will truly, truly
be ONE.
Our Heavenly Father hardly seems like the
artisan who “creates the world like a clock, winds it up, then goes away until
it winds down,” according to Abram’s story.
Hardly! Yahweh intervenes. Nor is Abram some poor, slimy worm to be
burned up or snatched from the fire; Abram was very rich in the first
place. He didn’t need any handout or an
idol. His father left him
millions. But now he’s called to walk
away from the “guaranteed dollar” and lay his dough out for dance tickets – to
moon walk into a hot, dry land among strange and foreign hostiles – to become
that “wandering Aramaean who sees G-d” in the wastelands of Beersheba!
Friends, this was the beginning of biblical
religion – not with gods doing everything, or humans doing everything. Biblical religion, in the words of Rev. John
Claypool, is “a mystery of creative collaboration when the two become one and
yet remain two at the same time.” Two
dancing as one – a unity – a marriage.
This anniversary waltz of covenant faith is the secret of
authentic religious experience and creativity.
There is no adequate substitute to this species of unity.
Consider Jesus
That Jesus was a unified partner with
Yahweh in the covenant dance is clearly illustrated. This is why I like to use the sacred names Yahweh and
Yahshua instead of the profane names God and Jesus. Yahweh and Yahshua are their real names, not phonies made up by
dishonest translators. Yahweh means
“The Eternal One” and Yahshua means “The Eternal One Saves.” Their true names prove their true
unity in YAH.
Further, we see great accord in the Law of
Yahweh and the life of Yahshua, who did not do away
with the Law of his Namesake, but fulfilled it entirely. Jesus wasn’t some “limp leaf on a wet log” as some say. Jesus stirred up righteous trouble wherever
he went; and he did it with heavenly help and leave.
Jesus was a man who became united with the Almighty through
OBEDIENCE, just as Abram had eighteen hundred years before. Yet though he was unified, he acted with
true individuality, courage and creativity in all things. And let’s not forget, he prayed all night. Fervent prayer is not sissified; it is MANLY
work. And he performed miracles out of
his compassion through Yahweh’s covenant power! The dance was on! The two
became one, yet remained distinct.
Jesus said it himself:
John 5:19. “Truly the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he
sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.”
Jesus became the
dance, and the dance went on. The two
became one – then the one became many – yet still just one.
In another place, he tells the Apostle
Thomas how we know our dancing is in step; Jesus says:
Thomas
22: “When you make the two one, and when you make
the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like
the below, and when you make the male and the female one... and when you
fashion an eye in the place of eyes, and a hand in place of hands, and a foot
in place of feet, and a face in place of faces; THEN will you enter the
kingdom.”
Jesus did plenty, but he claimed he
could do nothing on his own! He did
what he saw his Father do. The two-step
became the one-step. Those who witnessed
the unity of Jesus and his Father were “astonished” (John 5:20).
Wouldn’t it be great to have folks around
here see something astonishing?
Wouldn’t it be a change to visibly perceive Yahweh working with us through
our situations and troubles and calamities?
Through our triumphs and blessings and godly activities? Wouldn’t it be a site to see fifty people in
here? A hundred? Seventy-five in tears, crying over their
sins, convicted by the Holy Spirit?
Well, what kind of dance are you going to do about it? A “round dance” – that is, dance around
the harvest? Or a square dance – with a
different partner every few seconds?
When was your last invitation to the dance?
Why haven’t you brought someone new to
church today? {pause}
“Not while you’re here, Preacher!” someone
may be thinking. But, you see, whether
I’m here or not, One is here who’s greater than any of us. He needs to be known by your neighbor. She needs to be a partner with God. Yes, it’d certainly be a change for us to be
partnering up in His will rather than switching partners in the middle
of the foxtrot. Let’s dance with
him! Let’s follow his lead! Let’s dip deep “darlins”! OK!
From Bethel to Ethel
Now we’ve considered Jesus, and Abram at Bethel. Now let’s think about Ethel. Yes, Ethel.
Ethel Waters, that is – blind, wretched and abandoned on the
streets of Chicago as an infant, the victim of psychopathic parents and the
wretched social welfare system of the 1920’s.
Ethel Waters went on to be one of America’s best-loved gospel singers in
the 40’s through 60’s. The testimony of
her success in overcoming all obstacles to godly living is found in one of her
songs, Partners With God.
It’s wonderful
to have God for a partner, He’ll always be by your side;
When the road gets rough and things get
tough, He’ll come along just for the ride.
Have faith in him, He’ll guide and protect
you, And share each joy and pain;
When the future’s dim invest in him, He’ll
keep you out of the rain.
Avoided, shunned, sometimes
branded a failure, there’s no open door to be found:
If you’ll only believe that
miracles happen, He can regain your lost crown.
You just can’t lose with God as your
partner, Faith in him is your only fee;
O why must you delay, begin this very day,
Being partners with God.
Ethel was right, and testifying out of her
own deplorable experiences. She was a
“deity dancer.” And such a partnership
is what the Bible prescribes for us; we are emotionally and functionally
incomplete without HIM. Abram was His
partner, and later, YAH & SON went into the Gospel business together. Later still, St. Paul speaks of this
“mystery of collaboration” in terms of his own experience:
{as a murderous inquisitor:
1 Corinthians 15:9-10a: For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the Assembly of Yahweh. {10} But by the grace of Yahweh IAM what I AM, and his grace
toward me has not been in vain.
Sounds a little like “worm theology” so
far, but listen to this: Paul insists,
{10b} No! I worked harder than any of them – -
- - though it was not I, but the grace of Yahweh that is with me.
Paul writes,}
“I worked harder
than anyone, though it was not I” (1 Corinthians 15:10). I
realize the truth of this statement when I prepare the message – I work hard
climbing up to the throne-room, then back down to spend hours in a stuffy
office trying to put the words of Heaven to the paper! Many times I’m astonished by what I read and
I ask myself, “Did this really come from me?”
And I have to answer, “Yes! – and No!”
I AM working,
it is true; G*d is working, So are you!
And for every
little chore We work hard but He works more.
With this poetic
quatrain I conclude my three points.
*
*
*
Invitation
Our Father and his Beloved Son are inviting
you to take part in the dance. It’s not
a complete cast without you – partners are missing! You’re invited. There’s
no cover charge but faith – and you may freely invite everyone you know. There’s absolutely no penalty because the
holy name Yahweh is on your dance ticket!
So, where’s the dance, you ask? Why, you know!
Dance, dance
wherever you may be -
I am the Master
of the Dance, said he!
And I’ll lead
you all, wherever you may be,
and I’ll lead
you all in the dance, said he.
Amen.
[
] Gen 12:1-9 Now Yahweh said to
Abram, “Go from your country...”
[
] John 3:16-21 (SSBE) “For
Yahweh so loved the world ...”
[
] Divinity, Theology: The study of the nature of God and religious truth.
[
] Lumbricus terrestris =
the earthworm.
[
] Jane Addams (1860-1935) “If not now,
when? If not you, who?”
[
] The Rolex wristwatch features the “sweeping second hand.”
[
] “One the loneliest number you can ever do.”
[
] John 17:20-21. “I pray not
only for these...”
[
] Covenant: A binding agreement; a compact.
[
] John Claypool: Religion is “a mystery of creative collaboration when
the two become one and yet remain two.”
[
] John 5:19 “Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his
own...”
[
] Thomas
22: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the
outside...”
[
] Ethel Waters: “You just can’t lose with God as your partner...”
[
] 1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles ...
[
] Jack Snyder: I AM working, it
is true; G*d is working, So are you! ...
[
] Sydney Carter: “And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.”