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The God of the West



Mike Ovey, who was recently promoted to glory, gave a very significant lecture at the 2013 GAFCON conference in Nairobi entitled The Grace of God OR the world of the West?

In this lecture he talks about Bonhoeffer's notion of 'cheap grace' - repentance-less self congratulation. Then he goes for the roots of this - how has this cheap grace become so prevalent in the Western church - and he zeroes in on narcissism and entitlement - the presumption expressed by the old L'Oreal advert: "Because you're worth it." The centre of the universe is me. Churches start to tell their congregations that they need to love themselves before they can love their neighbour. God is shifted from being The King to being my butler. The gospel is twisted so as to feed self-love rather than to free us from self-love.

I recently came across the following section from Jonathan Edwards. His wider point is that the first foundation of love for God should be wonder at who God is in and of Himself irrespective of his love for us but as he talks about self-love he touches upon very similar issues to Mike Ovey and sounds very contemporary:

Self-love, through the exercise of mere natural gratitude, may be the foundation of a sort of love to God many ways. A kind of love may arise from a false notion of God, that men have been educated in, or have some way imbibed; as though he were only goodness and mercy, and not revenging justice; or as though the exercises of his goodness were necessary, and not free and sovereign... Men on such grounds as these, may love a God of their own forming in their imaginations, when they are far from loving such a God as reigns in heaven.
Again, self-love may be the foundation of an affection in men towards God, through a great insensibility of their state with regard to God, and for want of conviction of conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger; they have no sense of the heinousness of sin, as against God, and of the infinite and terrible opposition of the holy nature of God against it: and so, having formed in their minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God. to be such a one as themselves, who favors and agrees with them, they may like him very well, and feel a sort of love to him, when they are far from loving the true God.
And men's affections may be much moved towards God, from self-love, by some remarkable outward benefits received from God; as it was with... the children of Israel at the Red Sea.
Again, a very high affection towards God may, and often does, arise in men, from an opinion of the favor and love of God to them, as the first foundation of their love to him. After awakenings and distress, through fears of hell, they may suddenly get a notion, through some impression on their imagination, or immediate suggestion with or without texts of Scripture, or by some other means, that God loves them, and has forgiven their sins, and made them his children; and this is the first thing that causes their affections to flow towards God and Jesus Christ: and then after this, and upon this foundation, many things in God may appear lovely to them, and Christ may seem excellent. And if such persons are asked, whether God appears lovely and amiable in himself, they would perhaps readily answer, yes; ...no otherwise than that he has forgiven them, and accepted them, and loves them above most in the world, and has engaged to improve all his infinite power and wisdom in preferring, dignifying, and exalting them, and will do for them just as they would have him... When this is the case with carnal men, their very lusts will make him seem lovely: pride itself will prejudice them in favor of that which they call Christ: selfish, proud man naturally calls that lovely that greatly contributes to his interest, and gratifies his ambition.
And as this sort of persons begin, so they go on. Their affections are raised from time to time, primarily on this foundation of self-love and a conceit of God's love to them. Many have a false notion of communion with God, as though it were carried on by impulses, and whispers, and external representations, immediately made to their imagination. These things they often have; which they take to be manifestations of God's great love to them, and evidences of their high exaltation above others of mankind.
(Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections, emphasis added)

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