Writing this article challenges me to reflect on my past and those who have influenced me. Doing so, my mind races to Isaiah’s words: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were hewn and the quarry from which you were dug” (Is. 51:1). It behooves us as pastors seeking the Lord to consider our roots and its continued fruit in our lives.
If I asked you, “What pastor–dead or alive–has influenced you the most,” how would you respond? (Pause) My answer to this question would be this: in addition to my pastor/professor father, Dr. Fred Bender, and my home church pastor, N. N. Antonson, it would be A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)—author, pastor, editor, prophet, visionary, Christian mystic and deep thinker.
He was born in poverty and self-educated having missed much of high school and all of a university education. Tozer lived a humble life never owning a car and giving most of his possessions to those in need. He was an author of books and many magazine articles, a 44-year pastor (30 years at Southside Alliance Church in Chicago), an editor (Alliance Weekly) before his sudden death by a heart attack at the young age of 66. He was definitely one of those high capacity individuals!
Soon after I became a Christian and began considering the Christian ministry, my music and youth minister, Paul Robbins, placed in my hands Tozer’s magnum opus work, The Pursuit of God. Tozer wrote much of this work in one sitting while travelling on a train or on his knees.
While I am obviously a strong advocate of formal theological education having had the privilege of 10 years at the feet of Southern Baptist scholars, Tozer’s grasp of the deep things of God reminds me of David in Psalm 119:99, “I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.” Sitting at the feet of godly and educated men and women is of great value, but it is no substitute for time alone with God. Tozer—like David and Mary, Martha’s sister—learned much sitting at Jesus’ feet.
His spiritual life influence me the most as he embodied the words of 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB) “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.” And what characterized Tozer’s spirituality? There are those pastors/people who know God and there are those who KNOW GOD. Tozer KNEW GOD! Tozer embodied Job 22:21 (NKJ): “Now acquaint yourself with Him” and Hosea 6:3 (NASB), “So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” He simply lived out Jesus’ prayer in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You” and Paul’s passion—“That I may know Him” (Philippians 3:10). The way we get in this deal is the way we go on—knowing God in Jesus.
J. I. Packer wrote a book entitled Knowing God and I cannot help think that Tozer influenced him in this regard. In fact, Packer wrote of Tozer, “Through all Tozer’s books and articles there shines a passion for God that puts our shallowness to shame. Reading him is like drinking at an oasis in the desert” (book endorsement).
What were the components of Tozer’s knowing God? Remember that the Hebrew word for know/knowing is the word yada—the same word used for sexual intimacy. The key component of his knowing God—as one of my former seminary students reminded me—was his spiritual receptivity. He attuned his spiritual antennae to God’s Spirit and Word. Tozer heard from God who communicated those deep Spiritual truths to his “Spirit man.” “Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls” (Psalm 42:7).
The greatest manifestation of that receptivity and the primary way Tozer influenced my life was his development of the theme reflected in the title of my favorite book—The Pursuit of God. He reminded me of David in Psalm 63:8 (the key verse of his first chapter): “My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” David was not satisfied with where he was even though he was held in His right hand. He was in pursuit of God while at the same time secured by that same God. Tozer was also like Paul who said, “I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus” (Ph. 3:13). Paul was seeking to get a better grasp of that which already grasped him. Tozer put it this way: “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love” (Pursuit, p. 15).
The two primary points of application to my life from Tozer are these: First, is my relationship with God growing? “The modern scientist has lost God midst the wonders of His world; we Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of His word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and as such can be cultivated as a person can” (op cit, p. 13). Is my approach to God one that is relational rather than primarily theological or even ecclesiastical? “God is a person and He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions” (op cit. p. 13) and I might add through His Word. When is the last time God spoke to you personally with some application of some deep spiritual truth straight from the heart of God heretofore unknown? I am not speaking of some new avant-garde theological doctrine, but a fresh Word from God from His heart to yours. I have told my associates that they have the permission to ask me any day what the Lord has told me that morning from His Word—“Our Daily Bread” if you will. Am I pursuing God like David and Paul (and Tozer) did? The last thing we need to have etched on our tombstones is: “Died 2014 Buried 2014.” In other words, we quit pursuing God; for in seeking God, we live! (Amos 5:14).
And secondly, where are the voices who speak for God? Where are the unique screeches of the eagles among us rather than the repeated words of others like a parrot? Where are those who have heard from and spoke for God lately? Where are those God Chasers (to borrow Tommy Tenney’s title who also was undoubtedly influenced by Tozer)? Where are the prophetic voices challenging the worldliness in the contemporary church? Sometimes I think that the contemporary church has wandered so far away from home that we will never find our way back!
I re-watched the movie, The Wizard of Oz recently: “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” There is a dark side of leadership behind the curtain in all of us. Os Guinness once said, “If you saw into my heart, you would spit in my face!”1 As I reflect on Tozer’s life, there is a sad caveat to his spiritual life and impactful ministry. This article is one of reflection; not deification as we emulate the good and avoid the bad. From several sources including his wife Ada, we learn that his home life suffered from neglect due to his many ministerial commitments or the fact that he was relationally challenged. He was often in his study when home rather than giving attention to his wife and seven children. He was to some degree “so heavenly minded that he was little earthly good.”
That being said, may Tozer’s legacy live on in us as we get to KNOW GOD better through our own spiritual receptivity. A spiritual receptivity that involves a yielded will, a hungry heart, a Word-saturated life, an open mind to the things of God and a Spirit-filled life. Where are the pastors today who continue to seek to know the Lord as we spend protracted times “sitting before the Lord” as David did? Where are those who hear from God receiving fresh bread for our people starving to be fed His Word? Where are those who are anointed with the fresh oil of His Spirit? People recognized that Tozer, like two other uneducated men of Scripture–Peter and John in Acts 4:13–that they/he had been with Jesus!
May we simply be devoted to Jesus. “The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found among us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but could never satisfy the longing heart” (op cit p. 17). May our hearts’ longing be found in Jesus alone and out of that dynamic relationship we powerfully serve. “If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.” Thank you, A.W. Tozer, for reminding us that ministry is first and foremost the overflow of the Christ-life. His tombstone read simply, “A. W. Tozer—A Man of God.” May that be said of us!
Bob Bender Pastor of Emeritus, Cross Fellowship; adjunct professor of Gateway Seminary
