God's Character (2)
God's Character • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Turn to Exodus 34. As you’re turning there, our theme verse and goal over the next several weeks is
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
When I first met Susan and I saw that California girl, I said, “Ooo la la!” Introduced myself, I had to pay her to date me, spent time together, and getting married next week. When two people decide to marry, they’re often more infatuated with one another than in love. Looking back, I wonder when did authentic love become part of the relationship? I don’t know for certain, but I do know this – knowing about Susan, going to her house, meeting her family did not necessarily produce authentic love.
For authentic love to emerge, I had to discover and know and appreciate the real Susan – not the Susan I was infatuated with or the Susan I thought she was. For authentic love to emerge, Susan had to reveal her true self to me, and I had to receive that. The more I got to know the real Susan, the more my love for her became authentic. After 29 years of marriage, my opinion about her and respect for her and ________ is higher than ever. And my love for her is deeper than I ever imagined it could be. In order for us to experience a genuine relationship with authentic love, and to become one, there had to be self-revelation and acceptance from both of us.
Before you throw up - I believe there are similarities with what I just described about me and Susan and a person’s relationship with God – Father, Son, Spirit.
We can know about God without knowing or loving God.
We can visit His house, hang out with His family and so on without ever truly knowing God. Now, in order for us to have a genuine relationship with God and authentically love Him and receive His love, there must be self-revelation from God and us.
God, as God always does, has taken the first step to reveal Himself to us. He does that in many ways - through creation, His Word, and through Jesus Christ. So, let’s look at one passage where God reveals His character – in Exodus 34.
One matter of importance before we get there. Talk about your brain for a moment. In short, your brain will see or notice what you are looking for. I understand there are a variety of factors that go into this, but nonetheless, there is a lot of truth to this. For example: If you want to buy a new red pickup truck. What will you begin to see wherever you go?
This phenomenon is part of the RAS – the
Reticular Activating System.
This is a filtration system in the brain. Allows some information in, keeps some information out. This can be both healthy and unhealthy.
Here’s another example. When Susan and I first married, I was more self-centered than I care to admit, and because of that I tried to form Susan into an image that I wanted. That doesn’t work very well - so I became discontent and I began to believe a lie – that possibly I married the wrong person. The more I played that scenario in my mind, it became a reality in my brain. The RAS began to kick in and it didn’t take long for me to see only what I was telling my brain to see - the negative. I had trained my brain to filter out the good and the truth. It got worse until I brought that to the Lord and prayed to see something good about Susan. I know I’ve shared this before, but not in this detail. As I prayed, I eventually began to see the good – and then another and then another. Through prayer, I was retraining the RAS to see good, the positive, the truth. Now after 29 years of marriage, she’s my best friend and my favorite person in the world.
What’s my point? The negative repetition blinded me to the truth of her good character – which was and is impeccable. The same is true with God.
The lies we believe about God will blind us to the truth of His good character.
We will see the god we want to see. If we believe God is an angry God, that’s the god we’ll see everywhere we go. If we believe God’s only purpose is to bless us and make our lives comfortable …. If we’re not careful, we can create a god in our image that’s not found in Scripture. This is critical – I had to open my eyes to see and accept Susan’s true character and qualities. I had to focus on the truth. Same with God.
Why do I mention this? A. W. Tozer in his book, The Knowledge of the Holy suggests that the Church has lost significant spiritual power and influence because of our poor and sometimes perverted view of God. A right concept of God is critical to a healthy and mature Christian living and the Church’s influence. We see this problem throughout the world – denominations succumbing to lesser version of Christ ….
Listen to what Tozer wrote –
“Though she [the Church] may continue to cling to a sound nominal creed, her practical working creed has become false.
The masses of adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.”
In other words, when we communicate and present, whether by our words or action a different God, a different Savior, a different Gospel, a different faith than what is revealed in Scripture we minimize a person’s need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we lose spiritual power and purpose. He goes on,
“The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian Church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him – and of her [Church].”
In some denominations, Jesus has been reduced to nothing more than a nice guy who accepts everyone without judgment …. In others, Jesus condemns everyone ….
Tozer goes on –
“We do the greatest service to the next generation of Christians by passing on to them undimmed and undiminished
that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian fathers of generations past.” ~ A. W. Tozer (The Knowledge of the Holy).
I wonder, could this be why so many have left the Church or see no purpose for the Church?
Questions –
Who or what has primarily shaped your concept of God?
… of Jesus, and/or of Christianity? If you follow Jesus, which Jesus do you follow? Your favorite pastor’s Jesus? An Americanized Jesus, a political Jesus, a conservative or liberal Jesus? A progressive Jesus? A Jesus made in our image? It’s easy to build a Jesus who may not be entirely accurate – built on another’s theology or on our preconceived ideas.
How confident are you that your concept of God aligns with and is mostly influenced by all Scripture?
If you quote a pastor, a Bible teacher, or an author more than the Bible – where does your theology come from? If our belief does not align with Scripture, then our lives won’t either. Using Tozer’s words –
How noble and worthy is your concept of Christ?
What am I getting at? Every person and every congregation needs an occasional checkup and self-evaluation to ensure our views and what we say and how we live are in alignment with who God truly is.
Going back to my marriage - for me to authentically love Susan, I had to go to the source – Susan. Same with God - to authentically love God and follow Him – we must go to the source – His Word where He reveals Himself and to His Son Jesus Christ. Reading books and devotionals and listening to Bible teachers are great – but eventually we must go to God directly – and submit to His revelation.
Just because you’ve been in the church for 10, 20, 30, 40 years … or you’re a 2nd or 3rd generation Nazarene doesn’t mean this message is not for you. I’ve challenged several people’s theology since I’ve been with questions like – “Where’s that in Scripture” or “Where did get that belief?” I’m finding that several people believe things about God simply because someone else said so. I’m learning too. We have to keep learning and adjusting and …. Allow His character to shape our and KNAZ.
So, what is God’s character? We’ll explore this more in the weeks to come, but let me send you home with God’s own words about Himself.
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God is telling us very clearly who He is – which was embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ. And now that we know who God is …
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
You can’t imitate someone you don’t know.
Admit – Confess that Jesus is the Savior and rose from the dead.
Believe – transfer faith from you to Jesus. He’s the Savior.
Commit – your life to following Him. He’s the Savior.
