God's Character (3)
God's Character • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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17 NOV 24 (3)
Exo. 34:6-7
Turn to Exodus 34. Question: Think about your life and your character for a moment. Not who people think you are, but who you really are and how you live.
Would you want others to imitate your character and how you live?
As we ponder that – in Exo. 34, God revealed His character to us. “This is who I am.” And in
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.
The Christian life is not just about being saved, going to Heaven, going to church, or becoming a good person. The Christian life is about knowing Jesus, following Jesus, imitating Jesus.
The Christian life is about allowing God’s character to shape our character so that we can show those “characters” His character.
Again, Would you want others to imitate your character and how you live? Take that question and your answer before the Lord.
Let’s look at God’s character that we are to imitate.
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
“The name” refers to God’s character and presence.
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.”
Here, God paints for us a “self-portrait.” We must take this portrait as a whole – we can’t cherry pick – can’t pick the mercy and love and ignore the justness or any attribute of God. Like I’ve said before,
God is always the totality of all His attributes all the time.
God is always merciful; always just; always loving. Let’s look at this first attribute - mercy.
Mercy comes from the Hebrew word rǎ·ḥûm (רַחוּם). Rǎ·ḥûm can also be translated as compassion or pity mixed with tenderness.
Rǎ·ḥûm has 3 part that form the whole. Imagine a large pumpkin pie cut into 2 big slices – mercy and compassion - covered with the tenderness of whip cream. That is rǎ·ḥûm.
#1) God’s mercy (rǎ·ḥûm) flows from a deep emotion at the core (i.e. gut) of His essence.
God is Spirit, we get that, but we speak of Him in human terms (Anthropomorphism) – this is how the Biblical authors help us to relate to God and He to us. This deep emotion reveals that
God is an emotional being.
– perfectly balanced unlike us – but still emotional. God feels.
As people made in His likeness, we too are emotional beings. But many, including the Church, have learned to disconnect from some or most of our emotions or manage them in an unhealthy way.
When we lose touch with our God-given emotions, we lose touch with our true humanity and our true spirituality.
Jesus was fully God and fully man and felt, experienced, and expressed the full gamut of human emotions. If you feel it – so did Jesus.
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
When we fail to feel, we fail to be an authentic human and an authentic Christian.
This is really a whole other topic, but if we’re going to learn to imitate God, then we need to learn to process our emotions with God so that His character can be revealed to us and others.
#2) God’s mercy (rǎ·ḥûm) is a deep emotion related to a mother’s feeling toward her child(ren).
This is the protective compassion and tenderness that a healthy mother has toward her child. She wants no harm to come to her child and she will protect and nurture her child.
In 1 Kings 3, King Solomon was confronted by two women arguing over a baby and each claiming to be the mother. Couldn’t do a DNA test so Solomon did the next best thing. “Cut the baby in two and give one half to each woman. Problem solved.” The false mom thought this was a good idea. “If I can’t have the baby, neither can she!” No compassion. However, the real mother cried out, “No! Don’t hurt my baby! Let my baby live. She can have him.” It was compassion for her child that caused her to acquiesce.
God has that same deep motherly love and compassion toward His people. In Hosea 11, God expressed His deep love for Israel and He spoke in parent / child language. Even though Israel’s continued rebellion required justice, mercy came through. God said,
How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord.
What did you notice about God? When have you experienced this kind of mercy and compassion from God or from others? When have you given it? Maybe you need that kind of mercy. It is available to all who seek God.
#3) God’s mercy is not a passive concept. He was compelled by mercy (rǎ·ḥûm) to enter our world and our lives.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
You see,
Jesus is God’s compassion manifest.
Manifest means to make known, make visible. So,
Jesus is God’s selfie.
Jesus is Exodus 34:6-7 in action, present in our world.
in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world,
who is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, sustaining all things by the word of power. When he had made purification for sins through him, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Let’s put all this together. If you’ve been in the church for a number of years, you’ve heard this phrase, and I’ve said it. – Mercy is not getting what we deserve. True – through faith in Christ and in His death, we receive pardon from our sins – and we don’t go to Hell. But that’s only part of what mercy means. God’s compassion and mercy for people is to be deeply felt, experienced, and imitated. Just as Christ was compelled to enter our mess and suffering,
His mercy should compel us to enter the mess and suffering of others.
Again, it’s difficult to imitate someone you don’t know.
But what does this look like and to whom do I offer mercy? The Sunday school answer is everyone. Yes and no. If we’re going to imitate Jesus, then we need to imitate Jesus.
Though Jesus was full of compassion, He did not enable people to continue in sin or destructive behavior. He did not allow people to use or manipulate Him.
He told many, “Your faith has made you well, but stop sinning or something worse will happen.” He fed 5,000 people. Tak about compassion. The next day they wanted more food and Jesus said, “No.” In John 5, Jesus healed a man laying by a pool, but not all the others.
Mercy can be difficult to navigate because it looks different with different people and different situations. Then throw on being too busy, too apathetic, too lazy, or too overloaded – this is hard. Now, I could make us all feel guilty for lacking compassion and mercy. But that’s not the answer. I think the answer is in
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
Jesus oriented His entire life around the Father’s character and agenda.
It was His constant connection with the Father and the fullness of the Spirit that empowered Jesus to be and do all the Father asked. We need to imitate Him.
This world desperately needs God’s mercy. And the Church has the responsibility to show them God’s mercy. Therefore, the world desperately needs people who are willing to orient their lives around Jesus’ character and agenda.
Is your entire life oriented around a personal relationship with Jesus so that His character and agenda is becoming your character and agenda?
What might the Spirit be saying to us right now?
