The God who dwells with man.

  

Humans are just specks of dust on a tiny rock floating through the vastness of space. We seem so small and insignificant.  It seems impossible that we could ever know about or relate to the God who made and sustains the universe. It seems absurd that He should take an interest in us. So is the best we can ever hope to know about God just vague philosophical conjecture?

 

Worse still, we've all rejected God.  We live our lives to please ourselves and God is just an afterthought.  We think and do wicked things and hope nobody sees.  But God sees.  How can we ever hope to know God? How can we ever think of appearing before God without justly facing his anger and being swallowed up by shame?

The message of Christmas is that God has made Himself known.  He hasn't revealed Himself in some abstract sense, but by coming to live among us. In John's gospel we read

 ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  John 1:1-5.

The Word is God.  He made the universe.  He made us.  He gives us life.  And yet, the Word became a man: Jesus.

 ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

The God who made us chose to limit himself.  He made Himself nothing: He became a man.  He humbled himself by living an ordinary life on this tiny speck in space.  He made himself a helpless baby born into a feeding trough in an occupied country. He lived with us, ate with us and wept with us.  And ultimately bled for us - enduring the humiliation and torture of the cross.  Why did He do this?  Why would He do this?

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:18

He did it so that we could know God.  By looking at Jesus we can see what God is like: He is full of grace and truth.  When we look at Jesus we see God's compassion, holiness, truthfulness, power and wisdom.  He doesn't gloss over our wrong doing but He offers us mercy.  Jesus makes God known.  Jesus could have come into this world just full of truth, and no grace, condemning us all.  He could have shown us God's purity and goodness exposing the darkness of my innermost thoughts and my rejection of God and left me there in despair.  But this was not why He came. God is full of grace and truth, yes he reveals our sin, but He didn't come just to diagnose the problem and leave us with no hope, He came because He loves us.  He came because He wants us to know Him, not just about Him.  He came to deal with the problem of my heart and take the punishment I deserve.  He died on the cross in my place, to take my punishment, so that I might know God and not face His his anger.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  John 3:16-18.

This is why Christmas is such great news.  God has sent His Son that we might know Him. 

The God who cares.

I am a compulsive worrier.  I worry about passing my PhD, finding a job, what I should do with my life and lots of little things each day. I shouldn't worry.  Jesus commands me not to worry.

²⁵ "This is why I tell you:  Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?  ²⁶ Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Matthew 6:25-26

I shouldn't worry because God cares for and loves me.  The God who spoke the universe into existence and knit me in my mother's womb knows my needs and will provide for me.  In fact he lavishes us with gifts beyond what we need:

²⁸ And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! ³⁰ If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you—you of little faith? Matthew 6:28-30

God could have made the world a dull drab practical place where we eek out our existence.  Instead he makes stunning flowers and fills the world with beauty and things for our joy.  The fact that God has filled the world with good things testifies that God is there and He cares.

We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. ¹⁶ In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷ Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Acts 14:15-17

So if God cares for humanity so much and his followers even more why do I worry?

I worry when I place my security in myself and my own abilities and not in God.  It's easy to know God's in control in my head but when I'm struggling in life and nothing seems to be going right it exposes where my heart is truly trusting.  Worry is the expression of my little faith.

I worry when I confuse my wants with my needs.  I want to pass my PhD - I don't need to. God will provide for my needs and He knows what is for my ultimate good and what is necessary to make me more like Christ.

I worry when my focus is on earthly things and not on living for God.

³¹ So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' ³² For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.  ³⁴ Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:31-34.

So why do I worry?  

Where is my treasure?

Yesterday I was studying Matthew 6:19-34 with a friend and then at the Christian union main meeting the talk was on Matthew 10:34-39.  Today I was preparing a Bible study for international students on Luke 12:13-21.  I'm spotting a theme:

What am I living my life for?

Where does my mind constantly return to?

Money? Work? Sport? Food? Sex?
 
Christ?

 ¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.  Matthew 6:19-21.

 I might not feel that I'm building up a hoard of possessions but there are other ways I can store up wealth on earth.  There are all sorts of things I can strive for in life that won't matter in eternity.   Having a PhD in heaven won't matter.  The respect of my peers won't matter. Solving a Hilbert problem won't matter.  Having a comfortable life won't matter.  Pleasing friends and family won't matter.  Living for Christ: will matter.

³⁷ “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.  Matthew 10:37-39.

 Now how do I put this into practice?

The God Who Wants to be Known.

We cannot comprehend God.

[God is]
    the blessed and only Sovereign,
    the King of kings, 
    and the Lord of lords, 
    ¹⁶ the only One who has immortality,
    dwelling in unapproachable light, 
    whom none of mankind has seen or can see, 
    to whom be honor and eternal might. 1 Tim 6:15-16.

He is eternal: existing outside of time.  He made the universe out of nothing and sustains it.  He knows everything and is utterly pure.

  “To whom will you compare me?
   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.  Isa 40:25

He is completely other.  There is no analogy for me to understand Him.

Idolatry is forbidden because it demeans Him and yet throughout the Old Testament He uses anthropomorphisms when He reveals Himself. 
The Bible refers to God's face (Ex 33:20), right hand (Ps 16:11) and eyes (Ps 11:4 ).

Why?

God wants us to know Him.  

God the Father is a person.  We relate to persons.  We cannot relate to an object, force or energy.  God is not some universal moral law dishing out karma. He is not the distant God of Deism.  He wants us to know Him and so reveals himself to us in categories we can understand. He made us in His image; before the fall He walked with man in Eden. He made us for relationship with Him.

A Sacred Cow

At my Church's club for 7-11 year olds we're studying the exodus and Israel's wanderings in the wilderness.  This week's story was Exodus 32: The Golden Calf.
The Israelites have seen all God's plagues, seen the world's superpower's army destroyed in the Red sea, seen God descend on Mt Sinai in fire and smoke and heard God declare the Ten Commandents (Ex 19:9, 20:1-23).

² I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. 
    ³ Do not have other gods besides Me. 
    ⁴ Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth...  Exodus 20:2-4.

Within two months they've broken them. Moses has not come down the mountain so the Israelites demand Aaron makes them a god.

⁴ He [Aaron] took [the gold] from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf.
    Then they said, "Israel, this is your God,  who brought you up from the land of Egypt!"  Exodus 32:4.

Idolatry insults God.

To attribute the miracles of the exodus to an object they have made is insulting.  For me to draw a stick man and praise it for the dinner you cooked insults you.  We commit idolatry when we do not acknowledge who God really is and His claims on our lives.  We've all done it.  Do I still do it?

Do I put pleasing my friends, family and colleagues before pleasing God?  Do I let the Bible shape my thinking of God or do I have a lesser view of God?  Am I more concerned with my reputation and career than following Christ?  Do I trust God in all situations or think that everything depends on me?  Do I live for Me or God?

Idolatry makes God angry.  It is treason and He will judge it.  God would have wiped the Israelites out but Moses interceded.  God would wipe me out but Jesus intercedes!

²² So Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant. 
    ²³ Now many have become [Levitical] priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. ²⁴ But because He remains forever, He holds His priesthood permanently. ²⁵ Therefore He is always able to save  those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
    ²⁶ For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He doesn't need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all when He offered Himself.  Hebews 7:22-27.

Praise God that He is not only just but loving; He sent His Son to turn away His anger that all might know and love Him.


 

The Last Post

It's a curious thing: the first post on a blog is the last post a future reader will ever read.

Today is Remembrance Sunday.  It is good to remember the sacrifices made by our soldiers, past and present, to give us our freedoms.  I thank God that He has preserved us through the two world wars, and others since, that we might have the freedoms we enjoy today.  This leads me to two challenges:

1) How much do I value the freedom I have in this country and how much should I fight to preserve them?
2) If it is admired to die in defense of the nation how much more should I sacrifice to follow Christ?

The apostle Paul writes to Timothy (2 Tim 2:3-10)
³ Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.  ⁴ To please the recruiter, no one serving as a soldier gets entangled in the concerns of everyday life. ⁵ Also, if anyone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ It is the hardworking farmer who ought to be the first to get a share of the crops.  ⁷ Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.   ⁸ Keep in mind Jesus Christ, risen from the dead,  descended from David, according to my gospel. ⁹ For this I suffer, to the point of being bound like a criminal; but God's message is not bound. ¹⁰ This is why I endure all things for the elect: so that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

To live for Christ is the greatest cause in life.  How much am I willing to sacrifice for Him or will I settle for my creature comforts and the aspirations of this life?