Our God Is An Awesome God

Our God…is an Awesome God

Montreal- Vendee weekend

August 21, 2004

As we look around our world, and lives, we see people who have and people who do not have. We see healthy and unhealthy. We see good and we see bad. We see energetic and unenergetic. As we look around, we draw conclusions about our world and about God, even, based on some of these things that we observe. We draw conclusions about abundance and scarcity. We draw conclusions about God and, based on those conclusions, we respond to God.

Jesus tells us, in Matt.12.34, that from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks; if there’s no abundance, then what comes out is different than where there is abundance. We act and we are based on what’s in our hearts. The wise Solomon declared that as we think in our hearts, we act (Prov.23.7). As we think about God, we act.

Today, we’ll think about God and what he’s like. Is he vindictive or gracious? Is he parsimonious or generous? We’ll think about what needs to be in our hearts about God, so it can, and will come out, in our thoughts, words, and actions. And we’ll think of it from a particular perspective:

Ro.1.20- we’ll look at creation, as we have around us, and think about some of how we can understand God.

1. We first meet God in creation, in Gen. 1.1, where we find Him to be creative. We can read on and see how absolutely incredible that creation was, too. We learn, too, that we need to understand this- Heb.11.3- tells us this. Where did you come from? How much have you thought of the fact that you came from God? This is where we all came from. Remember that, as Maria, in Sound of Music sings, ‘nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could’. And remember that this is a law of physics, too. This is something that is generally recognized. You came from the creative God. You came from his energy or his desire- we might be unclear about how, but we do not need to be unclear about ‘what’. Have you considered, too, that, in creation, the whole environment was made to meet our needs- the needs of those of us created? It’s amazing to consider this. And, too, to realize that our Saviour was the one who did the creating- Col.1.16. Bottom line is that God is creative. Now, this comes out in other ways, too, that tells us about the God we worship.

2. God is kind. Notice how everything created thrives- it doesn’t die, but thrives. Notice the multiple colors of a forest, for instance, or of a natural garden. That is kind to us, isn’t it? Notice how kindness is something required of us- Ga.5.22; Eph.4.32; 1 Cor.13.4.

3. God is love. This is something we almost parrot, but is something true. How do we see this? What would it be like if creation were antagonistic? That’s not the way it was formed. Notice how creation is not toxic or opposed to each other. Yes, there are cycles, and, yes, there is a food chain. But all of that has everything being provided for and fitting within a particular purpose. Imagine how awful it would be if we had to be ‘on guard’ all the time because of creation being unloving. But it isn’t that way. God is defined by love, and we see it- 1 Jn.4.8. God’s love flowed out in a most amazing way- Jn.3.16.

4. God loves beauty. Notice, in Genesis 1, how God looked at everything he had made and it was good. It was beautiful. Beauty is such a wonderful component of our world, and of God’s creation. Think of what it would be like if there were only one shade of green, or one shade of pink, or one color of anything, but it isn’t that way. God is beautiful, and God appreciates beauty. We sing, ‘for the beauty of the earth’- a grand old hymn that inspires us to remember God, from whom it all came.

5. God is ever expansive. Watch a garden grow and reach out. One seed doesn’t just stay in one little spot, but you’ll see spreading out, and reaching out to take over and to reach to new areas. Weeds are excellent at this, we all know, but so are all those plants we appreciate. Go to an area that has suffered a forest fire. What do you see even a month after the fire? And what about a logged out area? Creation is not static, but is expansive and growing. This is the way it’s been designed. God is this way, too. He’s not stuck in some time warp. He’s not in one place-in-time. He’s moving. Look at his expansiveness- Matt.16.18; Matt.28.18-20.