What If God Was One of Us?
Text: Numbers 23:19-20
19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
20 Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
Subject: What If God Was One of Us?
In 1996, the artist who was formerly known as Prince, and who was then using a symbol as his name, released an album entitled “Emancipation.” In this album, Prince, as he is once again called, released his version of a Joan Osborn song that was entitled, “What If God Was One Of Us.” This song was not a grammatical masterpiece nor can its lyrics be considered theological doctrine. But the song is none the less very thought provoking and served as my own personal launching pad for reconnecting with God.
Some of the lyrics to the song go a little something like this:
If God had a name, what would it be
And would we call it 2 His face
If we were faced with Him and all His glory?
What would U ask if U had just one question?
If God had a face, what would it look like
And would U wanna see it
If seeing meant that U would have 2 believe in things like heaven
And Jesus and the saints and all the prophets?
What if God was one of us?
Just a slob (slave) like one of us?
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin’ 2 make His way home
Like a holy rollin’ stone
Back up 2 heaven all alone
Nobody callin’ on the phone
’Cept 4 the Pope maybe in Rome
But He ain’t home, He aint home, He ain’t home!
No, no, no, He ain’t home!
(What if God was one us?)
This song really led me to think about how much different we are from God. Although we were created in the image of God as recorded in Genesis 1:26, human kind has evolved so far from God’s image that it sometimes seems impossible that we could have ever been spiritually connected to Him.
From the inception of sin into the world through Adam and Eve, man has continually expanded the great spiritual divide by choosing worldliness over and holiness. This vast expanse led to a separation between God and man that culminated in a 400 year period that God silenced himself to man.
But God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life. In other words, despite all of our faults, God still loved us. Despite all of our mistakes, God still cared about us. Despite all of our poor choices, God still would not condemn us to death eternal. Instead, He sent His Son, Jesus the Christ – the lily in the valley and the bright and the morning star – not to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him might be saved.
And yet even over two thousand years since Christ laid down His life for us, mankind has still made choices, time and time again, that are directly opposite to the mission and purpose that God has for our lives.
Let’s be real, we, as a people, are continually doing things that are not pleasing to God. We speak of being more like Christ and walking in His footsteps, but our actions speak a different tune. My mama, used to say that “actions speak louder than words,” and I believe that our actions as the created sons and daughters of God, is speaking a message of destruction to the God who made us.
My brothers and sisters, I’ve discovered that in the church, we are often, praying, singing, shouting, and tearing up the sanctuary on Sunday morning, but Monday through Friday our actions don’t measure up to our perceived holiness.
We are disobedient to the God that provides for our every need. We are out of line with His laws and His edicts for our lives. We treat people in a manner that is not acceptable in God’s eyes. We don’t love our neighbors or our enemies, because we don’t love ourselves. And that sad thing about that is that if you can’t love what is supposed to be the image of God, how can you possibly say that you love God?
Many of us have been deceived by someone that we love. We have been lied to by people that we trust. We have been disappointed by the actions of others towards us. And most of our responses to these situations have been less than godly.
Some of us have become real good at using words that cut people to the core of their being. And I’m not talking about regular words. But I’m talking about those 4 letter kind of words that add extra curses upon our victim. We are quick to cuss someone out. We are quick to lash back at someone who has done something wrong to us. We condemn those that have done us wrong without giving it a second thought.
We condemn them without thinking about our own misgivings and our own personal shortcomings. We condemn them without thinking about all of the lies that we ourselves have told. We condemn them without considering how many times we slept with someone else’s man or woman. We condemn them without taking into account all of the skeletons that we’ve swept up in our own personal vault, safely hidden from the world’s view.
We are quick to judge, but slow to forgive. So on today, my brothers and sisters, I pose to us the question: “What If God Was One of Us?” What if he really were a slob or a slave just like us? This thought to me is very frightening; to think of God in terms of being just one of the guys.
First of all, I’ve learned that people are very vindictive. If you do something to most people, they generally want revenge. And as the old adage goes, “revenge is a dish best served cold.” That means that most people will wait long after their hot-temperedness has faded away before they will strike. They won’t respond in the heat of the moment, but when the situation is no longer on the hot seat, and has become cold in most minds, that is when an exact and calculated revenge will be exacted on the victim.
Can you imagine God being vindictive? If He were just like one of us, every time you did something that He didn’t approve of, He would exact His wrath and His revenge upon you. Many of us would no longer be alive and we’d already be burning in hell’s fire. But I thank God that He’s not one of us.
Can you imagine what the world would be like if God had abandoned Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What reason would we have to have faith in and trust in God. What if Moses and the children of Israel were left out on their own when the Egyptian army was bearing down on them at the red sea. What if David had failed against the giant Goliath. What if Shadrach, Meeshach, and Abednego had burned in the fiery furnace. What if Daniel had been eaten alive by the ferocious lion. What if the woman who had the issue of blood had gone to Jesus and still bled to death. What if Jonah had been eaten by sharks when he was thrown overboard. What if Paul had died when he was bitten by the poisonous snake. What if Job had cursed God and died. But brothers and sisters we would have nothing to base our faith on if GOD was not trustworthy. And sad to say, but if God was one of us, could we put total trust in Him? Again, I thank God that He’s not one of us.
Can you imagine if God were a liar? If all of the promises of the Bible were not true? Can you imagine if there was no mansion waiting on us in heaven? Better yet, can you imagine if there were no heaven at all? Can you imagine if there was no forgiveness and death is just the end of it? Can you image if there some uncovered tomb in the middle east where the body of someone called Jesus, the Christ, the king of the Jews is still buried. This would make God a liar just like one of us. A slave to sin just like one of us.
Most people think that they can lie and get away with it. But American humorist and physician, Austin O’malley, wrote some valid points about lying:
First of all, a lie has no legs. It requires other lies to support it. Tell one lie and you are forced to tell others to back it up.
Secondly, Stretching the truth won’t make it last any longer.
Third, Those that think it permissible to tell white lies soon grow colorblind.
But I thank God today that He’s not like one of us. The Bible clearly states in our text that God is not like a man. He is not flesh and blood. He was not created out of dirt clay and spittle. But before the world was created, God already existed. John 4:24 clearly states that God is Spirit. That means that He cannot be subjected to worldly things. He cannot be convinced to do things that are not Holy. He is not a liar, nor can He be misdirected by lies because He already knows the truth. He is not like man. He is not a liar or a cheat. He is not vengeful or filled with hate. He is not sinful by nature because His nature is spiritual and full of holiness.
Because of who He is, God does not have to repent. He does not have to turn from evil because He is not evil. Even when God appeared on earth as Jesus the Christ, He still refused to do evil, making Him the only perfect man who ever lived. He is not the son of man, meaning that He was not born of the seed of a man. But the seed that impregnated Mary was a seed provided by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, since, Jesus was not the Son of man, He was not born into sin like you and I.
Our text further states that everything that God has said, He has made good. If he says it, you can count on it. If you find it written in His Word, then you better believe that He is faithful to whatever it is that He said.
There are seven specific promises that God tells us that are important for us to understand:
1. He has promised to supply every need we have. The Bible says in Philippians 4:19: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus".. God has obligated Himself only to the extent of our needs. That means that He’s promised to provide food, clothing, shelter, companionship, love, and salvation thru Jesus Christ. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.
2. God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. (II Corinthians 12:9). in fact, He has made provisions for our salvation by His grace through faith. It is through an obedient faith that we have access into the grace of God.
3. God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. Instead, He assures us that a way of escape will be provided. This promise is recorded in I Corinthians 10:13. Jude wrote: "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present your faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude v 24).
4. God has promised us victory over death. He first resurrected Jesus by way of assuring our resurrection. Peter said: "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (I Corinthians 15:3,4). Later on he adds: "but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57).
5. God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully (Romans 8:28). It may be difficult for us to see and understand how this is accomplished at times, but God has promised it, and He will deliver.
6. God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins will be saved. (Read Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38).
7. God has promised His people eternal life (John 10:27,28). In closing, let me appeal to you to live so that the promises of God will be yours.
So my brothers and sisters, as I conclude today. I must say that I’m thankful that GOD is not like one of us. You can rest assure that all of His promises will be fulfilled. Sometimes the way gets dark, but God will still shine light upon your path. Sometimes is seems like life is more than we can bear, but GOD has promised to be our burden-bearer. He’s not a liar. And He won’t let you down.
The last verse of our text, says that God has blessed and it cannot be reversed. My brothers and sisters, you ought to count it all joy, that man can’t change your blessings. Some folk don’t want to see you blessed, but thank GOD they can’t do anything about it. Some people are just haters, they don’t want GOD to provide you with anything, but I’m so glad that GOD is a GOOD GOD and He’s not like any of us.
• None of us would have sacrificed our only son for a sinful world.
• None of us would have watched as our only son was brutally beaten through the Via Dolorosa and on up to a hill called
”Calvary.”
• None of us would have watched our child being nailed in their hands and feet to a wooden cross.
• None of us would have been forgiving when our child cried out for us to forgive.
• None of us could have stood by as our child cried out “Why have you forsaken me.”
• None of us could have watched our child take His last breath speaking the words, “It is finished.”
• None of us could have even watched as the body of our child was pierced with the point of a spear.
But I thank GOD that He’s not one of us. But He’s more than we are and more than we’ll ever be. Most of us would have lost all hope when our child gave up the ghost and died. But early one Sunday morning, God sent His spirit to revive His son that the world might be saved through His resurrection.
I’m glad church that God is not one of us. He’s not a slob like one of us. He’s not a slave like one of us. He’s not a stranger on a bus. But what a friend we have in Jesus. All of our sins and grieves to bear. What a privilege it is to carry, everything to God in prayer.
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