The character of God.
Sermon number 1.
I want to continue this series on the Character of God with a statement on just who God is.
God is independent, unchangeable, eternal and omnipresent. He exists as a spiritual being, having no form or dimensions, and is omniscient (all-knowing), wise, truthful, faithful, good, loving, merciful, graceful, patient, holy, at peace, righteous and just, jealous for His own honour, wrathful towards sin, perfect in every way, beautiful beyond comprehension, and is glorified through the revelation of Himself.Today is communion Sunday in our church.
Today I want to emphasise for you something of the nature and character of God.
Last time I preached on the character of God I preached on God’s sovereignty
Today I want to balance that view of God by preaching on His love.
Of course there are many things that we could say about God’s character.
But today because it is our communion Sunday I want to emphasise for you God’s love and compassion.
Genesis chapter one says an incredible thing.
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
God made the heavens and the earth but his concentration his emphasis seems to be on planet earth.
It is this one small speck in eternity that is the focus of his attention.
But that is no ordinary little speck it is the planet earth the Jewel in God’s crown of creation.
The English Imperial State crown can be seen on the Sovereign at the opening of Parliament. This is also the crown that is usually seen on the newly anointed Monarch’s head out on the balcony to greet his/her subjects. (This crown weighs in at just under 3 lbs, and it was originally made for Queen Victoria’s
coronation.) It is part of a "set", if you will, because it contains the Second Star of Africa, also part of the Cullinan Diamond in the Sceptre. © Crown Copyright
This diamond is the second largest cut diamond on earth the first is in the royal sceptre.
My point is it is that it reminds us that earth is the glory of God’s creation second only to
God’s pervfect powerbase heaven itself – the place of the royal sceptre.
God is a loving creator.
The way we can appreciate any creator is by their works.
How do you know if someone is a good musician or artist.
Listen to their works or look at their art that will tell you.
How do we know if god is a loving creator – by understanding the investment of love in His creation.
How God maintains the world at just the correct orbit in relation to the sun a raging, boiling vortex of unbelievable heat is beyond us.
And the stars are other suns, so far away from this solar system that distance is measured not in miles but light years.
A light year is the distance that light, at 186,000 miles per second, can travel in one year. In a book on astronomy it says that if a person lived on a planet rotating around one of the nearer suns (“stars”) presumably at the correct distance – and could see with a high powered telescope all the way to this earth, he would be able to see Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.
God’s great act of love and his character of love is first seen in his amazing creation.
God created this amazing planet and it has a troubled history.
It is a used planet – according to the ecologists it has been chain smoking too long and is struggling to gasp for breath.
People are reproducing at incredible rates and there is murder, violence and incredible injustice at an alarming rate.
20 centuries have passed since the birth of Jesus and one thing is certain – we are in a bigger more sinful tangle than ever before.
Everyday in Baghdad it seems some car bomb goes off and kills innocent civilians many woman and children .
In Somalia there is suffering and murder beyond belief – the Chinese practise State powered genocide that would have embarrassed Hitler – or maybe he would have admired their efficiency.
Even here in our own Country children are systematically terminated at the whim of parents and there is increasing violence and murder and idolatry.
If earth were a used car you think the owner – God – would give up and buy a new model.
But not so.
God continues to sustain life on earth.
But you know there is one thing to sustain something and another to love it.
In John chapter 3 verse 16 – We read John 3:16 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.
The key word in understanding God’s compassion is that little word so.
God soooooooooooooo loved!!!
God loves the world –
You know we have a world that is like a used car and a God that loves the world.
But we could say if that world is so loved how come it has that unloved look?
Well to understand the love of God you have to understand not only the love of the lover but also the love of the recipient.
Nowhere is that better described that in the book of Hosea.
In Hosea the great prophet is encouraged by God to take what can only be described as a loose living woman as his wife.
The reason is that she is a parable of the world.
You see we have a loving God – but the world is fickle
Lets consider a couple of words from Hosea:-
Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land.
But there are times when Israel calls out to God but then that love seems to dry up!!
Hosea 6:1-4 Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth." "What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
The thing about God’s love though is it is constant.
This is what he says:-
Hosea 2:6-7 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ’I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’
The destination for the people who belong to God is to be back with him.
’I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’
But the way they return to him is by having her path blocked.
Hosea 2:6-7 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them.
What we see Israel encountering is suffering – thornbushes - the suffering channels people back into the arms of a loving and caring God.
But we need to understand that the suffering comes not as a result of Israel’s obedience but as a result of her disobedience.
There is a dynamic here and that is – whatever happens in this world good or bad – if you allow it – it will lead you back into the arms of God.
God’s discipline – the thornbushes of this world – are another face of love.
If you don’t get this you won’t get better you will get bitter.
The word discipline means “to teach” – Parents discipline children – God disciplines His children as well.
It is a face of love that we don’t often acknowledge.
PR 3:11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline
and do not resent his rebuke,
PR 3:12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.
I can’t explain all the suffering in the world but can I say we need to grasp the fact that God will discipline his children.
I am not saying all suffering is God’s discipline – you only need to consider the book of Job to understand that – but I am saying that some suffering is and it is an aspect of God’s love we need to consider if we are to begin to understand His love in the context of the world that we live in .
One day C. H. Spurgeon was walking through the English countryside with a friend. As they strolled along, the evangelist noticed a barn with a weather vane on its roof. At the top of the vane were these words: GOD IS LOVE.
Spurgeon remarked to his companion that he thought this was a rather inappropriate place for such a message. "Weather vanes are changeable," he said, "but God’s love is constant.”
"I don’t agree with you about those words, Charles," replied his friend. "You misunderstood the
meaning. That sign is indicating a truth: Regardless of which way the wind blows, God is love."
The second aspect of God’s love I want to consider here today is in a sense the destination – the purpose of his discipline – it is his rescue of us.
Returning to our key text for today we read:-
In John chapter 3 verse 16 – We read 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.
He gave His one and only son.
The gift of Christ to us is the most profound gift of love that the world has ever seen and ever will see.
There simply has been nothing to compare with it.
To get a sense of understanding of the cosmic proportions of what was involved you need to understand what is being said in John chapter one.
JN 1:1 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. JN 1:3 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 men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. JN 1:6 There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.
JN 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
JN 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
For the first time in history –God becomes one of us – Jesus the son of God made flesh.
What a moment in history that was – Jesus like us in every way except without sin.
What does that mean?
God loves us!!
But that love takes on incredible significance and cosmic proportions when we understand that Jesus Christ the one perfect man took our place on the cross.
Greater love has no man says Jesus than he lays down his life for his friends.
About 1930, the Communist leader Bukharin journeyed from Moscow to Kiev. His mission was to address a huge assembly. His subject, atheism. For a solid hour, he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity, hurling argument and ridicule. At last he was finished and viewed what seemed to be the smouldering ashes of men’s faith."Are there any questions?" Bukharin demanded. A solitary man arose and asked permission to speak. He mounted the platform and moved close to the Communist. The audience was breathlessly silent as the man surveyed them first to the right, then to the left. At last he shouted the ancient Orthodox greeting, "CHRIST IS RISEN!" The vast assembly arose as one man and the response came crashing like the sound of an avalanche, "HE IS RISEN INDEED!"
Bruce Howell
“The Big Feather Bed”
Dr. J.C. Massee was pastor of Tremont Temple in Boston but he was reared in Georgia. He said his mother was the sweetest woman in the world, but there was one thing she was very strict about. She wouldn’t let her children play on her snow-white feather beds. She prided herself on having the prettiest and whitest beds in Georgia. He said he often wanted to dive into one of those beds, but knew it would get him into trouble. One day when his mother was outdoors hanging up clothes, he was alone in the house. He walked down the hall past the “guest bedroom” and that big feather bed seemed to beckon him. He forgot his mother for a minute and ran and dove in and had a great time lounging there. Then he heard the rustle of skirts and looked up to see his mother standing in the door. He knew he deserved a whipping and he knew he was going to get one. Just then the window opened and his big six-foot brother crawled in. “Wait a minute, mom,” he cried. Then he went over to the bed and stretched his big body over his little brother. “All right, mother,” he said, “lay it on. I’ll take it for him.”
Dr. Massee said he listened for the switch to fall, but it didn’t. He peeped out and saw tears on his mother’s cheek. She said to her oldest son, “Pick him up and take him out of here.” Dr Massee said that one day many years later he was where he knew he shouldn’t be—away from God, in sin. He said he bowed his head for the rod of God’s justice to fall on him. Instead, he felt the arms of Jesus around him and heard Him say, “I’ll take his punishment for him, Father.”
Then he said he opened his eyes and saw a cross on a lonely hill and from somewhere there came a voice saying, “The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.”
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (I John 3:1)
The second aspect of the character of God’s love then is his amazing desire to rescue us.
If you want further biblical evidence of this read the account of the prodigal son.
The third aspect that I want to draw out about God’s love is our relationship with Him.
In John 3 – 16 we read 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
Eternal life is life in relationship with God.
At the end of the road for the prodigal son was a loving father who prepared a feast for his son.
At the end of the road for us is a God who loves us.
God makes it very clear that eternal life is all wrapped up in our relationship with Him
REV 21:6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
And:-
REV 21:22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Unless you understand the incredible love of God then the concept of eternity with God will seem foreign.
As a child I remember seeing cartoons of heaven being angels wearing sheets standing on clouds playing harps.
When you are tone deaf and musically challenged that is not the best way to picture eternity and in a very real sense it is a false picture.
God’s picture of heaven is very different if you can picture the greatest love you have ever experienced and multiply it many times over you can begin to get a feint picture of how great it is to live in the love of God for eternity.
Nothing but nothing can compare with it and it is what awaits you – not because of anything you have done except for acknowledging Christ.
Today we have caught but a glimpse of the love of God.
The three faces of God’s love we have seen are.
His discipline
His desire to rescue us
And his desire to be in relationship with Him.
What does God want us to do –
Accept his love.
Jesus said –
MT 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
