THE MISUNDERSTOOD GOD: THE DISTANT GOD**
1 CORINTHIANS 13:7
Big Idea: God’s protection, trust and hope are based upon His unfailing love not on your unfailing works.
Supporting Scripture: Romans 8:28-39; John 13:31-35, 14:23-24; 15:9-10
INTRO
“Truck Speak”
In a humorous 2011 Chevrolet commercial titled "Tommy," a Silverado pick-up truck acts like a modern-day Lassie, repeatedly rescuing a young boy named Tommy from various disasters. The ad begins as the truck rushes into the driveway and honks. Tommy’s father listens to the “truck speak," and then the anxious father asks the truck, "What? Tommy slipped into a well?" Then the father and his faithful truck proceed to drive off and rescue the boy from danger.
This scenario repeats itself several times. The truck peels up the driveway, horn blaring and lights flashing, as it "tells" about a new episode in Tommy’s saga of getting in trouble. Each time the truck appears, the father blurts out his frustration: "Where did you get a [hot air] balloon?" or "I didn’t even know this town had a volcano!" But each time Tommy gets in trouble, the loyal truck shows up and powerfully delivers Tommy from his self-made disasters.
Like Tommy, some of us have a knack for getting in trouble.
And like the 2011 Chevy truck, God always has a knack for finding us.
Listen as I read 1 Corinthians 13:1-4 and 7 to you.
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love … 7 always protects, always trusts, always hopes.
God’s way of loving is different than the world’s way isn’t it? As Christians we are being “perfected” in love. Our way of loving is maturing into God’s way of loving (1 John 4:18-19).
As we look at “Love … always protects, always trusts, always hopes.” It is easy to see how we distort God’s love into a love like the world’s. Let’s never confuse human love with divine love. There is a world of difference between the two. For example:
HUMAN LOVE IS CAUTIOUS. GOD’S LOVE IS INTIMATE.
As I watch people I see so many who desperately want to love but just can’t. They cannot trust the other person. This is especially true when a loving relationship has gone bad and one has been betrayed. It may be of no fault to the other but the love between them is cautious … at arm’s length.
There is no need to fear this with God. You can draw as close as you want and still be at rest.
“Marriage”
One hour made all the difference in the world. One small hour. At 10:00 a.m. on August 4, 1984 we had boundaries and rules in place that restricted intimacy and put parameters and definitions on our relationship. You see, at 10 a.m. Vickie and I were still engaged and knowing each other fully and intimately was not optional. I was not hers and she was not mine. But by 11:00 a.m. – ALL THAT CHANGED! The barriers were lifted. The boundaries removed. The expectation changed … they really really changed and for almost 30 years we have now lived without those restrictions to intimacy.
When it comes to our relationship with God the same is true. Those who follow Jesus Christ are His bride and intimacy with God has been freed from boundaries … it is a relationship of love and trust.
But some still feel God is unapproachable even though everything in the New Testament says otherwise. They still feel that the relationship includes distance; they remain at arm’s length from God.
Some of that is because:
HUMAN LOVE IS PROVISIONAL. GOD’S LOVE IS DEPENDABLE.
Too many Christians are way too familiar with human provisional love. Provisional love is cause/effect; it is “what have you done for me lately.” That is why many have problems understanding God’s love as a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes.
I have watched with great interest how people’s faith, like my own, develops and matures over time. For example, I remember in the early stages that my faith was fear based and even superstitious. I thought that offering the right prayers, fasting, giving the right amount of money, and doing good deeds guaranteed God’s love and favor. I thought that anytime unpleasant things happened it was God’s punishment for neglecting God. And when good things happened it was God’s reward because I had been good enough.
As I matured spiritually I was able to see that for what it was; superstition. It was voodoo not faith. That is exactly why Haitian animists offer blood sacrifices to their gods – to satisfy their god and curry favor.
When our faith is immature like that we are vulnerable to turning God’s love on its head giving it a worldly definition. In this world, love is impulsive and fickle; you are only loved when you are deserving or useful and you are replaced at a moment’s notice. Human love is a “what have you done for me lately” commodity.
Does that sound like God to you? Certainly not.
Our relationship with God is a relationship of security and faith based upon HIS character and HIS of love.
• It is not based upon a bargain; a superstitious exchange of human works for divine blessing.
• It’s about His unfailing love not my unfailing works.
• It is based upon God’s character not mine.
4 Love … 7 always protects, always trusts, always hopes.
I still remember the security that I received when I discovered that God is not a vending machine. I do not have to “pay” the right price so that God will drop the requested commodity in my life. God blesses me because God is love and God is loving – not because I earned it.
It changed my motivation for many of the things I do. For example, when Vickie and I take a trip we often pray for “travelling mercies” before we embark. But I do not pray for God’s protection out of fear that if we don’t we will die in a terrible car crash. I know God will not withhold His hand if we fail to pray on a particular trip. I pray because of the needs within me; anxiety, fatigue and what have you. I pray for assurance and peace. I pray because the Bible encourages me to “Cast all my {your} anxiety on him because he cares for me {you}” (1 Peter 5:7). I pray because of my weaknesses and needs; not to stir God to good works or to strike a bargain with Him. I do not pray in fear that, if I don’t, God’s gonna teach me a lesson about depending on Him. I do depend on Him. I do not pray thinking that I am offering my sacrifice to the “vending machine God” so He will drop safety down into my car.
• As a child I often gave my dad plenty of reason to be angry. I have seen him red in the face just staring at me – unable to speak because of some bonehead thing I had just done (like when I shot the neighbor’s window with a B.B. gun or discovered how valve stems worked and let the air out of all four of mom’s tires). But in all those times I made my dad mad I never felt like his love for me was in jeopardy. I knew my tail end was about to get a lesson in obedience but I never, not once, had reason to think that I had just crossed the line and forfeited his love. That’s because love is dependable not provisional.
• My wife need not worry, bargain, or beg me every day to be faithful. Nor do I have to worry or beg her. A marriage where love is in place has this assurance – faithfulness does not have to be earned, bargained or begged for. Even if we have had a disagreement; even if she has not met my expectations; my love and faithfulness is never in question. That’s because love is dependable not provisional.
If the love of a good parent or a good spouse brings such guarantees, you can rest assured God’s love does too. It “always protects, always trusts, always hopes.” You have a security in Christ that I cannot even begin to explain to you.
Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28-30).
Paul said, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
There is no need to fear that God will abandon you. God’s love is dependable. It ALWAYS protects, ALWAYS trusts, ALWAYS hopes.
HUMAN LOVE IS IMPULSIVE. GOD’S LOVE IS STEADFAST.
HUMAN LOVE IS PROVISIONAL. GOD’S LOVE IS DEPENDABLE.
God’s way of loving contrasts so much with human love that we sometimes find it hard to grasp.
HUMAN LOVE IS CAPRICIOUS. GOD’S LOVE IS CONSTANT.
“Big Lizards and Flashlights”
When I was about six years old I had older cousins that used to let me hang around them and I idolized them. I hung on their every word – what they said was Gospel truth to me. In many cases I just listened to them talk to each other. They talked about things that adolescent boys talked about. I few in particular gripped me. For example, they would talk about UFO’s and little green men. They would talk about Godzilla and monsters. And even though I never told them I was terrified. Six year olds have a hard time discerning adolescent adventures from reality.
After listening to Ricky, Bruce, Billy and Kenny talk about such things I would have to go home and try to sleep. That was not easy for a six year old that was introduced to scary Martians and great big lizards. I remember setting outside my parent’s door for hours in a cold sweat of fear, afraid I would never see the light of day.
My grandmother had a way of sharing truth with me that I could understand. One thing in particular helped me with this night time fear. It came on a night when the moon was full and bright. Grandma told me when she saw a full moon it reminded her of God’s protection. She said it was as if God was using a flashlight to watch over us. With a flashlight we can see everything in the dark and be safe. She said that God’s ever-watchful eye could see everything in the dark.
Whew! That was welcome truth to a six year old and it brought peace to my troubled heart. My grandma helped me understand that God was bigger than little green men and he was bigger than the big lizards too.
4 Love … 7 always protects, always trusts, always hopes.
Have you ever thought things like:
• “God will only protect me if I am good and obedient.”
• “There is no way on earth that God can trust or have confidence in me.”
• “If God knew the real me He would not want to have a personal relationship with me.”
That’s how human love thinks. But today, I want you to leave here with a sense of assurance.
• Assurance that relationship with God is available
• Assurance that God is not at arm’s length
• Assurance that you are loved and always watched over.
God is not moved, swayed or distracted like human love can be. God does not see “a better model” and trade you in. There is no impulsive decision making with God.
Human understanding of love is capricious and unpredictable. God’s love is not like the world’s love; it is far superior. But if we are not careful we will attribute characteristics of human love to God; we will make God’s love fickle.
You never have to wonder where God stands in relation to you. God’s love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes.” You are safe in Christ.
Some say, “Oh Pastor, when you say things like that you give people permission to sin.” No I don’t – they will not run to sin if there has been a new birth within. God’s loving-kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) and it is that same loving-kindness that compel us to love and serve him (1 John 4:19). In fact Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” (John 14:23-24).
You see, love and obedience go together – obedience (faithfulness to God) is the sign that you love Him just as faithfulness is the sign that you love your spouse and children. When we fail to obey we are not drawing near. Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:9-10) The issue is not that God’s love is fickle – it’s that ours is. But the changed heart runs to holiness. Holiness finds its meaning in love and love finds its meaning in holiness.
4 Love … 7 always protects, always trusts, always hopes.
WRAP-UP
HUMAN LOVE IS CAUTIOUS. GOD’S LOVE IS INTIMATE.
HUMAN LOVE IS PROVISIONAL. GOD’S LOVE IS DEPENDABLE.
HUMAN LOVE IS CAPRICIOUS. GOD’S LOVE IS CONSTANT.
What I have been trying to say these last few weeks is that God’s love is more than a “thing.” God IS love – it is at the core of His character. And that is the character that he is pouring into us by his Spirit (Romans 5:5). Every virtue that you can think of to describe Jesus is summed up in Divine Love. And that is to become the virtue by which people describe us as well.
The Bible says “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). This is one of those places where the King James Version gets it wrong and it limits love’s reach. The KJV says “We love him because he first loved us.” But the scriptures do not say that. They expand and broaden love into the character of one who is like Jesus. It simply says “We love because he first loved us.”
“Lee Strobel’s Story”
While working as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel was assigned to report on the struggles of an impoverished, inner-city family during the weeks leading up to Christmas. A devout atheist at the time, Strobel was mildly surprised by the family’s attitude in spite of their circumstances. He writes:
The Delgados … had been burned out of their roach-infested tenement and were now living in a tiny, two-room apartment on the West Side. As I walked in, I couldn’t believe how empty it was. There was no furniture, no rugs, nothing on the walls—only a small kitchen table and one handful of rice. That’s it. They were virtually devoid of possessions.
In fact, 11-year-old Lydia and 13-year-old Jenny owned only one short-sleeved dress each, plus one thin, gray sweater between them. When they walked the half-mile to school through the biting cold, Lydia would wear the sweater for part of the distance and then hand it to her shivering sister, who would wear it the rest of the way.
But despite their poverty … {Ms. Delgado} … still talked confidently about her faith in Jesus. She was convinced he had not abandoned them. I never sensed despair or self-pity in her home; instead, there was a gentle feeling of hope and peace.
Strobel completed his article and moved on to more high-profile assignments. But when Christmas Eve arrived, he found his thoughts drifting back to the Delgados and their unflinching belief in God’s providence. In his words: "I continued to wrestle with the irony of the situation. Here was a family that had nothing but faith, and yet seemed happy, while I had everything I needed materially, but lacked faith—and inside I felt as empty and barren as their apartment."
So, in the middle of a slow news day, Strobel decided to pay a visit to the Delgados. When he arrived, he was amazed at what he saw. Readers of his article had responded to the family’s need in overwhelming fashion, filling the small apartment with donations, food and money.
But it wasn’t the gifts that shocked Lee Strobel, an atheist in the middle of Christmas generosity; it was the family’s response to those gifts. In his words:
“As surprised as I was by this outpouring, I was even more astonished by what my visit was interrupting: Perfecta and her granddaughters were getting ready to give away much of their newfound wealth. When I asked Perfecta why, she replied in halting English: ‘Our neighbors are still in need. We cannot have plenty while they have nothing. This is what Jesus would want us to do.’ She waved her hand over the gifts and said, "This is wonderful; this is very good. We did nothing to deserve this—it’s a gift from God. But, it is not his greatest gift. No, we celebrate that tomorrow. That is Jesus."
It was at that moment that the heart of this educated and rational atheist began to change. It wasn’t the love that Chicago residents showed the Delgado’s – it was the love that the Delgados were showing Chicago’s residents.
He says, “while I only knew the loneliness of ambition; they looked heavenward for hope, while I only looked out for myself; they experienced the wonder of the spiritual, while I was shackled to the shallowness of the material—and something made me long for what they had or, more accurately, for the One they knew.” (Lee Strobel, “The Case for Christmas” {Zondervan, 2005})
Oh friends, God’s love is a rich, strong, manly, vigorous expression of Christian character. It is the Christ-like nature in its fullest. That’s God’s character at work in us … love … pure, undefiled, love.
Let’s read our “Congregational Covenant of Love” together.
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** Some of the material for this sermon is derived from two specific books. 1) Darin Hufford’s “The Misunderstood God” and Henry Drummond’s “The Greatest Thing in the World.”
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
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Congregational Covenant of Love
Heavenly Father, you have taught us that you are love and your Spirit has poured your love into our hearts.
Because you are patient and kind
We will be patient and bear with one another (Ephesians 4:2)
Because you do not envy
We will seek to make peace and build up one another (Rom. 14:19)
Because you are not boastful or proud
We will give preference and honor to one another (Philippians 2:3)
Because you are not rude and self-seeking
We will accept and encourage one another (Rom. 15:13-17)
Because you are not easily angered and keep no record of wrongs
We will forgive others just as we have been forgiven by you (Col. 3:13)
Because you do not delight in evil but do rejoice in truth
We will be loving yet truthful with one another (Ephesians:4:25)
Because you always protect, trust and hope
We will look after the interests of one another (Rom. 12:10) and carry one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2)
Because you always persevere and and never fail
We will be devoted to one another in brotherly love (Rom. 12:10)
We thank you for showing us how to love and
We will reflect that love in our care for each other. Amen.(1 Cor. 12:25)
