GOD IS UNAVOIDABLE
Have you ever felt like someone was avoiding you? They don't pick up the phone when you call or when they see you coming they turn and run the other way. There can be different reasons for this. Perhaps you talk too much and they don't want to be trapped into having a long conversation with you.
Maybe you're always asking something of them and they don't want to be trapped into doing something for you. It could be because they know you're not happy with them and they want to avoid conflict. Or perhaps the last time you talked with them you were trying to confront them about some things and they didn't like it so now they avoid you.
Don't feel bad, people try to do the same thing with God. If we're avoiding God we're avoiding the truth. We can avoid the truth but that doesn't make it any less true; it just keeps us from seeing reality. To avoid dealing with reality is not good. Like the statement I read, "I avoid everything that makes me fat; scales, mirrors and photographs." It's pointless to think that we can really avoid God. Let's look at some reasons why that is.
God's questions are unavoidable.
With the unavoidable God comes some unavoidable questions: how did all this get here? Why are we here? Is there a God? I believe God has placed these questions within all of us. At some point in our lives we ponder these things. Who am I? What is my purpose? Is there something out there greater than myself?
For some people these are nagging questions but for others they are questions pondered for only a moment before they move on with their lives. They might come back to them every now and then but they don't dwell on them for too long. But God has placed within all of us these unavoidable questions and we must decide whether or not we will seriously consider the answers to these questions.
The problem with these questions is that there are various answers given by various people. Science says that there was no creator but that a big bang brought the universe into existence. Science says all species evolved through a singular organism, they weren't created by God. Some people teach there is no God, there is no heaven or hell, there is no afterlife.
Different religions and philosophies teach different things so we're faced with numerous possibilities as to what the true answers are to these unavoidable questions. But God is one who can cut through all the falsehood and reveal the truth. The question is-do we want to know the truth? If we're believing a lie God will counter with the truth and challenge us to believe it.
But regardless as to how seriously we contemplate the answers to God's unavoidable questions we need to understand that we are without excuse.
Romans 1:17-20, "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
The truth of the gospel has been revealed. But we suppress that truth; we avoid that truth. God's truth has been made plain but I've been avoiding it. It's plain because of the plainness of creation. God's invisible qualities have been made visible and I need to answer the question, 'did God do this'? God gives us unavoidable questions for a reason-to seek him. That's his ultimate goal in giving us these questions to ponder; it's all for the sake of us getting to the realization that there is a God, he is the Creator, he loves me and he has a purpose for my life.
And along with these unavoidable questions comes two more-is there an afterlife? What will happen to me when I die? I believe everyone at some point in their lives are pondering these questions because God wants us to ponder them. We need to face these unavoidable questions because of the seriousness of them and the validity of them.
The reality is that there is something beyond this life. And that afterlife deals with facing God's judgment. Paul said in 2nd Cor. 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad." There's no avoiding it; we must all face it. So it's important that we ponder these unavoidable questions because how we answer them will ultimately dictate where we spend eternity.
Which brings me to my next unavoidable question we need to face-who is Jesus? How we answer that question will determine our finality as well. Did he exist? Is he just a man? Is he just a teacher? Is he a prophet? Was he a false prophet? Is he the Son of God? Is he the Savior? Is he the only Savior? We will need to answer the unavoidable question, 'who do we say Jesus is'?
Matt. 16:13-17, "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven."
The ability to recognize who Jesus is comes from God. He reveals it to whoever wants to know the truth. A righteousness by faith will be revealed to those who want answers to these unavoidable questions. God is posing these unavoidable questions in order that we would seek answers to them.
If our answer is, 'who cares' then chances are nothing more will be revealed. But if our answer is, 'I don't know but I want to know' then God will reveal more and he will point us in the right direction. 'Blessed are you, Derrick, son of Donald, because you wanted to know the answers to these unavoidable questions and the Heavenly Father revealed them to you.' Blessed are they who want to know the truth; for it will be revealed.
God is unavoidable.
There's no escaping God. Psalm 139:5-12, "You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."
Have you ever just wanted God to leave you alone? That's how we can be when we're not doing the right things. After Adam and Eve sinned they heard God coming and they went and hid. Obviously that didn't last long before they were confronted by God but that reveals how we are when we're in our sin. We don't want God to see us. When we're in our unholiness we don't want to be around a holy God. We don't want to come into the light. We want to stay in the dark where we can hide.
But we can't hide from God. The darkness is not dark for God. He sees all; he knows all. If we think we can hide in the darkness of the crack-house or the bar or the strip club or wherever, we are wrong. If we think God doesn't see what we're doing; if we think God doesn't know what we're thinking we are wrong. Nothing is hidden from his sight; nothing escapes his knowledge.
John 3:19-20, "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed."
This is the verdict; this is the truth; the light of God has come into the world through the Son of God-Jesus Christ. The gospel has been revealed; the call for all men to come to him for salvation has been exposed.
However, because we are sinners we hate the light because it reveals to us the ugliness of our sinful nature. We don't want to have to deal with that-we want to keep that in the dark. So, we avoid hearing the truth. When someone tries to talk to us about Jesus we shut them down. When we see the preacher on TV we turn the channel. When someone invites us to church we say no thanks and if they ask why we change the subject.
However, God doesn't give up on us. He keeps at us with those unavoidable questions. He nags us with the realities. And, for some of us, we become softer and more inviting to pondering those questions; become more open to facing those realities until we get to the point to accept that invitation to come to church. We accept that invitation to study the bible with that nagging preacher.
We come to the point to believe that God made all this, he made me, he loves me and he wants me to be saved and live my life for him. We come to the point to believe that there's an afterlife; that there's a judgment to face and if I'm not saved then the outcome will not be good. We come to the place where we are convicted, we repent, making a choice to turn ourselves over to the Lordship of Jesus, and we become baptized in his name and begin our journey as a new creation.
All because we got to the point where we were willing to seek answers to the unavoidable questions and because we were open to God revealing the answers. All because we were willing to come out of the darkness and into the light of Christ. All because we got to the point where we were sick and tired of running away from God; trying to hide from God; trying to avoid facing God. So, instead of running, hiding and fighting we surrendered. And God took us, embraced us and set our feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.
There's no escaping from God. We can run, we can avoid giving in to God calling us, we can resist submitting to God but eventually, for everybody, submission to Jesus is unavoidable. Phil 2:9-11, Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
One of the most painful things in life is regret. To look back on something that cannot be changed and wish you would've done it differently. It can eat away at us. It can ruin our lives such is the pain and turmoil from regrettable decisions. The "woulda, shoulda, coulda, didn't"s can drive us insane. But we have the opportunity to put these things behind us and move forward.
However, there is one bad decision; one regret that has eternal consequences. When we continuously avoid God's calling to us to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord and we come to the point of our inevitable death we will be in for a rude awakening. Our knee will bow and our tongue will confess that Jesus is who the bible says he is but the problem is at that point it will be too late.
That is the eternal regret-to get to the place where you realize that they were right about Jesus, they were right about my need to accept him but realize it's too late to do anything about it; it's too late to repent. All the opportunities have passed and now the only thing left is to live out eternity with that realization and the regret that I wish I would've listened when I had the chance. All the begging and pleading won't get you anywhere. Because you chose to stay in the darkness you will have to spend eternity there.
The bible says in hell there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I believe one of the main reasons for that will be having to continuously live with the regret of not surrendering to Jesus when you had the chance and now you're suffering the eternal consequences. If you are here and you've been avoiding making that commitment I plead with you as Paul pleaded in 2nd Cor. 5:20 to be reconciled to God. I invite you to come and talk with me about that after service; don't put it off any longer. You can run, you can avoid, but you will not escape.
At the end of it all you will have to face God's judgment. John Calvin said, "For there is no one so great or mighty that he can avoid the misery that will rise up against him when he resists and strives against God." We may not be able to escape God but we can escape his wrath. When I stand before the throne of God I will have Jesus there as my advocate because I chose to put my faith and trust in what he did for me on the cross, paying the penalty for my sins; thus escaping the eternal consequences for them. Make sure Jesus is standing next to you when it's your turn.
It's not good to try to avoid dealing with reality. Pretending everything is okay does not make everything okay. God loves us too much to sit back and let us be deceived. That's why he comes to us with questions that are unavoidable for us to answer. That's why he keeps after us to deal with the things we need to deal with in order to escape the trap of the devil. He wants us to be free.
He wants us to know him and love him and live for him so that we can become the most blessed people we can be. It's all about our good and his glory. It makes no sense to avoid God because we're avoiding the best thing that could ever happen to us. God's questions are unavoidable, God's judgment is unavoidable; God is unavoidable.
