You Can Tell a Lot about God
by the People He Hangs Out With!
[You Can Tell A Lot About God—Part 1]
Exodus 3:1-15
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: We are in the midst of a on-going study of the Lord’s Prayer, or the Disciples’ Prayer if you prefer—the prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Clearly it is not a ritual, or prayer that Jesus intended that we pray by memory—though it is always good to prayer Scripture. Jesus intended it is a pattern by which we could learn to pray. We have examined the six stanzas of the prayer in general. In the future weeks, we will look in greater detail at each phrase, seeking to unpack the rich layers of meaning beneath each.
Tonight we begin with the opening words. Repeat the prayer with me: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matt 6:9-13, KJV)
A little girl was drawing a picture. Her teacher watched over her shoulder for a moment and then asked her what she was drawing. “I’m drawing a picture of God,” she said confidently. “But no body knows what God looks, “ the teacher corrected. “Oh, but they will when I am done,” the little girl replied even more confidently.
To whom are you praying, when you say “our Father which art in heaven”? Does it matter? Of course, it matters. Listen to Jeremiah 9:23-24: "This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. “
Moses apparently thought it mattered. Of all the questions that he might have asked of the voice from the burning bush, he asked one thing—who are you? It wasn’t enough that it was clearly a supernatural encounter. He wanted to know the identity of the voice behind the miracle. We would do well to be more like Moses in this regard. Not every supernatural, miracle-producing force is worthy of your faith and obedience. Clearly, Satan, his angels of light, the end times Man of Lawlessness (2 Thess 2), and sometimes mischief making fakers can produce look-a-like supernatural phenomena.
Contrary to what many may teach you in our day, it is not enough to believe in any old god. The question is which God do you believe in? As much good as the Alcoholics Anonymous do in helping addicted people find freedom, they are clearly treading on dangerous ground when they teach folk to find “a higher power” however they may conceive of it. Elijah didn’t think any “god” was s good as another when he challenged the prophets of Ahab and Jezebell to dueling prayers on Mt. Carmel (1 Kings 18). He admonished them to make up their minds which God they were going to serve. He knew “not all gods are created equal.”
Some pray to statues made of stone or wood. Others pray to spirits that can be contained within a cathedral or church, unable to interfere or help at work or home or school. Yet others conceive of gods fashioned in their own image, imaginary gods who can do nothing more or less than what their creators can conceive. Plato of old suggested that many gods are nothing more than our own shadows cast on the wall by the fires we have kindled with our own hands.
My question: when you pray “our father” to whom are you praying? Who is your God? If someone asked you to describe your God, would someone else be able to recognize him from your description? Would you be able to recognize him from you description. I insist that this is important!
Some of us speak of God as if he is without distinction or description. We are dumbfounded by the suggestion that our Father in Heaven ought to be different from some abstract “godness” or some impersonal higher power. Imagine you were in a room full of people and someone asked you “who is your husband or wife?” Would it do to suggest that it doesn’t make any difference? Any husband or wife will do? Is it enough on Father’s Day to send a card or present to any old father because fathers are all alike? Would it do if you were sent to pick up your grand daughter or daughter at nursery school and you came home with the wrong child because you argued that it shouldn’t make any difference as long as you came home with a child?
Of course that is silly! But I insist that it is just as silly to think that it doesn’t make any difference which God you pray to because they are all alike. When Moses asked who was speaking to him from the burning bush, God answered in specifics. Just like our mother, as distinguished from “motherness”—God has a name, a personal name. He also has a history. He has a story to tell that illustrates his character and personality. Just as if you were to describe your mother as distinguished from other mothers, you can describe your God by first giving his name and then telling his story.
Note that God does have a name. Vss 2 and 4 of Exodus 3 make it clear that a particular God is speaking to Moses. Note in the text of the NIV that the word LORD is spelled with all capital letters. If you were to read the preface to your Bible, you would discover that this particular spelling—LORD—is reserved for the personal name of God, YHWH or Jehovah. Quite likely the origin of that name is found in our text. In vs 14, when asked who Moses was to tell the people had sent him, he is told to tell them “I AM WHO I AM.” In other words, this God was not a second hand, created diety, no product of man’s hands or imaginations. He was the self-existing God who created everything. All else was dependent on him. The Hebrew word YHWH is most likely a derivation of that phrase. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are wrong on most things, but they have a point on this. We would do well to remember that our God has a name. When we pray “our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,” we are not praying to just any old god or to abstract godness in general, we are calling upon the name of the personal God whose name is YHWH or Jehovah.
But in our text, the LORD zeroes in another descriptive fact. He distinguishes himself as “The LORD, the god of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (vs 6, 15, 16). This is a fairly common description of the God of the Bible. He often describes himself in relationship to the people who have known and worshipped him. (Cf. Exodus 4:5; Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26; Acts 3:13; Acts 7:32). It is this fact that I want you to think about with me for the remainder of our time in this study.
What does it mean that our God describes himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What does that tell us about him? What can we learn about our relationship to that God and our prayers to him from this description?
First, it is noteworthy that God describes himself in terms of people. He can be known from the people he has called and who have followed him in the past. God has chosen to describe himself in terms of the people he hangs out with. Let me say it again, “You can tell a lot about God from the people he hangs out with.” This is an awesome concept.
It ought to give us pause to remember that God has extended to the unbelieving world the right to understand him in terms of the people who claim to know him. That is a part of Jesus’ teachings in the previous chapter of the Sermon on the Mount when he insisted that his followers were the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matt 5:13-16). Jesus also prayed that his disciples would be one as he and the father are one SO THAT the world would believe that he had been sent by the Father (Jn 17:20-21). We might not like, but it is true. The Lord has said that the world can tell a lot about him by looking us. That is a tremendous responsibility! Don’t take it lightly! God doesn’t.
But there is another awesome side to the fact that God describes himself in terms of the people he hangs out with. Listen to Hebrews 11:16—“Instead, they were longing for a better country--a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." God is not ashamed to be called our God!
God is a God of individuals. We come to know as individuals. There is no group plan with him. You came into the family of God when you personally called upon the name of the Lord and placed your faith in Christ alone. You are not just a number or a nameless face in the crowd to God. This is at least part of the lesson that Jesus was teaching when he said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6). This is part of the lesson of the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Ninety-nine were safe in the fold, but the shepherd noticed the one that was missing. And he went after it!
God not only so loved the world. He loved you in particular. Christ not only died for the sins of the world, he also died for your personal sins. Paul testifies of this in that marvelous statement in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” God is not just the God of the Hebrews; he is the LORD of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in particular.
(to be continued in Part 2)
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This messaged is partly adapted from a sermon by George H. Morrison (1866-1928) entitled “The God of the Patriarchs.” It is printed in Classic Sermons on the Names of God compiled by Warren W. Wiersbe, Hendrickson Publishers, 1993 (Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications).
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
