The Shepherd & The Sheep 2 Of 6

The Shepherd & The Sheep 2

Friends With The King

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John 15:15

Too many times we approach God as though He is some kind of cosmic Santa Clause. We are distant and removed, and our only motive is to get something from Him.

With God, we only want to receive blessing, or direction or instruction from Him.

Yet God wants something greater than that. He wants to get to know us, and He desires for us to get to know Him.

Throughout this series I am attempting to answer the question; How can I hear from God? But today I want to answer another question:

WHY HEAR FROM GOD? THE ANSWER IS FRIENDSHIP

I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father. John 15:15 (Message)

The friendship that God calls us to is never a friendship where we are “buddies” in a casual or irreverent way. God is Always God…

…and we are always human. And God always needs to be seen in our minds and in our hearts as the Great King.

I. The Doctrine of TRANCENDENCE

This is the concept of God’s loftiness and it’s a wonderful doctrine. It means that God is higher than anything we can think of.

Transcendence means – exceeding usual limits, raising above all things to a superior state.

It means that God is superior and unequaled – and we always need to keep this doctrine in mind when we approach Him

For you, LORD, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods Psalm 97:9 (NIV)

Yet hand in glove with the doctrine of transcendence is the…

II. The Doctrine of IMMANENCE

This means that God is close to us. He is near. He is relational. He is actively involved with His creation.

Immanence means – remaining within, indwelling

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23 (NKJV)

At first glance these doctrines seem to oppose each other, but they’re actually not. God is both Transcendent and Immanent at the same time.

He is both the Great King and “God with Us”. We must never forget His greatness, yet its also true that…

… we never need to keep our distance from Him because of the Blood of Jesus…

Did you ever see the classic picture of JFK JR. The president is busy in the oval office with his staff and yet his 3 year old son is playing close by.

This is a picture of Transcendence and Immanence. On one hand there is the POTUS, arguably the worlds most powerful person, doing his job…

Dignitaries line up to meet him, and when your in the presence of the PRES you can never forget he is the president.

Yet the president is close enough to his son that his son can approach him anytime he wishes.

The son delights in the fathers presence. And the father delights in the presence of the son…

There is power in the fathers position and character, yet there is also closeness with his children…

Its from these two foundational characteristics of transcendence and immanence that God invites us into a true friendship with Him.

Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:8 (NIV)

God desires to be close to us, though He is God above all He wants to be near to us…God speaks to People not to robots…

we communicate to machines everyday don’t we? If we want to communicate to our car we give it an order… go faster, slower, stop.

Some of you have cars that talk thru GPS, although its not a true dialogue, its not capable of emotions at all its programmed.

God did not create us so that His relationship to us is like that of a machine… He created us as His children.

We don’t have to jump through hoops to talk with Him, in fact we can come to Him anytime, we can even play as it were in His office under his desk.

…but Abraham still stood before the LORD. 23 And Abraham came near to God... Gen. 18:22-23 (NKJV) Genesis 18:17,20 this is the start a great dialogue between God and Abraham

This is true dialogue and a great example of the relationship that God desires with His sons and daughters… true communications is established.

Abraham stopped what He was doing and drew near to God. If we want to hear from the Lord than we to must stop what we are doing-

… and draw near to God. We often want to hear from God but we aren’t willing to stop what we are doing…