Sunday Sermon

 

A Quiet God

Isaiah 57:11

“Whom were you so afraid of that you lied to me? You have not remembered me or even thought about me. I have been quiet for a long time. Is that why you are not afraid of me?

Our faith is in the God who redeems us but what does that really mean and how do we get to that place of faith. We need to think about this on a regular basis because understanding our faith will shape how we live as people of faith. First we need to make the point that our faith is not in what God does but the very nature of who God is. In short we trust in the God who does the things not in what God does. Grasping this idea is central to what we are all about because it will directly impact how we see God and then how to react to what God says. The starting place of our faith is that God saves us from the death and destruction of our own sin but we do not trust in the redemption we trust in the God who delivers us from the death that sin brings. Our next step into real and powerful faith is understanding the nature of God so we can learn to trust in Him. We do this because it will teach us the real power of what is happening when God saves us from our sin. To know God we have to know the three basic things that God tells us about Himself. At the top and what makes everything else work is that God is truth. This is a foundational point that makes everything else work. Because God is truth everything He does and says is true. We can trust God because there is no falseness in Him which means we have real hope in the wisdom He gives us and the fact that God wants to save us from our sin. For the next two parts of God we have the righteousness of God and the love of God. Over the centuries people have tried to focus on one or the other but as far as we can understand they are two sides of one coin. A fundamental fact is that God always does the right thing every time. But what is the right thing and that is where the love comes into view. God cares about His creation and humans in particular very much. This is the thing He created and it means He cares about it and wants the best for it. Then we go full circle because God’s love for us is molded by the fact that God always does the right thing so God’s love is perfect in all ways. From these three things all sorts of things flow from God. The Ten Commandments are God teaching us the basic moral laws of the universe both because it is the right thing to do and also because God loves us so He wants us to know this material. Jesus is the ultimate example of who God is because God loves us enough to do the right thing and so God becomes human and suffers and dies for us. All of this is because we have a real need for faith and getting that faith right will mean our faith has power in our live and the lives of the people we come in connect with. Trusting God is not easy but God never says it is. The reality is that God does offer Himself to us because it is His who He is and it is how God operates. We have a God who longs for us to trust in Him and in doing so we find the life God wants for us to have. This is the God we trust in and the God who saves us from the death our sin brings us.

When most people think of sin they basically think of wrong doing and they don’t take sin very seriously. We often throw the word sin around like is it not that big of a deal but that is not what God thinks. God thinks sin is so awful and so terrible that He would become human and die for us so that we would not have to suffer the effects of sin. So if God thinks sin is so dreadful He has to do such a dramatic thing as going to the cross then maybe we need to rethink sin and take it a little more grievously. If God feels so powerful about sin then we need to think about sin like God does so we understand how really amazing God is. The best and most simple of understanding of sin is that we as humans choose to separate ourselves from God. When we choose something God says is outside of what is good and right we break our relationship with God and that is a very troubling thing both for us and for God. It needs to be clear sin is not the doing of the wrong thing but in doing the wrong thing we break with God and that is the problem. So why does God think breaking our relationship with God is a problem and why should we care. At a basic level God is the source of life and when we choose to reject God and ignore what is right we cut ourselves off from life. And if we don’t get how bad this is God goes to the cross and dies so we can have life and that should tell us how bad sin is. All the things we think sin is flows from the fact that once we break with God the only things we can look forward to is death. Instead of peace we seek evil and instead of humble living we seek power and dominion. For God sin is a fearful thing that God hates and we should think of it that way because it then puts who God is and what God does in the right perspective. We seek God because God is life and we trust in God because God offers us life instead of the death we deserve.

Has anyone thought about speed limits and what they mean? Speed limits are one of the most interesting societal relationships we as humans face in this modern time. Generally speaking almost anywhere there are cars there are speed limits and most people find these limits inhibiting to the point that at sometime almost everyone ignores them. If speed limits are good then why do we ignore them when they get in our way? I think this question can give us a good insight into our relationship with God. The verse we are looking at shows the tension between God and man for all the difficulty it is. Humans want God in their lives because they know God is the answer to the questions they have about life but like speed limits God also often gets in our way and so it just seems easier to ignore God. In our verse God is asking questions about why people have not paid attention to Him and the laws He gave. Instead of being honest people have lied about why they have ignored God and I like that God is holding them accountable. Often when we read about God confronting people about their sin we don’t see ourselves in that place but the whole point of this verse is to remind us humans have not changed in the intervening centuries. The reason Isaiah writes this verse is not to tell us how bad people were back then but to show us nothing has changed and we need to be careful about our faith and trust in God. It is so great that the verse starts out with a real point about what we fear and because of the fear we become liars. Thinking through this it is almost laughable. Are we lying to God or are we lying to ourselves. Whatever it is the reality is that when we break our relationship with God the only thing that happens is we become fearful and lairs and that is the something that happens when law enforcement stops us because of speeding. In the next phrase we find out why people are afraid and turn in to lairs and is because people have ignored God. The result of ignoring God is not being set free but instead it is fear and untruth which tells us a lot about what faith in God means and why we need that faith. God does not teach us right from wrong because He wants to make us feel bad God just knows that we need that information if we are to live lives of peace, hope and joy.

Every few decades a fad sweeps through the church that has always disturbed me. There is this fascination with angels that seems to treat them like some wonderful loving beings that we want to have in our lives. That is not what the bible says they are. A biblical understanding would have us know that they are agents of God and that they are some of the most scary things in creation. A visit from an angel is not an easy thing and even when they come with good news they say “fear not” because angels are that scary. This issue of angels being scary is not because angels are in and of themselves are scary but it has to do with the fact that they are agents of God. At a very elemental level God is a very scary thing. It is God who lives life and when we break our relationship with God we only have death so of course God should be a very scary thing. I like the last half of the verse because God asks a good question. Just because we don’t see God working sometimes, we think that God is not around and that God is not involved in things and that is just not true. It seems easy when we think God is not working that we can just snub God and get away with it but that is so far from the truth. First God is always working even if we can’t see it. Second is the fact that God often does not directly interfere with what is going on because He wants us to choose Him over ourselves. We have a God who wants to give us time to figure out that we need God so God works in unseen ways instead of being visible all of the time. The truth is we should fear God but instead of running from God we ought to run to God because He loves us and wants to save us not destroy us. Our faith is not about being afraid of God but it is based on knowing God is scary and we should want to be with Him not ignore Him.

The tension between what it means to be broken humans and a God who wants to redeem us from the evil that lives in our heart is real and has deep implications about how we live our lives. Our verse speaks to that and God wants us to know He understands the problem but God also wants to confront the problem. God calls out to us to offer a new way of living but it will mean that we trust God and learn how to live as He teaches and that is not an easy thing. Faith takes real effort because we have to trust that God is working even when we cannot see Him at work. We have to trust that God is truth and so all He speaks is truth. Finally, having faith in a loving and righteous God is hard to do when we see evil and hate all around us. Building faith in God that alters how we think and live is a powerful thing but we have to spend time and effort learning about that God and then overcoming the broken parts in our lives. If we will trust God He will bring the strength we need and He will be patient as we grow into what God longs for us to be.