On July 8^th, 1741, Jonathan Edwards, the pastor of the Congregational Church of Northampton, Massachusetts, preached the most famous sermon in American history. As a guest preacher at a church in Enfield, Connecticut, he delivered Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, the sermon that sparked the massive movement of religious conversions throughout America which is known as the First Great Awakening. God used this single sermon to alter the landscape of American religious history. Even today, two-hundred and sixty years later, the sermon is included in almost every anthology of American literature and is still widely read and studied by students all over the world.   

            Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was a passionate and powerful plea for sinful human beings to take seriously the doctrine of the wrath of God. Consider this excerpt from Edwards’ sermon:  

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep…

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

            The graphic depictions of the horrors of a literal eternal hell were meant to force sinners to reckon with the reality of the judgment of God. When the sermon was originally delivered, Edwards was interrupted many times by people moaning and shouting, “What must I do to be saved?” Edwards ended the sermon with one final appeal, “Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come.” The message had such a profound affect that many people repented from their sins and turned to faith in Christ!

            I have often wondered how Americans would respond to Edward’s sermon today! Unfortunately, instead of sinners crying out for mercy in the hands of an angry God, I picture God being squeezed out of the hands of angry sinners. In other words, many people today simply get mad when they hear a sermon about God’s wrath. Instead of shouting out, “What must I do to be saved?” they sit in their seat and silently seethe.

            I have been a preacher long enough to know that people adore inspirational sermons about God’s love, kindness, forgiveness, and faithfulness. People cozy up to therapeutic self-help messages which outline five-step plans to “become a better you.” People like to hear homilies that leave them feeling happy! On the other hand, people usually abhor sermons about sin, judgment, and hell. They cringe at messages that convict the heart or demand repentance and change.   

            How about you? How does your soul respond when you hear Edward’s words? How does the doctrine of the wrath of God make you feel? The Bible explicitly mentions the wrath of God almost 200 times. Today, I would like to share three passages that illustrate the various ways sinners respond to the wrath of God.

1.) Sinners Ignore the Wrath of God

            One way that sinners approach the wrath of God is to simply ignore it and pretend like it does not exist. As Jesus was teaching his disciples about the final judgment, he alluded to two times in biblical history when sinners ignored the wrath of God. Listen to what he says in Luke 17:22-35:

Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, ‘There he is!’ or ‘Here he is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

            The Book of Genesis gives the detailed accounts of God’s wrath being poured out on the whole world during the days of Noah and later upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. One judgment was carried out with water and the other by fire, but they both came as a result of relentless displays of human depravity. In both cases, the people were given opportunity to repent and their wickedness, but they chose to ignore God and continue in their way of life.

            In this passage Jesus uses the ordinary activities of life “eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, and building” to show that they continued to ignore the impending wrath of God right up until the time of judgment. Regrettably, they did not pay any attention to God or his wrath against sin and they paid the price for it.

            How about you? What is your posture to God’s wrath? Do you brush it off or set it aside? Do you ignore it as the people did in the days of Noah and Sodom? The reason Jesus told this to his disciples is because another day of God’s wrath is coming. Let us not make the same mistake others have made!

2.) Sinners Rebel Against the Wrath of God

            In addition to ignoring God’s wrath, some sinners actively rebel against it. They are annoyed by at the concept of a God who would actually hold people accountable for their actions; they can become judgmental about God’s judgment and hostile toward the very idea of hell. Some people just seem to try to provoke God’s anger by sinking into even greater sin and rebellion. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1:18-32:

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.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator– who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

            Here, Paul makes it clear that God’s wrath is constantly being revealed against people who twist and suppress his truth by their wickedness. Although God makes his truth known to them, they reject it and their hearts become darkened. They engage in all sorts of immoral and sinful behavior and place their stamp of approval on it. By doing this, they are rejecting the wrath of God.

            Is this not exactly what we see unfolding before our very eyes today? We live in a society that has largely turned its back on God’s truth. It has openly approved of behaviors that God has called them sinful. Disobeying parents is tolerated today. Did you read about the resent court case in New Jersey where a high school girl sued her parents for making her follow the rules at home? Likewise, gossip, slander, bragging, pre-marital sex, extra-marital sex, and homosexuality are considered acceptable even though God has clearly stated that they are wrong. When we say something is OK when God says it is wrong, we rebel against the wrath of God.  

3.) Sinners Humble Themselves before the Wrath of God

            The bad news is that many people either ignore or rebel against the wrath of God, but the good news is that some sinners humble themselves before the wrath of God. Consider Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions– it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:1-5)

            In this passage, Paul tells the Ephesians that they were spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins and therefore were by their very nature objects of God’s wrath. But thankfully, these sinners humbled themselves before God and received his grace by putting their faith in him. The grace and forgiveness of Jesus saved their souls from God’s wrath.

In Jonathan Edward’s day, people realized that they were sinners in the hands of an angry God, how about you?

            Psalm 24:3-4—Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false.

                       When I was a sophomore in high school, my journalism class took a trip to Columbia University in New York City to attend a three-day journalism convention and to do some sight-seeing in the Big Apple. Back in those days I wasn’t very studious and I wasn’t particularly interested in the academic portion of the trip, apart from trying to meet some college girls. (But what my sophomoric mind failed to realize was that our trip coincided with spring break and there wasn’t a single college girl left on the campus.) Well, at least I got to see the Statue of Liberty.

            During that trip we spent a whole afternoon meandering through the Museum of Modern Art. Now maybe some of you understand or even like modern art, but I was personally baffled by the outrageous exhibits that they classified as art. But there was one piece of real art in that museum that I wanted to see: Vincent Van Gogh’s painting The Starry Night. Other than The Mona Lisa, it was the only painting in the world that I would have recognized. My art teacher had taught a unit on Van Gogh and I genuinely liked the deep blue colors in painting and was fascinated by an artist who would cut off his ear and mail it to a brothel.

            When I finally found the infamous painting, I was astounded by how exposed and unprotected it was. It was simply hanging on the wall at eye level with only a narrow rope forming a flimsy perimeter around the precious piece and a little sign hanging on it that bore the words “Do Not Touch.” As I stood alone gazing into The Starry Night, I was overcome by a malevolent desire to break the rules and touch it. I wondered what would happen if I did. The possibility of sounding an alarm or getting apprehended by the NYPD only added to the excitement. After contemplating this for a while, I looked around to make sure no one was watching and I gently leaned over the rope and pressed my pointer finger into the lower right-hand corner of the masterpiece.

            I didn’t hear any alarms or footsteps coming at me, but as I walked away I could feel my stomach sinking into the pit of guilt. Just like Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden, I had touched something that was never meant to be touched. My selfish act marred something that was pure and beautiful. Even though I didn’t get caught, I immediately regretted what I had done. I didn’t have clean hands and I definitely didn’t have a pure heart; I was unholy!

            Maybe you have never illegally touched a famous painting before, but I am quite sure that all of you have acted in an unholy manner at some point in your life. Perhaps you made a selfish choice that marred something or someone who was pure and beautiful. Maybe you engaged in some immoral behavior or committed some malicious act.

            I have never met anyone who doesn’t have any regrets. We have all had enough impure thoughts, spoken enough wicked words, and done enough depraved deeds that we can confess the words of the late British author E.M. Forster, who said, “I’m a holy man minus the holiness.” The Psalmist asks the question, “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?” The answer is “he who has clean hands and a pure heart.” The problem is that none of us has clean hands or a pure heart. Therefore, we cannot stand in his holy place!

God’s Holiness

            The definition of holiness is to be separated from all sin and evil. True holiness means to be absolutely morally perfect. When we see God’s attribute of holiness, we realize just how unholy we are. That is exactly what happened to the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6:1-7, he explains his divine vision:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

The Bible is filled with passages that assert and describe the holiness of God, but this one is paramount. It is one of only two places in the Bible that uses the tri-repeated formula “holy, holy, holy” (the other one is found in Revelation 4) to intensify God’s attribute of holiness.

            What an incredible vision! Isaiah saw God seated on the throne in heaven. He saw six-winged seraphs (angels) hovering above him echoing antiphonic affirmations of God’s holiness and glory. The power of their collective voices shook the doorposts and thresholds of the temple. Even this small glimpse of God’s holiness was enough to cause Isaiah to recognize his own sinfulness. He openly confesses, “Woe to me! I am ruined! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…”

            Matthew Henry, the notable 17^th century biblical commentator once said, “No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.” It is true, when we consider God’s holiness, his moral purity and perfection; every ounce of our self-righteousness is stripped away. When you look into a dirty mirror you can’t see the dirt on your face, but when you look into a clean mirror, you see your face for how it really is. Likewise, when we look at God’s holiness, we see just how impure and imperfect we really are. Have you looked into the mirror of God’s holiness lately? He is “holy, holy, holy”; we are “sinful, sinful, sinful!” Guilty human beings cannot be in the presence of a holy God. Like Isaiah, we stand guilty before God’s holiness and are in great need of atonement.

Jesus Fulfills our Lack of Holiness

            Thankfully, there is one human being who did live a holy life and who was worthy to grant us atonement. Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, was the only human being to ever live a truly holy life. He experienced all of the same temptations and pressures to sin that we do, but he maintained his moral perfection. Hebrews 4:14-15 says:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.

            Furthermore, Jesus sacrificed his perfect life on the cross to pay the penalty for our moral imperfections. When he shed his blood and died, he gave his holiness to the unholy so that God would remember our sins no more. Reflect on Hebrews 10:10-22:

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.”And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

            Do you see what this text is saying? It is impossible for us to be holy by trying to be holy! The only way we can become holy is by receiving Christ’s holiness that he offers to us through his death on the cross. When Jesus becomes our priest and mediator, we become positionally perfect in God’s sight and we begin the process of becoming practically holy in our lives. This is the greatest news in the world! Jesus fulfills our lack of holiness!

            When God looks at you, what does he see? Does he see someone who is pointlessly striving for personal holiness or someone who has been made holy by Christ’s incredible sacrifice?

God’s Holiness is a Model for Our Holiness

            Now after a person has received Christ’s positional holiness through genuine faith, the proper way to express gratitude is by using God’s holiness as model for our holiness. Notice what it says in 1 Peter 1:13-16:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

            Because of the grace and holiness that we have received through Jesus Christ, we should prepare our minds for action, be self-controlled, set our minds on Jesus’ return, avoid evil desires, and work to be holy in all we do! We should use God’s holiness as a model for our own lives!

            Well, as I conclude, let me return to the Psalmist’s question: Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He (or she) who has clean hands and a pure heart! I hope that today you have learned that none of us has clean hands or a pure heart, but when we place our trust in Jesus Christ, he gives us his clean hands and pure heart. And we show him our gratitude by modeling our lives after God’s holiness, even though we know that we will never attain it in this life. But let us do our best to be holy because he is holy!

            I would be willing to bet that most of you have never heard the names Parmenides or Heraclitus. Both men were highly influential Greek philosophers in the fifth century B.C. But even though they were contemporaries as to their age, their philosophical presuppositions couldn’t be any further apart. Parmenides promoted a philosophy of permanence, in which he denies the reality of change. He believed that everything stays the same and change is impossible. He argued that all perceived changes are only illusions of reality.

            Contrarily, Heraclitus believed that reality is ceaselessly changing. He argued that permanence is an illusion, except for the ironic notion that change itself is the only thing that is permanent. Heraclitus coined the famous philosophical proverb: “You can never step into the same river twice.”

            As you consider these competing ancient philosophies, which one do you think is right? Does everything essentially remain the same or is everything constantly changing? It is a tricky choice, isn’t it! On one hand, it does seem like everything basically remains the same. Has anybody ever asked you the question, “So, what’s new with you?” You probably responded, “Nothing much! Same old! Same old! It is the same thing day after day!” Or perhaps you run into an old friend and they say, “Wow, I haven’t seen you in ten years; you haven’t changed a bit.” (Personally, I get that response all the time!!!)

            On the other hand, it seems like so many things in our lives change so fast. For instance, technology! This is why I hate dropping money on a new computer; I know that it will be obsolete within two years. But just think about how, in such a short period of time, computers have revolutionized the way we communicate, travel, and watch movies. Consider the history of how we listen to music. In the old days, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to hear it live. Then came the phonograph and victrola, vinyl LPs, 8-tracks, cassette tapes, compact discs, and then digital mp3 players.

            In addition to technology, if you look at a picture of yourself from ten years ago, you realize how much you have changed; and it is usually not for the better. (This is what happens to my father-in-law all the time.)

            Today, I would like to argue that Parmenides and Heraclitus were both correct—that is, that most things in the world are constantly changing, but that there is at least one thing that never changes! Let us consider first some constant changes, the ever-shifting shadows of our world.

The Ever Shifting Shadows of our World

            Can you think of some things that are constantly changing? The clock, the calendar, the seasons, and Taylor Swift’s boyfriends! The weather, the stock market, gas prices, and the Obamacare health exchange deadline! Children, family, work, school, church, community, government, politics, laws, and the list could go on and on!

            Some changes bring us great joy, like when you heard the words, “By the authority vested in me as minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the state, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!” Other changes cause us great fear and sorrow, like when you hear the words, “The test results just came back, and they have confirmed that it is cancer. I am so sorry.” Still, other changes cause us joy, fear, and sorrow at the same time. For instance, all of the emotions are evoked when you hear the words, “I’m pregnant! We are going to have a baby!”

            Whenever I think about the topic of change, Winston Churchill’s famous quote comes to mind: “Show me a young Conservative and I’ll show you someone with no heart. Show me an old Liberal and I’ll show you someone with no brains.”

            Whether you are a person who likes change or not, we all have to endure the ever-shifting shadows of the world!

The Never Shifting Shadows of our God

            When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly, retired music teacher, who was disabled and could not leave the apartment. Douglas said that every morning they had a ritual they would go through together. He would come down the steps, open the old man’s door, and ask, “Well, what’s the good news?”

            The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair and say, “That’s middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, THAT is middle C!” The old man had discovered one thing upon which he could depend, one constant reality in his life, one “still point in a turning world.”

            For Christians, the one “still point in a turning world,” the one absolute of which there is no shadow of turning, is God! There are many passages in the Bible that affirm God’s immutability, but here are some of the most compelling:

•  Psalm 33:9-11—For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.

•  Psalm 102:28-28—In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.

•  Malachi 3:6—I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

•  James 1:17—Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

•  Hebrews 1:10-12—He also says, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”

•  Hebrews 13:8—Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

            Each of these verses testifies to the fact that God does not change. Everything in the world is constantly changing, but he never changes! His character, plans, purposes, love, peace patience, kindness, judgment, mercy, and grace are always the same.

            Christian author A.W. Tozer observes, “He is immutable, which means that He has never changed and can never change in any smallest measure.  To change he would need to go from better to worse or from worse to better. He cannot do either, for being perfect He cannot become more perfect, and if He were to become less perfect, He would be less than God.”

            God’s immutability is not only essential to his divine character, but it is a source of great comfort and peace to us. We live in a world that is constantly changing; isn’t it reassuring that God always stays the same. Like the ancient oak planted high on the hillside, God is immune to the winds of change. Like the solid rock that endures the constant crashing of ocean waves, he is strong, steady, and consistent through the chaos. Because he is immutable, we can trust him and rely on him completely!

            I will conclude by sharing an excerpt from a sermon on the immutability of God which was delivered by the great Baptist preacher C.H. Spurgeon on Sabbath Morning, January 7th, 1855, by the At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England:

The substance of mortal things is ever changing. The mountains with their snow-white crowns, doff their old diadems in summer, in rivers trickling down their sides, while the storm cloud gives them another coronation; the ocean, with its mighty floods, loses its water when the sunbeams kiss the waves, and snatch them in mists to heaven; even the sun himself requires fresh fuel from the hand of the Infinite Almighty, to replenish his ever burning furnace. All creatures change. Man, especially as to his body, is always undergoing revolution. Very probably there is not a single particle in my body which was in it a few years ago. This frame has been worn away by activity, its atoms have been removed by friction, fresh particles of matter have in the mean time constantly accrued to my body, and so it has been replenished; but its substance is altered. The fabric of which this world is made is ever passing away; like a stream of water, drops are running away and others are following after, keeping the river still full, but always changing in its elements. But God is perpetually the same. He is not composed of any substance or material, but is spirit—pure, essential, and ethereal spirit—and therefore he is immutable. He remains everlastingly the same. There are no furrows on his eternal brow. No age hath palsied him; no years have marked him with the mementos of their flight; he sees ages pass, but with him it is ever now. He is the great I AM—the Great Unchangeable.

May we find refuge in the one and only immutable God!

Brief life is here our portion;
Brief sorrow, short lived care;
The life that knows no ending,
The tearless life, is there.

O happy retribution!
Short toil, eternal rest;
For mortals and for sinners
A mansion with the blest!

And after fleshly weakness,
And after this world’s night,
And after storm and whirlwind,
Are calm, and joy, and light.

And now we fight the battle,
But then shall wear the crown
Of full and everlasting
And passionless renown.

There God, our King and Portion,
In fullness of His grace,
We then shall see forever,
And worship face to face.

            You can tell a lot about a person by their hands. You can gain great insight into a person’s self-image by their handshake. The confident person has a solid grip. The arrogant person has an overbearing handshake that seems to say, “You know, I can whip you if I want.” The shy or self-conscious person gives the limp “dead-fish handshake” in which they are saying, “You won’t like me…I just know you won’t.” And the seductive person can communicate that they are interested in much more than a casual greeting just by the way they touch your hand.

            The nervous or hyper person often reveals it by their constantly shaking hands, gnawed cuticles, or deformed fingernails. You can tell a calm and confident person by the absence of these things. Their hands are slow and steady.

            You can also gain insight into the kind of work a person does by their hands. A person who does physical labor usually has rough and calloused hands. Others do delicate work and so their hands are smooth and sensitive. You will hear it said of athletes that they have “soft hands.” This is the opposite of someone who has stone hands. You throw the ball to the one with stone hands and they will drop the ball. You throw the ball to one with soft hands and they seem to welcome the ball like they are holding a newborn baby.

            Have you ever wondered what kind of hands God has? Now we already know that God is spirit and he doesn’t literally have hands, but today I would like to use the metaphor of hands to describe the doctrine of God’s immanence. Hands symbolize direct involvement with something, and immanence is the technical term for God’s intimate involvement with his creation. The God of the Bible is no abstract deity removed from or uninterested in his creation. He is not like some dead-beat father who created his kids and leaves them to fend for themselves. Transcendence points to the other-worldliness or far-ness of God; immanence refers to the nearness or closeness of God. The Bible is the story of God’s immanent involvement with every aspect of his creation, but today I would like to highlight just three specific areas: nature, history, and our lives today.

God’s Hands are Immanently Involved in Nature

            Let us consider two biblical passages that highlight God’s hands intimately involved in nature. The first is Psalm 65:9-13:

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

In this psalm, David paints a beautiful picture of God’s hands working in nature. God is not only in complete control of the land, but he actively cares for it like a good farmer or a master gardener. He waters and enriches the land so that is produces food for the earth’s population. He is the one who covers the meadows with flocks and mantles the valleys with grain.

            Like David, the Apostle Paul testifies to God’s intimate involvement in nature in Colossians 1:17—“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Everything in the cosmos, everything in the spiritual world, and everything on earth is held together by him. Like the children’s song, he’s got the whole world in his hands!

            In past days, people instinctively knew that God was involved in nature; today, we are overwhelmed by an emphasis on the human manipulation of nature. These days, every tornado, hurricane, earthquake, ice storm, and drought is blamed on climate change, which is the result of humans putting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We tend to overestimate our control of nature and we tend to underestimate God’s control and care.

            Charles Finney, the great nineteenth century revivalist, was a pastor in Ohio when they were enduring a severe drought that was afflicting the whole region where he served. The church had prayed for rain for months. In a quiet place, before service at his church, God told Finney that he was going to answer his prayers and cause it to rain that Sunday morning.

            When Finney walked into the church, he calmly deposited his umbrella at the family pew, ascended the pulpit, and proclaimed that it was going to rain. The people thought he was crazy. The service began with no clouds or any sign of rain. But during the service the people began hearing rolls of thunder, and later watched huge blankets of rain cover the little brick church and the whole region. The people rejoiced! Finney believed that God is immanently involved in nature and he was the only one to leave church dry that day.

            Do you believe, along with King David, the Apostle Paul, and Charles Finney, that God controls nature or do you believe that we are masters of the environment?

God’s Hands are Immanently Involved in Human History

            In addition to God’s hands being intimately involved in nature, they are also intimately involved in the affairs of human history. The Apostle Paul, while he was preaching to the Athenians in Acts 17:24-28, declared to the pagan people:

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being.

The Athenians were immersed in a pantheistic mythological religion whereby they believed that god is everything, but Paul introduced them to the one true God who is living, personal, and immanent. This God created the world and everything in it; he gave humans life and breath and everything they have; he determines the times and places that they should live. He is not far from the people he created; rather, he is close to every human and is immanently involved in history.

            Not only is God the inventor of human history, but he is the sustainer of it! Do you think your birth date was an accident? Do you think your birthplace was happenstance? Do you think that you were born into your family of origin by the luck of the draw (or unluck, depending on how you view your family)? Do you think that the historical events of the world or the events of your past happened by coincidence? No! God’s hands were immanently involved in orchestrating all of these things!

            What is the greatest example of God’s immanent involvement in human history? That’s right, the giving of his own son Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:3 declares:

In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

            The chief act of God’s immanence was when he came near by taking on human flesh and dwelling with his people through the incarnation. God’s immanence was seen most clearly when Jesus’ hands were nailed to the cross to provide forgiveness for our sins! You can tell a lot about a person by looking at their hands. What do you see when you look at Jesus’ hands? Do you see God’s immanent involvement in your history?

God’s Hands are Immanently Involved in Human Lives Today

            Well, now that we have seen how God’s hands are active in creation and human history, let us take a look at how God’s hands are immanently involved in our lives today. As Jesus prepared his disciples for his physical departure from earth, in John 14:15-18 he promised them the presence of the Holy Spirit: “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” This promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the upper room with power. The Spirit has been present and active in our world ever since!

            God’s hands are immanently involved in our lives today through the presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit guides us into all truth, he convicts us of sin, brings us new life, indwells us, leads us, teaches us, intercedes for us, equips us with gifts for ministry, and empowers us to fulfill God’s mission here on earth. He is our Advocate and Counselor and he is with us every moment of our lives, even when we don’t recognize it.

            During an interview back in 1966, evangelist Billy Graham was asked what he thought about the “God is dead” movement he replied, “It can’t be true, because I just talked with Him this morning.”

            Indeed, God is very much alive; He still speaks and his voice can be heard. He is involved in every aspect of our lives today!

            As I conclude, I would like to read you a short paragraph from the late British theologian John R.W. Stott. In his book Basic Christianity, he states:

Many people visualize a God who sits comfortably on a distant throne, remote, aloof, uninterested, and indifferent to the needs of mortals, until, it may be, they can badger him into taking action on their behalf. Such a view is wholly false. The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory, and stoops to seek until he finds him.

            Like I said, you can tell a lot about a person by their hands! God’s hands are immanently involved in nature, human history, and our lives today!

Lord of all being! throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,
Yet to each loving heart how near!

Sun of our life, thy quickening ray
Sheds on our path the glow of day;
Star of our hope, thy softened light
Cheers the long watches of the night.

Our midnight is thy smile withdrawn;
Our noontide is thy gracious dawn;
Our rainbow arch thy mercy’s sign;
All, save the clouds of sin, are thin!

Lord of all life, below, above,
Whose light is truth, whose warmth is love,
Before thy ever-blazing throne
We ask no luster of our own.

Grant us thy truth to make us free,
And kindling hearts that burn for thee,
Till all thy living altars claim
One holy light, one heavenly flame!

            On a cold and clear winter night, a little boy named Doug put on his pajamas, brushed his teeth, and hopped into his bed. When his mother came to tuck him in, she noticed him starring out the window. As he gazed up at the glittering stars and the big yellow ball glowing in the sky, he asked, “Mom, is God in the moon?” She did her best to explain that God is everywhere. “Is God in my tummy?” Doug wanted to know. “Well, sort of,” she responded, not sure where these questions were leading. Then Doug declared, “God wants a banana.”  

            Have you ever tried to explain a biblical doctrine to a young child? It is always a bit tricky trying to translate complex theological concepts into simple words and images that kids can understand (actually, this is necessary for most adults too). So allow me to share with you my most concise definition of God’s omnipresence: the doctrine of God’s omnipresence refers to his uniquely divine ability to be present everywhere simultaneously.

            God does not have size or spatial dimensions but he is present everywhere in his creation with his whole being. The fact that God is the Lord of space and cannot be limited by space is evident from the fact that he is the one who created space. (Genesis 1:1) In today’s sermon, we will consider three biblical passages that help us reflect on God’s attribute of divine omnipresence.

God Cannot Be Put in a Box (I Kings 8:22-27)

            Most of you have probably heard the phrase, “You can’t put God in a box” which today commonly means that we cannot limit God by human efforts or understanding. King Solomon made this same point about God’s omnipresence way back in I Kings 8:25-27 when he delivered a powerful prayer to dedicate the newly constructed temple in Jerusalem. Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said:

                        Now LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons are careful in all they do to walk  before me as you have done.’ And now, O God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true. But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

            Solomon knew that, even though he had completed the temple and that God’s presence would fill it and the people of Israel would come there to worship, God’s presence could not be bound by a physical structure of wood and metal. He argues that if the “highest heaven” cannot contain God, there is no way that a man-made box can do it. God is omnipresent!

                Unfortunately, many people today, even some Christians, have not adopted Solomon’s theology. They deny the doctrine of God’s omnipresence by trying to limit God to working only in certain places, times, people, or ways. If we try to contain God’s activity inside the four walls of the church building, our formats for worship, or our religious calendars, we have understood nothing of his true nature. Now don’t misunderstand me, there is nothing wrong with having or using any of these things. As a matter of fact, a church building is quite prudent for having a common place for people to gather for worship, weddings, funerals, fellowship, and ministry, but we must never limit God’s work to a specific physical location. God’s presence is not in an ornate cathedral or beautiful basilica any more than it is in a thatched-roofed hut.

            C.S. Lewis, in his book Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer,  makes a similar point when he says, “It is well to have specifically holy places, and things, and days, for, without these focal points or reminders, the belief that all is holy and “big with God” will soon dwindle into a mere sentiment. But if these holy places, things, and days cease to remind us, if they obliterate our awareness that all ground is holy and every bush a Burning Bush, then the hallows begin to do harm.”

            You see, God is omnipresent, and therefore, he cannot be put in a box!

God’s Omnipresence Consoles and Reassure Us (Psalm 139:7-16)

            Similarly to God’s omniscience, the doctrine of God’s omnipresence has both encouraging and alarming ramifications for our lives. On the encouraging side, the fact that God’s presence is always with us consoles and reassures us in our times of need. In Psalm 139:7-16, King David praises God for his personal presence in his life no matter where he goes:

            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. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

            David asserts that God’s presence will guide him and hold him and will be his light when he goes through time of darkness. God created David in his mother’s womb; his presence was there when David was woven together in that secret place. Even before David was born, God’s presence was with him and planned all the days of his life.

            Just like King David, God’s presence was there when you were created. Even though your mother and father did their part, God is the one who ultimately created you! His presence was there in your mother’s womb! He knit your inmost being together in that secret place! He wove your unformed body together in the depths of the earth! And he has ordained all the days of your life before you were even born! God’s presence has always been with you, even when you didn’t know it!

            And God’s presence is still with you today. He is there to hold you when you experience the pain of hurt feelings and broken relationships! He is there to guide you when you lose your job and you don’t know how you are going to make ends meet! He is there to console you when you lose someone close to you! He is there to reassure you when you feel something wrong in your body and when the doctor says “it might be cancer!” God is omnipresent, and therefore, he is always with you, no matter what you face!   

            And if you ever have doubts about God’s presence in your life, just think about how God preserved Noah as the ark floated upon the floodwaters! Just think about how God bolstered Moses’ bravery at the burning bush! Just think about how God liberated Daniel from danger in the lion’s den! Just think about how God delivered Daniel’s three friends from the flames of the fiery furnace! Just think about how God preserved the Apostle Paul through perilous persecutions in prison! And just think about how God’s presence sustained Jesus Christ as the soldiers nailed his hands and feet to the cross! God’s presence was with every one of them and he is with us today!

God’s Omnipresence Keeps Us on Our Toes (Amos 9:1-4)

            Well, God’s omnipresence certainly consoles and reassures us in times of need, but it also keeps us on our toes (spiritually speaking)!

            A burglar broke into a certain house and things seemed to be going well for him. He was able to get in without setting off any alarms, and he didn’t hear anybody stirring in the house. After surveying it, he thought there was no one there. As he went about his business of ransacking the house, he was startled when he heard a voice say, “Jesus is watching you.” The burglar was quite surprised to discover that the voice was coming from a parrot that was caged in the kitchen. He thought it was strange that a parrot would talk about Jesus, but he just went about his business when he realized it was only a parrot.

            The parrot said again, “Jesus is watching you.” The burglar was a little bothered by that. His conscience began to bother him, but he went on about his business. The parrot said again, “Jesus is watching you.” This happened about four or five times and the burglar was just trying to ignore it, when all of a sudden the parrot said, “Sic ’em, Jesus,” and he turned around to be face to face with a big Doberman lunging at him.

            Yes, Jesus is always watching us! God’s omnipresence should keep us on our toes!

            This is the exact point that God was making to the Northern Kingdom of Israel through the prophet Amos in the mid-700’s B.C. In Amos 9:1-4, the prophet proclaimed:

                        I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. Though they dig down to the depths of hell, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

            God was present to witnessed first-hand the habitual spiritual corruption, unashamedly sinful attitudes, and systemic moral decay of the Northern Kingdom and he had finally had enough of it. He used Amos to prophesy about the coming Assyrian Exile that would eventually overtake Israel in 722 B.C. On that dreadful day, no one would be able to escape God’s judgment. Whether the Israelites tried to climb their way to heaven, dig their way to hell, or hide on the mountain peaks, God’s presence would be there to cut them down.

            You would think that Amos’ preaching and prophesying would have been enough to make the Israelites stop and think about what they were doing. You would think that a warning like this would make them repent from their wicked ways and renew their faith in God. You would think that this exposition on God’s omnipresence would be enough to keep them on their toes. How about for us? 

            John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, drives this home in his powerful sermon On the Omnipresence of God:

                        If you believe that God is about your bed, and about your path, and spies out all your ways, then take care not to do the least thing, not to speak the least word, not to indulge the least thought, which you have reason to think would offend him. Suppose that a messenger of God, an angel, be now standing at your right hand, and fixing his eyes upon you, would you not take care to abstain from every word or action that you knew would offend him? Yea, suppose one of your mortal fellow-servants, suppose only a holy man stood by you, would you not be extremely cautious how you conducted yourself, both in word and action? How much more cautious ought you to be when you know that not a holy man, not an angel of God, but God himself, the Holy One “that inhabits eternity,” is inspecting your heart, your tongue, your hand, every moment; and that he himself will surely bring you into judgment for all you think, speak, and act!

            If you really believed in God’s omnipresence, how would it change what you do?

            Well, is God in the moon? Absolutely! Is God in our tummy? You bet he is! Does God want a banana? No, Doug, he just wants you to go to sleep!

            God is everywhere! We cannot confine him to a box, but his omnipresence does console and reassure us in times of need and keeps us on our toes through life!

            There are a lot of people who think that they know it all, but God is the only one real know-it-all!

            A preschool teacher watched as a three year girl sketched something on her paper. “What are you drawing?” she asked. “I’m drawing a picture of God,” was the little girl’s reply. “Oh, you can’t do that,” the teacher said, “Nobody knows what God looks like.” Without looking up, the girl answered, “Well, they will now.”

            One day, a little boy asked his mother, “Is God a boy or a girl?” The mother replied, “Well dear, he’s not really a boy or a girl.” The boy considered this for awhile and then asked, “Is God black or white?” The mother answered, “Well dear, he’s kind of both races.” The boy thought about this for a long time. Then he asked, “Mother, is God Michael Jackson?”

            Have you ever wondered what God looks like? I suspect that most of you have. What types of ideas and images enter your mind? If you have seen some of the great religious paintings from the high renaissance, you know that God is usually depicted as an elderly man with large muscular form, long white hair and a matching white beard, draped in a white cloak with a stern look on his face. That is how God appears in Michelangelo’s famous fresco The Creation of Adam, which adorns the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Or if you have ever seen the movie Bruce Almighty, you might think that God bears a remarkable resemblance to the actor Morgan Freeman. Or if you have ever read William Young’s novel The Shack, you might think that God the Father looks like an overweight African-American woman named “Papa.” But does God actually look like any of these?

            The reality is that no one knows what God looks like! The Bible never presents us with a physical description of God. Why not? Simply put, because God is Spirit! God’s very nature and essence is spiritual. Even though he is a living and personal being, he is an immaterial substance and therefore is invisible. In today’s sermon, we will reflect on the spirituality of God and consider some implications of it for our lives.

God is Spirit (John 4:1-26)

            The clearest biblical statement of God’s spiritual essence is found in the well-known story of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well in John 4. Now Jesus needed to travel north from the region of Judea to Galilee, but instead of taking the normal route around Samaria (which most Jews did to perpetuate their prejudice against the mixed race Samaritans), he went straight through Samaria.

            When he came to the town of Sychar, he rested by Jacob’s well. He was tired and thirsty from walking in the heat of the day. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well, Jesus broke the racial and gender barriers of Jews not speaking to Samaritans and men not speaking to women by asking the woman for a drink. The woman was startled by Jesus’ forthright neglect of social customs and this precipitated a conversation about Jesus’ identity. His offer of living water represents spiritual life. Moreover, Jesus reveals the fact that he knows that she has had five husbands and that the man she was currently living with was not her husband. (I would love to have seen the look on her face when Jesus when Jesus said this.)

            The woman immediately recognized that Jesus was a prophet and she was willing to hear what he had to say. Jesus had worked the conversation around to spiritual things and was responding to the woman’s comment about where people ought to worship:

             “Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers” (John 4:21-23).

            Jesus was telling her that true worship of God does not require a person to be physically present in Jerusalem or Samaria, for true worship has nothing to do with physical location, but it has everything to do with one’s inner spiritual condition. Unless a person comes to the knowledge of the truth about God and his/her spirit is regenerated, it is impossible to worship God. It was at that point in the conversation that Jesus said something about God which had never been clearly stated before. The truth was apparent from what had been revealed in the Old Testament, but it had never been put into plain words. “God is spirit,” he declared, “and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

            God is spirit. There is no article in the Greek text before the word “spirit,” and that emphasizes the quality or essence of the word. Furthermore, the word “spirit” occurs first in the sentence for emphasis. Jesus did not leave any doubt about this truth. God is spirit! But what does that mean?

1.) God Is Immaterial

            First, it means that God is immaterial—he does not have a body. Jesus reaffirmed that fact to his frightened disciples shortly after the resurrection. When he entered the room in his glorified body, they thought they had seen a spirit. He calmed them by saying, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). Spirits do not have bodies.

            This may seem to be a problem, however, since Scripture does refer to God at times as though he has a body. For example, it mentions his hand and his ear (Isaiah 59:1), his eye (2 Chronicles 16:9), and his mouth (Matthew 4:4). Theologians call these “anthropomorphisms,” a word meaning “human form.” They are symbolic representations used to make God’s actions more understandable to our finite minds. But God has no material substance and he is not dependent on any material thing. He dwells in the realm of spirit.

            That has some pertinent implications for our lives. If we know, love, and serve a God who does not have material substance, it should diminish our obsession with material things. And that would make us different from the people around us, wouldn’t it? We live in a culture that continually tries to feed its desire for the things money can buy and the security money can provide. But yesterday’s luxuries become today’s necessities! And the more we get, the less it satisfies. If we ever get everything we want, we will find that none of it brings any real contentment! Are you still searching for contentment in material things or have you embraced God’s spirituality?

2.) God is Invisible

          Spirits are not seen—we cannot even see a human spirit. The most intimate of friends cannot see each other’s spirit and none of us can see God. The Apostle Paul called Him “the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), and “the King eternal, immortal, invisible” (1 Timothy 1:17).

John assured us that “no man has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). Mortal men have seen visible manifestations which God used to reveal Himself to them and to communicate with them, as when God the Son took human form in a Bethlehem manger. But they have never seen Him fully in His spiritual being. There is no way they could. Spirits are invisible.

Rather than creeping us out, this can be a very comforting truth. Because God is invisible, not only can we know him, but we can know him apart from our physical senses. We do not have to see him or feel him to know him. We have spirits too, you see. God is spirit, but we have spirits housed within our physical bodies. And when our spirits are made alive toward God through the new birth, we have the capacity to commune with him in our spirits, anytime, anywhere, and under any circumstances.

            It can be difficult for us to grasp this truth since our spirits live in physical bodies and our physical bodies inhabit a physical universe. Our preoccupation with the physical makes us try to put our relationship with God into that same realm. We want to be inspired to worship him by lavish cathedrals, great art, pleasant sounds, lovely aromas, and beautifully worded liturgies. Our human nature cries out for religious symbols, images, and pictures to help us create a mood for worship. We think we have to be in a church building and follow certain prescribed procedures. But God says, “You cannot reduce me to physical things that can be experienced with your senses. I dwell in the realm of spirit and that is where I want to meet with you.”

            Physical things may help direct our attention to God, particularly things he has made. But we meet with him in our spirits. We can enjoy him riding to work in the car, pushing the vacuum cleaner through the living room, walking from one class to another, (watching a New England Patriots’ game), or anywhere else. We can know him and enjoy him in the spiritual realm, apart from the physical senses.

3.) God is Alive and Personal

            It is quite obvious that a spirit is alive. Our God is not an inanimate object, like a pagan idol with a mouth that cannot speak, eyes that cannot see, ears that cannot hear, and hands that cannot accomplish anything (cf. Psalm 115:4-7). He is alive. The very word “spirit” also means “breath,” and breath is the evidence of life. Throughout Scripture He is called the living God (e.g. Joshua 3:10; Psalm 84:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). But a spirit is also a person, not an impersonal force which acts without purpose or reason.

            God also has the basic characteristics of personality—intellect, emotions, and will. He thinks, feels, and acts. And that is good news. Because he is a living person we can get to know him personally and communicate with him freely. If he was an inanimate object or an impersonal force there would be no hope of a personal relationship with him.

            Do you have a personal relationship with the living God? Has your spirit been regenerated so that you can interact with God, who is spirit? Do you love, worship, pray, and serve him with your spirit?

            God is spirit—that is why he must be worshiped in spirit and truth! Our worship of God does not depend on external, material, or physical things because it takes place internally in the spiritual part of our being. Worship is not primarily a matter of physical location, surroundings, form, ritual, liturgy, or ceremony. It is not a matter of creating a certain kind of mood or atmosphere or playing a certain type of music. It is a matter of spirit. Worship is the response of our spirits to God’s revelation of himself. God is spirit, may we worship him in spirit and truth together!

(Some of the material for this sermon was taken from Richard L. Strauss’ excellent sermon God is Spirit which was published on May 18, 2004 at https://bible.org/seriespage/god-spirit)

            In his letter to James Smith on December 8, 1822, Thomas Jefferson, wrote: The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God, like another Cerberus [the multi-headed dog that guards the gate to hell in Roman mythology], with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs. The Athanasian paradox that one is three and three but one, is so incomprehensible to the human mind, that no candid man can say he has any idea of it, and how can he believe what presents no idea? He who thinks he does, only deceives himself He proves, also, that man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck (Works, Vol. iv., p. 360).”

            Thomas Jefferson was one of the America’s Founding Fathers, the chief author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of our nation, but contrary to popular opinion, he was not a Christian. He was what we call a “deistic Unitarian.” He believed that there was one true God who created the universe, but he denied the doctrines of the Trinity and the deity of Jesus Christ, and disbelieved that God is personally involved with his creation. Now Jefferson was correct when he said that the doctrine of the Trinity had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands of martyrs and that it is incomprehensible to the human mind, but he was wrong when he said that no candid man can say he has any idea of it! No one can fully understand the mystery of God being one and three at the same time, but the Holy Scriptures do testify to its reality and truth.

            Even though the Bible never uses the term “Trinity,” the concept that God is a unified plurality and eternally existent in the three distinct persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is perfectly clear. In today’s sermon, I would like to present a thumbnail sketch of the Bible’s affirmation of the Trinity and its significance for our spiritual lives today.

God: A Unified Plurality in the Old Testament

            Although the great emphasis of the Old Testament is on the unity of God, there are hints of a plurality in the Godhead and suggestions that this plurality is a Trinity. As the Bible begins to unfold in the Book of Genesis, we find an interesting repetition of God referring to himself plural personal pronouns. Let me highlight three places for you:

            Genesis 1:26- Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

            Genesis 3:22- And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

            Genesis 11:7- “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

            These three references, and others like it, certainly imply that God is a plurality. When the Old Testament uses the general name for God (Elohim), is it usually a reference to God the Father. “The Spirit of God” which is used throughout the Old Testament, obviously refers to the Holy Spirit. And when we see the oft-reoccurring phrase “the angel of the Lord, most biblical scholars believe it is a reference to the pre-incarnate second person of the Trinity. His appearances in the Old Testament foreshadow his coming in the flesh. In light of all of these hints, it is fair to conclude with theologian Louis Berkhof that, “The Old Testament contains a clear anticipation of the fuller revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament.”

God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the New Testament

            As God continued to unfold his plan of redemption in history, the pivotal moment arrived at the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of the hints to God’s triune nature in the Old Testament are fully revealed in the New Testament, beginning with Christmas. God the Father’s plan to send God the Son to the earth in human form was accomplished through the overshadowing and conception by the Holy Spirit. And throughout the gospels, which reveal the life of Jesus Christ, each of the three persons of the Godhead are seen carrying out their unified yet distinctive divine roles. It would be impossible to discuss every biblical passage that displays these divine roles, but I would like to briefly highlight four New Testament passages where we see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time as co-equals.

            The first place where we see the three persons of the Godhead together is a Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13-17. Right before Jesus launched his public ministry, he went to the Jordan River to be baptized by his cousin John the Baptist. As he emerged from the water, two miracles occurred. The Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form a dove and lightning and the Father spoke the infamous words, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” All three persons participate in the baptism in preparation for God’s redemptive plan to be accomplished.

            Furthermore, at the end of Jesus’ ministry, after he was resurrected from the dead, he commissioned his disciples to carry-on his work in the world. In Matthew 28:19-20, he told them to “go and make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This baptismal formula was not coincidental, but Jesus wanted the Trinitarian expression to be a central part of his ongoing work in the world. The very names “Father” and “Son,” draw as they are from the family, the most fundamental of human institutions, indicate very strongly the distinct persons of both the Father and the Son. When the “Holy Spirit” is put in the same expression and on the same level as the other two persons, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is also viewed as a person and of equal standing with the Father and the Son.

            And finally, the introductory paragraphs of Paul’s epistle to the Romans and Peter’s first epistle, these two chief apostles mention all three persons of the Godhead as co-equals but having different roles:

            Romans 1:1-4- Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God–2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

            1 Peter 1:2– Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

            Even though the term “Trinity” is never used in Scripture, it is virtually impossible to read the whole Bible in context and deny the Holy Trinity. Ever since the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325 right up until our modern day, the Trinity has been the chief doctrine to determine a person’s or church’s orthodoxy. This is why groups like the Unitarians and Jehovah’s Witnesses, which deny the Trinity, are not considered as true Christians.

The Significance of the Trinity

            But even after hearing the biblical evidence for the triune nature of God, some of you may still be wondering why the early church was so concerned about the doctrine of the Trinity? Or you may be thinking, “Well, I affirm the doctrine of the Trinity, but I am not sure what difference it makes in my spiritual life today?” Allow me to answer these questions by highlighting two significant applications of this doctrine.

1.) The Prerequisite for Atonement

            First, the Trinity fulfills the prerequisite for the atonement! Or let me put it this way, if Jesus Christ is merely a created being and is not fully God, it would have been impossible for him to live a life of sinless perfection. And if Jesus did not live a sinless life, then he is no different from the rest of us; he would be a sinner like you and me. And if Jesus is a sinner like us, he could not bear the full wrath of God and his death on the cross could not provide atonement for our sins. And if Jesus’ death did not pay the penalty for our sins, then we are still dead in our trespasses and sins and are condemned to hell!

            So then, why is the doctrine of the Trinity so important? Because our very salvation depends upon it!

2.) The Model for Relationships

            Second, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity provides the model for human relationships. Because God himself has both unity and diversity, it is not surprising that unity and diversity is reflected in the human relationships he has established. We see this in marriage. When God created humans in his own image, “male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27). In marriage, a man and a woman remain distinct individuals, yet they are unified in body, mind, and spirit.

            Likewise, the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Godhead provides the perfect model for how we are to relate to one another. The three persons of the Godhead relate to one another in perfect love, equal respect, and mutual submission. There is no foolish pride, egotistic expectations, or selfishness desires. There is no arguing, bickering, or hurting each others’ feelings. They are always willing to sacrifice for the others.

            There is not a single one of us who doesn’t have conflict in our relationships with other people. We bear the pain of miscommunication, broken expectations, and wounded emotions, but the Trinity gives us the model for the way relationships are supposed to be. Wouldn’t you like for your relationship with your family and friends to look like the relationship that exists between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

            Allow me to conclude by praising the Triune God with the words of Saint Gregory the Greats’ sixth century hymn Father, We Praise Thee:

Father, we praise thee, now the night is over;

active and watchful, stand we all before thee;

singing, we offer prayer and meditation;

thus we adore thee.

Monarch of all things, fit us for thy mansions;

banish our weakness, health and wholeness sending;

bring us to heaven, with thy saints united;

joy without ending.

All-holy Father, Son, and equal Spirit,

Trinity blessed, send us thy salvation;

thine is the glory, gleaming and resounding

through all creation.