Andrew Fountain - Stories of a God who is Transcendent yet Humble
- Artist: Andrew Fountain
- Title: Stories of a God who is Transcendent yet Humble
- Album: Newlife Church, Toronto
- Track: 10
- Genre: God's character revealed through stories
- Year: 2013-08-18
- Length: 36:44 minutes (14.71 MB)
- Format: MP3 Stereo 44kHz 56Kbps (VBR)
Link to Video:
Stories of a God who is Transcendent yet Humble Full sermon notes - Stories of a God who is Transcendent yet Humble
- There are two seemingling contradictory qualities about God
- His distance and his closeness
- “Distance” does not really convey it, it’s more of his distance in an upwards direction.
- Theologians use the terms:
- even bigger contrast:
- God doesn’t give us this all at once
- If he told us first about his humility, we wouldn’t appreciate how amazing it was because we wouldn’t know how far he had to stoop!
- The fullest revelation of God’s humility doesn’t come until the NT with Jesus Christ.
1. Old Testament
- Let’s start by what God told us of his character in the O.T.
- what we call God’s “transcendence” —he is infinitely higher than us
- God’s response to Job
- But even in the O.T. there are hints of God’s humility:
- He walked in the Garden with Adam & Eve
- He met with Abraham and made promises to him
- He met Moses face to face and even allowed Moses to reason with him and disagree with him
- But the O.T. is like a dark and shadowy room compared with the brightness of the N.T.
- Hundreds of prophecies told of a coming age when everything would be clear
- When Ford or GM want to launch a radically new model of car…
- A few years ago there was a radically new kind of computer launched on the internet:
- First a picture of it was posted with the computer covered up
- and then every day it was shown with a bit more of it showing
- the internet was full of discussion and speculation
- finally it was all revealed
- It was the same with the coming of the Messiah
- The Jews were excited about the prophecy
- He would sit on the throne of David
- He would destroy the enemies of God
- He would restore the glory to the people of God
2. The Coming of Jesus
- and then what happened… The Coming of Jesus
- Jesus left his place at the side of God (because he is equal with God)
- was born into a very poor family, born into the dirt of an animal feeding trough
- What a shock! —so much of a shock that most of the Jews refused to believe
- Jesus is the full revelation of God.
- It is through HIM that we know what God is like
- (also Heb 1:1, 2a; 3a)
- So what was revealed when the covers were taken off?
- A wealthy and powerful king
- no, a man who had nowhere to sleep at night
- Someone who distanced himself from all but the most pure in society?
- no, a man who called himself the “friend of sinners”
- Something seems to have gone terribly wrong!!
- Is this really God’s fullest and greatest revelation of himself?
- They were offended by Jesus:
- He ate with notorious sinners
- He allowed a prostitute to wash his feet to the shock and horror of the Pharisees
- He talked to an immoral woman at Samaria, breaking three rules at once:
- Jews don’t talk to the Samaritan heretics
- Men don’t talk to women alone
- Religious leaders don’t associate with immoral sinners
- Even when he took an interest in little children, they were upset because this should have been beneath his dignity.
- Jesus told the parable of the wedding feast, where all the nice respectable people ended up not coming, and we read:
3. The Cross, and the Offence
- But then the climax of Jesus revelation of what God is like, came on the cross.
- He suffered the worst kind of indignity and shame
- The cross was calculated to bring shame and indignity of the worst kind
- But when Jesus hung naked on the cross, exposed to the ridicule of his enemies, dying out of love for his people, dying in their place,
- at that point was he most clearly revealing the true character of God!
- Are you offended by the thought of Jesus Christ, God the Son, hanging in shame on the cross?
- The Jews were offended.
- The Glory
- Yet the extraordinary truth: Jesus describes this shameful death as his glory!
- Christ brought glory to the father in many ways, but his death was the climax, the ultimate glory
- and then turn over to chapter 13, verse 30–
- and then in chapter 17:1
- Why has God chosen to reveal his glory in such a surprising way?
- Because this is actually his character and he wants it to be shown forth.
- The very character of God is not to be proud, but to be humble.
- His very character is to reach out to the unlovely and lost.
- The crucifixion was not some unfortunate but necessary aberration of God’s plan
- It was the very high point in the revelation of his glory—the God who loves and reaches out to those he loves no matter the humiliation!
- Now this truth is not only offensive to some,
- but it is hard to understand even to us who love him.
- How can God at the same time be the God whom the angels have to shield their faces to see, and the God who ate with sinners?
- It seems to be a contradiction in terms for God to be humble!
- How can the infinite creator God, awesome and majestic, be humble??
- but it is hard to understand even to us who love him.
- One of the criticisms that Muslims have of Christianity is that our God does not make sense:
- 3 persons in one, God becoming man, and so on.
- Islam is logical.
- But the very fact that we cannot completely understand God is evidence that Christianity is not a man-made religion.
- Our view of God is revealed, not man-made. We are finite and of course we cannot fully comprehend him.
- 3 persons in one, God becoming man, and so on.
- But having said that, there is a way that we can begin to see God’s awesome holiness and his humility reconciled together.
- When Jesus died, the temple veil was torn from top to bottom.
- His coming, in a way that we cannot fully understand,
- has allowed us to go freely into the presence of this awesome God. Heb 10:19-20 says:
“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, his flesh” - Does this mean we forget about God’s awesome majesty and terrifying purity?
- Of course it does not, because this aspect of God’s character is just as true, and needed to show the greatness of his humility.
4. Our Response
- So what should we do as a church to show God’s glory in this way we are commanded?
- What kind of God are we reflecting?
- Throughout history, churches have tended to emphasize one or the other, God’s humility or his transcendence.
- Which does this do?
- Back in England we have many beautiful cathedrals that were built centuries ago by a wealthy church that took money of people in grinding poverty. When people point out to me their beauty…
- We must not let go of God’s awesome majesty, but we must make every effort we possibly can to show him as the friend of sinners.
- When people come into our midst who are not clean, who carry the marks of their sin
- I have been in churches that make them very uncomforable
- we don’t see them as marring the perfection of our worship services, but as opportunities for God to be glorified.
- The biggest emphasis on our humility in the N.T. is to one another
- In John 15 he tells us that when we bear the fruit of sacrificial love for one another, it is “By this that my father is glorified”
read Philippians passage 2:5-11
Philippians 2:5–11
- You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,
- who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped, - but emptied himself
by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature. - He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
—even death on a cross! - As a result God exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name, - so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow
—in heaven and on earth and under the earth — - and every tongue confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Version: NET
- I challenge you to put this into practice
- You are bringing glory to God like nothing else, when you make yourself humble!
- We saw last week how God does not respond to pride, but to humility
- God will respond to your humble heart
- Not just an emotion (very ‘umble sir)
- A servant heart!
- So part of our response is to reflect this aspect of God to others
- But the other part is that God wants us to approach him and share with him our innermost thoughts
- He is not just the creator of the universe, but one who wants to be our dear friend and share our dreams.
- This is so extraordinary, and so wonderful that it fills our hearts with joy.
Updated on 2013-08-19 by Andrew Fountain
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