The God Who Pursues

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “i’m new” cards in the seat in front of you, or you can text the word “Jesus” to [phone]. If you would fill that out, we would love to get in touch with you.

Today we will be beginning our series called “The Weary World Rejoices” for the Christmas season. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 807.

TRANS: Pray

Intro

Where do our beliefs about God come from? Do we only believe in God because it’s what our families believed? I wonder. If we followed Friedrich Nietzsche and pronounce the death of God in society. Would belief in God go away if we simply moved on from religion?

The simple answer is, no. Beliefs about God come from our instinct in a creator.

Researcher Debrah Keleman did a study on the development of religious beliefs in kids. They found that children, when asked about natural phenomena, favor explanations that point to a purpose. (Deborah Keleman, “Why are rocks pointy? Children’s preference for teleological explanations of the natural world,” developmental psychology 35 (1991): 1440-1453. Children had been given similar physical explanations about bits of stuff piling up as good and legitimate explanations, but warming them up to these kinds of physical explanations did not change their preference for teleological explanations.)

For example, when shown a picture of a pointy rock and asked, “why do you think the rocks were so pointy?” children favored purposeful, functional explanations such as, “they were pointy so that animals wouldn’t sit on them and smash them,” over explanations such as “ they were pointy because pits of stuff piled up on top of one another for a long time.” Favoring this sort of answer did not come from parents or teachers, they merely had a confident tendency to favor purpose over natural causes.

More questions were asked of them, and here is a summary of how children aged 7, 8, and 9 answered:

Why did the first ever bird exist?

“To make nice music”

Why did the first monkey exist?

“So that we had somebody to climb trees.”

Why did the first mountain exist? “So people can look at them and maybe get a piece of paper and draw.”

The answers from these from very early aged, unprompted, and regardless of background and culture, children revealed an instinct to point to a Designer for why the world is the way it is.

Even secular psychology reveals that we have an instinct that there is purpose and design in the world. And design comes from a Designer.

It turns out, humans do not need to be prompted to believe that a God exists. We look around in our world and see there must have been a being that designed and gave purpose to what we see.

TRANS: This instinct for God leads all of humanity to reach up to God. But we have a deep problem. All efforts, throughout history, to reach up to God fail.

The Hopelessness of Man-Made Religion

At the heart of the human experience lies the unsuccessful pursuit of reaching up to God.

There are two main reasons why these efforts fail.

Problem #1: All of humanity cannot agree on who “god” is.

There are hundreds of religions.

People who believe in their religion insist on its truth. But not everyone can be right.

This buffet line of religious beliefs leads many to conclude, “no one can figure it out.”

How can we “reach up to God” if we don’t even know who God is?

Problem #2: We are unworthy before perfection.

Baked into life is the reality of imperfection. Yet we know when it comes to the divine, words like “perfection” “holiness” and “transcendence” come to mind. We are not good enough to be in the light if we carry with us darkness.

This is why different religions emphasize various strategies to overcome this problem. Personal sacrifice, penance, meditation, a life of service to others, etc. But we underestimate our problem. After all of these strategies, our unworthiness remains. “A little levin levins the whole lump” as it were.

At the end of the day, all of our efforts fail. We need a solution.

TRANS: This sets us up for the text today. We are weary from trying to reach up to God, but there is great reason for rejoicing. As we look back on this moment in history 2,000 years ago, we find the announcement that solves this problem of hopelessness.

The Announcement

God has come down to us.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 2. As we heard in the first part of Luke 2, we see Jesus being born in a manger in Bethlehem. So picking up in verse 8, we see the announcement being made to a group of shepherds.

Luke 2:8–14 ESV

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Do not be afraid. Gospel is coming, good news. Gospel elicits joy, not fear. Joy is the inward feeling of happiness and contentment that bursts forth in rejoicing and praise. Joy comes not just to lowly shepherds or isolated parents far from home. Joy comes to all people. In the most unlikely place amid the most unlikely spectators, God brushed aside the world’s fears and provided the world reason for joy (cf. Isa. 9:3).11 Trent C. Butler, Luke, vol. 3, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 29.

The one true God, the one who stepped into history, is a pursuing God.

Our Joyful Hope

Jesus pursues us because of His grace.

Luke 2:15–21 ESV

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Remember our two problems: humanity cannot agree on who God is, and we are unworthy before perfection.

The coming of Jesus solved both problems.

If you wonder what God is like, study the life of Jesus. He has revealed his divine nature to us through his life and ministry. And what was his message? Come. Follow Him.

But that leaves the second problem: our unworthiness. This is true. We cannot achieve perfection, nor can we make ourselves perfect once we have sinned. Thank goodness, we are not required to do that on our own. God makes us worthy, through Jesus, by faith. In celebrating Christmas, we are necessarily looking forward to what Jesus would do on Easter.

Biblical scholar N.T. Wright, said,

If it hadn’t been for Easter, nobody would ever have dreamed of celebrating Christmas.

N. T. Wright, John for Everyone Part 2

LANDING

The children in that study answered, “why are rocks pointy?” “so animals won’t sit on them and crush them.” We have an instinct for purpose, for attributing design to a designer. Your “designer” Jesus, came down to earth to redeem this dark and broken world back to himself. Your designer, wants you to know Him. This is why His coming was the ultimate gift. But it is a gift that must be received.

Have you trusted in Jesus? If not, why? God has revealed himself to you, and you know how to stand in renewed relationship with Him. Lay down your arms, put aside your pride, and receive Him.