The God of the Ladder

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT GOD?

INTRODUCTION

Today I would like to share with you a simple message with an important question at the center and that is: What do you think when you think about God. It is very important that we answer that question because what we think about God will ultimately reveal what we think God thinks about us.

So in essence I am asking you what do you think God thinks about you. Have you considered that maybe you have made up your mind about what you think God thinks about you and that maybe that is wrong?

I feel like maybe some of us feel can’t wrap our heads around the question so let me give you some examples:

Most people see God as absent.

You see there aren’t that many people who are actually true atheist in the sense of the word. Most people can see how there has to be an intelligent designer of some form that created the world because there are too many things that are clearly not a product of time and evolution (The woodpecker. The universe. The mind of a man).

So most people see the God as absent which means that they believe that, yes there is a possibility of a creator, but if he exist he is not interested about us and how we go about our lives.

So to them God is uninterested in them. here is a question I would like to ask you: Do you think God is uninterested in you?

Second there are many who do not see God as absent. They believe in God, but they have a very pessimistic view of Him.

Many people see God as an auditor.

An auditor is a person who is hired to find problems. Cedar point has audits, which means that they hire people to inspect the equipment to make sure that it is in working order and to give them a list of things that they must work on or else the ride would be shut down. The auditor’s job is actually to find mistakes and problems.

Many people see God as an auditor with a clipboard who is making a note of every single one of our flaws, mistakes, and shortcomings. To them, when they think about God, they are anxious, afraid, or even exhausted because they fee like they simply don ‘t make the cut.

In essence, they think God thinks they are only worthy of judgment. Therefore they don’t approach God, or pray much, and they just try to avoid him. They have hard time connecting with God because they feel exposed by the fact that He is holy and He is perfect and we are not.

Many people think of God and think of a ladder

In other words, they see God as so holy and so good and so unapproachable from where they are at. So they think that what they have to do is work to get to God. So getting to God is like climbing a ladder of good works. First step I will pray. Second step I will go to church. Third step I will read my bible. fourth step I will have Christian friends. five steps I will listen to Christian Music. Six step I will witness. Seventh, I will fast. Eighth , I will seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit…. and on and on and on….

The only problem is that the more steps they take the more steps they see in front of them and they never feel like they are able to do enough to actually be secure in their salvation and believe they are right with God.

In essence they try to get to God with their works and realize that never enough is the theme song of their lives.

So what do you think when you think about God and what do you think God thinks about you?

Now before you answer those very serious questions, why don’t we go to the Word and see what Scripture says to us about those two questions.

I mean, we should actually go to the source Himself so that we would know once and for all right? That way we don’t have to wonder if we will have eternal punishment or eternal life. We can know.

Here is what Scripture says. For that I would like to read two stories. One found in Genesis and the other found in John.

English Standard Version Chapter 28

Jacob’s Dream

10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. 11 And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. 12 And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! 13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

SCRIPTURE IN CONTEXT

Jacob is running for his life because his brother hates him. Jacob is not a good guy. He is a thief and a deceiver. Nothing about Jacob so far is good.

In his dream he sees a ladder set up on the earth that reaches to heaven and the angels were going up and coming down from the ladder. That reveals that God is involved and interested.

On the top of the ladder is God. God speaks to Jacob and tells Jacob that He has chosen him for his grand plan for the world.

So the ladder is symbolic of God of getting from heaven to earth. From heaven to us.

In the NT Scripture, Jesus is choosing His disciples. Phillip invites Nate who is very critical of Phillip.

“Can anything good come from the hood.” Nazareth was considered bad because of it being filled with a mixed crowd and filled with idolatry.

When Jesus sees Him, He says something that makes Nate question, “How do you know me.”

Jesus then revealed something to Nate that only God and Nate knew. So much so that Nate said, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God!”

Jesus responded with, “If that is enough to convince you… wait to you see what you are going to see. You will see heaven opened and the angels of God coming down and going up on me. So Jesus declares himself to be a ladder. Not just any ladder, the ladder Jacob saw. The ladder that gives us access to God.

So what does all of that mean for us

God is a God of revelation

Here is something that is very true about what the scriptures reveal to us about God. God is a God who wants to reveal Himself even when people are not seeking Him, but even more so when people are seeking Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Matthew 7:7 ““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Isaiah 55:1–7 ““Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

God is present and interested in you.

We cannot get to God so God came to us.

By our works we could not get to God. If we are sinful like Jacob we are not good enough to get to God. If we are a person who lives a righteous life like Nathanael, we still cannot get to God by our righteousness.

He was not okay with that reality so He did something about it. What He did was outrageous.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

The son that God loved became that sin that God hates so that we can be made right with God.

Place your Faith in Jesus and not yourself.

Colossians 3:1–4 “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Here is what you need to know about God and what He thinks about you:

God thinks that you matter so much that He made away to get to you when you couldn’t get to Him. God loves you so much that he paid the price you could not pay. God is so interested in you that he knows your intimate thoughts.