Who "I AM" - Soverign
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A look back...
A look back...
Over the last two months or so we have attempted to dissect and parse God and God’s word into various compartments and boxes. We may have said that God acts in such and such a way in this or that circumstances.
Last week we began to look more globally, more big picture when we look at God’s wisdom as an attribute that God can and does share with us, if we ask.
Ultimately, all of the attributes of God
Infinite
Immense
Goodness
Just
Mercy
Grace
Love
Perfection
Omnipotence
Holiness
Happen all at the same time and in perfect rhythm with each other, in the way that only God knows.
and this week Sovereignty, God’s Sovereignty.
If you are a theology geek, you might think that we spend the rest of time together talking about our friends, John Calvin and Jacob Arminius. WE ARE NOT GOING TO DO THAT.
Because God’s Sovereignty is bigger than either of those two men and is really is the most important part of that discussion.
Ultimately all of God’s attributes, all of His character, all of His ethics and all of who He is expressed in the person and work of His son, Jesus Christ.
When we look at God’s Sovereignty through these lens. We get a different picture.
What did Jesus come to do? How did He do it? What was his best method to reach people.
Jesus ultimately is the direct image of God in our world. Jesus came to earth to bring God’s Kingdom back to earth.
Jesus… Loved, Jesus Healed, Jesus Redeemed. That is what God sent him to do… And he did it and then gave it to us to do.
Some of those Godly attributes can be shared with us… His humans...
This idea of Sovereignty is so big that is virtually impossible to identify. We don’t want to operate outside good biblical principles but that is our task today. Operate in a world that by in large does not believe in God.
Let’s provide a GOOD definition for the term to work from:
Divine Sovereignty refers to God’s, all-encompassing rule over the entire universe.
This is totally unique in any culture. More often than not we think by some fashion that we are in charge of ourselves and our “little” world.
Well… we are NOT!!
We MUST relay on Christ who God gave us...
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The divine sovereign God is a central theme throughout all of scripture. God delegates authority, establishes Kings and kingdoms and brings ruin to MANY OF THOSE THAT FAIL TO SUBMIT TO HIS AUTHORITY.
The Bible presents Yaweh as the Creator God, with the sovereign right to rule of all creation.
OPEN YOUR BIBLES, PAPER BIBLE ON YOUR PHONE OR LAPTOP TO PSALMS 104.
2 He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent
3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.
4 He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.
5 He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 But at your rebuke the waters fled, at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;
8 they flowed over the mountains, they went down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them.
9 You set a boundary they cannot cross; never again will they cover the earth.
10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains.
11 They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
12 The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches.
13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth:
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
He is over the earth
2 How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!
He rules all nations...
8 God reigns over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.
Even foreign gods recognize the power of Yaweh or God. Nebuchadnezzar was evil in the sight of God. But yet this what he said...
2 It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me.
3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.
King Darius later in the book of Daniel
26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.
And finally,
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
If you have any doubts about who’s sandbox this is I hope that this has helped orient you to a Biblical World View.
New Testament - God’s Sovereignty
New Testament - God’s Sovereignty
In the New Testament God’s Sovereignty is revealed through the presence of Christ.
… who is bringing in a “New Kingdom” for us to occupy.
We are a part of that kingdom only by faith in Christ.
This is the same Christ that is as gentle as a newborn lamb, as the Savior who will reach down to heal the lame, sick, those with a withered hand and those simply needing freedom from their particular situation.
This is the same Jesus that is our brother, our friend, is our confessor, our agitator and our Sovereign Lord.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Jesus embodies the God of scripture, the God of the Old Testament, The God of the Covenant, The God of New Covenant, The God of the New Testament rests on the shoulders of Jesus.
BIG IDEA: How do we fit into God’s Sovereignty in this world/for this world?
The idea here is not to confuse or distract you but to focus you.
I will always pick sound verses, sound theological arguments and ideas that I have prayed over for your consideration.
Jesus invites many to be a part of the Kingdom of God, large groups and small groups.
Jesus expels demons as a result of His Kingdom drawing near.
28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
The “Kingdom of God” comes to those who have an encounter with God, His Son and His Spirit.
Jesus demonstrated the power and reality of God’s Sovereignty and made God the Father’s will a single focused when he taught us to pray.
10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus was obedient to His Father’s voice when Jesus went to the cross for the sin of world.
If Jesus could/would do that for us… It should not inspire us to figure out what our part in this is?
Here is part of the direction for us.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
If we know Jesus and we know His will...
That we should become his ambassadors on earth...
If we don’t know His will then someone needs to come alongside you and help you discover His will for us.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Your job is this is… be ready in season and out of season to bring to Good News to those who need to here those words.
Specifically our job is
Making disciples
Maturing disciples
Multiplying disciples
We participate is God’s Sovereignty for the earth by making, maturing, and multiplying disciples.
It’s God’s will that we all be in a redemptive relationship with him through His son Jesus. Jesus is the only way to Heaven. The only way!
How will they know… unless we tell them… How will we tell them unless we know???
In the coming age, our relationship with Christ is going to be vital...
Evil will be destroyed.
20 But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
It will be cast forever into the Lake of Fire.
Now is when it gets interesting...
New Heaven and New Earth
New Heaven and New Earth
Because of Jesus obedience to His father and our obedience to Jesus in following him, in making, maturing and multiplying disciples we will live in the New Heaven and New Earth.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
WE HAVE A GREAT BIG QUESTION TO ANSWER:
How do we fit into God’s Sovereignty in this world/for this world?
God’s Sovereignty is given to Jesus as a part of the triune, the trinity of God.
It was given to Jesus to implement, to encourage, to give life to the Sovereignty of God for us, his people and for the many who are NOT his people.
Those can include our family members
Those we call friends and neighbors
The residents of the world… who have yet to here the name of Jesus in their own language.
Because of our relationship with Christ… That we acknowledge Him and Savior and Lord of our lives.
WE become part of God’s Sovereignty here on earth.
NO we are not Sovereign… Only God and Jesus are Sovereign.
But we are in a CLOSE personal relationship with the one who is sovereign.
We participate in the Sovereignty of God as given to Jesus so that many millions of those who so desperately in need of Jesus have a opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel in a unique and personal way.
Of course that involves us!!! Jesus is going to defer to us in the going and introducing ourselves to ordinary people.
You don’t have to say ONE WORD about Jesus...
Take the time to know them. We difficulty or tragedy strikes pray that they turn to you.
When they do, gently tell them that you know a Savior who can take all of this pain, all of their guilt, all of their disappointments and to leave them behind.
I often wonder… coming back to Gospel as I’m in a habit to do… Is it distraction, Is it predictable, should I no longer do it?
As our failed, yet chosen brother Paul would say… May it never be!
In closing… I thought it was VERY important to NOT discuss Sovereignty from an academic point of view. But from a God and Jesus point of view.
It can be a distraction. A distraction from the heart of the matter.
I believe the Heart of the Matter is...
God is Sovereign, only God... He allows us, that are in a relationship with Jesus to participate with him in bringing the Kingdom of God to the earth.
By adding to the Kingdom of God we are satisfying the call in our lives to be faithful stewards of what we have been given.