Character of God
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Surfside Condemned (enough blame to go around).
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
Luke 6:39 (FSB): The reference to blindness likely refers to living out of self-interest rather than love for others (Luke 6:37–38). Those who lead God’s people must embody and display His sacrificial love.
What are your foundational issues that you turn a blind eye to out of self interest?
Rather than dealing with the crumbling infrastructure of your faulty behavior, motivations, perspective, and beliefs.
When we turn a blind eye to our faulty behavior, motivations, perspectives, and beliefs we are blindly leading our marriages to collapse, our families to explosion, our grand children will evacuate because they see the impending condemnation of our blind eye.
But when we are blind to our true condition, we settle for Self Interest and moral patrol. We create enemies! When they speak of the cracks in our foundation, since we are blind, we hear enemies!
Self Interest Turns People With a Different Vantage Points (perspectives) Into Enemies.
Let me give this example from Luke 6, I have to read between the lines. That is look at the context of the last several chapters and the next few chapters of Luke. But in doing so I get this perspective.
The backdrop of Jesus‘ cultural setting is one I think we can be familiar with.
The people find themselves between the pressure of many political forces.
Groups who want to restore somethings…
Groups who want to simply use the story, the brand, of what God has done to advance their own cause.
Militant groups who are frustrated with both of those groups, they are tired of patience and politics so they are going to do things by force.
Leaders on every side are distorting the teachings of scripture for political and commercial gain.
Again, the people find themselves forced to deal with the conflict. They live in the middle and they are the true prize, the capital for each of these groups. You see, these groups can throw rdhectic and money at issues, but what they really need is the heart of the people. They can’t truly have power unless they have the people.
So they set people against people!
JESUS STEPS IN AND SAYS TO THE PEOPLE… DON’T FOLLOW BLIND GUIDES. BUILD ON A WISE FOUNDATION.
JESUS TEACHES:
BUILD ON A WISE FOUNDATION
CONFESS THAT YOU HAVE FOUNDATIONAL ISSUES
THERE ARE CRACKS
THERE ARE MATERIAL ISSUES: BUILDING WITH FAULTY MATTERIALS LEADS TO COLLAPSE
TURN TO THE SURE FOUNDATION: JESUS
TRUST and OBEY JESUS
BE LIKE THE TEACHER:
Disciples of Jesus DO NOT Make Enemies!
We have enemies, but we don’t make enemies.
Disciple of Jesus strive to be like the teacher… What does that mean?
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
The Character of God is foundational to disciples behavior.
Jesus points out characteristics of a disciple… But where is he getting these qualities? Be merciful like your Father is merciful.
Be like your Father… what is the Father like… Where is Jesus getting this from?
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
God cries out in verse 6, “Yahweh! Yahweh!” And then he spells out the meaning of that name in words whose sweetness has never been surpassed, not even in the New Testament:
God humbly comes directly to us, to make his mercy crystal clear. He piles phrase upon phrase to lay open his heart of love.
The character of God is like the overflowing dump truck of foundational material for our deficiencies.
The character of God is like the overflowing dump truck of foundational material for our deficiencies.
It’s Like Building In Florida… Have you witnessed the building that’s going on around us? Must mean it’s time to prepare for change!!! BUT THAT IS FOR A DIFFERENT TIME.
Have you noticed what construction of a firm foundation, up to the code of Florida requires? Dumb trucks of foundational material. Before they can even begin to worry about the building, the concrete, rebar, and steel, they have to prepare the ground.
They bring in dumb trucks full of outside materials, because the materials that are present won’t do the :
God’s character raises and solidifies our foundational deficiencies.
God’s character raises and solidifies our foundational deficiencies.
He needs to raise our elevation.
He needs to solidify our weakness.
packs, raises, and solidifies our foundational deficiencies.
The Character of God:
The Character of God:
Merciful and Gracious
Merciful and Gracious
Slow to anger
Slow to anger
abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.
The character of God is like the overflowing dump truck of foundational material for our deficiencies:
The Character of God is the foundation of Jesus’ behavior.
The Character of God is the foundation of disciples behavior.
The Character of God is the foundation of disciples behavior.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
Loving, doing good, blessing, and praying for those who are our enemies assumes a reality, that you are in relationship with those your enemy.
The ability to be struck on the cheek means we are in striking distance and have risked making the effort to have contact.
Disciples are not blind, but they have new perspective. New sight, corrected by the Mercy, Grace, Slow Anger, overflowing loyal love and faithfulness, and future building love of God.
We can’t make enemies because:
Because we can not have access to the hearts of enemies.
Enemies don’t love each other, they despise and kill each other. It goes back to attitudes!
When we make someone an enemy, we shut down our heart in defensiveness
They shut down their heart.
When you identify an enemy what do you do?
Get close enough to to get hurt.
Extend grace and mercy.
Slow Righteous Anger. Controlled and measured anger.
Let the loyal love and faithfulness of Christ sustain you.
Live to Forgive, release enemies from sin and transgressions and unfair behavior.
The Foundation of our trust is Jesus obedience to God. He fulfills what we can not. He offers us a new foundation through the cross and the new life of resurrection. He gives us the new character of God when we die to our old self.
I close with this reminder and invitation. Jesus Christ came into the world to confirm that God is just who he said he was on Mount Sinai—“a God merciful and gracious slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Turn from your sin this morning, trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, and you will find a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea.
If somebody demands of you (or perhaps you demand of yourself): How do you know that’s the way God is? you can answer, because Jesus Christ lived it and sealed it with his blood.