Aseity of God (Part 2)

Our goal as a church in preaching this sermon series is that we might Behold our God so that we can increase our faith in His abilities to govern the world that we find ourselves in. There are plenty of hardships that could at any moment shipwreck our lives. I don’t need to list off the things going on in our world right now in order to convince you that these days are hard. It is clear without my explanation.

Well in a world that has hard stuff, it is very possible that the vessel that we conduct our lives in might scrape up against some things that might gash us leave us frantically trying to bail out water from our sinking ship. If it is up to our ability to keep the water out we will quickly run out of energy and sink.

What we need is to be guarded by the understanding, that even if we go down in an angry sea, that God is still with us. And since He is with us even there, then it can be considered gain. Like the psalmist in the depths of the sea, or Jonah in the sea creatures body or Daniel in the fiery furnace. Location doesn’t seem to matter, Who your with does. That is why Paul and Silas sing hymns at midnight in a jail cell.

Well how do you do you get there? Well you need to increase your faith. Now some might object and say, “Hey didn’t Jesus say if we have faith the size of a mustard seed that mountains could be thrown in the sea? It seems to me that we don’t need much faith for it to be affective.” I would say that you are right, but you need a faith that is based on a true understanding of who our God really is…and for all of us in this room or listening online, we need our “faith” to increase in that way.

We want to increase our faith.

Art Azerdia Do you wish to be a more consistently obedient, steadily persevering Christian? A stronger Christian? A more courageous and outspoken Christian? Then you need to strengthen your faith! Your faith instinctively strengthens in direct proportion to the expansion of the object of your faith! You expand your understanding of the object of your faith and faith itself will obediently follow The object of your faith--if indeed you are a Christian--is Jesus Christ and all of his promises Is your faith weak? It is owing to the fact that you don't know the object of your faith well enough But when Jesus Christ becomes progressively bigger, or better yet, your understanding of who he is progressively conforms to reality, your faith will become increasingly stronger But how does that happen? By immersing yourself in the faith-arousing Word of God.

We must Behold Our God. This is what we are trusting God for in this sermon series. Our hope is that you marvel at Him.

Last time I was with you we spoke on God’s aseity. That is God’s existence. We clearly identified that He is beyond us. We tried to come up with a fitting simile for Him and I offered a very sacrilegious explanation how all things find their purpose for their existence is to bring God glory. All things. You might think to yourself, I don’t want to glorify God. I got news for you. You will as you recieved the just punishment your cosmic crimes deserve. God will be glorified in administering the appropriate punishment you deserve for basically spitting in his face. All things will bring God glory because all things are completely dependent on Him for their existence.

He is not like anything…all things must find their purpose and fulfillment in Him. All things are dependent for sustenance upon the One who is Self-sustaining. He supplied time and energy and space and as Paul tells the Colossians.

Colossians 1:17 ESV

17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

This is the case. All things are dependent upon Him and He is not dependent on anything or anyone and today I want to share with you why that is really good news for us. How?

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that He isn’t dependent upon you for anything.

This reality should completely free you to love Him and serve Him with your whole life.

Why is it Good News that God is not dependent on you for anything?

Do you ever feel like you are being pulled in a thousand directions and needing to take care of a thousand responsibilities? Now it’s not bad to have have responsibilities. This is how God made us. We see this reality in the first few chapters of Genesis when we are charged to exercise dominion over whole creation. So we are shackled with responsibility left and right (work, family, citizenship, church, friendships) we HAVE to give to these various relationships or responsibilities in order for them to be successful, but it can exhaust us and frustrate us. All things seem to be vying for our attention but Jesus says to us,

Matthew 11:28–29 ESV

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Let me give you rest. You don’t need to do anything but to come and collapse. He doesn’t need anything from you. He is not dependent on you doing X, Y or Z. Balaam was hired by Barak to do that which God did not intend, that is to curse God’s people and when he went on his merry way God opened up a donkeys mouth to rebuke Him. That tells me that any old donkey can do that which God has called or not called humans to do! You can substitute any synonym for donkey to get a more shocking punchline!

God absolutely does not need you. You aren’t doing God any favors with your skills and abilities. Now that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t desire or want something from you like your love and affectionate service…but there is a vast chasm between that which is a need and a that which is a want.

Have you ever tried to explain the difference between a need and a want to a kid. They might say… “I need .... I need...”

You are like, “um…no you don’t need that…you want that.”

Spaceballs - There’s a part where Lone Star tells Princess Vespa to pack lightly for their walk through the desert.  They discover she has decided to take something that is clearly not necessary while crash landing in a dusty dry dessert.

LONE STARR: What’s this?  I said take only what you need to survive.

PRINCESS VESPA: It’s my industrial strength hair dryer.  And I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT IT!

LONE STARR: Okay, princess.  That’s it.  The fairy-tale is over.  Welcome to real-life.  You want this hot-air machine?  You carry it.

God doesn’t need us, we need Him and the sooner we realize that, the sooner we can start living more purpose filled lives that that are marked with joy and peace and freedom! Sound good? Ya…I thought so.

So let’s go to a place in Scripture where we see this liberating message proclaimed to a people for the first time and see how they react to it and let’s see what might happen to us.

Acts 17:16–17 ESV

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Acts 17:18–19 ESV

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

Acts 17:20–21 ESV

20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Acts 17:22–24 ESV

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,

Acts 17:25–27 ESV

25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,

Acts 17:28–29 ESV

28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

Acts 17:30–31 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Let’s pray.

I want to talk through this passage of Scripture and notice a few things with you all.

Paul was provoked. (v 16)

Acts 17:16 (ESV)

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.

Paul just happened to be here. He wasn’t intending to be in Athens, but he ended up there. The reason he was there was because he had to flee for his life from people who didn’t like what he was preaching. Paul had to flee from Thessalonica and he went to Berea. Now the Berean’s were more receptive too what Paul was preaching, but Jews from Thessalonica heard he was preaching there so, they traveled to go cause him some more trouble to the point that the brothers in Berea were concerned for his wellbeing to the degree that the put Paul on a ship heading to Athens. So Paul found himself in Athens even though that was not his intentions.

Paul wasn’t intending to be in Athens but never-the-less he ended up there. How do you react when things don’t go according to your plans? Why?

That can be frustrating right? When you intend to do something else, but it doesn’t work…and then you feel like you are waisting time? It is easy to get mad at all your surrounding circumstances. Seems justifiable right?

Well Paul does get frustrated, but not because he was alone in Athens, but because when he looked around, he saw people that were putting there trust and hope and faith in things that could never satisfy them. So Paul is “provoked.” He isn’t provoked with his circumstances, he looked outside himself and loved people enough to be frustrated to action for other peoples benefit.

Undoubtedly he is provoked by his situation but there is a bigger provocation introduced into his life. “City was full of idols.”

Have you sensed that things aren’t right in the world these days? Do you feel it? Have you witnessed people utilizing God-substitutes in their lives? Live with any of them? Are you one of them?

Paul was “provoked” in his spirit. That word means to have severe emotional concern, or to be upset.

What “idols” do you see in our culture? (Acts 17:16)

Do you experience any ounce of emotional concern over people who are worshiping idols? Not concern for yourself because you have to put up with them or live by them, but emotional concern on behalf of them. I can’t sleep at night because of my genuine concern for there well fair. They are living life apart from the true God. Paul was provoked and...

Paul was propelled. (v 17)

Acts 17:17 (ESV)

17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.

Look what Paul does! He “reasons” with people. The word is διαλέγομαι. He cares enough about them that he starts formally talking with them. He doesn’t just walk away frustrated. He doesn’t just preach and walk away either. He engages in dialogue so that he can understand there reasoning and then after understanding them, he is able to constructively engage in true Gospel proclamation. (we will see that here in a few verses).

And he did this “every day.” He stuck with it. And he wasn’t selective. He did this with whoever happened to be there. This is beautiful. This is a life on mission. This is life lived on purpose even though things weren’t going according to plan.

The work of God is not dependent on things going according to your plans. Remember God doesn’t need you. Paul was provoked and propelled to speak and that resulted in him being ridiculed.

When was the last time you engaged in a meaningful, intention conversation about God with someone who did not know the true God of Scripture? Acts 17:17

Paul was ridiculed. (v 18)

Acts 17:18 (ESV)

18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.

So Paul goes about God’s business and educated people call him names. According to those who had worldly knowledge, Paul was a “babbler.”

Have you ever been made fun of for your faith in Jesus? Acts 17:18

According to them Paul was not able to say anything worthwhile. In their perspective, Paul just had a miscellaneous collection of tidbits of information.

Look what he was talking about. “Because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.”

He was preaching what we call the basics of the Gospel and they say, “He’s crazy.”

Why is it crazy? Why would learned people come to this conclusion? Well, think about the Gospel for a moment…this is so compelling. It has been engrained in us since birth that you get what you deserve. You want that promotion, go out and earn it. You want to get an A in Math, go to study hall. Do you want to excel in sports, practice. Then the Gospel shows up and says do you want to experience favor with God…ok…that is by grace through faith to be recieved as a gift so that you can’t take any credit for it. (WHAT???)

That just doesn’t compute. That is like an invalid code. It doesn’t fit. That code won’t unlock your Iphone or android and since it doesn’t fit…it makes the message very unique and compelling.

Paul was babbling on about Jesus and the Resurrection and they ridicule him but their interests are also peaked.

Acts 17:19–20 (ESV)

19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”

The message of the Gospel will sound strange but it isn’t up to us to reason people into the kingdom. We can explain it and share it but it is God that causes the new birth. And so what does Paul do after collecting some data on the Athenians? He preaches an applicable message.

Paul preached. (v 22-31)

This sermons is so good. The content is captivating. One of my first classes at Moody Bible Institute was a class called, “Teaching the Bible.” We used a book called Creative Bible Teaching and it instructed us to use a strategy called: Hook - Book - Look - Took. (explain)

To my surprise, as I was looking at the structure of Paul’s message this week, what I saw was Hook, Book, Look, Took.

The Hook (v. 22-23)

Acts 17:22–23 (ESV)

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Undoubtedly the Athenians would have been hooked by this opening. They would be like, “Yes we are “very religious” and in “every way.”

Athens was political and intellectual capital of the Attic region of Greece. Even the name “Athens” is derived from Greek mythology based on the goddess Athena who happened to be the legendary goddess of war, weaving, and wisdom, or what some would called “applied knowledge.” This is where the Parthenon was built 5 centuries before Jesus even walked on the planet. Paul is going to walk in and say, “Hey let me introduce you to this “unknown God.” Let me “proclaim” something about Him to you!

This is quite the hook.

Now, notice a side note with this with me. This introduction tells me that there is a way to be religious, and religious in every way and still not know God. I can’t help but shoot this out like a cannon shot time and time again especially in a place like Lynden, Washington.

I hope, like the Athenians, you are hooked because what comes up next is shocking.

The Book (v. 24-25)

Now Paul doesn’t take them to a physical book like I can, but what he does do is tell them the content of Genesis 1 and 2.

Acts 17:24–25 (ESV)

24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Basically, God made everything, including you and He, being God, absolutely is not dependent on you for anything!

This undoubtedly put the Athenians pride under foot! This is so compelling because the current contemporary thought of the day was that according to Greek mythology…these god’s needed to be appease and coaxed into doing things for their worshippers!

You had to jump through all the appropriate hoops in order to get your little false god to do something for you. The gods will serve you, but only if you do things the right way. If that is the case…who is serving who? In this scenario, humans are basically the god figures. We pull the strings in the universe to get it to give us what we want. We call the shots out to the gods to accomplish our desires. This is the opposite of the way our Lord taught us to pray. This is our wills be done, not Thy will be done.

Paul wrecks this ideology in one long sentence. God made everything and He is Lord and He doesn’t need you, rather you are dependent completely on Him.

As it turns out, there is a God and you aren’t Him.

Is it possible that this Athenian mindset about God is alive and well in Lynden today? Where religious systems are in our paths that give us a sense of favor from God because we have jumped through all the right hoops and over all the hurdles to supposedly win his favor through our own efforts?

The Holy Spirit of God speaks through the preaching ministry of this pulpit today, “May that never be the case here at 586 Birch Bay Lynden Road.” You and I can never do Him any favors to win His favor.

Are there any sins that you need to confess and repent of? Acts 17:30-31

God does not need you to prop Him up, because He never falls down like all the false god’s Isaiah once preached against. God does not need you, you need Him and thankfully Paul gets to this next as he asks us to look at Jesus.

The Look (v. 26-29)

And now we begin our journey toward Jesus and we will arrive there and have to deal with Him in our next section.

But in this section we start making our way towards him as Paul begins to unpack what the “book” says.

Acts 17:26–29 ESV

26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.

If we took more time to look at this we would discover a world of wonderfulness, but we will just skim the surface and simply notice a few things.

1. God is complete control of everything.

2. God made every person.

3. God allotted the time and space for each person to occupy in history.

4. God is “everywhere present” in His creation like Pastor Danny preached on last week. He isn’t far from any of His creations and since that is the case we can seek Him anywhere and everywhere…not just in some distant temple or for us here in Lynden, one of the 29 other church buildings in town.

5. We are God’s offspring meaning we are made in His image, meaning although He is way beyond us in His aseity, He is relatable to us because we are made in His image.

You were created in His image. He is the first uncaused cause and your existence was the result of His ambitions, you are dependent upon Him. But you are so very broken and have fallen so short, but God in His extreme benevolence has provided a way for you to experience that which is so far beyond you…and now we arrive at the story of Jesus.

The Take Away (v. 30-31)

This is a breathtaking takeaway. You must respond to this message. A non-response IS a response, it is a rejection of its life giving reality. A non-response to this is asking for a whole heap of judgment to be poured out on you that you absolutely cannot stand up under. It will crush you and crush you for eternity. You ready? Here we go.

Acts 17:30–31 (ESV)

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Do you see this? What boldness! No wonder the Thessalonians were coming after him. This is offensive. What he says to those who are considered their town the epicenter of religious thought and philosophical expression, he says to those people, “you are ignorant of the truth, but now you will be accountable to what I have just proclaimed to you about Jesus.” “Ya you may think I am just a babbler, but in actuality I just told you is the bedrock of truth.” The ones hearing this message, who prided themselves on their own personal or cultural philosophies on what the Divine Being was like, are no longer ignorant of the reality and now they must reckon with the reality of needing to repent.

That means “change the way you think” about the way that you relate with God and then act accordingly to that new thought process.

This applies to “all people, everywhere.” There is no one who has ever walked on this planet that will be able to escape the responsibility to respond to this call.

REPENT! REPENT! CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK ABOUT HOW YOU RELATE TO GOD until it corresponds accordingly to the way that God has indicated.

You don’t relate to God on your terms. You and God don’t have some sort of personal side deal going. You relate to God on His terms because the perfect Son of God was slayed on your behalf and for your benefit. He was killed, buried and then raised to newness of life. He did this for you. You can’t do this for Him. It took someone who was sinless to be sacrificed to “appease” God and you aren’t.

He was killed, buried and then raised to newness of life for you and if you don’t have that glorious Gospel truth embraced by the totality of your faith, if you are trusting in that, plus a little bit of your “good works,” realize this…it is a complete rejection of the work of Jesus and as a result you will be killed and buried and eventually raised to face judgement and condemnation. Eternally and with your full conscience awareness.

Why wouldn’t you take that which is being offered to you freely?

This is quite the take away. Try to find this way of relating to the Divine Being in any other world religion and you will search and never find it. This is part two of God’s aseity. God’s absolute uniqueness should attract us to Him.

We should crave the closeness of our infinite and transcendent God and the Good News for us today is that we can cling to Jesus who is Himself, the image of the invisible God.

John 1:18 ESV

18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

The God who cannot be seen, became the God who could be touched in Jesus Christ. The God who dwelt in unapproachable light, came down so that we might have light and be able to reach out and grab hold of the corners of his garments so like the woman who is subject to bleeding for 12 years and then healed.

You must let God BE God in your life…otherwise all your other god substitutes will leave you frustrated and dissatisfied and empty.

As Augustine once said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”

So hear the clear call all extended to all the inhabitants of Athens and Lynden and all throughout the globe, “O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory great things He has done.”

Benediction

His absolute uniqueness with either draw us to Him like moths to a flame only to get destroyed and consumed by Him and His holiness or we will be so captivated by the splendor of His holiness that we will make beholding it our one and only controlling passion. We will pursuit it even if we have to “die to self.”