Untitled Sermon (4)

Good morning and welcome to another week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we could be joined together in worship this morning. I have a question for you this morning. Something i want you to take some time to think about.

How do you picture God?

Have you ever really thought about it. When you try to picture God in your mind how do you see him? What images come to mind. For many when they think of God they think of...

The Grandfather

They think of the old white haired man with nice beard and with flowing robes of white. This is a person of authority and power and an image that draws respect.

Some people might have the image of God as

Mean Kid with a magnifying glass

He is just there to make my life miserable. He could fix everything in less than a minute and my life would be perfect but no he just wants to watch me squirm as he gets me.

Yet, others when they picture God think of Jesus and for many when we think of Jesus we think of...

Anglo Jesus

This well kept handsome man. Now this image can come in many different forms but they all are similar with some minor changes. He might have blond hair and blue eyes, he might be brown haired. Most though picture him as a long beautiful locks of hair and a perfect beard.

Now many have pushed back on this because they think that we should represent Jesus as he probably actually was.

“Real Jesus”

Now this image is a popular one on the internet because it depicts what is thought to be the most likely representation of what Jesus would have looked like. It is based on the idea of where he came from in the world and what the population of the world looked like from skin tone, hair, and facial features there are people who feel that this is a better representation of who Jesus really was.

Is it Jesus though?

Can’t really say can we because we don’t have any pictures of Jesus. Is it possible? Sure, because the truth is that yes it matches a lot of what you would expect out of that region of the world.

Here is the real question though.

Does it matter?

Have you ever thought about it. Does it matter how you view God?

If you are saying no I have some bad news it absolutely matters. Yet, I think i may have tricked you because as the same time it doesn’t matter.

Let’s clarify the question.

Does it matter if Jesus looks like the one on the right or the one on the left? Honestly no. The physical appearance does not make one bit of difference in our understanding of who Jesus and who God is. This applies to both Jesus and to God.

However, does it matter how we see God. Absolutely. Because if we aren’t careful we can create an idolatrous image of what we want God to be.

Don’t believe me get online for a few minutes in todays world and you can find many descriptions of God that are just flat out wrong. The reality is that we have this problem that if we aren’t careful we can force onto God what we want to see and not who God really is. We can think that we are following Him but in reality we are creating an image of God that is not biblical.

How do we know than who God is and how we can view him? How should we imagine God? How should we see our relationships with him? Let’s turn to Romans...

Romans 8:14–17 NIV

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

God the Father

It is the classic and most common understanding of who God is. It is the image of Father. If we have come to faith in him and what he does for us many people turn to the classic image of God as Father. This passage helps us to frame that relationship that we share with him.

Is God only a Father though? Is that really all he is?

Let’s take a moment and be honest. Paul was and is using Earthly language to describe our relationship with God. Is God as Father always a perfect analogy. Honestly. No. For many this is a struggle and we can’t deny that. This could be because of bad relationships with earthly fathers. So the idea of God as father can come with some baggage. I don’t want to deny that but we can still see past that and recognize what is really being shared here.

The image of God the Father here is a powerful one. This is a image that opens us up to adoption into the family of God. This is the source of our inheritance. Not only that but it draws us to the intimacy of the relationship that we can share with God.

Abba Father

Paul uses this specific phrase to draw us to what it means for us when we allow the Spirit to enter into our life and the relationship that ensue because of it. We are able to call God Abba Father.

Abba Father is a very intimate way of addressing God. It is compared to the idea of a child talking to their papa or Dad. It presents an image of fondness and intimacy that we are able to address the creator of the universe in such a way. We are able to call him Papa.

The Shack

A few years ago now the book the Shack came out and it was a book of some controversy because it depected God in some unique ways. One of them was that God was presented as A large Black women. That by no means is the normal way that God is depicted for most people. One of the most important ways that the book references God though is as papa. In this story about a mans personal struggles and his relationship with God it was this image of papa that stood out. It drew me back to this passage. This reminder that God is there for us. That we can have an intimate and personal relationship with him. So much that we can share in calling him Abba.

Mark 14:36 NIV

36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Abba Father

Jesus was able to call on God and he did so as Abba Father. It was through the spirit that we are able to join in our relationship with God in such a way that we can draw closer even in the darkest of hours or in the best of hours and call on God as Abba. As Papa.

It is amazing to think about that we can have all of this. That we can be close to the creator. That we can be loved by the creator and embraced by the creator.

It was in this that i was thinking about how is this possible?

We Can draw close because of the Spirit

We are able to come to our relationship with papa because of the Holy Spirit.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today is the day that we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives. Today is an important day in the history of the church. Today is the day that the helper came to restore us and to help us in our relationship with the world and with God. Today is a day to be thankful.

I was Reading through our passage in Romans 8 and I have to admit i love this passage because it is one that is so powerful. It is a reminder of all that the Spirit does for us. It is a reminder that God wants us to be in relationship with him. Not that we have to follow a specific set of rules to come to belief but that we can engage with him because he sent his son. In fact i loved the way the message presented one section of this passage in what God did for us.

Romans 8:3–4 The Message

3 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. 4 And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.

How is the Spirit Moving?

How than is the spirit moving in your life. We have gained freedom because of Christ. He came to fix the deeper issue and not just throw a band-aid on it he came to heal and to restore. So that the Spirit could come down and transform who we are.

I can’t help but think about Peter and the other disciples ont hat day of Pentecost. Sitting in that room praying and the Spirit coming down on them and burning in them a new fire. They left the room and spread the word of God in new and exciting ways. They were transformed because they were open to the transformation that God wanted for them. They weren’t forcing their views of Jesus or of God into the situation they were trusting in the Spirit to lead and move.

I think of Saul walking down that road and he encountered Jesus. He was forever changed in that moment and later after a time of prayer and instruction he was also blessed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. It changed him and who he was. It changed him so much that he became Paul. This was man who many would have never thought could change in that way. Yet he did.

So how is the Spirit moving in your life?

What is he asking you to do this morning?

How are you opening yourself to what the Spirit is going to do in your life?

are you living for Him or for yourself?

Romans 8:11 NIV

11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

The Spirit

We are called to be changed. We are called to be made alive by his spirit. We are called to become the children of God to be able to say papa because the Spirit is so active in our lives that we are connected to Him through Jesus. It is in this moment we realize that we don’t allow ourselves to see God the way that we want to but we allow God to show us who he is and who we are. We are his children, paid for by the blood of Christ, born again through his death and ressurection, and sustained by his spirit. We are the Children of God. He is our Papa

Let’s Pray