We Want To See God
WE WANT TO SEE GOD
TEXT: John 14:8
INTRODUCTION
a. Confusion, disenchantment and depression are characteristic of our times.
i. Ours is a restless society.
(1) About 25% of the people move every year. If you stay in a place more than four years, you have all new neighbors.
(a) Some move for better jobs, schools, or just a change of scenery or climate.
(b) Often, people move to escape who and what they are.
(c) Someone has said, "No matter where you go, there you are."
(2) This is evident in the large number of broken relationships.
(a) Most common is marriages.
(b) Equally common is broken or dysfunctional homes.
(c) How tragic to see grown children who have no relationship with their parents.
(3) It is common to see this disenchantment in social life.
(a) Drug addiction is common. This includes alcohol.
(b) Depression is common. Many are in treatment for clinical depression.
(c) Tragically, suicide is far more common. This is the ultimate expression of disenchantment.
(4) To many, there seems to be no solution.
(a) Some are like the automated power plant. If a failure occurred, it was programmed to dial a number to send help. One day, the plant failed and there seemed to be reason for help not being called. Someone discovered that a recording dialed a number that had been changed. It received the message, "The number you dialed is no longer in service. Pleas hang up and call directory assistance. Time after time, the automated phone kept calling the same number and getting the same message."
(b) Too many are like some shipwrecked travelers who landed on a deserted island. The only food was some beautiful, delicious berries. Later, someone found the stranded travelers all starved to death.. The berries had no food value at all. They were filling themselves with something that did nothing for them.
b. All these problems stem from a common source
i. Everyone has a "God-shaped hole" within them. "The hole in the soul."
(1) This hole is unique--only God can completely and adequately fill it.
ii. The problem comes when anyone tries to fill the hole with something besides God. At the extreme, some try to fill it with drugs. On a lesser scale is less destructive compulsions and addictions.
(1) All addictions are complex and have no easy solution.
(a) Scott Peck says that addictions are an attempt to go back to Eden. It is a search for a spiritual relationship. (Is it an accident that liquor is often called "spirits"?).
(b) Addictions can become stronger than any spiritual commitment.
(c) The addictive substance becomes the addict's God.
(2) Some depression is not much different.
(a) Depression can come from sadness over the unfilled hole.
(b) This leads to a powerful feeling of loss.
iii. Therapists have discovered that one solution works in all of these addictions.
(1) It is a "spiritual awakening" found in the 12 Step Program.
(2) It is a paradox that God's name cannot be mentioned in public schools or ceremonies. However, let one become an addict and that is the beginning place of recovery.
(a) Paul Harvey pointed out that the state of Illinois gives a Bible to each new prison inmate. "Young people", he said, "If they won't let you read the Bible in school, just wait".
c. How do I find God?
i. We should remember that He is not far from any one of us.
(1) God made every person with a desire to seek God and find Him
(a) A woman once told me my prayer didn't get any higher than the ceiling. If I knew then what I know now I would have told her it didn't need to get any higher. God is not far from any of us.
ii. We do not need a supernatural revelation of God.
(1) This is what Philip sought in our text.
iii. Jesus showed the ultimate and the only adequate revelation of God.
(1) "If you had known Me, you would have known my Father."
(2) "He that has seen Me, has seen the Father."
(3) Jesus is God's perfect revelation of God.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
I. WHEN WE SEE JESUS, WE SEE GOD'S COMPASSION
A. No word better sums up Jesus' treatment of people.
1. He treated the sick and suffering with compassion.
Matthew 15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
Matthew 20:34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.
Mark 1:41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
2. With compassion He looked on the lost.
Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.
3. He looked with compassion on the one with palsy and healed him.
Luke 5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.
B. Compassion means "To suffer with".
1. This was a new thought to the Greeks.
2. Their gods had no love for mankind. To them, men were objects of derision and trickery.
3. The ancient Stoics exhibited no outward feelings. They thought they were being like their gods.
C. Jesus shows us that God cares for us.
1. When Jesus saw the widow, His compassion led Him to raise her son. Luke 7:13.
2. This led Him to weep at the tomb of Lazarus.
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
3. Three times the song asked, "Does Jesus Care?" Three times comes the chorus, "O yes He cares, I know He cares..."
II. WHEN WE SEE JESUS, WE SEE GOD'S LOVE FOR THE UNLOVABLE.
A. Some try to restrict God's love.
1. Some think He loves men more than women. Archie Bunker said that women came from a rib and everyone knows that ribs are a cheaper cut.
a. Some women think God loves them more than men. Someone said that God made man, took a look at him and said, "I believe I can do better next time."
b. Some even try to give God the feminine pronoun. God does not possess sex. Jesus possessed all the feelings and emotions of both man and woman. He is spoken of as masculine since these pronouns are also collective referring to both men and women.
2. Some think He loves the rich more than poor and vice versa.
3. Some see health as a sign of God's favor and sickness as evidence of His displeasure.
4. Some think He loves only the religious. He has equal love for all mankind (personkind). However, He has special love for those who are His children.
B. God's love for the unlovable is seen in the healing of the woman with an issue of blood. Mark 5:25-34. How was she unlovable?
1. She was a woman in a man's world.
2. She was poor. She had spent all she had on doctors.
3. She was sick, she was no better.
C. Yet her physical afflictions were not her greatest problem.
1. She was unclean because of her affliction. Leviticus 15:19-28.
2. She could not share eating utensils, chairs, or beds with anyone.
3. Worst, she could not be touched so she was unloved. In the same way, she could touch no one.
a. It is no accident that Jesus touched so many He healed.
b. A touch, from the right motive, transmits love.
Mark 1:31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
Mark 1:40-41 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
D. Jesus paid a price when He loved the unlovable.
1. He suffered criticism.
Matthew 9:10-11 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
a. Some of it came from His own disciples
Matthew 15:22-23 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
2. He shared the uncleanness of those He touched.
a. This was no big matter. This lasted only till the end of the day.
b. Yet His willingness to even touch the unclean and unlovable shows God's identification and care for us.
III. WHEN WE SEE JESUS, WE SEE GOD'S CARE FOR THE LOST
A. Perhaps Jesus' greatest lesson is the departure and return of the prodigal son.
1. I have been to this well many time for lessons.
2. It has never been dry. I might have been but the well hasn't.
3. The story of the two sons is familiar to all.
B. The father treated both sons with respect
1. He gave free will to the younger.
2. This can be a blessing to us but also a grave responsibility.
a. It is because of He wants willing sons, He allows us make our own decisions, even when He disapproves.
3. He knows that some have to go to the far country to appreciate their blessings.
4. He treated the older brother with the same dignity. The father who was willing to run to meet the prodigal was willing to leave the feast to talk to the upset older brother.
C. The Father treated both sons with compassion
1. He was filled with compassion to run to the lost son. He gave him back all he had before he left.
2. He had the same compassion for the older brother.
a. He showed him he lost nothing by his brother's return.
b. He was still his brother.
c. He reminded him of the great occasion, ". . . lost. . . found. . . dead. . .alive."
D. The father accepted both sons as they were.
1. He called both of them "Son".
2. He kissed the prodigal before he even said a word.
a. He did not rebuke or recount his sins.
b. He did not demand he take a bath before he put on the best robe.
3. In the same way he did not rebuke the elder brother. Instead he corrected a wrong attitude.
a. "Aren't you ashamed of the way you are acting. . . "
b. "You've ruined the whole feast. . . "
c. "It's not my fault you know how well off you are. . . "
4. To accept others, we do not have to know all the answers, we only need to listen.
a. "We should listen with the ears of God if we would speak to anyone the word of God.
CONCLUSION
A. We must remember that the life of Jesus is not given to us to be admired but to be imitated.
1. He expects us to be people of compassion.
2. He wants us to love the unlovable.
3. He wants us to care for the lost.
B. We are called to be like God.
1. If we would be like Him, we must look to Jesus to find our example.