Believe - Personal God

Introduction

God holds the whole world in his hand, yet he also personally cares for each believer.

An unknown author shares a story from the front porch of a little country store in Illinois where two business partners stood. The business was floundering and on the verge of closing. The one asked the other one, “How much longer can we keep this going?” The other partner answered, “it looks as if our business has just about winked out.” Then he continued, “you know, I wouldn’t mind so much if I could just do what I want to do. I want to study law. I wouldn’t mind so much if we could sell everything we’ve got and pay all our bills and have just enough left over to buy one book.” A book that he needed his pursue his real passion, which was law. As they talked a strange-looking wagon was coming up the road. The driver angled it up close to the store porch, then looked at the two business partners and said, “I’m trying to move my family out west, and I’m out of money. I’ve got a good barrel here that I could sell for fifty cents.” The eyes of the two partners went along the wagon and came to the wife looking at him. The look in her eyes was pleading with them. Her face was face thin and emaciated. The partner who wanted that book so badly ran his hand into his pocket and took out, according to him, “the last fifty cents I had” and said, “I reckon I could use a good barrel.” All day long the barrel sat on the porch of that store, having consumed their last fifty cents. The one who hadn’t wanted to purchase the barrel kept chiding the other one about it. Late in the evening one walked out and looked down into the barrel. He saw something in the bottom of it. There were papers there that he hadn’t noticed before. His long arms went down into the barrel and, as he fumbled around, his arms ran across something solid. He pulled out a book, and across his face spread a look of shock and glee. The book was Blackstone’s Commentary on English Law. the man later wrote, “I stood there holding the book and looking up toward the heavens. There came a deep impression on me that God had something for me to do and He was showing me now that I had to get ready for it. Why this miracle otherwise?” It turns out that neither Abraham Lincoln nor his partner Berry were very good businessmen. The business went under, and Berry died shortly after. Meanwhile, Abraham Lincoln pursued his passion, which was law, which then led to his election as President of the United States.

In

Genesis 22:13–14 ESV

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”

Jehovah Jireh, God is called “The Lord who provides.” Abraham was called to sacrifice his only Son, yet at the very last second, God provided another sacrifice. Lincoln needed help to pursue his passion. Abraham needed an animal to sacrifice. In both cases, God showed up and provided what they needed. What about you? What do you need from God, today? Our God is not only powerful, but he is a personal God. A God who loves those who follow him and wants to provide what they need.

Last Sunday we kicked off a combined Sunday School and sermon series that looks at what we believe. Appropriately titled, Believe. What we believe shapes who we are and how we live. Some examples of belief include believing in our alarm clock to wake us up on time or our vehicle to get us to where we need to go. But this series is about something much deeper with eternal results. We’re taking a step back from looking at what God teaches within one specific passage from scripture. Instead we are looking at the whole of scripture. What does the whole of scripture teach about God, salvation, patience, or worship. As we do, we see how the entirety of scripture is God revealing himself to his people and teaching us about what we believe, what we should do, and who we should become, all of this is in light of who God is. In studying the Bible, each book contributes to a larger, systematic understanding of God. When looking at what we believe it’s important to look at the whole of scripture, rather than basing an entire doctrine on one or two passages of scripture. Today, we are looking at God as our personal God. A God who has created us, cares for us, and provides for us. The Westminster Shorter Catechism Question 11 asks, what are God's works of providence? The answer is, God's works of providence are, his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.

God has a Plan

In the book of Jeremiah, God sends a prophet to speak his Word to his people. In those days a foreign empire had conquered their land and were taking them away into captivity. But in the middle of it, God tells them through Jeremiah,

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

So, put yourself in this passage. You're being taken away from your home, your neighborhood, your nation where you have lived your entire life off to a land you’ve never been to. Your nation has just been conquered. Your livelihood is in shambles. Pretty much everything about your life has been uprooted. And yet, here comes a prophet from God, Jeremiah, declaring that God has a good plan for your life. In this moment of hopelessness, God shows up promising you hope and a future. Some might be skeptical. After all, who wants a life having just been conquered by the Chinese or the Russians? But those who believe in the words of Jeremiah know this is an opportunity for a new start. Not simply a new start in terms of employment, homeland, and home, but rather, a new start in their faith. A chance to return to the God who promises them a future and a hope.

In the 1929 Rose Bowl, the California Golden Bears squared off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and provided one of the most famous plays in college football history. In the second quarter, California player Roy Riegels recovered a fumble. But he made one major mistake. Instead of advancing the ball forward, he got confused. He started running full tilt toward his own end zone. A teammate finally stopped him at the goal line, but the points Georgia Tech scored following “Wrong Way” Riegels’ mistake proved the winning margin in the game.In our faith journey, each one of us will have times where we get confused about which way to go. We are uncertain about whether we are heading in the right direction. In that moment of uncertainty, God provides clarity. Clarity can come in the form of encouragement that this really is the way he has for you. Clarity can come in the form of correction, going a different than originally planned. Clarity can also simply come in the form of freedom by God clearly giving us the freedom to pick which way to go. Regardless of how it looks, we can know that God has uniquely, personally called us to himself and that he has a plan for our lives. Plans for our good. The first way that God cares uniquely for us is through the plans he has for us, plans for a future and a hope.

God provides freedom

Author and theologian, Dallas Willard, was once asked how he would describe Jesus. What do you think he said? What would you have said? Great? Faithful? Good? Dead? Really, really old? Ok, that’s more than one word. Dallas Willard answered with the word, “relaxed.” Not what you’d expect, right? When you think about it though, Jesus was relaxed. He didn’t allow his mental and emotional state to get hijacked by events around him. His peace wasn’t interrupted as he was betrayed, arrested, and brought before Pontius Pilate. His life was on the life, yet his words and actions were calm. Christ was relaxed. Why was he so relaxed? Because he tied his identity solely to his Father in heaven. His Father provided everything that he needed to remain calm and collected no matter what life or the devil threw at him. Similarly, God provides for us what we need, and he provides through Jesus Christ. Paul writes in,

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

When Christ walked the earth, he was tempted in every way that we were. He was tempted by power, addiction, lust, greed, gossip, the list goes on and on and on. Nonetheless, he was the one to ever live a perfect life, a life without sin. What temptation have you been overtaken by? Regardless of what you answer, in one way or another, Christ was tempted in the same way. Christ endured the temptation. He did not give in to it, and he provides for us a way of escaping its snare. Here’s one example. Jesus teaches us in,

Matthew 6:31–33 (ESV)

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Do you ever worry? What is one thing that you worry about? Christ says that we do not need to be anxious. After all, the Father in heaven knows what we need, even before we ask him for what we need. Rather, seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Seek Christ, and you’ll get everything else you need as well. When Christ is first in our life and our identity is rooted wholly and solely in him, everything else sorts itself out as well. The second way that God cares for and provides for his people is through providing freedom with a new identity in Christ and the means for following Christ.

God provides Covenant Faithfulness

Jesus tells us in,

John 10:28 ESV

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Our relationship with God is a gift of God’s that we simply say yes to. Our relationship with him is done through a covenant, which is basically a contract on steroids. In the covenant, God provides a way to him through his Son, Jesus Christ. God calls us to him. On the other hand, we simply say yes to him, and we are spurred on to covenant faithfulness by the work of the Holy Spirit within us.

Lloyd John Ogilvie, in his wonderful book of prayers, Quiet Moments with God, includes this prayer. It reads:

Lord Christ, when I experience Your fullness in my emptiness, I receive Your mind for my thoughts, Your nature for the formation of my character, Your person for the shaping of my personality, Your will for the direction of my will, and Your power for my discipleship. Each day as I yield my inner life to the formation of Your character in me, I am able to face the struggles of my outer life. Today I can face the three most troublesome struggles of life. First, thank You for helping me overcome the struggle with my human nature. When I admit the impossibility of changing myself with resolutions and self-improvement disciplines, You take control and perform the continuing miracle of making me like Yourself. Second, You free me from the struggle to be humanly adequate. I know I am insufficient for the demands of life, but I also know of your all-sufficient adequacy. I can’t imagine any problem You can’t help me solve, any person You can’t love through me, any challenge You can’t give me strength to tackle. Third, I don’t have to struggle with worries over what the future holds. I can relax. Whatever I face today will be an opportunity for new dimensions of Your character to be formed in me.

When we struggle in our relationship with God, he has given us all that we need, including the gift of faith. God has provided all that we need for relationship with him and one another. Covenant faithfulness isn’t about pulling ourselves up by our boot straps, it’s a gift from God that is spurred on by God through the work of the Holy Spirit. The third way that God cares for and provides for his people is by providing . He provides the ability to be faithful to his covenant, to the agreement that exists between us and him, and he provides what we need to trust in him today.

Conclusion

God loves us and for cares us uniquely and individually by first, having a plan for our life. A plan that includes a future and a hope. Second, he provides freedom through an identity that is centered on him. Finally, God provides us the ability to be faithful to His covenant.

Max Lucado says it like this, “there are many reasons God saves you: to bring glory to himself, to appease his justice, to demonstrate his sovereignty. But one of the sweetest reasons God saved you is because he is fond of you. He likes having you around…If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it. He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning. Whenever you want to talk, he’ll listen. He can live anywhere in the universe, and he chose your heart. And the Christmas gift he sent you in Bethlehem? Face it, friend. He’s crazy about you!” God supplies the needs of all creation, but gives special care to his own people.