Defined by the God We See: Vision

[Audio available here.]

The Elders have been gracious in allowing me four weeks between Ephesians and Advent to preach on issues that I see as being crucial to the well-being and future of our church. In other words, if I found out that I had some fatal disease, and the doctors gave me four and a half weeks to live, these are the four sermons I would preach.

I have meditated on these sermons for many months now, and it struck me a few weeks ago that they are nothing new to Whitton Avenue Bible Church. In fact, they are simply restatements of our mission statement. Look with me at the back of your bulletin as I read our church’s mission statement: “We exist to glorify God through reaching up in worship of God, reaching in to equip the saints, reaching out with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” I love that statement, and have loved it ever since Rachael and I read it in our family room in Minneapolis. We had just started conversation with Stevo about this pastoral opportunity, and when we read this mission statement, we thought, “That’s a church we could be a part of.”

The mission statement is really only five words: “We exist to glorify God.” Everything else is explanation. Reaching up, in, and out address the question of how we accomplish our mission, but the core of our mission is this: we exist to glorify God. This morning I simply want to preach a sermon about God. I want to talk about his glory.

As I think about Whitton Avenue Bible Church, as I think about serving in this pulpit, as I think about the days when Liam and Clayton and Lukas will be the elders and most of us will be out of the picture, and as I think about what will ensure that WABC will be a solid, vibrant church, there seems to be only one thing that will sustain us as a congregation until Jesus returns. It is not the right programs, business savvy, streamlined by-laws, strong finances, powerful preaching, active members, or even Biblical knowledge. All of these are necessary for us to be a healthy church. But they will not, in and of themselves, sustain us.

So what will sustain us? I have a nagging feeling that when I tell you, there will be an “oh, that” in the room. Like when you hear a knock on the front door and race downstairs thinking it is your fiancé, and it’s just the UPS guy. But this was not an “oh, that” for Moses—it is what sustained him while he lead the grumbling Israelites through the wilderness. It was not an “oh, that” for Isaiah—it is what sustained him as he proclaimed message after message of judgment and destruction to rebellious Judah. It was not an “oh, that” for Paul—it is what sustained him through five back lashings, a stoning, stubborn churches, imprisonments, and persecution from Jews and Greeks alike.

What was it that sustained Moses, Isaiah, Paul, and will sustain us until Jesus returns? They remained in awe and adoration of the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Creator who is faithful to the people he redeems. Moses was granted his request to see God’s glory on Mt. Sinai. Isaiah had a vision of God in his glory that caused him to say both, “I am undone” and “Here am I, send me.” Paul encountered the risen Christ on the road to Damascus in a way that shaped his entire ministry. But this is not like getting your tetanus shot or receiving a smallpox vaccination. These men were sustained by a continual vision of God. It was in the prison cell that Paul’s high view of Christ allowed him to say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Whitton Avenue Bible Church, if we want to be a church that sends missionaries to unreached people groups, cares for the poor in our neighborhood, shares the gospel with the lost, plants churches across this valley, and worships in spirit and truth, we must have a high view of God. We must continually be in awe and adoration of the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Creator who is faithful to the people he redeems.

There are two clarifications that need to be made about this pursuit. First, our vision of God must be empowered by the Spirit. That is, we cannot understand, know, or worship God apart from his Spirit’s work in us. It is the Spirit who gives us eyes to see ourselves as sinners and Christ as Savior in the first place. If you’re here this morning and you have never found God to be the most exciting being to study, pray to, sing to, and tell others about, pray that the Spirit would give you eyes to see him. If you have never repented of your sins and come to Jesus to save you, come to him today, and experience the freedom of forgiveness and the joy of being in relationship with the Creator. It is the Spirit who does the work of bringing us to Christ for salvation and will sustain our vision of God throughout eternity.

The second clarification is that the place where we go to see God is the Bible. The day is coming when we will see God face to face for eternity. But for now, we see him with the eyes of faith as we read about him in the pages of scripture. So if we are to be sustained by our vision of God, we must be saturated in the Bible, because that is where he reveals himself to us.

So that is what I want to do now. I want us to take the remaining time to behold in the Word of God the all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Creator who is faithful to the people he redeems. And before you doze off, consider that we are wired to admire exceptional individuals. Why else do men sit around a sports bar and talk during the baseball game about the speed of the baserunner who just stole home or the accuracy of the pitcher who just got his 15th strikeout or the power of the batter who just knocked a grand slam out of the park. Why else do ladies sit around cups of coffee and talk about, well, whatever it is that you might admire in Mr. Darcy or Carey Grant or Kevin Costner (I have to admit that I’m at a bit of a disadvantage on this one). We are made to admire exceptional power, wisdom, and love in others, and I want us to turn our focus now to our exceptional God.

While we could go all over the place to see this God, I want to go God’s two greatest works in the Bible—creation and redemption.

Creation

God shows himself to be all-powerful by the way he created the world. Turn with me to Genesis 1. There is a phrase that indicates matter-of-factly how infinitely powerful God is. Look at verse 3 of Genesis 1: “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” Look at verse 9: “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” Look at verse 11: “And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so.” Seven times in Genesis 1 the phrase “and it was so” is used to describe God’s creative work.

Perhaps you are like me and have read this many times without realizing that this is describing the greatest power imaginable—the power to speak something into existence. God says, “Let there be light,” and out of nothingness, with no raw materials, with no blueprints, with no prototype, light happens. Psalm 33 draws out the implications for such power: “Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him! For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

How does this shape us as a church? To answer that question I will remind us all what day tomorrow is. October 31st is not just the day that keeps dentists in business; it’s the day when, in 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. So as we think about Reformation Day tomorrow and all the courage it took Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and other reformers to stand up to the heresies of the church, we ask ourselves, what will give us the courage to stand tall for truth in our day? What will give us the strength to say with Luther, “Here I stand, I can do no other. God help me, Amen.” We must keep our all-powerful God at the forefront of our vision, and trust in his power to sustain us for the tasks to which we are called.

The creation event also reveals God to be all-wise. This is highlighted poignantly in the book of Job when God responds to Job’s questions. Listen as I read the Lord’s opening words.
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
“Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?”

God’s wisdom in creation is beyond our comprehension. And the point here is not merely to say that God is really good at building stuff. He is asking Job whether or not he is more qualified than Almighty God to oversee the course of history, including the events of our daily lives.

If we want to be wise in how we run programs, make budget decisions, choose new leaders, and approach church planting, we must keep our all-wise God at the forefront of our vision.

Yet the creation was not a mere display of raw power and wisdom. It was also God’s arrangement of an environment where he could commune with our ancestors, Adam and Eve. It was the place where walked with them in the cool of the day and enjoyed fellowship with those whom he created in his own image.

And when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, even in the midst of his judgment he lovingly promised that a descendent from Eve would crush Satan’s head. He lovingly killed animals to clothe Adam and Eve’s shame. And he lovingly banished them from the Tree of Life so they would not be eternally stuck in a sinful state.

If we want to love to those in crisis situations—whether emotional, financial, or physical—when we are tempted to show contempt because of the mess they have gotten themselves into, we must keep our all-loving God at the forefront of our vision.

We see God’s glory all over his creation of the world. We see his power, his wisdom, and his love in the way he spoke the universe into existence.

Redemption

God’s power is revealed not only in his work of creation, but also in his work of new creation, or redemption, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul told the Corinthians that “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” How is the cross powerful? For one, it is the place where God defeated Satan. Listen to these verses: through death Christ destroyed “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). In Colossians 2:15 Paul says that at the cross, God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him [=Christ].” It was at the cross that the seed of the woman crushed the head of the serpent, and began his eternal downfall.

There is also great power in the blood that Christ shed on the cross. This is a sermon series in itself, but let me hit some high points of what God accomplished through the blood of his Son. It is through the blood that God obtained a people for himself, the church (Acts 20:28). It is through the blood that God’s wrath has been satisfied for all those who believe (Romans 3:25). It is through the blood that God’s people are justified, or declared righteous before him (Romans 5:9). It is through the blood that we have redemption and forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7). It is through the blood that we Gentiles have been brought near to God (Ephesians 2:13). It is through the blood that we are sanctified (Hebrews 13:12). And it is through the blood that we have been ransomed from our futile lifestyle and freed from our sins (1 Peter 1:19, Revelation 1:5). The hymn writer was not exaggerating when he wrote, “there is power in the blood.”

This is not even to mention the power of the resurrection. In creation we saw God’s power to create light from darkness, and in the resurrection we see God’s power to create life from death. The power of the resurrection is mentioned in many New Testament passages, but let me read from our beloved Ephesians, in chapter 1 where Paul prays that we would know “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”

If we want to endure in our evangelism when our daughter or coworker or neighbor or friend seems to have such a hard heart toward the gospel, we must keep the all-powerful God who can speak life into dead hearts at the forefront of our vision.

The cross and resurrection also unveil God’s unsearchable wisdom. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians. As we read this, remember that the cross was an execution device, like our electric chair or lethal injection, and therefore a symbol of shame and defeat. Follow along as I start in verse 18.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

If we want to make any sense out of painful circumstances that God allows in our lives, we must keep focused on our all-wise God who ordained that the eternal redemption of his people be accomplished through a shameful execution device.

For all of God’s power and wisdom that was shown through the cross and resurrection, the most prominent attribute we see there is love. Many of you know Romans 5:8, and if you don’t, this is well worth memorizing—“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Let the weight of this land on you. Almighty God exercised his infinite power and infinite wisdom to redeem you and me from our futile, harmful, wrath-incurring, sinful ways. Why? Because for reasons known only to God, he decided to set his love upon us. He decided to make us his people. He decided to make us his trophies of grace through which he will display his mercy and kindness for coming ages.

This is your God, Whitton Avenue. The all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving Creator who is faithful to the people he redeems. There is no higher or sweeter or more satisfying experience than knowing this God, worshipping this God, fearing this God, obeying this God, studying about this God, and proclaiming the greatness of this God. This is what will sustain us as a church until Jesus returns. We must have a fresh vision of God. We must continually be in awe and adoration of him.

So let us be a people that is much in the Word, where God reveals himself. Let us be much in prayer that God will make himself known to us and to those who do not know him. Let us fellowship with those who have a high view of God, whether over coffee with those living or in books for those who are dead. Let us love this God so much that we eliminate everything in our lives that draws our hearts away from him. And let us submit to him in every area of our lives—financial, sexual, intellectual; at work, at home, at school; in politics, in leisure time, in the arts. May God be our vision and our all.