Seeing
The God Who Cannot Be Seen
Jan 14, 2001 AM
For every Christian comes times of doubt we
try to see the God who cannot be seen. Invisibility does not so easily relate
to those of us whose orientation is so often toward the things of the senses.
Seeing beyond the seen is a true challenge. How can we find in the reality of
daily life the God who is there, but who is invisible?
FAITH (REALITIES TO BE FACED)
1. As
Job discovered, there are blunt and difficult questions that God never answers.
2. Belief
in the invisible carries difficulties not present in sighted life (Rom. 7:14).
3. Emotionalistic,
unfounded religious talk complicates the search for true faith (Matt. 7:21-23).
4. Rules
and laws by themselves create mere idols of godly things, it is only when awe,
wonder, and mystery are added that we truly come to see God (Neh. 1:5).
5. We
tend to lose patience with whatever does not manifest itself on our terms,
leading to our attempting to create God in our own image (Rom. 1:18-23; Jn.
14:7-9).
6. Seeking
spiritual intimacy with the invisible yet personal God can invite abuse.
a. Emotionally
imagined miracles and revelations rob Christianity of its true content (Col.
2:18).
b. However,
overreactions against these abuses lead to cold, ugly formalism (II Tim.
3:1-5).
c. We
can starve to death while sitting at the banquet table (Jn. 5:39).
FAITH (ROOM FOR DOUBT)
1. God’s
invisibility means we must learn to deal with doubt (Matt. 11:1-11; I Kg.
19:1-18; Ps. 73; Ex. 3:1-4:17).
2. We
must understand that there are different levels of faith—doubt is more
effectively dealt with as faith grows stronger (Matt. 8:23-25; 13:31-32; 17:14-20).
3. Doubt
dies easiest when it is brought into the light (Matt. 11:1-3).
4. Confronting
doubts leads to deeper faith (Mk. 9:24).
5. Job’s
doubts were reacted to much differently by his friends than by God (Job 1:8;
4:1-11; 42:7).
6. To
be conquered, doubt must be faced with humility (Matt. 5:3; I Cor. 1:21-25;
2:14-15).
FAITH (FREEDOM TO DISCOVER)
1. Jesus
often made it harder to have faith than people liked (Jn. 3:1-12; Acts 26:1-23;
Jn. 6:60-68).
a. The
freedom of faith is not always well received (Jn. 8:31-59; Rom. 3:7-8).
b. The
balance between God’s restraint and His merciful patience is critical.
c. The
church is to reject highhanded rebellion (II Jn. 9-11), but have patience with
opponents still struggling to find their way (II Tim. 2:24-26).
d. If
there is reasonable doubt, we must choose mercy (Rom. 14:10-13).
e. Jesus
only makes it harder to have faith if we seek a faith that is of our own
definition.
2. God’s
ballpark for faith:
a. We
tempt God when we ask for more assurance than He has given (Matt. 4:5-7).
b. We
must reject even impressive bogus testimonials and cling to God’s word (Matt.
7:21-23).
c. Suffering
is a part of life (Matt. 26:36-39; II Cor. 12:1-10).
d. Faith
must continue even if God appears to be contradicting Himself (Hab. 1:12-13;
3:16-19).
e. Faith
boils down to trust, we do not have the ability, and neither is it our business
to figure out all the “whys” behind events of life (Job 42:1-6).
f. God
nevertheless gives us the freedom to profit from our mistakes (Jer. 20:7-13).
g. Faith
must not be, “if all goes well I will trust,” but “although all is against me I
will maintain my trust.”
h. Faith
is reason gone courageous—not at all the opposite of reason, but at times
stepping into the dark with a reason.
FAITH (GOD’S CARE, HUMAN FREEDOM, AND A
FALLEN WORLD)
1. Our
faith will suffer if we blame God for the ills of life.
2. Jesus
made it clear that most suffering is the natural result of human freewill lived
out on a world fallen from its original state (Lk. 13:1-5).
3. In
suffering, the issue is not the “why,” but the potential constructive outcome
(Jn. 9:1-3).
4. The
principle of Romans 8:28, there applied to God’s plan of salvation, also will
apply to an individual’s life—with God good things can come from bad things.
5. We
must not misunderstand God’s promises and expect what He does not offer.
a. His
care for birds does not mean He drops seeds into their nests (Matt. 6:26).
b. His
knowing of dead sparrows does not mean that they do not die (Matt. 10:28-39).
c. It
is the presence of God is
promised, not His overruling will.
6. Faith
must become the opposite of paranoia.
a. Paranoia
sees sinister motivations in every word and deed of another.
b. Faith
both trusts God’s goodness at all times and does not blame Him for evil.
7. Understanding
the nature of trust is very important.
a. Daniel’s
companions (Dan. 3:13-18), and Daniel (Dan. 10:1-15).
b. Learning
to swim by trusting someone more than listening to our fears.
c. Accept
everything as an opportunity to find a blessing and nothing as an occasion to
call God’s character into question.
FAITH (DIGGING DEEPER TO MEET THE CHALLENGES
TO OUR FAITH)
1. Let
patience and hope (confidence from the past bringing trust for the future) have
their place.
a. Richard
Byrd trusting he would see sunlight after four months of darkness at the South
Pole.
b. Psalm
139; Jeremiah 17:5-8.
3. If
we live to please God alone, we free our faith from being imprisoned by others
(Gal. 1:10).
4. If
we will live in trust, we will realize God’s wisdom and come to truly know
Him—it is easier to act our way into feelings than feel our way into actions
(Jn. 7:16-17).
5. Learn
from biblical paradoxes: The first will be last and the last first/Finding life
we lose it, losing it we find it/Work out your own salvation, It is God who
works in you/Service brings greatness/Humility brings exaltation/Where sin
abounds, grace abounds all the more/We are saved by faith, yet we are saved by
works/I am but dust, For my sake the universe was created.
6. Faith
complicates life in the way it should be complicated and brings peace as peace
should be understood (Jn. 14:27; 16:33).
7. “The
mystery of the invisible God is not the absence of meaning in the universe, but
the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend.”—Dennis Corrington
Light-heated problem-solving books offer a
more sensually appealing road map to God than does the Bible, but we will lose sight
of God if we are deceived by them. To see the God who cannot be seen requires
Bible-style faith (II Cor. 5:7). It is this kind of realistic faith born in the
struggle of overcoming doubt that we enter the presence of God.
Edwin
1/14/01
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