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| Rev. Brent Russett |
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
http://www.sunnysidechurchottawa.com/ _______________________________________________________
PODCAST LINK to CFRA broadcast - Sunday, August 13th, 2017:
Broadcast Notes:
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Today’s Topic: The Greatness of God
Good
morning and Welcome to good news in the morning. I am so glad that you have
tuned into the program today. My name is Brent Russett. I am the Senior Pastor
at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church here in Ottawa. I have been pastoring there for 27
years. One of the things I love to do is show how God’s word that was written a
long time ago, connects with our world right now.
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This
morning’s program sponsor, Bruce Newman, salutes Jericho Road Christian
Ministries. Jericho Road is a local registered charity that exists to serve
the poor, the addicted and the mental ill. They do an outstanding service for
our community. Thanks Bruce for recognizing them.
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The
Greatness of God
I
know that some of you who are listening have been followers of Jesus for a long
time, and I know that others of you think of yourself as spiritual, but you are
not really sure of this Christian thing, and I know others of you just curious
how people of faith think. I trust that wherever you are on yours spiritual
journey, that you will find this program interesting and informative, and I
believe that for those of you desire it, God can use a program like this to
take you another step closer to Him.
This
morning I want to talk to you who God is. For what you believe about God will affect how
you live your life. We all have theology. Whether you are a Christian or
agnostic or any other religion. It might be good theology or bad theology – but
we all have a theology. Theology is what you believe about God – and it
matters. How you live will be affected by whether or not you believe in God,
and what kind of God you do believe in if you do.
This morning I want to remind those
of you who are Christians who we believe God to be. For those of you who don’t
give much thought to God, or if you are wondering what Christians believe, then
I think you will find this helpful.
The first thing you need to know is
that we believe that Jesus is the son of God and showed us who God is. The book
of Hebrews reminds us
Hebrews
2:1 (NLT)
So
we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away
from it.
There is always a danger of drifting
away from what God has revealed to us. So today, for Christians I want to re
anchor you in the truth of who God has revealed himself to be. I want to remind
you of what you have already learned. I want us to listen very carefully to the
truth you have heard so that you can be anchored in it. For those of you who
are spiritual but are not followers of Jesus, I want to help you see the God
who we believe in.
********
God is stronger than you can
imagine. God is wiser that you can imagine. God is more loving than you can
imagine. God is bigger than your imagination. He is beyond your imagination.
The
finest writers cannot describe him. The
finest orators cannot communicate his essence. The finest thinkers cannot
conceive the extent of his being.
Our
theological descriptions of God amount to a trifle. The sermons we preach about
God are like trying to describe a vast beach one grain of sand at a time. Our
Bible studies and our discussion groups, are like trying examine the ocean which is
God, one cupful at a time.
God is hard to imagine because he is different
from what he has created. He is different from everything we know. The
theologians describe this as the Otherness of God. It is the definition of
God’s holiness. He is set apart from his creation.
So
when we describe God, we say God is like. We use indirect and direct
comparisons to what we know. It is the only way we can say anything about him.
The infinite, indescribable, huge God, cannot be captured by our language, or
our thoughts. God is bigger than your imagination.
Yet our faith compels us to get to know this
uncapturable God, -whom to know right is life eternal. So how do you know the
unknowable. How do you approach the unapproachable? How do you get a hold of the
ungraspable.
We could not make our way to or think our way to
God. So God came down to our level. Theologians call it the condescension of
God. He communicated to us in languages that people could understand. He spoke
through his prophets, He spoke through his people, He spoke through history. He
spoke through the world, after all, the whole world is full of his glory.
But more than anything else he condescended by
becoming human. He who was totally other than His creation was made in human
likeness, and took on the nature of a servant. The creator stepped into his
creation. As the Bible says, He made himself nothing.
Condescension.
He who overflows the universe, became a speck on the face of planet earth. It
would be like a human taking on a love for ants. And in order to communicate
with them, becoming an ant. To go from human to ant is condescension. But that
comparison doesn’t even come close to how far God stooped to become human.
But it is exactly because he made himself
nothing, it is exactly because he lowered himself, it is exactly because he
condescended that we know anything about God. We could not know the unknowable.
But he who is unknowable, made himself accessible. We know him now because he has shown himself
to us.
******
We are going to take some time to
listen to Hillsong remind us who God is as they sing their song
Music: Great in Power -Hillsong 3:24
My question is, with a God this immense, with
a God this all pervasive, with a God this huge, how is it that he has become so
trivial. How is it that he has become so easy to forget? How is it that we live
in a world that is seemingly unaware of him.
And have you ever noticed how our God who is so
immense can infect some segments of life and not others. We see him in certain
areas and he is seemingly absent in other areas. How is it he can invade our
Sundays, and be sidelined on Monday? He can show up in our small group
discussions but not our regular conversation.
I think I understand how people of no faith can
write God out of the script, but how is it that we as Christians don’t
immediately see the absence of God in the script. I like spy novels and spy
movies. Tom Clancy, Ian Fleming, Clive Cussler – but the worlds they create are
largely devoid of God. And sometimes I don’t even notice that. How is it that
when this immense God of ours goes missing, we fail to notice it.
Come with me to Hebrews 1:
Heb
1
1
¶ In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times
and in various ways,
2 but
in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of
all things, and through whom he made the universe.
3 The
Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
There is a description of the immensity of God
and the condescension of God all in the same passage. Our God who transcends
time came into time through his Son. The God who created the universe, came
into his creation.
He communicated with us. Jesus was
the exact representation of God. He showed us what God was like.
The Hebrew writer goes on in Hebrews
2, talking about Jesus. He says
Hebrews
2
7 You made him a little lower than the angels;
you crowned him with glory and honour
8 and
put everything under his feet." In putting everything under him, God left
nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything
subject to him.
9 But
we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with
glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he
might taste death for everyone.
10 ¶ In bringing many sons to glory, it was
fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the
author of their salvation perfect through suffering.
Did you catch the end of verse 8 and
the beginning of verse 9.
vs
8 Yet at present we do not see
everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus,
In
the fogginess of our vision, we can’t see everything under the God’s rule. In
the dimness of our spiritual vision, we don’t see everything subject to the
Lordship of Christ. In our
nearsightedness we can’t see the immensity of God. In our blindness we miss
that he holds everything together by his all-powerful word. We can’t see the
human standing beside the ant hill. We do not see everything subject to him.
And it’s a problem. If there is an elephant in
your kitchen and you don’t see it, it’s a problem. If there is a whale in your
in your aquarium and you don’t notice him, it’s a problem. If there is an
all-powerful, all knowing, untamed God is in your life, and you don’t notice
Him, you have a problem.
Here is why it is a problem. When we fail to
notice God, we see the problems of our lives, but miss the spiritual dimension.
We see the circumstances of our lives but miss the big picture. We see people
standing in our way but miss the fact that our struggle is not against flesh
and blood.
When
we fail to notice God, the things that upset us are all out of perspective.
When you put your problem beside God and compare the two, then you can have the
right perspective.
When
you fail to notice God, life can look bland. God as the author to life brings
meaning, brings colour to life.
When
you fail to notice God, you miss the centre of life. If you don’t know where
the centre is, there is no way to balance your life. If you don’t know where
the centre is, there is no way to anchor your life. For God is the moral
centre, the spiritual centre, the centre from which all decisions are measured.
There
have been so many times in my life, where it has only been in retrospect that I
saw the fingerprints of God. I could have spared myself a lot of worry had I
had eyes to see God. There have been to many times when I missed the Spiritual
Warfare dimension in the middle of problems. Where I missed God at work in and
around me and all I saw was the life as survival. There have been too many
times where I have got off centre.
I
am sure you can relate. There are sometimes when we are so aware of God, and
sometimes when we are so unaware of God. The question is what do we do.
vs
8 Yet at present we do not see
everything subject to him. 9 But we see Jesus,
This
passage of scripture was probably written about 40 years after Jesus rose into
heaven. Yet the author still says we see Jesus. Present tense.
There
is times when the immensity of God hides him. We can’t see the forest for the
trees. There are times when the invisibility of God makes us forget him. There
are times when the abstractness of God causes us not to think of him. But the
Bible writer instructs us to counteract this by seeing Jesus.
We
see Jesus in the scriptures. We see Jesus in the sermons. We see Jesus in the
worship. We see Jesus in our hearts. We see Jesus in our lives.
We
do see Jesus. We can read the stories. We can picture the settings. We can
develop a relationship that is real and vibrant.
The
Hebrew writer was addressing a church that was under some persecution and would
see more persecution. He was addressing a church that knew what temptation was
all about. He was addressing a church that was struggling, hurting, just
surviving. Here is what he says,
Heb
12
2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross,
scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3
Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you
will not grow weary and lose heart.
Let
us fix our eyes on Jesus. I grew up on a farm. If you hope to make a straight
furrow when you are plowing, you need to fix your eyes on the fence post at the
other end of the field. If you are hoping to walk well on the straight and
narrow path, you are going to have to fix your eyes on Jesus.
If
you are going to live well in a world filled with God who is often forgotten
you are going to have to fix your eyes on Jesus. If you are going to live well
in a world that takes no thought of God you are going to have to fix your eyes
on Jesus.
The danger is drifting away. The
anchor is to fix our eyes on Jesus.
You
who work in the world of high tech. You are trying to code efficiently and
creatively. Your view of the world can become obscured by your computer screen.
God is not virtual. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
You
who are retired, who find yourselves busier than ever. Your view of the world
can become obscured with your constant running from project to project. Fix
your eyes on Jesus.
You
who work for the government. You live in a bureaucratic culture of policy and
politics. (And apparently these days, sometimes you get paid for it and
sometimes you don’t.) Your world view
can become obscured with the red tape. Your view of God can become obscured by
the politics. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
You
who are students who are living in the world of ideas. Your view of the world
can become obscured by the ideas themselves. Even ideas about God can obscure
God. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
You
who are stay at home mom and Dads. You can become weary in well doing. You are
referee, caretaker, encourager, educator, and most of your life falls under
other related duties. You can see God at work in your kids, and your kids can
obscure your view of God. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
*****
The reality is that we walk by faith
and not by sight. God is great whether or not you can see him. God is good
whether or not you can see him. God is just whether or not you can see it. We
walk by faith and not by sight.
But in order to boost our faith we
fix our eyes on Jesus. We bring Jesus into each part of our lives.
The question is how. It is always
about relationship. It is about learning to live in relationship to Jesus so
you become more aware that he is wherever you are.
*Practice the presence of God. You
also need the times during the day that cause you to turn your thoughts towards
Jesus. That is why we pray before we eat. It is more than just a nicity. It
causes us to “Fix our eyes on Jesus”. Or at least it should. It is a habit that
can be spiritual. That is why is right to pray before bed, and it is right to
bless the Lord as you wake up in the morning. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
One of the things that the church I
pastor did as a church was the 60/40 challenge. We set reminders, whether they
be on our watches or cell phones or computers to beep every 60 minutes for 40
days, while we were awake. That beep
would remind us to remember that God is presence, to give thanks, and to pray
about what was immediately at hand. That was a discipline of learning to fix
our eyes on Jesus. People found it helpful.
It may be that some of you will want
tod the 60/40 challenge as a way to anchor yourself once again to the presence
of God in your life, as a way to fix your eyes on Jesus.
*******
Do you have a systematic plan for reading
scripture this year. Scripture tells us about who God is. Reading it,
meditating on it, memorizing it is a way of fixing our eyes on Jesus. There may
be other spiritual disciplines that God is leading you into this coming year.
Whatever you do, fix your eyes on Jesus.
You
also need things that act like drum beats in your week that cause you to
refocus your attention back on Christ. Church is one of those things. God to a
church where your heart is able to engage in worship and where the bible, the
word of God is preached. That is a great time to refocus in your week so that
you can fix your eyes on Jesus. We would
see Jesus.
It
is also possible to set up your own triggers for fixing your eyes on Jesus.
When you boot up your computer. When you have a cup of coffee. What are the triggers that would shift your
gaze. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
People
when you are going through hard times, times of temptation, times of trial,
times of suffering, and times hurt, it is even more important that you focus in
on Jesus.
God
is ever present, but sometimes we don’t notice him. He is like looking through
the windshield of the car. You spend so much time looking through the
windshield that you can get that you never see the windshield. You have to
refocus your eyes just to see it. Can you imagine driving down the Queensway at
this time of year without a windshield.
God is very present whether you notice him or
not. But if you will take the time to notice and turn to him, you will find
that you will walk through this world better.
In Hebrews 11. The author goes
through the heros of faith. He talks about how they have gone on before us.
Then this is what it says in Hebrews 12
Hebrews
12:1–2 (NIV)
Therefore,
since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes
on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
I
like how the Message puts this. It is a paraphrase but it is a good paraphrase.
Optional
Hebrews
12 (The Message)
1–3 12 Do you
see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans
cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start
running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your
eyes on Jesus, who both began
and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost
sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could
put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right
alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that
story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your
souls!
LET’S PRAY:
Lord Jesus, I know that God is immense,
but invisible, and sometimes in this world we get confused and we lose sight of
God. And so, Jesus, I'm asking that you would help us to fix our eyes on you. Help
us to see you for who you are. Help us to love you for who you are. Lord, thank
you so much for the fact that you came and you showed us who God is. Lord Jesus,
help our hearts to turn towards you and have our eyes to be fixed on you so
that we can be reminded constantly and put that anchor down seeing who you are.
In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
And Thank you for listening this
morning. A special thanks to Bruce
Newman, who gave a shout out to Jericho Road Christian ministries.
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I have a date to save for you: September
30th. It's a little ways away, yet, but mark it down on your calendar.
Ernie Cox and The London Trio Plus are going
to be doing a benefit concert for Good News In the Morning - Christian
Ministries and it's going to be happening at Sunnyside Wesleyan Church at
7:00 o'clock PM.
Ernie and the London Trio have done a couple
of benefit concerts for us and they’re always great nights --- wonderful,
wonderful music!
It’s just uplifting and I would encourage
you to mark that on your calendar so that you can be a part of that evening.
That’s September 30th at 7, at Sunnyside
Wesleyan Church.
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My
name is Brent Russett . Thank you for tuning in. It was my privilege to bring
you good news in the morning.
By Rev. Brent Russett
Pastor of Sunnyside Wesleyan Church in Ottawa:
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PODCAST
LINK to the CFRA broadcast:
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