Friday, December 28, 2012

How To See God Today

       People often ask if God exists. They want to know if he is real. They tend to say things like: I can't see God, how do I know he's there ? Where is God in the world today ? What is God like? Well, I think there are two places people can look to see God.

       First, in the Gospel of John we find this: "No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known."(John 1:18)
The Bible says that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus, has made God known. What he did, said, taught, and commanded was in itself the very essence of God. So, look at Jesus. Study and imitate him. In doing so, you will "see God".
       Second, we can also see God in the flesh today ! In his first epistle, John says this about seeing God: "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." ( 1 John 4:12) So if we love one another God lives in us ? Really ? And if God lives in us, that means people get to see God ! They get to see what he is like and how he acts. But wait, what was the catch. It says, "if we love one another". Interesting. So when we love one another, that's when God lives in and through us. It seems like the key to seeing God is love. What is love? What does it look like ?
       Let's take a look at one more verse: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. " (1 John 3:16)
There's a couple things we can draw from this text. First, it says that love looks like Christ laying down his life for us on the cross. When we lay down our lives, our desires, passions, goals, for the sake of others, it looks like Christ. That is love. Love is always sacrificial. It always looks like Jesus on the cross, dying for the very ones who put him there. To the degree that someone lays down their life for others, it is love, and we are seeing God in action. To the degree that we see someone taking the life from others, their time, money, happiness, sense of worth, or their very breathe, we see what happens without God. A life lived without love, is a life without God.
       The question then is this: When people ask us how to see God, do we tell them, watch us and see ? Do we tell them to look at our lives (that should be filled with God's love) ? Can we point them to the love our church shows to those in our community ? Can we point them to the love we have for one another? I hope so, because God wants to be seen. He isn't hiding. It's up to us. Picture Jesus on the cross, dying and praying for the ones who put him there. He loved them. Go, and do the same. Live and love as Christ loves you and gave himself for you.

Shalom and Happy New Year !

2 comments:

  1. Hi Matt good sermon and no I'm not making fun of you, Well I didn't agree with Every thing you said I do agree with the theme with one thought the love can't come from us it can't be OUR love Isa 64:6 For what your saying to work it hast to be his Love through us.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very good post Matt! I've had my times of doubt where I've come to question things about God's existence, and this post seemed to hit right on for me. Do people see Christ living through me? It's a really big question to ask when someone calls themself a follower of Christ. Thanks so much for sharing this! :D

    ReplyDelete