Who Is God To You?

This Wednesday is a noteworthy day. No, I'm not referring to Halloween. I'm talking about the anniversary of one of the times that Jesus renewed His Church. Back in 1517, on 31 October, Martin Luther proposed a debate on certain aspects of the faith. And while he didn't intend it at the time, that led to a great change in the Church's understanding of the Gospel. It was also a time of great upheaval. But the Church's understanding of the teachings of the Scripture has often been advanced in the context of conflict. That's what happened early on when it came to questions like, 'Who is this Jesus? Is He truly God and truly man?' The same has been the case with other areas of the Church's teaching. In the case of the Reformation, the debated question that is usually focused on is, 'How can someone be made acceptable to God?' That is a question that continues to need a careful and bold Scriptural answer. But I'm not going to deal with that question. Rather, the question that I want to take a look is one that lies behind that question. My question is all about getting to know God. Who is this God to whom we have been made acceptable? Who is God to you?

This is how I'm going to get at that. I'm going to present some teachings of the Church before the Reformation, teachings of the Middle Ages, and show how these might result in a faulty understanding of who God is, an understanding that would cripple a healthy relationship with God. After that, I'm going to point to a few places in the Scriptures where we can see a contrast with that faulty understanding. My goal in this is not to educate you in Reformation history. My goal is to help you get to know the God of your salvation so that you might live well.

There are three teachings of the Church in the Middle Ages that I want to mention. Here's the first. What language did God speak? Everyone back then knew the answer. Obviously, it was Latin. God revealed Himself in a Latin Bible. That was the only kind of Bible allowed. And all the theologians wrote about God in Latin. And, if that wasn't enough, the worship of this God was also in Latin. This stress on Latin had made sense at one point. It made sense to those Christians in Rome whose native language was Latin. But it made no sense to later German or British Christians whose native language was nothing like Latin. This stress on Latin was not just a historical accident. It was required by the Church.

So, think practically. What do you think everyday believers, most of whom were unschooled peasants, felt when everything about God was in Latin? He was to them a God who spoke a foreign language. And that is just a short step from concluding that He was a foreign God, a distant God, not someone who could understand them. That does not lead to a warm relationship with this God. It becomes quite an obstacle to a pious life. After all, if He doesn't speak German or English but only Latin, how do you have a friendly chat with Him during the week?

Then, there was the Church's teaching on purgatory. This was where good Christians went once they died. It was here that they were punished for certain aspects of their sins. They were purged of those sins. They were cleansed. And it felt like being in hell. In fact, according to the teaching of the Church, the only difference between purgatory and hell was how long you suffered. Purgatory had an end. Hell did not. Only after a believer fulfilled the necessary time of punishment could he move on to heaven. Now, there were exceptions. But these had to be extraordinary saints to bypass purgatory and go directly to heaven after death. Common folk knew that they were not extraordinary saints.

So, again, think practically. What might this say to some Christian back then about who his God was? One obvious possibility was that He was an angry God who made sure that He punished you for your sin. And maybe that anger and punishment were not limited only to the next life. I suspect that that would make it hard for someone to have warm and tender feelings for this God or to expect this God to have warm and tender feelings for him.

Then there were indulgences. These were tied to purgatory. Someone already in purgatory could have his stay there shortened if someone who was still alive could obtain one of these indulgences. And as the fates would have it, indulgences were on sale throughout the realm. It seems one salesman of these indulgences had a catchy little jingle to encourage buyers:

As soon as a coin in the coffer rings

The soul from purgatory springs.

And what kind of impression might this make on one of the Christians of that day? How about this? The angry and punishing God can be bought off. All it takes is a little money. 

I hope that you can see that misunderstanding God is not some theological problem for the elite to sort out for the sake of consistency. People view their lives in the way that they do because of how they view their God. Misunderstanding God will result in misunderstanding life.

Dealing with life is something like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. The first thing you do in putting a puzzle together is to find and connect the pieces that make up the border. Once you do that then you fill it in. If you can’t get the border right then you won’t be able to get the rest of the puzzle right. Understanding God well is getting the border right. Without that in place, life is just bunch of puzzle pieces that just will not go together. And what a mess! The key to getting life to work well is understanding who God is. That was a big part of what the Reformation was about. Who is this God to me? How should I understand Him as He relates to me? Getting to know God will result in a life that makes sense. Failure here will result in a mess.

What I'd like to do now is look at a few passages of Scripture. I want you to see what they have to say about who your God is to you. It is my hope that as you understand better the real God more pieces of the puzzle will fit into place.

The first passage comes from Isaiah 55. God is speaking to His Church.

Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ​Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 

So, what's here? What does this tell us about our God? First, He is concerned for His people. And because of that He is puzzled by what they are doing.

​Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

That's more than a question. It's an appeal. God pleads with His people. They are settling for what does not satisfy. Why? He offers something so much better. '…delight yourselves in rich food.' He wants them to live and not just survive. So, what does He offer? He offers His love, the same love that David enjoyed. This is a love that can be counted on, a steadfast and sure love. We’ll see an example of that love in action in a few minutes.

And what will this cost? Years in purgatory? Some coin ringing in the coffer? No, it costs nothing.

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ​

There is a reason why this is free and costs nothing. This God knows what His people have. He knows that they have nothing. How could they ever pay for so lavish a gift? Centuries in purgatory could not suffice. So, He gives it freely, without cost. All He asks is that they listen to His appeal and come to Him, that they come so that they can eat and drink and live.

But how can they come? They are such failures. They sin. Dare they come to the holy God? And that's where more from this chapter comes in.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Remember, this is not some evangelistic appeal to pagans. This is directly aimed at the Church, the covenant people of God. And God knows that some of them have been wicked and anything but righteous. But it is precisely these that this God calls to. They think that they have forfeited any blessing by their sin. But this God calls to them. He calls so that He may have compassion on them. He calls so that He can pardon them and do that with a great abundance of forgiveness that will cover any sin. And a great example of this is Jesus' ministry among the tax collectors and sinners.

Let's consider another place where we can get a good look at who this God is. This is where we get to see His love in action. This is from Psalm 18. Listen to David.

The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water. Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them; he flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

David is in trouble. He is confronted by a strong enemy who hates him. So, what does he do? He does exactly what he has been taught to do. He cries out to his God. He cries out for help. And what does his God do in return? What does He say? There is no, 'David, obviously, you deserve this for that sin from last week. So, just take it like a man.' And there isn't any, 'David, I'm sending this evil your way to train you. This is good for you. You'll thank me later.' How are those responses any different from the distant, Latin-speaking God who sends His own children to purgatory to suffer?  

But that is not how David's God responds. No, instead, He is enraged, absolutely enraged. 'What! Is someone messing with one of My kids? Are you serious?!' And what follows is an eruption. God goes ballistic and creation resounds with the effects of that until,

He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.

David knew his God. He knew that this God was totally for him. Totally. And that is so important in a world filled with evil.

When someone doesn't get this piece of the puzzle right it affects how he lives. This person thinks that he is pretty much on his own. He has to deal with the evil by himself. Or if God is anywhere in the picture He becomes part of the problem because He just stands there and watches as the evil does its foul work. Who could handle a life like this? But David knew his God, and he knew that his God was nothing like that.

So, who is this God, the God of the Gospel? Who is this God when He considers you? He is the God who yearns to see you thrive, who so wants to cover you in His compassion and who is sometimes mystified by your foolish choices. But He is more than willing to forgive. He is, in fact, eager to forgive. He is the God of grace. And because of all of that, because of His devotion to you, He is a Father who will rush to care for you. He rescues His children who cry out to Him. He rescues and comforts them while He works to destroy the evil that attacks them.

These character traits of your God show up in one special place. And this was a key theme during the Reformation, an important rediscovery. The best answer to the question, 'Who is God?’ is revealed in the Cross. What is going on in the Cross? Grace is going on in the Cross. Jesus suffers hell for you so that you might be wrapped in the compassion of God, so that you might be forgiven, abundantly forgiven. Jesus suffers so that you might pursue real life, a life that satisfies. And it was at the Cross that your greatest enemy experienced his mortal wound. Even before you cried out, the Father was rushing to your defense, rushing to deal with that enemy who was too strong for you. At the Cross, He rescued you.

You can see grace and compassion and devotion revealed in the Cross.  But there is one more thing that the Cross reveals about your God. And without this, the rest is so easily twisted and abused and misunderstood. This God is a holy God. Your God hates sin, utterly abhors it. He is determined, first, to see it punished. Sin must result in punishment. His holiness requires that. But He will not bring that punishment to bear on you, neither here nor in purgatory. He suffered that punishment Himself. God suffered His own justice. And that is how He could hate sin and love you. Your God, along with being gracious and compassionate and devoted to you, is also holy. So, sin was punished. But your God is not just determined to see sin punished. He is also determined to see it destroyed, eradicated. It must go. This is His universe and He will not allow sin to linger. He is in the process of destroying it wherever it is found. And so, He says to you, 'Be holy as I am holy.' It is the holy God who calls for you to deal with your sin, to eradicate it from your life, to put it to death. And the Christian responds to that call with a hearty, 'Yes, Lord!' But he does that not in the hope that doing such will shorten purgatory, nor because this God is enraged at him and threatens to become more so. The hearty, 'Yes!' is because the believer is getting to understand his God. He is getting to see more clearly the grace, compassion, devotion and yes, the holiness of his God. The 'Yes' of the believer is a response rooted in his love for his God.

Let me sum up what I've said. These are alternative ways of understanding who God is.

• Life is built on God's gracious attitude toward His people OR God needs to bought off by attempts at being good.
• In the face of the difficulties of life, the best response is to cry out for God's compassion and in this way to be comforted OR a person just needs to deal with hardship as best as he can since either he deserves it or because it will be good for him.
• Wrestling with situations can sometimes feel overwhelming but, even though that is the case, they can still be faced with a sense of peace  and optimism since God is devoted to His people and will act to rescue them OR God is that distant, Latin speaking deity who just doesn't care all that much.
• At the heart of following Jesus is a seriousness about holiness that shows as working to put sin to death OR ignoring any need for holy living is fine since God doesn't care about any of that either.

My deep desire is that all of you would be among those who are sincerely working at understanding your God. If that is already true of you, then let me remind you that Jesus will bless. He always blesses the obedience of faith. And one blessing He gives is an even greater ability to understand your God. And that will lead to a life that works so much better. More of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Life will make sense because God will make sense. That is Jesus' promise in the Gospel. Believe it and live.