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Location:
6425 Jefferson Rd. For
directions, click here.
Jerry
Varnado,
pastor February
17, 2002 Thus
far, we have covered two of the
three "omni's" about God. Two
weeks ago it was God's
omnipotence -- He is
El
Shaddai, God
Almighty.
He has all power. The sermon last
week focused on God's
omniscience. He is
"the
only wise
God,"
the One who possesses all
knowledge. 9-The
God
Who
Fills
Heaven
and
Earth As
creatures of the earth, people of
material existence, it's
difficult for us to comprehend or
even to accept that there could
be existence apart from
material substance and form. Yet
the existence of a non-material,
spiritual world is central to
Christian faith and to living the
Christian life. Look
with me at John 4, where Jesus
talks with the woman at the well.
He's talking to her about
spiritual things and she turns
theological, and raises a
question about the appropriate
mountain for worship: Is it the
mountain where the Jews worship
or the mountain where the
Samaritans worship? Jesus says to
her in verse 21: "Believe me,
woman, a time is coming when you
will worship the Father neither
on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem." And
then he says in verses 23 and 24:
Now,
what does it mean to say that God
is spirit? Well, the dictionary
defines "spirit" this way: "The
vital principle or animating
force within living beings." God
is a living being who has an
animating force within, but He
does not exist as material
substance as we do. This means
God is invisible, but more
importantly it means that God is
free from the laws and
limitations of space. Thus, God
can fill both the heavens and the
earth -- all at the same time.
The
fact that God isn't material is
extremely important. Dr. Merrill
Unger, author of the Unger's
Bible Dictionary, notes that
holding materialistic notions of
God's presence can lead to all
sorts of error. Idolatry, for
example, is simply the attempt to
give deity material substance and
form. Failing
to understand God's as spirit
also can lead to "pantheism,"
which involves identifying God as
being "one with the universe and
its phenomena." But God is
separate from the universe. His
omnipresence isn't substance
infinitely extended. It is
something other than material
substance. God's
power, intelligence, and goodness
can be seen in all of
creation, but He is distinct from
it all. He created the universe,
but the universe does not define
Him; He is bigger than the
universe. When
Jesus came to the Earth as one of
us, He voluntarily placed Himself
under the laws and limitations of
space -- for a number of reasons.
One had to do with the difficulty
humans face of knowing and
accepting God without being able
to actually see Him. Jesus came
to deal with the problem of our
being flesh and God being
spirit. In
John 14, after being with Jesus
for almost three years, Philip
says to Him, "Lord, show us the
Father and that will be enough
for us." And what does Jesus say
in response? "Don't you know me,
Philip, even after I have been
among you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen me has seen
the Father. How can you say,
'Show us the Father'"? (John
14:8, 9) In
Jesus, the eternal God became a
human to help us to know Him, in
spite of the limitations of our
material existence. God was
showing us what He would be like
as a human. In
the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters
of John, Jesus is teaching the
disciples about His coming death,
resurrection, ascension to
heaven, and the coming of the
Holy Spirit at Pentecost. He is
preparing them to carry on the
ministry He has begun on the
earth. Let's
look look at several points Jesus
made in this discourse, first in
John 14: "And
I will ask the Father, and he
will give you another
Counselor to be with you
forever...." (verse
16) "I
will not leave you as orphans;
I will come to you...." (verse
18) Now,
consider John 16:5-7: "But
I tell you the truth: It is
for your good that I am going
away. Unless I go away, the
Counselor will not come to
you; but if I go, I will send
him to you." The
essence of what Jesus is saying
here is that when He goes away,
He's going to send His followers
another counselor, the Spirit of
truth, the Holy Spirit. Jesus is
saying: "It is to your advantage
that I go away, and it to the
advantage of the kingdom of God
-- because I will no longer be
limited by my present material
existence. By my Spirit, you will
be able to do greater works
because I will be in you, even in
each and all of you who love me
and keep my
commandments." Now,
when Jesus talks about "greater"
works, He's not talking about
greater in substance. They are
greater in the sense that they
happen in multiple places at the
same time through vast Body of
Christ, the Church; Jesus is no
longer limited by one material
body, as He limited Himself on
earth. He is active through
millions of human bodies, the
bodies of people who love Him and
serve Him. By
the way, even though God is
omnipresent, and even lives
within us, we're not always
consciously aware of His
presence. Why? Because we're
constantly bombarded with the
problems, trials, and
difficulties of living in a
fallen world. These consume or
attention. Yet God is present all
the time in every place in the
whole universe. You
know why God ordained a day of
rest from our daily routine? To
focus on Him. The purpose of
worship is to get our minds off
the rigors of daily living so
that we can focus our attention
on God and experience His
presence. When
we visit the women at Washington
State Prison or the Alzheimers
patients Arbor Terrace, we are
not "taking Jesus with us." He is
already there! What we're doing
is showing those people the love
of God by our commitment to serve
them; we help get their eyes off
their circumstances and focus
their attention on God, so they
can experience His
presence. So
God is omnipresent is space. He's
also omnipresent in time.
God not only has all the
knowledge that currently exists,
He also has knowledge of things
that haven't happened yet. He has
foreknowledge of everything that
occurs or will occur in the
universe; He knows the end from
the beginning (Isaiah
46:10). We,
of course, are very limited by
time. The older we get the more
apparent it becomes to us. Thirty
years ago, this particular
limitation never crossed my mind.
But now every morning when I look
in the mirror, I am reminded that
my time is limited, that my days
are numbered. Because
we're limited by time, we are
literally consumed by it. We
constantly try to manage it, keep
up with and schedule it, and find
ways to buy more of it.
Do
you know how Florida was
discovered? The Spanish explorer
Juan Ponce de Leon was searching
for the mythological "fountain of
youth." We spend countless
millions of dollars on drugs,
vitamins, and herbs to help us
live longer and healthier lives,
trying stall of the grim reaper
that will one day claim each of
us, if Jesus tarries. Don't
hear me wrong. We should endeavor
to use our time wisely. We should
take good care of our bodies that
we will live long, fruitful lives
in service to God. But the fact
remains that our time in this
flesh is limited. Actually,
this is one of the major reasons
that the Good News of Jesus
Christ is such good news. When we
receive Jesus as savior and Lord
we also receive His
timelessness. Look
with me at John 11:21-25. Lazarus
has died, and his sister Martha
is upset. If only Jesus had come
when He was summoned, He could
have kept Lazarus from
dying. Jesus
said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life. He
who believes in me will live,
even though he dies; and
whoever lives and believes in
me will never die. Do you
believe this?" The
Bible declares that God put us on
the earth in these earthly bodies
for a purpose -- to show his
love, power, and truth to the
world. So as Christians we should
desire and endeavor to live long
lives to the praise of His glory.
But we should have no inordinate
concern for the fact that our
lives in this flesh are limited.
If we know and believe the truth
God has revealed in Jesus Christ,
and have received Him as our
Savior and Lord, only our bodies
are limited -- not our
lives. To
the believer, the grave is
not a final resting place
-- it's merely a dressing room
where we take off mortality and
put immortality; where the
perishable is transformed into
the imperishable. "Where O grave
is your victory? Where O death is
your sting?... Thanks be to God
who gives the victory" -- over
sin, death, and hell -- "through
our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor.
15:55, 57). Our
God fills heaven and earth. He
isn't limited by time or space.
We can count on Him to be with us
no matter where we are, no matter
the circumstances we may face.
And in the end, we can trust Him
to raise us up to live with Him
in the heavenly kingdom
forever. That
is something to shout about.
Hallelujah! Praise His holy
name.
Gateway
Church gathers
for worship
Sundays
at 10:30 a.m.
(Hwy. 129) in Athens,
Georgia.
Ministry
of the
Word:
Recent
sermons
Our quarterly e-magazine
Gateway
Today
For the Gateway family
Pastor
Jerry's Weekly
E-Mail
A
GATEWAY SERMON
The
God who fills heaven and earth
(Ninth
in the series, Knowing
God)
Gateway
Church,
Athens GA
"and not a God far away? Can
anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him?"
declares the LORD.
"Do not I fill heaven and
earth?" declares the
LORD.
(Jeremiah
23:23-24)
Today we turn to the third
"omni": God is
omnipresent. He is
everywhere at the same
time.
In
this
series
God
as spirit"[A]
time is coming and has now
come when the true worshipers
will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for they are
the kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit,
and his worshipers must
worship in spirit and in
truth."
The
spirit God takes on human
flesh"I
tell you the truth, anyone who
has faith in me will do what I
have been doing. He will do
even greater things than
these, because I am going to
the Father...." (verse
12)
"I
am going to him who sent me,
yet none of you asks me,
'Where are you going?' Because
I have said these things, you
are filled with grief.
Experiencing His
presence
Transcending
time
Beyond the gave"Lord,"
Martha said to Jesus, "if you
had been here, my brother
would not have died. But I
know that even now God will
give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your
brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he
will rise again in the
resurrection at the last
day."
An
audio tape of this sermon is
available
free of charge (U.S. requests
only).
Request
a tape by calling
or writing the Gateway Church
office.
Please specify tape number
020217a: The God Who Fills
Heaven and Earth.
©
2002 Gerald R.
Varnado