By
Coach Dave Daubenmire
September 29, 2011
NewsWithViews.com
Stop right there. Don’t read any farther than this paragraph. Close your eyes and imagine a picture of Jesus. Do it now. I’ll wait.
What did you see? What image did the thought of Jesus conjure up in your mind?
This isn’t a game…or a mind exercise…it is critically important. It speaks volumes about the way you live your life.
You serve the God you see.
I’m not talking about His physical attributes. At the risk of blasphemy…the size of His nose…or lips…or color of His hair…No one has ever seen the face of God and lived to tell about it. No one would be able to identify Him in a police line-up.
Jehovah...I AM…no one has ever looked Him in the eyes and lived.
Jesus is a bit of a different story. He took on the physical attributes of a human being and walked the earth. Many saw Him…walked with Him…as the incarnation of Jehovah’s Spirit in fleshly man.
But that would be a description of the “person” of God. The “person” Jesus is described in only a few places in the Bible. The closest thing we get to a description is in Isaiah 53:2b, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.”
Most of what we think Jesus looked like comes from Hollywood, paintings, or (my favorite) Bible stories from children’s books. Most of the images we have of Jesus today are probably not accurate. Jesus was a Galilean, so He likely had dark skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. This is a far cry from the blond-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned, effeminate Jesus in many modern pictures.
But it is not the “person” (physical attributes) of Jesus that matters. If it was important, Matthew, Peter and John, who spent three years with Him, would certainly be able to give us an accurate description, as would His own brothers, James and Jude. Yet, these New Testament writers offer no details about His physical attributes.
Let me switch gears on you for a second. Take any giant from history and ask yourself the same question. Martin Luther, Galileo, the Apostle Paul, Braveheart, Jack the Ripper; are they remembered for what they looked like…or what they did?
No, my friends, the physical attributes of Jesus are irrelevant. We don’t remember Him for what He looked like. We remember Him for what He did. He spoke truth to power.
It is HIS NATURE that matters. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.” You serve the God you see.
What God do you see? What is His nature…His attributes, if you will…His character?
It matters; you know…how you see God. Because you will serve the God you see.
“Do you think of God as an errand boy, a cosmic, doddering doting old Grandpa, a gentleman who wouldn’t hurt a flea. Does your God dismiss sin? Is your God at the mercy of Man or Nature? Is your God too small? Is he “Itsy-bitsy, teensy-weensy?”
Or do you worship the God of the Bible? Is your God the God of Joseph, Who turns the evil intent of wicked men to His own use? (Gen. 50:20) Do you worship the God of Job, Whose greatness caused that patriarch to abhor himself and be silent? (Job 42:1-6) Do you fall down in worship of the Holy, Holy, Holy, God of Isaiah? (Isa. 6:1-5) Do you realize that your life is ruled by the Sovereign Ruler and Omniscient God of Daniel? (Dan. 2:20-23, 27-28; 4:34-35) Do you trust in the God of the Psalms, who does as He pleases? (Psa 115:3; 135:6) Do you pray to the God of Abraham, who calls those things that are not as though they were? (Rom 4:17) Have you met the God of Paul, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords? (1 Tim. 6:14-16).
You will serve the God you see. I highly recommend you read this link. Permit me to summarize.
•
God is sovereign. God’s rulership is universal. It is not confined
by time or place. God sovereignly rules the affairs of nations. He does
not bow to man’s laws.
• God is Holy. Holy is a Bible term that means
“set apart.” God is separate from all other things, and
is 100% pure in everything. He is set apart because of who He is. He
is above all.
• God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. There
is no limit to His might. You can’t make him illegal.
• God is omniscient. We can’t even conceive
the vast capabilities of “his mind”. He knows, and sees,
everything. (Get your brain around that one.)
• God is immutable. He never changes. He is eternally
the same. He is not subject to your opinions of Him.
• God is wrathful. Most folks don’t want
to hear that, but it is His Wrath that made Jesus’ incarnation
necessary. If we deny His wrath, we deny our need for the Gospel.
• God is just. We often mistake fairness for
justice. His justice demands judgment and punishment.
• God is love. The love of God is not some sickly
sentimental thing that is like the cotton-candy love humans express
to one another. It is the underpinning of His nature. His mercy triumphs
over judgment.
So let me ask you again. What do you see in your mind’s eye when you picture God?
Let me put it to you another way. When you think of Jesus do you think of Mr. Rogers or Braveheart? Does He remind you of your mother or your father? Of a cheerleader or a linebacker? As a lion or a lamb?
He is referred to as both; The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, as well as the Lamb of God. Most Christians view Him as the Lamb. Very few see Him as the Lion. Lambs bleat. Lions roar. How do you see Him?
You will serve the God you see.
“Where are you heading, Coach,” you are probably asking yourself.
We think God is like us: soft, tolerant, flexible because we have created Him in our own image and given Him attributes that we are comfortable with. A God who loves us is much more palatable that a God who is angry with us.
“God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day” Psalm 7:11. When is the last time your pastor preached that sermon?
I believe that Jehovah is very angry today. He is angry over the sinful condition of His children. He is angry over the cavalier attitude that His ministers take towards sin. He is angry with the “hands off” attitude the “men of the cloth” have taken towards the decadence of the culture. He is angry with our lack of appreciation for the sacrifice of His only begotten son. His is angry with our willingness to “tolerate” sin. He is angry with what Christians are allowing their children to be taught in government schools. He is angry that we have once again turned His temple into a den of thieves.
“…In wrath, remember mercy.” Hab. 3:2 God’s wrath demands justice.
“The ‘god’ of this twentieth century no more resembles the Supreme Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The ‘god’ who is now talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday School, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is the figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside of the pale of Christendom form ‘gods’ out of wood and stone, while the millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a ‘god’ out of their own carnal mind. In reality, they are but atheists, for there is no other possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God, and no God at all. a ‘god’ whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits naught but contempt.” -A. W. Pink.
| Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts! |
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” -Rev 19
They didn’t crucify Jesus because he was nice. Braveheart or Mr. Rogers?
You serve the God you see.
Click Here for an audio version of this commentary.
Order the CDs here.
Do you think like a Christian or a humanist? Did the Founders really separate Church and State? Is Judicial tyranny ruining America? Check out these great teachings by the Coach
� 2011 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved
Share
This Article
