Trusting and Loving Who God Is

What's the truth about who God is?

When you start getting to know someone, you are discovering what they are like. As you talk and as they talk, there is an exchange of information about each other not only in what is said but in how it is said and in how it is listened to. How do they talk about other people? What do they talk about? Do they listen to you, showing interest and asking more questions? Or do they interrupt you and somehow make every topic about them?

As you get to know them, you are either going to like them or you aren’t. If you like them, you will be inclined to spend more time with them and learn more about them. You will be excited to see them. You will be willing to share more about yourself with them and at the same time, they will share more about themselves with you.

Imagine you are getting to know someone and you are trying to decide whether they are someone you can trust. What makes a person trustworthy?

Trust is one thing. But what about love? You can love someone as a friend and you can love someone as a spouse. What makes someone lovable? What makes someone easy to love? What makes you want to spend time with them?

Series Introduction
We have just finished the opening section of the book of Genesis in chapters 1 through 11. Through the rest of Genesis, we are going to be introduced to a cast of characters whom God tells us right up front he is going to use to bless the whole world. He is going to use a man named Abraham and his family to bring restoration and renewal to the ruin that human sin and rebellion have brought.

But even while these characters are blessed with God’s promises, presence, and direct guidance, we are going to get front row seats to their sin, their doubt, their fears, and their selfishness. If you think about it, they aren’t much different from us. If you’ve trusted in Jesus as your King, then you are blessed with God’s promises, presence, and direct guidance. And yet, we all struggle with sin, doubt, fear, and selfishness. We are all imperfect followers of Jesus. Every person in your life has front row seats to your mixed bag of faith and doubt, your good and your bad. And at the same time, you have front row seats to theirs!

As we go through Genesis chapters 12 through 50 and meet these characters, it’s like we are doctors with patient after patient walking into our office telling us about a host of problems in their lives. But without Genesis 1 through 11, we would be like doctors who never went to school to treat people’s ailments. We would have patient after patient walking into our office telling us their symptoms but we would have no idea what is causing them.

Sermon Introduction
Genesis 1-11 is our medical school teaching us how to treat the sickness and not just the symptoms. When it comes to our sinful behaviors, we don’t want to just put BandAids over the problem; we want inner transformation, not just behavior modification. We need to go to the root cause. Genesis 1-11 teaches us the root cause of sin so that we can do more than treat the symptoms of spiritual sickness in our lives.

Today and next week we are going to review what we have learned in spiritual medical school from Genesis 1 through 11. We are going to learn how properly diagnose the root issue that brings sin into our lives.

When people walk in, they are like this dead plant. Their leaves are wilted and turning black. Some have fallen off and completely died. They are wondering what’s wrong. We want them to be like this plant that is growing and green. We want them to be healthy and vibrant.

Diagnose yourself. Which one of these is how your spiritual life feels? Which one of these is the best picture of your relationship with God right now?

This week and next week we are going to focus on two principles. The principle for today is this: When we trust and love God, we flourish and live. When we trust and love God, we flourish and love.

That’s how someone looks like the green plant. By trusting in God and loving God. We need this picture of health in order to be able to diagnose what’s wrong otherwise we can’t get people back to it.

So what picture of health did Genesis 1 through 11 give us?

What picture of health does Genesis 1 through 11 give us?

When Genesis opened, we met God. He was the only one who existed and who then created everything that now exists. He created us in his image to represent his reign and rule on earth. We were created to reflect what he is like to one another and the rest of creation. In the first two chapters of Genesis, we saw a picture of how everything is supposed to be. God created a home for us to dwell in with him. We were meant to live in a loving relationship with God and with each other and to take care of creation as he would.

Think of Genesis 1 and 2 as your first introduction to God. You are getting to know him and discovering what he is like. Is this person trustworthy? Is this person worthy of my love? Even after Genesis 3 when sin disrupts everything, we still see God’s character on display as he responds to the rebellion, selfishness, and wickedness of humanity throughout chapters 3 to 11.

To get a picture of health, we are going to use a series of four questions. Who is God? What has God done? Who are we in light of what he’s done? What should we do? I’m going to answer part of these on my own then you are going to help me with the rest.

If Genesis 1 through 11 introduced us to God, what did we learn about who God is? We are going to summarize using the 4Gs. If you are unfamiliar with the 4Gs, these are four truths about God’s character. Even though more could be said, they are a good and memorable summary of what God is like.

First, God is great. This means God is big and powerful and in control. Someone who is great knows what they are doing. They can handle even the most difficult of situations. A great pilot can handle a plane that blows an engine. A great ship captain can handle a bad storm on the sea. A great president can lead his country through the threat of war. Over and over again in Genesis, we see that God is in complete control. He creates the earth, stars, and moon and tells them where to go and what to do. There are no other gods competing for control over the universe. God creates fish, animals, and birds and they do as he says. God sends a flood and he tells it when to subside. God is in total control.

What does God do because he is great? He controls and plans and keeps his word. God can always do what he says he will do because he is in total control. No thing and no person is greater than him so he can always deliver on his promises. Nothing can thwart his plans. This is why we can trust his word when he says that if we trust in Jesus, we are saved from our sin. If he wasn’t great, then his promises would just be what he hopes he can accomplish.

Second, God is glorious. “Glory” is a word we hear a lot and might even say but perhaps don’t know exactly what it means. When the word for “glory” in the Bible is used in a non-religious way, it means “weighty” or “heavy.” Glorious things are majestic, beautiful, and magnificent. If you stand before a huge mountain, you might say, “Wow, that’s glorious.” Glorious things inspire awe in us. They are weighty. Weighty things leave an impression. A bowling ball on a piece of styrofoam will leave an impression.

For God to be glorious means he has a weightiness to him. He isn’t to be taken lightly. He is important. In the Bible, God’s presence is often made visible and felt through lightning, fire, and earthquakes. These are things that make an impression on us and can even frighten us and leave us in awe.

God is glorious and impressive because he created everything that exists. But not only this, he created us in his image to be his representatives. If we are his representatives, that means we answer to him - his opinion of us should be the most important; it should carry the most weight. Our job is to represent his agenda, values, and character, so that means we should care most about what he thinks of us. Because he is our Creator and we were made to be his representatives, he should be the most weighty in our lives. When we think about everyone who sees what we do every day, we should care most about what God thinks.

What does God do because he is glorious? He impresses and inspires awe. Like looking at a huge mountain makes us say, “Wow, that’s amazing,” we should look at God and say, “Wow, he’s amazing.” He should captivate our attention.

Third, God is good. God is a good Creator who created a good world full of good things. God is good so what he creates is good. He is the originator of all that is good. Every taste of good food should remind us of God’s goodness. Every beautiful landscape should remind us of God’s goodness. When we look up at the stars, when we marvel at the complexities of the human body, when we adore the face of a baby, it should remind us of God’s goodness. Everything good comes from him and he always does what is good.

What does God do because he is good? He satisfies. After a good movie, we tell our friends, “That was good.” After a good meal we sit back and say, “Ah, that was good.” We do that because it was satisfying. It was enjoyable. We had a desire and that thing satisfied it. Every other good thing is only a taste of how much God satisfies. He created all those good things to point to his goodness. All of the desires of our heart are satisfied by God. He is like a drink of ice cold water on a hot summer day. There is a God-sized ache and longing in each of us that only God can satisfy. Because God is good he satisfies and he also instructs. He wants what is good for us - what is best for us - so he guides us toward that.

Fourth and lastly, God is gracious. Someone who is gracious gives you the opposite of what you deserve. Even after they sinned, God spoke with Adam and Eve and covered their nakedness. Even after he murdered his brother, God protected Cain. A gracious person is someone who is generous and treats you kindly and with love even if you haven’t treated them that way. A gracious person is a generous giver of gifts. Everything we have is a gift given to us by God. The breath in our lungs, the world we live in, the clothes on our backs, the shoes on our feet, the children in our families, the spouse at our side, the food on our table. This is common grace because it is given to everyone. It’s part of the covenant God made with Noah after the flood. Even though we are sinful and often pay no attention to our Creator, he still allows us to enjoy the good of his creation.

God also shows special grace to those who trust in Jesus. He removes our sin from us by paying its penalty himself. He forgives us, renews us, and restores us. God shows love to everyone, but he shows a special, saving love to those who trust in Jesus. He has a future planned for us because he is gracious. We don’t deserve and could never earn his love, but we have it anyway.

What does God do because he is gracious? He gives and blesses even though we don’t deserve it. God by nature is a giver and a blesser. It’s part of who he is. He gives us what we don’t deserve. Even people who don’t give a rip about him, he still cares for.

If this is what’s true about who God is and what he has done, what does that mean about who we are? Remember, this is the ideal picture of health. If everything was as it should be, what would be true of us? So help me fill this in. If you believed this about God, what would we believe is true of us? Finish this sentence: I am [blank]. (Satisfied, Impressed, Safe and protected, Provided for, Blessed)

Then because we are made in God’s image to reflect what he is like, we would do things that he does. We would bless, we would love, we would meet people’s needs, etc.

The good news is we get God. The good news of the Bible, of Christianity, of Jesus is that this is who God is and what he has done. He is amazing! The good news is that when we believe in Jesus, we get him! We get to know this incredible God and love him and serve him. This is the good news! This is the heartbeat of what our church is about - the good news of who God is and what he has done.

But even though this is true - even though we were made by God to find our greatest hope, joy, purpose, and rest in him - we still look to other things. We still turn to created things rather than the Creator. This is the lie the serpent in Genesis 3 got us to believe - that we need to turn away from God to find what we are looking for. We will cover more of that next week using the 4Gs again.

If you don’t have a pen, go ahead and grab one from the back. I am going to go over the 4Gs again and as I do so, write down the areas of your life where you need to believe this. Maybe one thing will come to mind, maybe multiple things, maybe nothing comes to mind now and you will need to think about it later.

First, write down “God is great.” When we don’t believe God is great, we are anxious, nervous, worried, and stressed. We don’t believe God is in control so we need to be. We don’t believe that he knows what he is doing so we are stressed about everything happening. What is an area of your life where you feel anxious and worried? Is it finances? Your job? How your kids behave? An event you are planning? Write that thing down.

I often feel worried and stressed about how the church is doing. One time, I shared my worries with Nik and he sang a couple verses of the song “he’s got the whole world in his hands to me” but replaced the words with my situation. “He’s got the whole church in his hands. He’s got Mitch’s marriage in his hands. He’s got Mitch in his hands.” Maybe you need to sing those words about something in your life. The good news is that God is greater than whatever you face. He is bigger. He is stronger. Whatever it is you are worried and anxious about, God is greater.

Second, write down “God is glorious.” When we don’t believe God is glorious, we are afraid of other people. We are afraid of what they think of us and whether they approve of our actions because their opinion of us is more weighty than God’s. Their approval is more important to us than God’s. Sometimes in movies, the kids in a family will have some sort of performance they are part of. Perhaps the 8 year old is in a play. What they want most is for their dad to be there. As they perform their lines, they look out in the crowd and see their mom smiling at them but then they see the empty seat next to their mom. They really wanted to see their dad smiling at them but he isn’t there. It doesn’t matter if everyone else says they did great if their dad doesn't. When you look out at the audience of people watching your life, whose face do you look at to see if they are approving of what you are doing? Is it your spouse? A parent? A teacher? Your friends? Your boss? Maybe you care about what everybody thinks of you. Write that person down.

Those are the people who are living for. Those are the people you are afraid of. You don’t want to disappoint them. But the person’s face we are supposed to look out at first is God’s. If he approves of what we are doing, we don’t need to worry about what other people think. But too often we make decisions based on what other people will think instead of what God will think. The good news is that God’s opinion of you is the most important and if you have trusted in Jesus, the most important person in the world loves you more than you can imagine.

Third, write down “God is good.” When we don’t believe God is good, we look for satisfaction elsewhere. We have an ache and thirst to be satisfied so look to money, sex, sports, video games, phones, TV, food, vacations, stuff, alcohol, or whatever else offers comfort, pleasure, and enjoyment. When you need these things, where do you turn? When it’s been a rough day at work or with the kids or with your spouse, when you are stressed and just need some relief, where do you turn for comfort and refreshment? Where do you go to bring you comfort and pleasure? Write that thing down.

The good news is that God is better. God is better than all those things. They can give some pleasure, but if it’s joy, pleasure, and satisfaction you are looking for, go to the one who invented it. God truly satisfies our hunger and thirst for pleasure and joy.

Fourth, write down “God is gracious.” When we don’t believe God is gracious, we try to prove ourselves to him. We try to prove we deserve his love and forgiveness. We try to earn his favor and we try to get blessings from him by our good works. But no amount of effort could ever prove we are deserving. What we deserve is to be rejected and condemned and to be separated from him forever. When we don’t believe God is gracious, we picture him watching us with crossed arms waiting for us to get our acts together. What do you do to try to prove yourself to God? Is it the way you parent? Is it how responsible you are? Is it how much money you give? Is it how much you serve others, how much you pray, how much you read your Bible, how little you swear? Do you compare yourself to others to prove you are deserving of his love? Write down how you try to prove yourself to God.

The good news is that God’s arms are open wider than our sin. We try to prove ourselves because we know someone has to pay for our sin. Someone has to cover over what we have done wrong. So we try to pay for it. The good news is that Jesus has already paid for all of it. Jesus has made a way for us to come back to God. Now God’s arms are not crossed but are open wide. We may think there is no way God can cover this sin. No way will God embrace me. He knows what I have done. But because of Jesus, God’s arms are open wide to embrace you. No matter how bad or big you think your sin is, God’s arms are wider still.

Now take a moment and circle the one you need the most.

I’m going to hand out a sheet that summarizes the 4Gs (see Downloads). They include a phrase that helps us to turn away from the other objects of our trust back to God as the one in whom we should be our full trust and devotion. Memorize the 4Gs this week. Put them up somewhere where you can see them. Even if you have them memorized, put it up somewhere.

Then tell someone which one you need help believing. A lot of times, we need help believing all of them. Pick the one that stands out the most. Which one sounds like good news that you need to hear. If memorizing all of them seems like too much, memorize that one this week. Then tell someone you need help believing it and ask them to pray for you.

It’s easy to talk about things we love and that’s what sharing the gospel with others should feel like. When we are sharing our faith, we are really introducing people to God so that they can know what he is truly like and begin to trust and love him. Like introducing someone to a great friend you want everyone to meet.

Conclusion
Home is where our God is and we are all homesick. We desperately need to return home to be with God. We yearn to know him even if we don’t know that’s what it is we are yearning for. When we walk into the doctor’s office, homesickness for God is what we all have. A pastor who lived in the 4th century said it this way, “Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.”

This week, we have focused on the true picture of God that Genesis 1-11 gives us. God is more great, more glorious, more good, and more gracious than we could ever imagine and the good news is that through Jesus, he has made a way for us to come home to him.

Next week we will focus on the false picture of God that we too often believe. When we believe God is someone other than who he truly is, we will trust and love others things instead of him or at least more than him. But Jesus says the key is to turn from those beliefs and believe in the good news. That’s what we will focus on next time.