Coming to God on His Terms Easter 2014 Message Scott Gentry, FFMC Recap of last week: obstacles to faith valid reasons resolving obstacles won t lead you to become a Christian The way adults become Christians is that something comes along to shrink those obstacles. Example: When you marry someone. Your obstacles to getting married shrink because it becomes personal. Marriage is no longer a category. It s a relationship with a person. We want you to take your obstacles and shrink them as you relate to God on a personal level. That s the way adults become Christians. That s the way adults re-connect to God. You ll carry some of those obstacles, those questions into your new or renewed relationship with God. Outside of Christianity God is a category. But Christianity is about having a personal relationship with God. Example: Marriage, relationships You may say, I m committed to my marriage, to this relationship. But with me, I want Leanna to be committed to ME, not just to marriage. So let s talk about how God helps us to enter into a personal relationship with Him and how He helps us with our questions, our obstacles to faith. John 3:16 This is the summary statement of Christianity. For God so. loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. It s not about answering our questions. Change comes when it dawns on us how personal God is. - God loves me. - He knows my name. - He cares about me. We re going to look at two different parts of the Bible today. One pre-dates the life of Jesus, the other is about Jesus and what we celebrate today on Easter Sunday. God s first involvement of this thing we call Christianity.
Let s start 2000 years before Jesus came on the scene. God got involved in humanity in the most personal way. He reveals Himself on His terms to one person. This was done in contrast to what everyone else in the world thought about God. At this time people then (and it s still like this with so many today) viewed God like a vending machine. I put in tokens, and God You re supposed to dole out the goods. All over the world people sacrificed things to the gods to try and get them to do what they wanted. What do I have to do to get you to bless my crops? To give me children? To give me victory over my enemy? We ve all negotiated with God. Because there s something in us that says: God, here are my terms. God, here is the way it works. God, here s what I expect you to do for me. And after we try this 2 or 3 times and things don t work out the way we expected, we walk away. There s no God. This is all just make-believe. This is the kind of world God interrupted 4000 years ago. when in the most personal of terms He appears to a man. His name? Abraham. (Abraham? This is Easter Sunday. Why aren t we talking about Jesus? Just hold on. I m heading there soon.) After The Fall, then The Flood, as nations began to be established, God decided to start over with man. And He wanted to be personal with us again. So He started with Abraham. Genesis 12:1-3 The Lord had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people and your father s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. This is how the hope of Easter begins.
God made 3 promises to Abraham, and each of them came true. (1) I ll make you a great nation [Israel]; (2) I will bless you; (3) all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. God was saying: I m going to do something for everyone, and I m going to start with you. I want this to be personal. I don t want to be the mystery God. I don t want religion. God began what we re celebrating today with a conversation with a person. Not because Abraham had done anything right. There was no law, no 10 Commandments. It was simply God s plan. His way. Genesis 15 - God s Covenant with Abraham Verses 1-6 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. But Abram said, Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came to him: This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky and count the stars if indeed you can count them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He tells Abraham to go outside and count the stars. It s impossible to do. So shall your offspring be. Verse 6 is a pivotal statement in the Scriptures. It is a compass setting for the entire Bible. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham Believed God And God credited it to him as righteousness.
When Abraham said to God: I don t know how I don t understand it But I believe You. In that moment God gave Abraham a righteous standing before Him. He gave him the gift of righteousness. Not because of anything he had done except to trust Him. With all of the questions he must have had: How will You do this, God? Why have You allowed us to stay childless for all of these years? Why did You allow my wife Sarah to go through so much pain? He still didn t understand it all. No answer to his questions. God simply wanted Abraham to come to him on His terms. Just trust Me. That s how it s been ever since. God comes to us on His terms. That s how this relationship begins: On His terms, not ours. Think about your objections. Set them to the side for just a moment. Now ask: Isn t that what you would expect from God? If He is the Creator. If He knows you. If He loves you. If He will take care of your biggest problem. which is not your finances not your job not your kids not your health It s your sin. I m going to once and for all take care of your sin. I ll give you a right standing with Me. Wouldn t you expect God to say: If we re going to have a relationship, it will be on My terms not yours.
Our terms are the questions we haven t gotten answers to: your hurts, pains unanswered prayers God s seeming silence suffering Should we be surprised that He would come to the people He loves on His own, very personal terms? In spite of our questions, obstacles, objections. Now to Easter John 3:16 For God so love the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. It all starts with God and His love for us. As with Abraham, God is the one who initiates having a relationship with us. He gave His one and only Son, Jesus. And then there is this simple declaration: Whoever believes in Him. Those are His terms. John 11:25 "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; Acts 16:30, 31 "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved." John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them. To believe in Jesus means: 1. Acknowledging that He is God s one and only Son. God became a man. 2. It means believing that He did die on a cross for our sins.
3. It s believing that His death paid the penalty for your sins. Your debt has been paid The guilt of your sin is removed God credits His death to you, so that you are in a right relationship with Him 4. It s believing that you enter into a relationship with God, one that He wants to last forever. 5. And it also means that you are to live this life in submission to God. Submitting to His terms as they are revealed in His Word, the Bible. You still have questions. You still have obstacles. I m not saying to ignore those and just have a mindless faith. I m saying to bring those with you as you begin this relationship with God. Over time some of those will simply go away. Others will be answered. And some may remain with you for a long time. Just don t let these keep you from believing. My Request to You Can I encourage you to make this prayer your own today? God, if You can be known, I want to know You more than I want answers to my questions. God, You know my questions and understand how important they are to me. But I want to know You more than I want these answers today. I am willing to come to You on Your terms, not mine. If You can be known, I want to know You. What do you have to lose? You know you have this inward tension within you. That s God s pursuit of you. He s not just going to let this go. Your friends have tried, but they can t overcome our obstacles. And even though you can demolish their arguments, you still have this inward tension. Why? Because God so loved you.
The tension will only go away when you come to God on His terms. Then He s going to do something extraordinary in you. So what do you have to lose? Are you going to go through another year of your life carrying around that tension that nobody can answer? Letting decisions you made as a teenager still define your life? Letting a hurt that happened decades ago keep you from a personal life with God? God, I m going to come to You on Your terms. I want to know You more than I want the answers to my questions. That s how adults become Christians. That s what God wants to do for you right now.