Seeing God for Who He Is--Republished from 2016

Our second challenge on Sunday centered around the way that we see God...our view of Him. Now I would venture to guess that no one reading this blog would say that they have actually seen God. We may have seen the results of His presence, or the work of God in the life of someone we know or even our own life, but we haven't seen God in the way that Isaiah did in Isaiah chapter 6.

Read Isaiah 6:1-8.

Now notice some things here about Isaiah's interaction with God.

1--He truly saw God. No filters, no veils, no nothing. He says in verse 1, "I saw the Lord..." and then he explains what all he saw as he was looking at the Lord. So many times when we come to the Scriptures (which is where we truly see God), we come with a set of filters that taint our vision of Him. We come with preconceived notions that come from our past experiences, our upbringing, or our theological bent. But God wants us to look at Him without these filters, and just see Him for Who He is. We need to truly see God...no filters, no bias...and let that change us.

2--When Isaiah saw God for Who He was, he saw himself for who he was. Notice his response to seeing all of this in verse 5: "Woe to me! I am ruined!" A loose paraphrase might be, "Oh no! I'm going to die!" Why? "I am a man of unclean lips (or a sinner) and I live among a people of unclean lips (or sinners), and my eyes have seen the...Lord Almighty!"

When we see God for Who He truly is, then we realize just how much of a sinner we truly are. When God's reality becomes reality to us, our sinfulness becomes that much more apparent. There is nothing more hideous than seeing something you thought was clean held up next to something that really is clean. You thought it was looking good, but then you see that it wasn't all that good at all.

Isaiah identified his lips as unclean. Why was that? Because he was a preacher, and had been preaching for quite a while before this particular event took place. He was struck by the purity of God and that his own words were not as pure as God's words. This caused him to think that God would strike him down because of it.

But God's mercy triumphed over judgement and he sent the angel to purify Isaiah's lips. A burning hot coal on the mouth would have been painful. But that leads to the next thing I want you to think about...

3--When we see ourselves for who we are, it brings pain. God had to purge Isaiah from his sin and so when it happened, He brought pain upon him. Friends, our sin should bring us pain. Maybe not physical pain as in having a burning hot coal touch the part of your body that is sinful, but the pain of knowing that we have offended a righteous, holy, sovereign God. If our repentance and confession doesn't bring a modicum of pain, are we truly repentant? Pain is not always a bad thing.

When I was in college I tried my hand for about a week at weightlifting. Needless to say, I didn't stick with it. But one of the things that I remember my trainer telling me was this..."Pain is just weakness leaving the body!" I never forgot that. And this applies to the Christian life as well. When we experience pain...the pain of repentance, the pain of loss, the pain of being unjustly accused and persecuted...weakness leaves us. Spiritual weakness becomes a thing of the past. We become Spiritual Body Builders that can face the toughest of challenges in the strength that we have been given from the Lord. And we remember that it is not our strength, but God's!

4--Only after his sin was purged was Isaiah ready to do the work that God had called him to do. Friend, what is it in your life that the coal needs to touch? Perhaps it is your mind harboring lust, greed, envy or bitterness. Perhaps it is your hand that reaches out to steal, hurt or hide those things that are unworthy of the follower of Christ. Perhaps it is your lips that speak gossip, slander or lies. Perhaps it is your feet that take you to places you should not be. Whatever the case is, ask God to show you Who He is so that you will have the courage to tell Him where your sin is the ripest. Then He will purge your sin...painful as it may be...and then He will call to you.

Then be ready to say with Isaiah..."Here am I! Send me!"

Feel free to comment below or ask a question. And we hope to see you on Sunday!

Purity

At this time of year (Summer), we often have days that are so hot, a tall cool glass of water is exactly what you need. Your throat is so dry you can't hardly swallow, and you would give anything to have some water to drink.

Now imagine for a second that as you look at that glass of water that someone has so graciously poured for you, someone comes along and spits in that glass of water. Are you still going to drink it? Probably not. Or perhaps someone comes up while it is still a drinkable glass of water and takes an eye dropper and fills it with water from a toilet in the high school. Then the come and put just one drop into the glass. Would you drink it then?

I would guess that you wouldn't. Even though it's only one drop of contaminant, you would steer clear of that glass of water...or at the very least, dump it out and try again. Why? Because the water is no longer pure.

We challenged you on Sunday to think about those things in your life that cause your life to be impure. What are those things in your life that allow contaminants into your life? It could be the books you read, the music you listen to, the TV shows or movies you watch. I remember as a young man I would defend my movie choices and say something to the effect of, "There's only a couple of swear words in this movie. I can handle that." But why would I allow into my mind "only a couple" drops of contaminant? God calls me to live a wholly pure life. James said that pure and faultless religion is "keep[ing] oneself form being polluted (or contaminated) by the world." (Emphasis added)

So how are we doing? Are those things that are contaminating an otherwise pure life being rooted out of our daily lives? Or are we compromising in this area, thereby nullifying our religion? I hope that our lives are lived in purity and that the light we shine will be bright!

I hope you have a great Tuesday! Leave a comment, and we will see you on Sunday!

On Trial

This week we are in James 1:2-8. The theme of this passage has to do with facing trials. When something or someone is on trial they are being tested to see if what is said about them is true. They are being examined to find out if the accusations are true. God, for one reason or another, decides to call the trouble and pain we face "trials". I think this speaks volumes to what God is all about. He is testing us not so that He can know that we have faith, or that our faith is right and pure, but to help us,... us to know that our faith is real.

God's passion is His people, and if you have a relationship with Him, you are one of those people. As a result, the reason He allows pain to come into our lives is so that, as James says, we might become mature and complete...now check this one..."not lacking anything." How many of you would like to be considered mature and perfect by God? I would. How many of us would want it said of us, "That person lacks nothing when it comes to living for Christ!"? Once again, my hand is up...as I'm sure yours is, too.

But here's the thing...and I love this about our God. He says that when we notice that we do lack the wisdom or the strength or the faith to do what we are supposed to do, He is not only able, but willing and excited about giving us what we need...and that is wisdom! God's grace grants us the wisdom we need to know how to handle the difficulty of this life. Every time we ask Him, He gives. He doesn't condemn us for asking. He doesn't say, "What's the matter with you? Don't know how to handle this yet? You should know this by now!" No! He is willing to give us what we need and He will always do so.

So be encouraged today, believer. Your God loves you, even in the midst of your trial. He is proving to you that you are His. And in that you can rejoice!!!!

Please leave a question or comment below, and we'll see you on Sunday!

Through the Fire

This week we will be looking at James chapter 1, verses 2-8. I want us today to look at what it means to have your faith "tested" as James puts it. The idea that I think James is referencing is that of refining of precious metals like gold or silver. When gold or silver is discovered one of the first things that happens is that it will be tested; that is, it is put through fire to see just how pure it is. As it melts down those things within the silver or gold that are not silver or gold will rise to the surface and then be skimmed off the top. Then it is allowed to cool down again and the metal is now more pure than before.

This process is done over and over again for the purposes of getting the gold or silver as close to "pure" as it possibly can be. The fire purges the things that are not precious and keeps that which is.

God does that with us when it comes to trials. We face the fire of difficulty, sickness, persecution, a wayward loved one, and we want to run from it. But friend, may I encourage you to do as James instructs us here...be joyful because you know that this pressure, this fire, is taking out of you things that God never intended to be there. He is bringing you closer to "pure" than you were when you started, and that's an awesome thing!

Read through James 1:2-8 one more time today and then thank God for the things in your life that are purging sin and impurity from your life.

Feel free to comment below or leave a question, and we will look forward to seeing you on Sunday!