God is Personal & God is Holy

Heavenly Father, we have come from all different parts of the city and we have had all sorts of different types of weeks.

Some of us have had really crummy weeks, others have had really good weeks.

Some of us are dealing with some tough stuff, others are just kind of flying high.

Lord, wherever we may be, Lord, I pray that you will come and by your word, by your Holy Spirit, minister to us in the place that we need your correction and your encouragement and your great love.

We pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen.

Please be seated.

Good.

Obviously, we live in a celebrity culture and a part of a celebrity culture is that we look to celebrities as almost transcendent types of people.

They're not like you and I.

They're somehow on like a plateau, a next level of existence.

And yet, we want to come near to them.

We want to connect with them.

We want them to be intimate with us.

We want to be friends with them.

At least some of us might.

You might be too shy.

That's totally fine.

A couple of stories.

When I was 11, I don't exactly know.

We were in Toronto.

We were at some kind of, I think it was like a car show or something.

Anyways, Daryl Sittler was there.

I was 11 years old.

I had no idea who Daryl Sittler was.

There was a famous guy giving autographs.

So, I went up to him.

I had no idea who he was.

And I don't know if this is like revisionist history, but I remember him kind of making fun of me that I didn't know who he was.

I don't know.

I was, you'll have to forgive me.

It's like a generation removed if you're like a diehard Leafs fan saying this I know in Ottawa.

But, I mean, that's well before my time, Daryl Sittler was.

Anyways, it was just interesting that, at least in my memory, I could be totally wrong.

But, I'm pretty sure I'm right.

Daryl Sittler treated me with contempt because I had no idea who he was.

Another story, a bit more positive.

I was helping out at a summer camp.

I was volunteering for Youth Week.

And out of nowhere, again, Toronto area, Tony Fernandez visited.

I don't know if any of you Blue Jays fans, yeah, if you know who Tony Fernandez was, but he's a World Series champion.

And when I was a kid, I mean, I, the Blue Jays, they were everything.

And I recognized who he was.

And I was a bit like, whoa, that's Tony Fernandez.

And he was really nice.

It was just really interesting.

I was like, oh, he's just a regular guy.

Anyways, I bring up those stories just to say how it seems like one of the reasons why we're so maybe given to celebrity culture

is because we want to touch something that's beyond or greater than us

and have some kind of intimate interaction with this transcendent figure.

This morning, we're actually going to be wrapping up our summer series on the attributes of God or knowing God.

And this morning, we're going to be talking about God's divine transcendence and imminence.

We'll unpack that if you're like, what?

But yeah, that's what we're going to be looking at, this idea that God is both transcendent, exalted,

but also imminent, close to us.

There's this intimacy involved with God.

So let's just jump right into it.

This idea of divine transcendence.

What do we mean by God being transcendent?

The term is actually not a biblical term, but it's more or less like an umbrella term

that kind of captures who God is in terms of his exaltedness,

that he is high and above all of creation.

In fact, it, in a way, describes him as creator.

That God is Lord of all, that there's nobody who comes close to God.

He has complete authority, complete control over everything.

And just to be clear, it's not as if we're talking about God being on a spectrum of transcendence,

where he's at kind of the very end and we're maybe somehow, you know, on the spectrum,

but like farther down this, on this side of the spectrum.

Like we can somehow compare God's transcendence with us.

It's not like that at all.

Actually, God, he is, we can't understand his transcendence on a spectrum even akin to us.

That would somehow imply that God is subject to the same things we're subject to.

We can't think of it that way.

God is completely other than us.

Separate, distinct in everything.

He is completely different than us.

If you have a Bible, you can follow along.

I'll kind of go through some of these texts a bit quickly.

But here's just a small sample size of something that the Bible talks about profusely,

about God's transcendence.

Psalm 57 verse 5 says this,

Psalms 57:5

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.

Let your glory be over all the earth.

Psalm 97, 9.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth.

You are exalted far above all gods.

From Deuteronomy 4, 39, it says,

Know therefore today and lay it to your heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath.

There is no other.

And then what Shane read, Isaiah 55, 8 and 9.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declare the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

You get a bit of a sense that God is, he is not just some kind of like superhuman celebrity.

He is completely other than who we are.

He is completely separate from his creation.

That although we can comprehend God, we can never exhaustively comprehend him, ever, for all of eternity.

This describes God's authority, his dignity, his control over everything.

And although we have dignity and control and authority,

it can't even be compared to who God is.

So it raises an interesting question, because if God is so transcendent,

as we have seen in the scriptures here,

really, how can we know him?

How can we come to know this transcendent God?

I mean, can we even trust the scriptures to describe who God is?

Because, I mean, this is just language.

If God transcends everything, can we truly come to know him?

And the simple answer is yes.

And really, it's because God has chosen to reveal himself to us.

And he does this primarily in two ways.

The first is a natural revelation.

That God has revealed himself in his creation.

We look at creation, and what do we see?

We see that it is orderly.

Why?

Because God is orderly.

We see that, hold on a second,

the creation is pointing to something greater.

So why some of the language around empiricism,

or aspects of certain kind of scientific philosophies,

that really say that what we see is what we get.

Intelligent design.

It fails to comprehend that all of creation

has God's fingerprints all over it.

So, like I mentioned before, creation is orderly.

Why?

Because God is an orderly God.

Creation is incredibly and precisely designed

because God is a perfect creator.

He is intentional in everything he does.

There is a rationality that we can observe

because God is a rational God.

This intelligent design, like I mentioned.

Why?

Because God is intelligent.

And all of a sudden, through the created order,

we can see that there has to be something behind the created order,

something that has created it.

Romans 1, 18-22, it talks about this.

It says,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Verse 19,

For what can be known about God is plain to them

because God has shown it to them

for his invisible attributes,

namely his eternal power and divine nature,

have been clearly perceived

ever since the creation of the world

in the things that have been made.

What we see in creation

proclaims that there is a creator.

But that doesn't tell us the whole story.

That's not God revealing everything about who he is.

Because if we observe creation,

we can't observe that God wants to be friends with us.

We can't observe from creation

that we are sinners

with an inability not to sin,

that we are in deep need of a savior,

that God is triune,

that the second member of the Trinity,

God, the Son of God,

has condescended,

taking on human flesh

to die for the sins of the world.

That is,

that's not what we can derive from nature.

So God, what does he do?

Is he gives us his special revelation.

He proclaims who he is

and the nature of us

and our deep need for a savior.

In the words of scripture,

through his prophets,

through the stories and events

that we can read in the Old and New Testament.

This is God's special revelation.

And through this, we can know him.

So God reveals himself primarily in two different ways.

Kind of a natural revelation

or a general revelation

and then a special

or a salvific type of revelation

that we see in scripture.

So all of that,

all of the very things

that would transcend our ability

to know God,

he presents it to us.

And it's a gift.

It really, truly is wonderful.

All scripture,

it says in 2 Timothy chapter 3,

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

is God breathed.

It is for us,

it is for our benefit

to know God,

to know ourselves,

to find Jesus,

to find salvation.

So, I talked about God's transcendence

and God's revealing himself to us.

But what about his imminence?

What does this mean?

God's divine imminence

refers to God's presence

in time and space.

He is an involved God.

He is not aloof.

He is not,

kind of the classic illustration

is the watchmaker

who builds a beautiful watch,

winds it up,

leaves it.

The watch,

he has nothing to do

with the watch anymore.

The watch is just self-perpetuating.

Not at all.

God is no absentee landlord.

A couple bits of scripture here

that communicate this.

Leviticus 26, 12,

it says,

and I,

God speaking,

and I will walk among you

and will be your God

and you shall be my people.

Jeremiah 31,

33 says,

for this is the covenant

that I will make

with the house of Israel

after those days,

declares the Lord.

I will put my law within them

and I will write it on their hearts

and I will be their God

and they shall be my people.

There's this involved care

in these bits of scripture.

This is not an aloof God,

an absentee parent.

This is an involved,

involved God.

God's lordship,

his transcendence,

means that he has authority

and control over all things,

meaning he's connected

and involved in all things.

Matthew 6, 25 to 30,

if you're not a Christian,

this comes from

the Sermon on the Mount

and it is a weighty,

thick, beautiful

three chapters in scripture.

Incredible portion of scripture.

Matthew 6, 25 to 30 says this,

this is Jesus speaking.

Therefore I tell you,

do not be anxious about your life,

what you will eat

or what you will drink,

nor about your body,

what you will put on.

Is not life more than food

and the body more than clothing?

Look at the birds of the air,

they neither sow nor reap

nor gather into barns

and yet your heavenly father

feeds them.

And you,

are you not of more value than they?

And which of you,

by being anxious,

can add a single hour

to his span of life?

And why are you anxious

about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field,

how they grow,

they neither toil nor spin.

Yet I tell you,

even Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes

to the grass of the field,

which today is alive

and tomorrow is thrown

into the oven,

will he not much more clothe you,

O you of little faith?

Does that sound

like an absentee God to you?

It sounds like an imminent God,

a God that is close,

that is involved.

I mean,

that portion alone

can dispel any notion

that God does not care

about your day to day.

That you might be a bit

too insignificant

for God to care.

It is a beautiful,

beautiful portion of scripture

that describes God's involvement

in his creation.

The transcendent God

imminently involved.

It's beautiful.

There's always a closeness,

a nearness,

and a care,

an intimate friendship

between God

and his creation,

and especially

his covenant people,

the people that he calls

to himself,

to a deep relationship with.

So,

friends,

we can't talk about

God's divine transcendence

and divorce it

from his divine imminence.

We can't.

We have to talk about them

in the same breath,

two sides of the same coin.

We have to.

Few ways we can go wrong

if we decide

to divorce these two.

If there's an overemphasis

on God's transcendence

at the expense

of his imminence,

we can become like a,

it's like classical deism,

like I mentioned before,

the illustration

of the watchmaker,

making the watch,

winding it up,

has no more to do with it.

That God is not intimate,

he's not close.

In many ways,

this reflects the God of Islam,

who is not an intimate God,

but is more of this kind of

transcendent type of figure

that is more or less aloof.

We want to be on our guard

against that,

this laissez-faire God.

Somehow that God,

if we get it in our minds

that he doesn't see us,

he doesn't care,

we can get away with certain things

because he's transcendent,

he's not imminent,

he doesn't see us,

it's a big problem.

The other aspect is

if we emphasize his imminence

against his transcendence,

and what ends up happening

is we blur the line

between creation

and the creator.

What happens there

is something similar to,

and again,

these are generalizations,

like a New Age type

of spirituality

or a Buddhist type

of spirituality,

pantheism,

where we end up sharing

divine authority.

We, like I mentioned,

there's no separation,

and what ends up happening

is that human ideologies

take on divine authority.

When that happens,

very dangerous things can happen.

In many ways,

this is the type of emphasis

that Nazism had.

This was something more

than just human ideology.

It was the Aryan takeover.

It was divinely ordained,

which it most certainly was not.

We see some of those hints

in maybe the intensely woke

kind of liberalism that we see.

And I mean,

if you start scratching the surface,

we might see it even

in other places as well.

But we need to be careful

that we don't sacrifice

the transcendence

for just the imminence of God.

You know,

another way we get this wrong

is we,

being made in God's image,

it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 3,

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

that God has put eternity

into our hearts.

we have this desire,

and it kind of goes back

to the celebrity culture

a little bit,

example I gave at the beginning.

We have this desire

to touch the transcendent,

to experience

some kind of posterity

beyond this life, right?

A legacy beyond this life.

And yet, at the same time,

we have this deep desire

for intimate connection

with deep friendship.

friendship.

And in God,

we have both of those things,

perfectly.

But what we do is

we don't look to

the perfectly transcendent,

imminent God.

We look to things,

or people,

or reputation,

or money,

or a house,

or whatever it may be

in place of God

that we think

will somehow give us

a legacy,

will connect us

to the eternal,

and yet bring us

great peace,

great connection.

And those things

can't satisfy.

The Bible calls this

idolatry.

Putting in place

a person,

or a thing,

in the place of God.

Those things

will never hold up.

They will never be

a suitable replacement

for God.

They are doomed to fail

because things rust,

and things decompose,

and reputations

don't last.

Matthew chapter 6,

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

just actually before

the portion of Scripture

we just read,

verses 19 to 24,

Jesus says this,

Do not lay up for yourselves

treasures on earth.

And when he's talking

about laying up treasures,

he is talking about

finding ultimate satisfaction.

Because treasure itself

isn't necessarily bad.

Anyways, let me continue.

Where moth and rust destroy,

and where thieves break in

and steal,

but lay up for yourselves

treasures in heaven,

where neither moth

nor rust destroys,

and where thieves

do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is,

there your heart

will be also.

Verse 24,

it says you can't serve

two masters.

Either he will hate

the one

and love the other,

or he will be devoted

to the one

and despise the other.

You cannot serve

God and money.

You cannot find

eternal transcendence

and eternal imminence

in stuff.

or in people.

And you have to ask God

to reveal this

in your heart

because we are

very, very clever people.

We mask our idols

really, really well.

We deny that we have idols

really, really well.

We do.

But when we find

our hope

in the very things

that will let us down,

it's a big problem.

By the way,

this is not a call

for complete,

like disconnection

from the world.

We are involved

in the world completely,

so I'm not advocating

for a type of like

disconnect.

But ask yourself

the question,

am I finding

my eternal hope

in my spouse,

in my friend,

in my children,

in my reputation,

my job,

my things,

whatever it may be?

Another way

we can get it wrong,

and this is especially

the case for Christians,

is we can focus

on God

as being the transcendent.

I kind of touched

on this a little bit.

And it's like

our hearts are cold.

We don't worship God.

We don't seek God's face.

And that might be

for a whole host of reasons.

Because you've been

let down by a church leader

or you've grown callous

from a hurt

and you're angry at God.

So you kind of go

through the motions

of recognizing God

and his transcendence.

But I mean,

you couldn't care less

if your heart is warmed.

On the flip side,

and this is the case,

and I think I can speak

on this because I come

from a bit of a charismatic

background,

the ultra-charismatics

or the charismatics

can have a tendency

to emphasize

the imminence of God,

the presence of God.

At the expense

of the truth of Scripture

about who he is.

And all of a sudden,

what drives

their understanding

of God?

It's actually experience.

It's not the truth

of Scripture.

It's not the transcendence

of God.

And you see,

in worship,

as we interact with God,

we have to just keep in mind

that God is both

transcendent and imminent.

Friends,

the reality is

your heart will grow cold

if you're charismatic.

It will,

if you're seeking

after a feeling.

By the way,

feelings,

emoting,

however you emote,

having emotions

is a good thing

in worship.

Getting goosebumps

because, like,

you're singing a praise song

and you're just

feeling like you might be

touching heaven,

there's nothing wrong

with that.

But that

is bound to grow cold.

It's bound to.

So what do you do?

Do you just give up?

No,

you feed on the truth

of who God is.

You feed on it.

You feed on it.

If it feels like

you're going through

the motions

when you do

your Bible reading

or if you come to church,

I'll say this.

This is,

I don't know if this is

a good thing for a pastor

to say,

but hear me out.

Go through the motions.

Go through it.

Go through the motions

and even if you don't feel it,

do it

because it's not

going to last forever.

You're not going to go

through the motions forever

and there's a consistency

and a faithfulness

that's there.

And you can cry out to God,

Lord,

change my heart,

warm my heart,

help me not to disbelieve.

And listen,

God,

it's a beautiful thing

to push through.

It really is.

Remember,

we are marathon runners

in this,

right?

In this life.

Whether God gives us

90 years,

100 years,

or he takes us home early,

it's a marathon.

And sometimes,

you know,

we don't run too well.

And if you are

the type of person

that is just kind of fine

with potentially

going through the motions

or your spirituality

is almost stoic,

push into it.

Don't be the type of person

that is satisfied

with just having

really rock-solid theology

and yet your heart

and your life

is not moved

closer towards God.

embrace the divine

transcendence of God

and seek after

his closeness

and his presence.

How can we interact

with God?

This transcendent God?

Well,

here's a few ways.

One thing I love about

our communion liturgy,

but communion especially,

is that it is

the transcendent God

inviting us

to dine with him

at his table.

The first communion

was at Passover.

A wonderful,

wonderful remembrance

of God's deliverance

of Israel from Egypt.

And how do we remember?

How do we take joy

in all this?

We eat.

We feast.

And this is what communion is.

In our liturgy,

we will say

in our liturgy,

holy,

holy,

holy,

Lord God of hosts,

heaven and earth

are full of your glory.

And what is that

if not the declaration

of God's transcendence

in heaven?

We recognize it.

But what else do we do?

We come to his table

and we partake

of Christ himself.

That we feed on him

in our hearts

by faith

with thanksgiving.

Intimately connected

to God.

Another way

we connect with God

is through his word

absolutely.

His special revelation

to us.

His truth revealed to us.

It's also being

with his people.

Fellowshiping

with his people.

And this is why

COVID has really,

the restrictions

have been really detrimental

to the life

of the church.

Because,

I mean,

Zoom has been excellent

in many different ways,

but you can't fellowship

in the same type of way.

You can't connect

with people.

And God is amongst

his people.

He is.

That's how we connect

with God.

That's an aspect

of how we connect

with God.

God,

through your friend,

will encourage you.

God,

through your brother

or sister,

will call you out,

hopefully in a gentle,

kind way.

In a private way,

ideally,

not publicly.

But,

you know,

will reveal sin

in your life.

And is that not God

working through his people?

We feast on God's word,

like I mentioned.

We partake at the table.

We fellowship with one another.

We pray.

If you guys

haven't

some kind of

prayer structure

type of thing,

and maybe structure

is not your thing,

you're more of a spontaneous person,

that's fine.

I encourage you guys

to give

Praying the Daily Offices

a go.

There's some apps,

and I owe

one person in particular

an email

with a couple apps

on it,

but there's apps

that will help you

and guide you.

You can get a book

of common prayer.

But it's just a way

to pray

and engage

with the scriptures.

Ultimately,

Jesus is the greatest example

of God's divine transcendence

and God's divine imminence.

Jesus,

the second member

of the Trinity,

condescends,

wraps himself

in humanity,

becomes enfleshed,

fully man,

and yet fully God,

fully imminent,

but fully transcendent.

Listen to a couple

of these scriptures.

Isaiah chapter 7,

Isaiah 7:14

verse 14,

Therefore the Lord himself

will give you a sign.

Behold,

the virgin shall conceive

and bear a son

and shall call his name

Emmanuel.

A lovely Christmas passage.

What is Emmanuel?

God with us.

John 1, 14,

that George read,

And the word,

Jesus,

the God,

the Son of God,

the second member

of the Trinity,

became flesh

and dwelt among us

and we have seen

his glory,

glory as of the only Son

from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

God,

transcend,

the transcendent God

becomes so intimate,

so involved,

that he dies

on our behalf,

on a cross,

a cross made

by human hands

for our sins,

so that we might have

this intimate relationship

with the transcendent God,

that we don't have to

live a life

of striving

or a life

riddled with guilt,

that we can embrace

the transcendent,

perfect,

the perfect transcendent God.

We can know

that our deepest longings

are met in him.

We can.

He will not leave us

or forsake us.

And isn't this

an interesting bit

because,

and I'll close with this,

God connecting

to his people

says this often,

and you can read

through it

in scripture,

that God constantly

says to his people,

I will be with you.

I will be with you.

I will be with you.

He says it to Abraham.

He says it to Joseph.

He says it to Moses.

He says it to Israel.

He says it to his church.

He says it to us

this morning.

If you are in Christ Jesus,

God says this.

He says,

I am with you.

That is intimate talk.

That is close talk.

That is caring talk.

That is involved talk.

That is patient talk.

Loving talk.

Matthew 28, verse 20.

Matthew 28:20

What does Jesus say

to his disciples

at the end

of this gospel text?

It says,

And lo,

I am with you always

to the end of the age.

We can go through

ups and downs.

We can go through

seasons where we

feel like we are

on the verge

of apostasy.

And he will hold us tight.

If you are

in Christ,

if you confess

your faith to him,

his grip on you

is very,

very tight.

even when you are

not quite gripping

God at all.

That if you have been

baptized and have

confessed your sins,

there is a promise

on your life

from God Almighty

saying,

I will always be

intimate with you.

I will always care for you.

I will always take care of you.

Always.

Always.

And those are the types

of truths

we need to feed on.

And if you are

considering the Christian faith,

whether it's for the first time

or maybe you're

giving the church a try,

giving the faith a try,

this is what it boils down to.

That God,

through Jesus,

has made a way

for all of our longings

to be met,

all of our sins

to be taken care of,

so that we can have

fellowship

with the transcendent God

in a very,

very intimate way.

Friends,

like I said before,

do not grow weary.

Push through

if you're feeling

cold-hearted.

And it doesn't mean

you have to emote

a certain way.

You don't have to

put up your hands

during worship.

Although,

the rousing worship

we had today,

actually,

I thought it was great,

George,

by the way.

You know how you

emote,

how your heart

gets warm.

And that's awesome.

It really is.

Whatever way

you kind of show

your emotions,

but like,

press into it.

Don't give up.

God will not give up

on you.

Let's pray.

Lord God in heaven,

we thank you

that you are

completely other

than us.

You are transcendent.

That we aren't

even on a spectrum

with you.

We don't share

a spectrum with you.

That you are

completely other than

in your authority,

in your dignity,

in your control,

in your majesty,

in your lordship.

And yet,

you are so intimately

close to us.

That you desire

our fellowship

so much so

that your son

dies on the cross

for sins

that he didn't commit.

So that we might

be made right

with you.

Lord,

draw us closer

to yourself.

Help us to be

ever aware

that you are

both a transcendent God

and an intimate,

intimate God

as well.

Lord,

thank you

that you invite us

into friendship

with you.

We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.