This exposition of Exodus 19:7-15 by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday morning, January 27, 2019.
Intro:
It has been an interesting week watching, listening to and reading about the nation’s response to the vice president’s wife and her part-time job. It seems a great number of people are outraged that the wife of such a public figure would be linked to such a scandalous group. It is just so unseemly and morally reprehensible that she would even think of be connected to such a vile bunch.
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If you haven’t heard, she is teaching art part-time in a Christian School. A school that actually believes and upholds biblical standards of morality and conduct. The woman is actually associated with a school that believes marriage is the union of a man and a woman. A school that believes there are only two genders, male and female and who believe that sexual acts outside of marriage are sinful. The nerve! Mrs. Pence, the vice president and Immanuel Christian School are being shamed for actually believing and practicing their faith, a faith that has been universally held and practiced by the whole Christian church for 2000 years. In the midst of this turmoil a voice has spoken out trying to bring some clarity. Lady Gaga has taken it upon herself to clarify, for all of us, what it means to be a real Christian. USA Today quotes her as saying, "To Mike Pence, who thinks that it’s acceptable that his wife works at a school that bans LGBTQ, you’re wrong," she went on to say, ”You’re the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome.” While Lady Gaga does not speak for me and my faith, I’m afraid she speaks for many. What she condemns is Christianity, while what she believes is anti-Christian both biblically and historically. Such are the times in which we live.
The “christianity” embraced by Lady Gaga and a growing number of folks in our culture is a shallow, feel-good, concoction made up of a few generalized notions of God mixed with a hint of spirituality (undefined) and a token acknowledgment of Jesus. I say a token acknowledgement because while there is an acceptance of Jesus as a good moral teacher and agreement with a few things he said, they reject most of his teaching and deny that he is the second person of the godhead, born of the virgin Mary, who suffered and died for our sins and was raised to life on the third day. They deny that he has ascended to the right hand of the Father where he now rules and reigns and is one day coming to bring and end to this world and establish his kingdom forever. They also deny that he is Lord and master and life is to be lived according to Word of God. Other than that, there’s not much difference. Why does any of this matter? Why would I bother to quote Lady Gaga in a sermon? It is because there is a very confused understanding of God in our culture and the consequences of that are deadly. Worse yet, they are damnable.
A biblical understanding of God is necessary for now and for eternity. Our text this morning is found in Exodus chapter 19.
Text: Exodus 19:7-15
As we are thinking today about a biblical understanding of God there are two terms to keep in mind. These are at the heart of the classic, biblical understand of God. First, God is transcendent. Transcendence speaks of God’s distance from us. He is above us, beyond us, he is other, different and distinct from us. He is the creator while we are creatures. He is holy and we are unholy. The other term is that God is immanent. Immanence speaks to God’s nearness. He relates to us, he interacts with us, he is personally involved with us.
Both terms affect our worship. When we emphasis or think of God’s transcendence we approach him with a sense of wonder and awe. We approach him as majestic, mysterious and feel overwhelmed by his presence. When we emphasize or think of God’s immanence we approach him with confidence expecting to experience his presence. We feel a sense of intimacy.
God is both transcendent and immanent and they must be kept in balance. We get in trouble when we emphasize one to the neglect of the other. Today’s culture is fixated on the notion of God’s immanence to the exclusion of his transcendence. God is my buddy rather than the sovereign king of the universe. As a result we approach worship casually. By casual I do not mean style or worship or dress but attitude. We come to worship with the same attitude that we drop by a friends house for a visit rather than with the attitude that we are about to enter the throne room of a great king. My point is, we are more “comfortable” worshiping God that we ought to be. Now, let’s look at our text.
As we work through this section of Exodus 19 we are reminded that…
Thesis: “A biblical view of God maintains the balance between God’s immanence and His transcendence. Meaning, a proper balance between the love of God and the holiness of God.”
There are three things to note as we work through this passage.
- Because He is love, God lowers himself in order to fellowship with us. (19:7-11)
- Because God is holy, there is danger in our drawing near to Him. (19:10-13)
- Because God is merciful, He secures our fellowship through a divinely appointed mediator. (19:14-15)
Conclusion:
In the person of the Lord Jesus the holy, other, different, transcendant God is made immanent. The holy terrifying, majestic, mysterious God is revealed as loving, compassionate, forgiving and relatable. A biblical understanding of God lives in the tension between his holiness and his love; his transcendence and his immanence.
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