God is: Truth
The 5th part in a series on the attributes of God. The following is a recap of the message due to a recording error of the original audio. You can hear the previous parts of the series here.
God is: Truth (Recap) from Chad Harvey on Vimeo.
God Is: Just
This is the third part in a series on the attributes of God. Below is a short summary. Due to recording error, there is no audio. You can hear the first two parts of the series here.
The Bible is very clear that the God we serve is a God of justice. This doesn’t just mean that He likes justice or executes justice, even though these are true statements. Rather, the God of the Bible is Justice in His nature. He is the perfect picture of the justice (or rightness) that we strive for in this broken, sin-marred world. He is infinitely right and never wrong. His decrees are always fair and never with sinful favoritism. His authority is final, because He alone stands as the judge of all:
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne…” – Psalm 89:14
“There is no other God like me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides me.” – Isaiah 45:21
“Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations!” – Revelation 15:3
With that said, some may argue that God seems to be lacking in justice when it comes to those who are saved (born again through faith in Jesus Christ; Christians). Christians are just as guilty of living sinful lives, if not more so, as non-Christians. Yet it would appear that God has chosen to sweep that injustice under some cosmic rug. As if He is ignoring our sin.
I have met many Christians who seem to believe that this is what happened when they got saved – God simply chose not to bring justice for their sin. The Bible teaches that “the wages of sin is death (separation)” [Romans 6:23], yet Christians have been promised an inheritance in heaven with their Creator [Ephesians 1]. There seems to be a contradiction here. If God is just, the wages of sin is death, Christians sin… and receive eternal life; then God must not truly be a God of Justice.
This view could not be further from the truth. The Cross of Christ is the most beautiful and tragic display of justice in all of human history. God has not chosen to ignore the Christian’s sin. Rather, He chose to atone for it by Himself.
This is the third part in a series on the attributes of God. We began with a message called “God Is: Love”. Then we discussed the fact that “God Is: Holy”. You see God is just. He requires that sin be re-payed with death. However, His love compelled Him and His Holiness qualified Him, to take our place on the cross.
So, what does it mean that we serve a God of Justice?
First, your salvation was not cheap or free. There was an extremely violent and profound cost in order to set you free from Satan’s grasp. We often live like we have been given license to do what we want without any consequence. Remember, there is always consequence for sin… Jesus just bore the brunt of it for you. We must never forget that “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price” and must always seek to “honor God with your body.” [I Corinthians 6:20]
Second, you and I need to realize that we serve a God who cares deeply about the injustices of this world. We watched the following video in youth group this past Wednesday:
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” – Isaiah 1:17
In the movie, “The Book of Eli”, the main character, Eli (Denzel Washington), is faced with a unique task. In a world devastated by war and corruption, he has been charged by God to protect the last remaining Bible on the planet. He has to take this Bible “west, where there are people who will cherish it”. In one scene he is walking along what used to be an overpass in a big city, but is now just a dusty path across a barren landscape. He looks down and sees a husband and wife being attacked by a group of men. The husband is shot and the men begin to attack the woman (while the movie doesn’t show much, it implies that the men are raping her). Eli then ducks behind the median on the road and repeats the following phrase as the woman is being attacked:
“Stay on the path, this is none of your concern.”
As I was watching this scene I couldn’t help but draw a convicting comparison to the American church and, honestly, to my own life. For years, most of us neglected God’s call to stand against the injustice in our world. Most of us have become very good at convincing ourselves that the pain, oppression, and evil in this world are “none of our concern.” Whatever the excuse may be, we must understand if it concerns God, it is our concern. God has chosen to use you and me, His people, to bring justice – hope, freedom, peace, comfort, joy, love – to the dark places in our world. Thirty-thousand kids will die today as a direct result of poverty. Two million children are currently a part of the world sex-trade. In India alone, there are 15 million people who have been forced into slavery. Billions of people suffer from a lack of access to clean water. Wake-up Christian, this is your path.
If you skim through the Old Testament you will see a God who cares a lot more about justice than actionless worship (actionless isn’t a word, but it should be). In the New Testament Jesus says “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.” [Matthew 23:23]
God desires a generation who will stand up for the things He cares about. Are you willing? It starts with awareness, but awareness without action is empty. It can start small – stand for the brokenhearted, oppressed, or fatherless on your campus, in your city, or within your family. However, don’t count out the possibility that God wants to take you to places and use you in causes you never could have imagined.
“In different times and in different ways, our heavenly Father offers us a simple proposition: Follow me beyond what you can control, beyond where your own strength and competencies can take you, and beyond what is affirmed or risked by the crowd–and you will experience me and my power and my love.” – Gary Haugen in his book Just Courage
What It Would Be Like
Family and Friends -
I hope that things are going well for you these days. I know that we aren’t able to stay connected with most of you as much we wish we could. I guess that is part of the busy culture we live in.
For the past four years Jess and I have been very blessed. God has protected and grown our marriage, given us a beautiful baby girl, and provided an abundance of opportunities to serve our Savior. We have had the privilege of ministering to teens in the Salem/Keizer area and seen God do some amazing things. We have been firsthand recipients of God’s faithfulness.
It is this faithfulness that has lead us to write this letter. For the past three years God has been calling us to reciprocate some of that faithfulness. Daily we talk to each other about something we both believe God is asking us to do. So, we have decided to trust God and step out in obedience. Over the next 4 months we will be paying off/selling what we need to in order to answer His call. We are looking forward to serving in…
For the past few years I think about writing a letter that begins in that way at least once a week. Seeing the devastation in Haiti has caused me to assess why I only think about that letter and never actually send it. I know that there are a lot of people who have been inspired by this tragedy (I know, that phrase sounds terrible). Suddenly everyone wants to go to Haiti and make a difference. I think that is great, and I hope many people act on that inspiration. But for me, the call seems bigger than providing aid after such a terrible event. I want to be on the ground impacting people’s lives before, during, and after the tragedy strikes.
Jess and I honestly talk about making this a reality ALL THE TIME. Don’t get me wrong. We know that God is using us here and we love where He has us. In fact, that may be one of the problems. We see overwhelming evidence of His hand in what we’re doing now and enjoy some remarkable relationships with friends and co-workers. We just wonder if there is something ‘more’.
A friend of mine recently had this as his facebook status:
“Ever think that truly living like Jesus is MUCH bigger than the flannel-graph pictures in our minds?”
I know its sort of a strange idea, but its what I think constantly. My idea of living for the Kingdom of Christ is based on my upbringing in the US. I love my country and am incredibly thankful to have been born and raised here, but for some reason I don’t believe my ‘luck’ was for my benefit. Maybe (w/ sarcasm) it was for someone else.
I want to be a man who truly turns my blessings back to God in praise. I want to be a man who worships God in the way He deserves. I want to be a man who understands what it means to live with a Kingdom mindset. And when I’m not sure what that all means I read passages like these:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? – Isaiah 58:6-7
Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” – Matthew 19:21
Jess and I have many reasons for not tossing everything and boarding a plane. Many of them are good reasons. We have a toddler. Our parents want to be close to their grandchild. We want our daughter to be close to her grandparents. We have family and friends that we love. We have jobs that we love. We own a house. We have college loans. We have a car loan. God is using us here… And the list goes on and on.
The problem with that list is that it has yet to be enough to shake this reoccurring conviction that something else awaits my family.
For now, I just sit here wondering if I’m doing what God has called me to do or am I doing what feels comfortable? Am I stepping into the plan He has written for my life or have I stopped on the first page and refused to look at whats ahead? Are the reasons we come up with revealed by God or enhanced by my fear?
I don’t know.
I haven’t blogged in seven months, so I am not sure what the proper way to end a blog is these days. I guess this will have to be a good ending. I am not sure what I wanted to accomplish with this blog… but I am sure that I want to be the man, husband, father, and servant God has designed me to be.
Substitutionary Atonement…
About 3 years ago we decided to rename the New Harvest Youth Ministry, epic Youth Ministries. We obviously wanted a name that would be appealing and attention-getting; but more than that, we wanted a name that got to the heart of why we do what we do. Our purpose statement is this:
epic Youth Ministries exists to introduce students to Jesus Christ and empower them to reach their campuses and communities with His life and love.
II Corinthians 5:21 is the verse that drives what we do. Paul has been explaining what motivates Him to live a life in pursuit of Jesus and he says this:
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
This one verse describes one of the most incredible theological truths we find in the Bible: Substitutionary Atonement. Jesus, who was perfect, became imperfect. He became the object of His Father’s wrath and took the whole of sin on His shoulders. He was completely sinless; in fact, He was the opposite of sin. He was Holy. Yet, for our sake He became God’s example of how serious sin really is. In essence, He became who you and I were supposed to be.
… That’s the first part of the verse. Even though that is an incredbile reality that completely blows me away, it isn’t even the coolest part. The second half of the verse says that Jesus did this so that we could become the righteousness of God. You see, Jesus ‘became us’, so that we could ‘become Him’! No, I’m not saying we can become Gods; but we are able to become God’s children because we, who believe in Jesus as our Savior, have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
epic stands for Eternally Perfected in Christ. We are so far from perfect it is almost laughable to suggest that we can attain perfection. But, the truth is, we are perfect. Not by our own work, but by His! Our goal is to share this truth with whoever God gives us the opportunity.
Substitutionary Atonement… what a beautiful combination of words.
Thirsty…
We looked at John 4 last night in youth group. In this chapter, Jesus engages a Samaritan woman in conversation near a well. Ultimately, He explains who He is and offers her “living water”. He says that whoever drinks of this “living water” will never thirst again. Obviously He is talking about eternal life through faith in Him. He is talking about spiritual thirst rather than physical thirst. He is wanting her to be completely satisfied rather than just going from one brief pleasure to another (she had had 5 husbands and was living with a 6th man at the time). This is what I tried to explain to all of you last night.
This world offers many pleasures. Some are good and some are very dangerous. Some of you find your pleasure in popularity or keeping up with the latest fashion. Some of you find it through alcohol or drugs. And some of you… well, you cut or hurt your body in other ways. All of you are just trying to feel a little more “satisfaction” in your life. You think if you buy one more thing, go to one more party, lose 1 more pound, or cut a little deeper; it will feel better. You will finally fill the void you have in your life.
You see, we were all created to be satisfied. Our problem is that we don’t understand what satisfaction is. We believe that if something makes us feel good, it is satisfying us. The truth is, the satisfaction that you and I are created to experience is so much deeper than that. To be trully satisfied is to “experience fully your deepest desire” or “to have no doubt or uncertainty” or “to be lacking nothing”. What will it take for you and I to have these definitions be true in our life? Jesus.
We were created to have relationship with God. We can never be satisfied apart from Him. Why? Because, even if we don’t know it, our “deepest desire” is to be with Him. Jesus makes this possible. Our sin separated us from God. It doesn’t matter what we do, we can never cover up that sin. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, stepped in and took our place. He took upon Himself our sins and thus opened the door for relationship with God.
As Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman at the well, He took her beyond her weak attempts at satisfaction. In essence, He asked her, “are you tired of having an unquenchable thirst for satisfaction – purpose, hope, peace, love?” I ask you the same question… Are you thirsty?
As a Believer you can still be thirsty for satisfaction. We quite often take our focus off of Jesus and back to our useless attempts at meaning in this world. My hope for each one of you is that you will pursue Jesus with everything you have. Spend time in His word, pray often, and share with those He has placed in your life.
The beauty of God’s Word and His plan is this: It’s not about making you feel good. It’s not about making things easier. It’s not about getting you to live a nice life. It is about fulfilling your deepest longing — Relationship with God through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Tomorrow night I invite you all to remember and celebrate this incredible event in history. Our Good Friday service will be held at 7:00pm. See you then.
Building on the Momentum
March 20th-24th was an awesome time in the life of epic Youth Ministries. We took 23 students and 5 leaders to Seattle, WA for our annual “Selfless in Seattle” mission trip. This was the largest group we have ever taken and God did some awesome things in the lives of the students who went.
Tomorrow night, at youth group, we will be hearing from some of these students. They will be sharing their stories from the week and challenging all of us to evaluate how we currently spend our days. We will hear about serving, praying, and sharing the Gospel with others. I believe that it will be an awesome night, where God steps in and takes the lives of our students to the next level.
At the end of the night I will share some thoughts on one of the most exciting and challenging passages in all of Scripture. John chapter 20, verses 21-22 says this:
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”
We have been given an incredible gift and an enormous responsibility. I am excited to dive into this tomorrow as a group. I’ll see you there at 6:45pm. Don’t forget to invite your friends!
The Question: What is Fasting All About?
Tonight in youth group we will be taking a look at the subject of fasting. Fasting is an incredible spiritual discipline that seems to almost be a lost art among the upcoming generation of believers. We will search the Bible for its origin and purpose; and ultimately we will see that this is something we should all be including in our lives as Christians.
So, what do you think fasting is all about? Is it limited to food? Is there any reason for a non-believer to fast? Why should you fast?
