Sunday
07/17/16 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “The image of the invisible God”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 52
New Testament
Scripture: Colossians 1:15-28
Gospel Lesson:
Luke 10:38-42
My friends, my sisters and brothers in Christ, I want to
welcome you once again on this the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. Nine Sundays
after the day that the Holy Spirit moved in and through those first disciples
in that Upper Room in Jerusalem. On the day of Pentecost, the first disciples
finally had the courage and the power to go forth preaching the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The first disciples went forth loving, healing, and forgiving, in the
name of Jesus Christ.
While we don’t have a lot of physical descriptions of Jesus
Christ in the Bible, other than a couple of references from the prophet Isaiah,
the first disciples knew Jesus. They were with Jesus for his entire three year
earthly ministry. Perhaps, when the first disciples were preaching, loving, healing,
and forgiving, they may have told some people what Jesus looked like. Other
than Jesus’ divine attributes and words therefore, was the man of Jesus Christ.
This “God-Man”, who was fully God and fully human. Those first disciples who
were alive when Jesus was, could see him. They could touch him, give him a hug,
or in the modern day, a hearty fist bump.
Jesus Christ came to earth, as God in the flesh, to love, to
heal, to forgive, and to die for the sins of humanity. Jesus told us that he
came from the Father, and that he and the Father are one. Yet, people could see
Jesus. What of God the Father, the creator though? What of the Holy Spirit?
In
historical Christianity, there is the belief that God is one God in three
persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is why in many churches
a pastor or priest will great and or dismiss people in the name of the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The pastor or priest is calling upon the one God
in three persons.
So what is my point here? I am not preaching a sermon today
on the Trinity per see. Instead, I want us to think about the person of God the
Father or the creator. We know that Jesus Christ took on flesh and dwelt among
us, and we also know that the third person of God, the Holy Spirit, is the
unseen person of God. The Holy Spirit is the person of God that fills us, like
the wind on a hot day.
So what of God the Father or the creator then? Who is God? What
does God look like? By this I mean, do we believe that God the creator is a
physical being, like Jesus Christ was on earth? Do we believe that God is a
spiritual being? Or do we believe that God the Father, the creator is something
else? You see I ask these questions, because Jesus Christ is an easy one, in
that he was God in the flesh. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of God that we don’t
see, but we feel. The person of God that lifts us up and guides us. So what of
God the Father or the creator then? What does God look like?
The
reason I decided to ask these questions and to talk about God the Father or the
creator this morning, is because I was struck by something that the Apostle Paul
said in his Epistle or letter to the church in Colossae, or the Colossians from
this morning’s reading. Now in this portion of the Apostle Paul’s Epistle or
letter the Apostle Paul begins by saying, “The Son is the image of the
invisible God” (Col. 1:1a, CEB). I was really struck by the first part of this
first verse of this scripture for this morning. Again, the Apostle Paul says “The
Son is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:1a, CEB). Jesus Christ “is the
image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:1a, CEB).
One
could then ask, “So God is invisible?” We know that the Holy Spirit is invisible,
as the Holy Spirit is the love and the power of God that fills us. Yet is God
the Father, the creator is invisible?
For some of us, we might believe that God is a person like
you and I. That God looks human, has a human body, and due to this, we have all
sorts of drawings of who God is. We have that famous painting in the Sistine
Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, Italy, where God is reaching out and touching his
finger with Adam’s finger. We also have portrayals of the God the Father in the
media and in movies.
I was asking a friend of mine recently if he thought that God
the Father, the creator was a physical being or a spiritual being. He said, “Well
of course God is a physical being, he is the actor Morgan Freeman”. For many of
us that have seen some Hollywood movies in recent years, it would seem that
when we portray God the Father, God the creator, the actor Morgan Freeman is
our “go to guy”. Some might also remember portrayals of God the Father or the
creator being George Burns, or others.
What does the church say about God the Father, the creator?
What did our founder John Wesley say? Largely borrowing from the Church of
England, John Wesley defined God. In our United Methodist Church Book of
Disciple we have among many other things, our Articles of Religion. These Articles
of Religion, are the basic beliefs that we have as United Methodist Christians.
Our first Article of Religion is called, “Of Faith in the Holy Trinity”. This
is what our first Article of Religion says: “There is but one living and true
God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom, and
goodness; the maker and preserver of all things, both visible and invisible.
And in unity of this Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, power,
and eternity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (UMC BOD). Now you might
have noticed that our first Article of Religion said of God the Father, the creator,
“without body or parts” (UMC BOD).
It would seem then, that the Church of England, that the founder
of Methodism John Wesley, saw God the Father, the creator as a spiritual being,
not a physical being. I believe that most Christian Churches today have this
same belief.
You see we are made in the image of God, but does scripture
mean that we are made into the physical image of God, or the spiritual image of
God? In the Gospel of John it says in 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (Jn. 1:1-2, NRSV).
A little farther down, John says of God, “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his
glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth”
(Jn. 1:14, NRSV). So
according to the Gospel of John, the “Word of God” or the power of God always
existed before time itself, and Jesus was with God the Father, or the “Word” (Jn.
1:1-2, NRSV). John then tells us that God the Father, or the “Word” “became
flesh” (Jn. 1:14, NRSV). Now if God the Father, or the “Word” “became flesh,”
was he “flesh” before Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:1-2, 14, NRSV)? These were the sort
of the seminary school discussions that often required Tylenol and a lot of
coffee.
So what is my
point with all of this? The Apostle Paul identifies in his Epistle or letter to
the Colossians this morning that God the Father, the creator, is “invisible”
(Col. 1:15, CEB). In the Gospel of John, John tells us that God “Became flesh”
(Jn. 1:14, NRSV). Is it possible then, that God does not have a body like you
or me, but is instead that God is a spiritual being? The three main words that describe
God throughout the whole of the Bible are life, light, and love. To be in the presence
of the Living God, the creator of all that is and ever was, is to be in the fullness
of life, light, and love. Or as my friend said, in the presence of Morgan
Freeman. So what does God look like? If we were to look at God right now, would
he look the way that we thought he would?
I’m sure there
are many other scripture in both the Old and the New Testament that you could
find that reference God the Father or the creator. Perhaps some of them speak
of God the Father or the creator differently, but most Christians would argue
that God the Father or the creator is a spiritual being. So you might still
believe that God the Father is a physical being, but I am just explaining to
you why I believe, along with John Wesley, Martin Luther, and many others, that
God the Father the creator is a spiritual being.
Some would go
even further to say that God is the collective energy that fills the universe,
the world, and us. Some would go even further than that, and say God is our internal
consciences alone. The big problem with these arguments though, is that if we
are made in God’s image, we need an image to be made from. Whether God the
Father or the creator is physical or spiritual, we can still be made in that
image.
Now as far the
rest of the reading from the Apostle Paul’s Epistle or letter to the Colossians
for this morning, the Apostle Paul makes the case for Jesus Christ. The Apostle
Paul argues that Jesus was God in the flesh, that he existed before time with
God the Father, and that he died for our sins (Col. 1:15-20). The Apostle Paul
then talks about his hope in Jesus Christ, the power of the gospel, and growing
in faith in Christ (Col. 1:21-28, CEB). While all of these are great things, I wanted
to focus on who God the Father, the creator is?
So what do you
say this morning? Is God the Father, the creator, a physical being? A spiritual
being? Energy? Our consciousness? I say, that I believe that God the Father the
creator is a spiritual being. What do you say? What does God look like?
I
would like to close with sharing some selections from an article from Guideposts
called: “What Does God Look Like: Kids from ages 4 to 12 share their ideas
about the Big Man Upstairs in an illuminating new book,” by Diana Aydin, October 27,
2015. Here is what it says, “I
came across an article the other day about a new book, OMG! How Children
See God by Monica Parker. In the book, Monica queried hundreds
of kids, ages 4 to 12, about the Big Man Upstairs. Questions on everything from
God’s special abilities to his appearance. The responses are funny, of course,
but also illuminating. “God is like a Transformer,” says 7-year-old Shane. “He
can turn himself into anything he wants.” “God doesn’t sleep because he
watches over us all the time,” says 9-year-old Kelly. And, one of my personal
favorites, from 9-year-old Gabby: “God has giant ears so he can hear everything
we are saying.” The article got me wondering about
my own view of God. As a kid, I probably pictured Him with a long white beard
made of fluffy white clouds! Now that I’m older, He’s lost the cloud beard. And
when I talk to Him, I imagine His presence, not so much an actual person. What
about you? How has your view of God changed from when you were a kid?”
So brothers and sisters, do we believe
that God the Father, the creator is a physical being? A spiritual being? Or
something else?
Whatever our opinion is, God is powerful, loving, and all
encompassing. I pray that would all grow closer to God the Father, the creator,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit today and always. Amen.
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