Because He Is...

Fifty2 Sunday's ~ Listening 4 God

         Every once and awhile it is beneficial (if not necessary) to be reminded of God's nature-as I was last Sunday where I worshipped.  The title of the sermon was "God is Supreme.  When I hear "supreme" - I think of Hitler who was the "supreme commander" of the armed forces in Nazi Germany, or the three women who sang R & B in the 1960's - The Supremes.  Then there is also the US Supreme Court.  There is neither higher level to be nor any better quality than "supreme".  Does this describe God- yes-it does-but it is not the first word that I would associate God with being.  Almighty.  Merciful, loving, long-suffering, forgiving...yes--he is all of these and more, and yet he is supreme.  Exodus 33 was the text and the preacher emphasized God is supreme because he is sovereign, holy and merciful.  For this week's blog, I am focusing on the sovereignty of God.

Sovereignty defined:

1. obsolete:  supreme excellence or an example of it

2.  a :  supreme power especially over a body politic

     b :  freedom from external control :  autonomy

     c :  controlling influence

3. one that is sovereign; especially:  an autonomous state

       God is sovereign because there is no authority or power that is over him.  As one writer put it, "God is described in the Bible as all-powerful and all-knowing (Psalm 147:5), outside of time (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 90:2), and responsible for the creation of everything (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1). These divine traits set the minimum boundary for God’s sovereign control in the universe...The fact that God is sovereign essentially means that He has the power, wisdom, and authority to do anything He chooses within His creation.  Whether or not He actually exerts that level of control in any given circumstance is actually a completely different question.” 

        It is a mistake to try to understand our God in human terms. We would do well to remember Isaiah 55:8: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Certainly christians both young ('new') and not so young (more mature) can find it difficult to accept that God holds supreme control over all things (as the author above notes). God is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.

        It took the Saul of Tarsus being blinded on the road to Damascus (Acts 22:6-11) to appreciate who God truly was.  Saul became the Apostle Paul a completely changed man. Sometime later, Paul was "caught up to" the third heaven " (II Corinthians 12:2) and saw and experienced things that he said were "inexpressible".  Paul experienced the sovereignty of God in his life and it completely changed him. 

        All who come to Christ must recognize the sovereignty of God and be willing to submit to Him.  This requires that each of us dethrone ourselves, relinquish the power and control over our lives (easier said than done), and allow God to be sovereign.  We have to surrender.  Submit, surrender...these are words and concepts I nearly choked on before I went forward, almost 37 years ago, to confess Jesus as Lord and be baptized.  The song that got me up out of my seat was:

All to Jesus I Surrender

1.   All to Jesus I surrender,
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

o    Refrain:
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

2.   All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow;
Worldly pleasures all forsaken,
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

3.   All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

4.   All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

5.   All to Jesus I surrender,
Now I feel the sacred flame;
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!

         Until we accept God for who he is and Jesus as Lord and humble (or be humbled) and submit ourselves to him we cannot fully receive him as Lord.  Speaking for myself, I may have done that initially in 1980, but it is a continual process- acknowledging, submitting, trusting, and accepting that he is sovereign over my life. In closing, the verses below emphasize the sovereignty of God.

Philippians 2:9-11:

      "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father."

Hebrews 1:3 & 4:

      "The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs".

Ephesians 1:18-23: 

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

         

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