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,
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,
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,
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,
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.
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,
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
Thank you.