Revive Us - Part 8
Revive Us as Our Elohim
Genesis 1:1
This morning I want to wrap of this powerful mini series we started at the beginning of the year entitled "Revive Us."
We have been studying our way through just some of the names of God. Why are we studying the names of God? Well did you know that if you will take the time to study the names of God it will completely transform your life. That’s right - it will make you a completely different person. It will completely change the way you think, speak and act. It will forever alter who you are and what you do. Why is that?
Psalm 9:10 "They that know Your name will put their trust in You."
Proverbs 18:10 "The name of the LORD is a strong tower. The righteous runs in to it and is safe."
Psalm 20:7 "Some boast in chariots, and some in horses; but we will boast in the name of the Lord, our God."
We are studying the names of God because we have learned that your walk with God will rise no higher than your knowledge of God.
it emanates from His person
it embodies a principle
it emphasizes a pattern
it embraces a problem
it empowers a performance
We want to know the names of God better because we want to know God better. We want to know the names of God better because we want to trust God more. There are many in this world who do not really know God - they may talk about Him and even occasionally talk to Him. But we want to go beyond that. We want to be intimately and effectively acquainted with God.
This morning we come to the first name of God that we read about in the entire Bible. You can find it in Genesis 1:1. By the way, you can also find it in Genesis 1:2. And in 1:3, and in 1:4. As a matter of fact, you can find it 30 times in the first 31 verses of the Bible. It is the name by which we meet God in the Bible, and it is the name God wants each and every one of us to know, understand and experience Him by.
Please open your Bibles to the book of Genesis - Genesis chapter 1, and I am going to read just the first verse. Genesis 1:1. The name we are looking at this morning, and that is translated in your Bibles as ‘God’ - is the name ELOHIM. Is the name ELOHIM all that important? What does it mean? Why does God use it 30 times in the first 31 verses? What is so important about that name that God says it again, and again, and again?
Read Genesis 1:1
Not only can you can find this name ELOHIM 30 times in the first chapter of the Bible, 30 times in 31 verses, but you can find it 2606 times in the Old Testament. That makes it the name that is most commonly used of God. You do not need to be a rocket scientist to work out that the Bible is not a book essentially about man, it is essentially about God.
The Bible says, "In the beginning God . . ." That is probably the most profound statement that has ever been penned. "In the beginning God . . .". That is so true that we study those words for many months and still not get close to exhausting them. But the problem with those words is they fly straight in the face of the thinking of modern man. Modern man does not like and thing that starts of with the words, "In the beginning God . . ." As a matter of fact, modern man does not like anything that does not start with the words, "In the beginning man . . ." Oh God can be in there, or his version of God, but it is not about God, it is about him. And the God in his thinking is not the God of the Bible, but the God of his convenience. The Bible says, "In the beginning God. . . ". May I remind you that the implication of these words profoundly challenge the thinking of most people. Why? Because they tell us about the God that is as opposed to the God we want. I meet people all the time who tell me that they do not think God would do this or that - or they do not like this about the God of the Bible or that about the God of the Bible. Well my friend - I would be very suspicious of a God who only did or thought what I thought was right - because too many time my right has turned out wrong.
The God that is worth putting our faith in is the God who is - not the God who accommodates Himself to the preferences and perspectives of fallen man, the whim and fancy of my thinking. I do not get to create a God I like - what I must deal with is the God who is.
As we have said before, if God is not properly known, then nothing else that is known can be properly known.
O.K. Having laid the foundation to this name, we need now to ask the question, what does this name mean? If the names of God are a revelation of His character, what does this name reveal to us about God? I would suggest to you this morning, amongst others, three things.
This name talks to me about . . .
1. SACRED COMMUNITY
The opening gambit of the Bible, the most profound book of all times, the universal best-seller, is the words we have just read together, "In the beginning God." or "In the beginning ELOHIM."
What is the significance of ELOHIM? The implications of the Hebrew construction of this word is absolutely incredible, nothing short of profound.
"EL" means ‘mighty’, ‘strong’, ‘God’
"HIM" means ‘plural’. This word demands the plural pronoun ‘they’ not the singular pronoun ‘ he’. In other words, the literal and legitimate translation of the Hebrew of Genesis 1:1 should read, "In the beginning GODS created the heavens and the earth".
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
God lives eternally in community. God’s heart is a community heart. That is why when He created mankind, He created him in and for community. Community, I would suggest to you, is part of the image of God in man. We function best in community, in healthy community, in strong community. The Church is meant to be alternative community. Community is part of the fundamental image of God.
What is community? The heart of community is relationship and here is the application of this dynamic. God made you for relationship. What God desires from you is relationship. More than your life, He wants your love. More than your hands, He wants your heart. More than your actions He wants your affections. Why? Because God dwells in SACRED COMMUNITY. That is why time and time again the question God asked the children of Israel is this, "Do you love Me?" That is why time and time again Jesus challenged the disciples about there love for Him and for one another. "If you love me you will obey My commandments". "Simon, son of John do you truly love me more than these?"
God dwells in community, and made you and me to dwell in community - now get this - it is mind blowing - God wants to dwell in community with you and me. And He does that best when we dwell in community with each other.
John 14:23 "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him."
That is why the mark of true Christianity is love - love is the essence of community, "By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another".
Did you know that love comes first and second in God’s list of priorities. It is more important than anything else that you do. "The greatest commandment is this, that you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind" Love come first in God’s list of priorities. What came second? You got it, love again. "The second greatest commandment it this" says Jesus Christ, "That you love your neighbor as yourself."
Why is love so important? Because the essence of God’s existence is sacred community.
And it was, I am convinced, that sacred community that caused the church of the New Testament to turn the entire world upside down. God was manifest in the presence of the little church communities, and that manifestation was seen in the greatest and most sacrificial expressions of love.
What does ELOHIM mean? Firstly, I would suggest to you, it means SACRED COMMUNITY.
2. SOVEREIGN COMPANION
The second great meaning behind this name is, I would suggest to you this morning, that fact that this God is sovereign. What does sovereign mean? It means that God is in control.
One of the things we need to settle is that we are not in control. I am not even sure if we make decision, or if decisions make us.
God is in control of all that happens. And He does not need your or my advice. I heard somebody say that that is why He created woman last - He did not want any advice on how to do it.
God is in control - He is sovereign. He either directs that it should happen, or He permits it to happen. He is in control of the course of history and the destiny of the United States of America. He even controls our government. History is not the random outworking of cause and effect, of accident and co-incident, of chance and fortune. History is set on a course designed by God, history is happening on purpose. That is true at a universal, global, continental, national, regional and personal level. It is following a course. God knows where He wants to take the human race, where He wants it to be at history’s close, and He is guiding it along that path. He started it at a particular point and under particular circumstance, and He will end it at a particular point and under particular circumstance. The fact that God is sovereign is a reference to the fact, amongst other things, that God is managing history and all of its individual components toward a predetermined point. Here is the good news. God has got history on track. It is all working out as planned. There are no mistakes.
Now that is just as true at a personal level. It may be that you look at your life and all you see is chaos. You are looking at the wrong side of the tapestry.
It may be that you are looking at the puzzle piece in your hand saying that it does not make sense. You are trying to understand what the whole picture looks like and all you have to go on in one piece in a 7000 piece puzzle.
Is God in control of your life? He most certainly is. Even every hair on your head is numbered.. The Bible says that not a sparrow falls to the ground but that the Father wills it. God is in control of your life. Sometimes you may think that He cannot be. The reason for that is two fold. Either you don’t understand what He is doing, or you want to control your own life. You have got yourself confused with God.
You see, your God, the One who is in community with you, the One who is in partnership with you, is in charge of all the worlds and indeed, of the entire universe. He is, as His name suggests, a SOVEREIGN COMPANION
SACRED COMMUNITY
SOVEREIGN COMPANION
Also linked inextricably to this name of God is:-
3. SPECIFIC CREATION
The name of God that is associated in the Bible with creation, with being the Creator, is always ELOHIM.
That means that you were not born by accident and the circumstances of your birth and home life were not decided upon by chance.
That means that the events in your life were not simply the result of luck or otherwise, your life has been designed specifically by God because it is in your best interest, and NOW GET THIS, you are in the best interests of God. Your sovereign God chose circumstances that would be best for you, best to ensure that you had the best opportunity of responding to His love and entering into community life with Him. He designed you specifically.
God is your Creator.
You exist because of God.
You are the unique and distinctive handiwork of the Creator.
Yes, He created the heavens and the earth. He formed the swirling galaxies, the blazing stars and the revolving planets, and all of life that swarms across the face of our world, and plummets the depth of the vast oceans. But He also formed you.
Jesus made you on purpose. Jesus loves you on purpose.
Like Jeremiah, you and I were made on purpose. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations."
He made you thoughtfully, carefully, precisely. God was there when that one sperm cell, one out of 350 000 000, met that one egg. And a miracle took place, you became a living being, an eternal soul housed in a body that He had designed. Your life has been lived in circumstances that He has permitted. Perhaps you thought sometimes that God was not there, that no-one was in control, that everything was a mess. Perhaps there have been time when nothing around you made sense anymore, when you wanted to run as fast and as far as you could. You wanted to end it all.
If you have ever struggled with your self image...
If you have ever wept over your family origin...
If you have ever questioned the color of your skin or the texture of your hair..
If you have ever resented who your mother was, or who your father was...
If you have ever inwardly groaned over things that others have done to you...
If you have ever been in anguish over your reflection in the mirror...
If you have ever agonized over your physical limitations...
If you have ever looked at the complexities of your life and thought it hopelessness...
May I point you this morning to Col. 1:16. "All things were created by Him and for Him"
You can find comfort and kindness in Psalm 139 :13-15
13 For Thou didst form my inward parts;
Thou didst weave me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Thy works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from Thee,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.
Your face may never grace a glossy magazine cover, and you may never be walk the red carpet at the Oscars. You may never feel confident enough to stand before a hall filled with people and move them to laughter and tears with ease and accomplishment, you may not or may no longer be beautiful or pretty in the eyes of this world, but know this, Beloved, your conception was not a matter of circumstance or chance, you were no accident, you are exactly as ELOHIM designed you. That design has purpose. That purpose has glory. And that is why you are still beautiful. You are beautiful because you are perfect for that purpose ELOHIM has for you.
You see my friend, it does not matter what the circumstances are that have brought you thus far, to this point in life, it does not matter how scarred you may be from the road you have walked, it does not matter how hopeless your life sometimes seems and how painful your reality sometimes is, GOD MADE YOU ON PURPOSE.
May I say that again, God made you on purpose.
The sovereign God who is in control of all your circumstances, Who is so powerful that nothing can interfere with His plans, Who is so keen and careful that nothing happens without His knowledge, that God made you on purpose and LOVES YOU ON PURPOSE.
Do you know what I would love to do for every prostitute whose life lies broken and used on the sidewalks of immorality? Do you know what I would love to do for every drunkard who potential lies wasted, squandered in the gutters of regret? I would love to introduce them to ELOHIM.
I would love to introduce to ELOHIM . . .
every teenager whose future has been crippled by failure and foolish choices,
every young married person who dreams have been broken by unwise counsel and complex circumstances,
every adult whose emotions and bodies have been scarred by verbal, physical or sexual abuse.
I would like to introduce to ELOHIM this morning any of you for whom life has lost its purpose, for whom the pain and regrets of today have stolen the hopes and dreams of tomorrow, and every soul blackened by the burden of guilt, every hand stained by the blood of shame, every heart hardened by the humiliation of sin.
To know ELOHIM is to accept, without being crippled, the reality of yesterday, to walk, without being overcome, through the challenges of today, to face, without any hesitation, doubt or fear, the prospect of tomorrow.
To know Elohim is to know your very reason for drawing breath.
Revelation 4:11"Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.
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