What comes into your mind when you think about
God is the most important thing about you. Think
about that. Your mental picture of God is the
most important thing about you. Did you know
that how you think about God will determine every
other aspect of your life? That's what we'll
explore today. Welcome to this edition of Living
on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of
this daily program is to intentionally disciple
Christians through the insightful Bible teaching
of Chip Ingram. We're excited you've joined us
today as we kick off his series, The Real God,
How He Longs for You to See Him. For the next
handful of programs, we'll study seven attributes
of God's character that'll give us a genuine
picture of who He really is. But today, Chip
begins by explaining why getting an accurate
view of God is vital for our faith. So if you're
ready, grab your Bible and notes as we get this
series started with Chip's message, Seeking God.
There's a quote by A .W. Tozer that changed the
course of my life many, many years ago. What
comes to your mind when you think about God is
the most important thing about you. He'll go
on to say, by a secret law of the soul, whatever
your mental image is, you will gravitate toward
it. How you view yourself, how you pray, how
you relate to others, how you perceive the future.
Every relationship, every decision will be rooted
in how do you mentally perceive God? And here's
what you need to know. All of us are off. We're
fallen people. You have a distorted picture of
God. I have a distorted picture of God. The question
is how distorted? Your mental image of God is
a montage, a montage of early experiences, family
of origin issues, some religious training, an
experiment that someone said this is what he's
like or a religious group or you've difficult
times or pain or a parent or someone close to
you that has died. All these different things.
over the years, have brought you to today. And
today, when you bow your head or when you think
about God, you have a picture. It's so unconscious.
The reason I had you start is I wanted you, for
some of you, you thought, I don't know what the
picture is, right? I'm guessing some of you bowed
your head and go, well, he's God. I don't know
that I really think about who I'm talking to.
That, by the way, is a problem. But it impacts
everything. Let me... give you some very quick
examples from my life that might help connect
the dots. I did not grow up as a Christian. I
did not grow up in a church that taught the Bible.
But I remember vividly thinking that my view
of God by the time I was about 16 or 17 was that
there was, he was like a cosmic cop. And there
was this some big... powerful person in the sky
somewhere that had a blue suit and his arms are
crossed and a toe tapping and he had a badge
and a big club. And basically if it was fun,
it was wrong. And the whole goal was to catch
me doing something wrong, which was not hard
to do. And it was basically, you've messed up
again, Ingram. You've messed up again. So my
view of God was, you know, longing to pray and
the song we sang about delight and beauty. That
wasn't my God. My God was, you don't measure
up and you need to get with the program. And
then that got compounded because despite a father
that really loved me, he went through World War
II. He lost his dad when he was 13. He was a
.50 caliber machine gunner. He spent time Guam,
Iwo Jima, saw all of his friends killed. I became
an alcoholic, very functioning, really cared
about me. And in his era, you didn't say I love
you and no one hugged you. And the way you loved
your son was you want him to be successful. So
I was setting goals by the time I was nine years
old. I had three jobs by the time I was 12. I
lent my money, $3 ,000 to my parents at 6 % interest
when I was 13 years old because I had, and I
collected. And by the time I was 12, I knew I
wanted to do this in basketball, this in baseball,
have a girlfriend that looked like this, get
a scholarship and get A's. And I worked like
crazy because what I found is the only way you
could please my dad was you had to succeed and
affirmations, not love. But it's the next best
thing growing up. So no matter what I did, the
bar always went up the bar. So I got a God in
the back of my mind because our parents and we
as parents and grandparents, we're impacting
our kids and grandchildren with a view of God
by who we are. And so I had a God, so I trusted
Christ by God's grace. I was introduced to the
Bible and a group of athletes loved me and cared
for me and a bricklayer began to disciple me.
But deep seated was this God who was always waiting
for you to mess up and this God who no matter
how much, so do you pray 15 minutes, 17, a half
hour? What if I'm praying a half hour and God
wants 31 minutes? And then pretty soon the group
I was with really was into scripture memory.
So is it a verse a day? Well, is it 100 verses?
Is it 500 verses? What about a chapter? I know
some guys that are memorizing books. I don't
have many books down. I became this neurotic,
workaholic Christian trapped in a performance
trap because that's my view of God. You know,
I probably need to go to like a 12 -step Christian
recovery program. You know? All that was rooted
deeply in some family of origin issues growing
up, and I didn't know. You know, when you grow
up in a family, you think it's normal, right?
So we're all dysfunctional. It's just how much.
And I don't think it's all bad. It's a fallen
world. But then I get married, and my wife begins
to speak to some things, and I realize down behind
all of that, if down deep in your heart, you
don't view a God who, apart from anything you've
ever done, looks at you and says, you are precious.
I delight in you because of what Jesus has done.
You are my son. You are my daughter. You are
precious. I want to be with you. I affirm you.
If that's not your God, then you'll create all
kind of different things to try and stay, quote,
on his good side or perform. And so if you don't
think God really likes you just for who you are
and you don't like yourself for who you are.
When your wife starts saying some things that
she doesn't think is so good about who you are,
I was very defensive. So, you know, some marriage
counseling and some time where little by little
by little, a guy gave me a tiny book called The
Knowledge of the Holy by A .W. Tozer. And I'll
never forget. It's just thin little chapters.
I've read, literally, I read a portion of that
book for the last 35 years. The first 10 or 15
years, a chapter a week. And I would read these
little chapters on the goodness of God. It was
like God finds holy pleasure in the happiness
of his people. Tozer would write that what would
happen if we could all but believe that we live
in a friendly sky and that God, though exalted
in majesty and power, is eager to be friends
with us. He's cordial, kind, benevolent, loving,
eager to share hearts. Those were like foreign
thoughts. For some, it's on the whole other end.
You think God's like grandma. All he wants to
do is give you a dessert all the time. That's
what my wife does. Sort of. In the sense of God's
white, hot, unapproachable holiness. And so we
have Christians that don't see that, yes, God
is pure and loving, but he is absolutely above.
He's holy. He's a consuming fire that his commands
are for our benefit, but you don't mess with
the holy God. You don't look at his commandments
as options. You bow in reverence. You meet anyone
in scripture that encounters God, they're face
down. There's no casual. This isn't my buddy
upstairs. This isn't, you know, pointing everything's
okay. And, you know, high five in Jesus. And
Jesus is my homeboy t -shirt. This isn't the
God of jewelry. And stickers on the back of cars?
This is the name that's too holy even to utter
that the scribes and the Pharisees would just
write the four letters of his name of Yahweh,
wouldn't even pronounce it out loud and then
go ceremonially and wash before they would continue
to copy the scriptures. So all of us are off.
But the most important journey you'll ever have
on your life that's never too late is to pause
at certain seasons and say, God, I want to see
you as you are. The real God, not the God that
I've made up in my mind, not the God that's being
passed around in Christian circles, the real
God, the God of the Bible, how he longs for you
to see him. That's what we're going to study.
And the first session here is to ask the question,
is your God too small? And if you'll open your
notes, we're going to... Begin by some ground
rules, because if you don't get these ground
rules, I will assure you, you will never see
God accurately. There are three common mistakes
that we make when we think about God. Three things
that you have to know that are facts to know
him accurately, and then there's one really,
really big question that I can't answer for you,
you have to answer for yourself. But to see God,
the real God with 20 -20 vision, And here's the
difference. We are not here to learn more about
God. There's a night and day difference between
the knowledge about a person and the knowledge
of a person. I mean, you can take a movie star
or dignitaries or the president of the United
States. We know a lot about people. You can Wikipedia
and know a lot about people like that. We're
talking about... A knowledge of them, a relationship,
a heart knowledge, a connection from the heart,
knowing God by way of intimate connection and
relationship, not knowing facts about them, not
simply ideas that float around in your mind,
but a connection with him. So three facts you
need to know for this to happen is one is that
God is not like you. Shocking, isn't it? God
is not like you. But our tendency is to take
sort of the best that we can think of, the kindest
person, the best person, the most holy person,
and then somehow we blow it up by 10 or blow
it up by 100 or blow it up by a million and think,
well, God somehow, someway is a lot like a bigger,
better, more pure, perfect vision of this. Here's
what I want you to know. It's not true. There
is all created things, even the angels, and that
is a category. And then there's another category,
and that's God. Completely different category.
Completely other. That's the concept of the word
holy. It means he's separate. He's a cut above.
He's not like us. But every religion, and even
we Bible followers, we want to make God like
us because we want to manage him. We want to
control him. Listen to what Isaiah would write
when it comes to God, because this is, This is
not a new problem. Isaiah 40, verse 25. To whom
then will you compare me? That I should be like
him, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on
high and see who created these, who brings out
their hosts by number, calling them all by name.
By the greatness of his might and because he
is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do
you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel? My cause
is hidden from the Lord. It's disregarded by
my God. Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator
of the ends of the earth. He doesn't grow faint
or weary. His understanding is unsearchable or
beyond what we can fathom. He's just completely
different. But that's helpful. That's why when
the Ten Commandments, you know, no other gods,
no images. No pictures, nothing that can reduce
him. Nothing that can get him in a smaller box.
See, we've got a box and we want a God that we
can know and feel comfortable with. It's the
great lines by C .S. Lewis, you know, in the
conversations where Aslan, and he says, you know,
the little girl says, Aslan, are you tame? He
says, no, I'm not tame. I'm loving and I'm compassionate,
but I'm not tame. God's not tame. He's not on
call. He's the creator. We're the creatures.
You're listening to Living on the Edge. And we'll
be back to continue our series, The Real God,
in just a minute. But let me quickly tell you
that we are more than a broadcast ministry. We're
supporting pastors globally, developing helpful
resources, and sharing the gospel with this next
generation. So if you'd like to join us in these
efforts, become a monthly partner by going to
livingontheedge .org. And thanks for your support.
Well, here again is Chip. I put in your notes
a great passage for me is Romans chapter 11.
When the Apostle Paul was talking about the sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man and the
crescendo of that great book of Romans, he ends
up with a doxology. Oh, the depth of both the
wisdom and the knowledge of God. How he talks
about, oh, the... The depth and the power and
the richness of his wisdom and his knowledge.
It's beyond finding out. He says, who has known
the mind of the Lord that they should be his
counselor? No one. Who has ever first given to
God that God would owe him? No one. And then
he says this amazing thing. For from him and
through him and to him are all things. To him
be the glory. Have you ever thought about that?
Everything in all the world is from him and through
him and to him. And to him be the glory or the
weight. And so what I want you to know is that
God is not like you. And he's not like me. And
so there's this category, this awesomeness, this
purity that we want to grasp. The second is related
to it. Left to ourselves, we tend to reduce God
to manageable terms. I want a God that I can
see. I want a God that I can control. I want
a God that I can tame and manipulate. And that's
not the God of the Bible. Every world religion,
you know, the old totems, right? Or the moon
or the stars or the image of a God is, you know,
a lion or some animal and it was the strength
of the bear. And if you go to anthropology all
over the world and you see what people worship,
we get some concept, whether it's a strength
or some power in the moon or the stars, and we
take something and we get it where we can see
it. And we actually, as human beings, will bow
down to things that our own hands create. And
Isaiah would later reprove his people and say,
you worship gods that you have made yourselves.
They have ears and they can't hear. They have
hands, but they can't feel. They have feet and
they can't walk. And he was contrasting them
to the real God. But we all do that. We just
reduce him. Exodus 32, one to six is the first
and most graphic story. Remember the story of
when the people were delivered out of Egypt.
And just try, you know, to not make it a Bible
story and try and imagine what it would have
been like. You know, for 10 generations, you've
heard about this invisible God who made some
promises to some people that lived a long time
ago and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and some guy named
Joseph. And you've heard the stories passed on
carefully and, but you're a slave and life is
hard. And I mean, it's been 400 years. And then
this Moses guy shows up. And then there's these
wild things happening that happen to the Egyptians
that don't happen to you. And since you've lived
there, you know that every one of these plagues
is an attack on one of the Egyptian gods. And
so one by one, that God, this God, this God,
the hail God. And the last God was the Egyptians
believed that Pharaoh was God. And so his son
would be the next God. And so the last plague
was the firstborn children. And you didn't get
it. You know, what's this blood over the doorpost?
Oh, it was a bunch of weird stuff. Then pretty
soon it's the middle of the night and everyone's
saying, get out of here and get out of here now.
And here's gold, here's silver and take your
kids. And you know, you and a couple million
people. And then there's this fire hovering over
you. And then there's this wall of water. And
you remember that night and the wall of water's
up like 40, 50, 60 feet, this dry land. And it's
like. You know, your kid's thinking you're going
camping out and this is a weird experience and
the water comes back. And I mean, you know, this
is like you've seen power, power, power, power,
right? And then you're 60 days in. You're just
60 days in and, you know, it doesn't feel quite
like a camping trip anymore. And you're in the
middle of nowhere in wilderness. Wilderness is
like desert type. And, you know, where are we
going to get water? Where are we going to get
food? Where are we going to live? And, you know,
it's 60 days. And pretty soon, Moses said, because
God said, we'll come to this mountain. It's Mount
Sinai. And you get there and, you know, he disappears
for a while. And, you know, then it's like, okay,
you know, you guys are supposed to come out and
you come out to the mountain. And you purify
yourself and just a bunch of weird stuff. What
do you mean? You wash your clothes, don't have
any sex for a couple of days. And then they mark
off this boundary. And if anyone crosses the
boundary, you have to die. And then you come
out that morning, Exodus 19, by the way, is where
we're at. And you come out that morning and everyone's
standing. And then pretty soon, pretty soon you
hear this ram's horn. And it goes louder. And
it's really, really sweet. And part of you wants
to listen. Part of you is like, oh. And then
you hear a voice. And it's God's voice. And you
tremble. And the earth starts to shake. And you're
face down. And you look up. And smoke is billowing
out. And there's fire. And you're going, oh,
my gosh. And you're just petrified. And then
Moses speaks. And you hear his voice again. And
you're Moses, Moses, no more. You just talk to
him. He can't take it. And that's God. And whew.
Right? This is a you are there moment. And then
after all of that, get this. And then Moses says,
that God, okay, I'm going to go up. He wants
me to come and he's going to give me commands.
You know what he wants? He wants to do a cutting.
It's a covenant. And because of your background,
you understand a covenant has to do with blood.
A covenant has to do that. We'll make a commitment
to God that we're saying that we would die before
we break the covenant. And he's saying the same
thing. And he's going to give us the. The agreement
of the covenant. What it is we're going to agree
to. I'm going to go up and get that. Moses goes
up. And then we're people, right? Have you seen
him? I don't know. When's he coming back? I don't
know. It's been a long time. Kids are getting
restless. This isn't a camping trip. Is he coming
back at all? Aaron, we need a God. I mean, you
know, people are getting restless. It's getting
a little uptight here. We need a solution. okay,
peer pressure is very powerful. Why don't you
all take off an earring, bring it to me, and
he fashions a calf, and they put a golden calf,
and from their Egyptian background, the bull,
the calf, power, fertility, we'll call him Yahweh,
because we don't want to get in trouble, right?
Syncretism, it always works. So we'll call it
Yahweh, and then tomorrow we'll bring your sacrifices.
And it said they brought their sacrifices, and
then they began to express their worship in the
King James's revelry. It's like a really hot
weekend in Vegas. I mean, and you need to understand
all the worship, the ancient world built into
all the fertility gods. It was sexuality, all
kind of immoral ways. And then God looks down,
sees what's happening, says, Moses, we got a
problem. Now, here's the question I want to ask
you. How in the world? Could you have that kind
of experience with God, see those kind of miracles,
that kind of power, actually hear His voice,
see the earth shake, and then demand that you
had to have something you could see? I want to
tell you, it's human nature. And before we get
like, I don't know, as an early Christian, I
remember reading through the Bible and stuff
like this. I'm thinking, man, these people are
nuts. Or the disciples, you know, like... You
know, Jesus would heal someone, and then they're
uptight about not having bread. You know, I was
young and never read the Bible, and I thought,
man, I wish I was there. Man, I wouldn't have
those kind of problems. I do have a confession
I need to make. So far, it's sort of a sign of
spiritual growth. I've never come home after
a long day of work and say, honey, just stay
right here. I know I put a little statue in the
back room. I'm going to go pray to it. I've never
done that. Just want you to know, I've never
worshipped. But I've worshipped a lot of idols
that I've created in my head. Idols like success,
family, kids, education, prosperity, money, comfort,
self -fulfillment. See, we don't worship idols.
They actually used God, made a picture. worshipped
it in a way that they could actually get, quote,
what they wanted in the way they thought that
would satisfy them with total disregard for the
real God. And I'd like to suggest that we do
the same thing. This is Living on the Edge with
Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part
one of Chip's message, Seeking God, from our
series, The Real God. Chip will be back shortly
to share some helpful application for us to think
about. You know, we've all unintentionally projected
some of humanity's worst qualities into our Creator.
Many view God as moody, weak, unfair, impatient,
and merciless. But those ideas couldn't be further
from the truth. Through this series, Chip explores
key Bible passages to reveal seven fundamental
characteristics of our Heavenly Father, attributes
that reflect the very essence of His divine nature.
Join Chip on this journey to reshape your perspective
toward God, which will deepen your relationship
with Him like never before. You won't want to
miss a single part of this study. Well, Chip's
back in studio with me. And Chip, I'm really
excited for our listeners to walk through this
series with you. Take a minute and explain why
learning more about our Heavenly Father is so
important. Be glad to, Dave. I touched a bit
on this in today's teaching. We all have a warped
view of God. Every denomination, every Christian
comes out of some sort of lens that distorts
who God really is. And I've been a Christian
now for over 50 years. And I'm still pursuing,
oh, God, would you take away the false views
that I have and help me to see you clearly for
who you are, your goodness, your love, your faithfulness.
So much of our struggles, as A .W. Tozer said.
is a false view of God or a warped view of God.
So I just welcome our listeners to really dig
in. Don't miss a day. Or if you miss a day, make
sure you go back on the app and listen to it.
I just can't tell our listeners how important
it is that you, on your own, say, I want to know
God, but I don't want to know him as I think
he is. I want to know him as he really is. He's
a living, loving, holy, just, faithful, king
of kings, lord of lords, who sees you as his
precious child. If you get that clear in your
mind and your heart, it changes everything. That's
absolutely right, Chip. Well, I hope you'll join
us for this entire series. And because every
believer can learn something from this topic,
let me encourage you to invite a few friends
to listen with you, either through livingontheedge
.org or wherever you listen to podcasts. Well,
that here again is Chip to share some application.
I don't know about you, but as I listened to
the very end of today's program, I was convicted.
Even though I was preaching, I was convicted.
You know what I realized? I realize that unconsciously,
the culture has so shaped my mind that when my
life isn't working out right, when I'm not happy,
when I've got a struggle in my marriage, when
my car breaks down, or when I have an unexpected
emergency, there's a part of me that immediately
just says, what's the deal, God? Hey, what's
wrong? You know, I'm kind of upset. How come
you're not coming through for me? You know, I
don't like your timing. And all those kind of
thoughts are built around a false view of God.
So much of this world's culture has crept into
my thinking like I'm God and he's the one who's
supposed to make my life work out instead of
remembering he's God. And my privilege is to
get to be rightly related to him through Christ.
And then my goal is to walk in a way that pleases
him. How about you? How do you view God? How
do you see him? Have you unconsciously? I don't
mean in some... terrible, selfish way, but have
you unconsciously begun to view God as a self
-help genie? Is he the one who's going to make
everything work out your way? Or do you see him
as the high, holy, sovereign of the universe,
to whom apart from Christ, you absolutely have
no hope? Yet in Christ, you are the center of
his attention, and he loves you. Think about
it, will you? Good word, Chip. Hey, just before
we close, I quickly want to thank those of you
who regularly give to Living on the Edge. You're
making a big difference in helping Christians
live like Christians. But if you're benefiting
from our ministry and haven't started giving
yet, let me encourage you to join the Living
on the Edge team. You can do that by setting
up a recurring donation at livingontheedge .org
or by calling us at 888 -333 -6003. That's 888
-333 -6003 or visit livingontheedge .org. App
listeners, tap donate. And thanks for doing whatever
the Lord leads you to do. Well, join us next
time as Chip continues his series, The Real God.
Until then, I'm Dave Drewy, thanking you for
listening to this edition of Living on the Edge.