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 weekend 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. Well, a few days ago, we kicked
off Chip's insightful series, The Real God, how
he longs for you to see him. For the next couple
of weeks, we'll study seven attributes of God's
character that'll give us a genuine picture of
who he really is. But today, we're revisiting
the first program in this series, where Chip
explained why getting an accurate view of God
is vital for our faith. So if you're ready, grab
your Bible and notes as we join Chip for his
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.
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, you know, like grandma.
You know, 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. No, he's holy. He's a consuming
fire that his commands are for our benefit, but
you don't mess with a 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
-fiving 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. We're talking about 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, 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
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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 then it gets 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
then you, 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 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' 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 God looks down, sees
what's happening, says, Moses, we've 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 that 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 worshiped. But I've worshiped
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 a 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. You've been listening
to a selected program that we wanted to share
from this past week. To hear more from Chip's
series, The Real God, go to livingontheedge .org
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next
time, I'm Dave Drewy saying thanks for listening
to this weekend edition of Living on the Edge.