Hey friend, welcome back here to the Seminarium.
This week, we're exploring a topic that a lot
of people, I think, might feel uncomfortable
with or don't want to think about, or maybe they
fixate on it. Anyway, we think of God as love,
but are there things that God hates? We're going
to look at that tonight. I'll see you on the
other side. Is it okay if I begin? Is it alright?
I was thinking, we're going to kind of probably
take at least this week and maybe one more week
off, then we'll do another series. I haven't
quite figured out what those, we've done two
series in a row, both Old Testament Minor Prophets.
Not to get stuck in a rut, I'm really not kind
of, I haven't figured out where I want to go
next. Like I was explaining on the way into the
church today, when I put those series together,
I want to know where I'm going to land before
I take off in these parts of the story, because
there was a time when I didn't think these things
is through and would think I've got two or three
or four part series. And then I'd only have half
of it. I wouldn't know how to land the plane.
And so I kind of think ahead, you know, at least
what the subject matter is going to be for each
week before I ever even begin. I haven't just,
I haven't got to that part with. what we want
to be, what I want to do for the new topic. Probably
look at something in the New Testament. And also,
whenever we do those kind of Hebrew scripture
studies, guys like prophets and stuff, as kind
of a palate cleanser, I like to kind of go back
to the New Testament as kind of just a gospel
message kind of reminder of what we learn about
in Christian scripture. And one of the things
that we definitely focus on a huge amount whenever
we talk New Testament is we focus, we talk all
the time about how God loves us. Super, super
important. How God loves us. And we love, we
celebrate the idea that because of the depth
of that love, that God can take broken, hurting
people and make beautiful things from them because
of that love. But today, I want to talk about
what God hates. Now, before we begin that discussion,
I'd like to at least come to some agreement here
on what we think about God. Specifically in this
idea, we recognize that there are are attributes
of God that define who God is to us, right? Attributes
of God's character. And those attributes we often
think about because God is omniscient and omnipresent
and omniblevelent, right? That he's always good,
that he's always there, that he's all -powerful,
all -knowing. that his attributes of his character
are absolute as well. So when we talk about the
justice of God in God's terms, not in ours, not
in the way we think of our own personal justice,
but in God's justice, it's absolute. God never
bends the rules for the sake of justice. Righteousness,
holiness, again, things that are absolute. I
think... Love. It's a characteristic of God that
is absolute. I believe that because there's no
end to God's love for us, there's no beginning
either. That it shoots off both ends of the spectrum,
so to speak. That's the absolute nature of God's
love. And then when we talk about these attributes,
about what makes God different than any other
being in the universe, Of these attributes, what's
kind of foundational? What is the attribute of
God's character in which all of these other characteristics
hinge on? I would argue, and I hope you'll agree,
that love is the one. Love is that foundational
attribute of God's character by which through
we now try to see the lens of God's righteousness
and God's holiness and God's justice. Right?
So, at God's foundation, attributes of his character
is love. Now, that's an interesting question,
because if God's love doesn't even have an end
for us, or doesn't have a beginning for us, has
no end for us, God's love shoots off both ends
of the spectrum, can God love hate? Are there
things that God hates? Right. That's exactly
the correct answer, yes. And I would actually
argue, right? As parents, can we hate things
our children do? And when we do, does it affect
our love for them? Most times it doesn't. In
fact, the reason why we hate these things is
because of how much we love them. So the opposite
of love isn't hate. It's apathy, right? The opposite
of love. Hate requires emotion. Apathy is being
devoid of emotion regarding something good or
bad. So certainly there are things that God hates,
but I hope that we'll see tonight the things
that God hates are actually motivated by God's
love for us. I think it's super important for
us to consider the things about us that God loves
and to consider the things about us that God
hates because we... We hope, we say anyway, I
hope you say anyway, that we desire an intimate
relationship with God. We want to have a personal
relationship with God. We want to have personal
relationships with other people. And one of the
foundational needs of an intimate relationship
is understanding what that other person loves
and hates, right? I mean, that's a key. to understanding
the person. We want to have that loving relationship
with it. So it's important to us to consider
these things. But it's confusing because does
God really hate stuff? Well, we look to Scripture.
We can actually see this addressed directly.
Now, the book of Proverbs is traditionally attributed.
to have been written by King Solomon, who was
David, David and Goliath, Solomon's son. Solomon
built the great temple, right? About 900 BC,
can't help but throw all this stuff out there.
It's me, right? That's about when his rule was
in the 900s BC. Solomon is attributed for writing
some stuff in the Bible. Song of Solomon is attributed
to him. Now, whether he actually wrote them or
not, we don't know one way or the other. Ecclesiastes.
Also a book with Proverbs are books that are
attributed to have been written to Solomon. At
least the wisdom contained within those books
are attributed to the wisdom of Solomon. And
so in Proverbs, in chapter six, Proverbs, this
chapter six, actually pretty incredible because
it's Solomon's advice to people about how they
should live. how they should think of God, and
how important relationships are with each other.
And really, the thrust of what he's talking about,
this particular portion of Scripture, is actually
idleness. He's talking to people, and he basically
says, if you're too lazy to work, then you should
not expect anything different than strife and
difficulty in your life. It's just something
you should expect. He's not necessarily condemning
it, but he is kind of book of Proverbs is a book
of wisdom, right? And so the things he writes
about in this book is advice that you don't have
to take or not, but if you don't take the wisdom
contained therein, Solomon is saying you're a
fool, okay? And in 6 and 16, He mentions things
that God hates, and let me read them out. It's
kind of a neat way. It's a turn of phrase, kind
of poetic. I think it's beautiful how it's written.
Proverbs 6 and 16, what does God hate? There
are six things the Lord hates, seven that are
detestable to him, right? So he's saying, I'm
going to list them all out for you. There's six.
Actually, there's seven. That's also interesting,
the one that he picks out as the seventh one.
And let me try to flesh that out here in a second.
But six and seven, seven things that God hates.
Haughty eyes, that word is strange. Haughty means
conceited. If I'm haughty, my nose is stuck up
like, right, haughty. So being conceited, haughty
eyes, a lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent
blood. A heart that devises wicked schemes. Feet
that are quick to rush into evil. A false witness
who pours out lies. And here's the seventh one.
A person who stirs up conflict in the community.
I mean, all of a sudden, I don't know. I have
mugshots of people all of a sudden pop through
my brain when I read that. My own personal Pastor
Jim mugshots of people. No one here. But it's
interesting because that seventh one that he
finds the testable has to do with the breakdown
of relationships, right? Okay, stick with that
thought. Remember that in your head. Now, when
I list off the things that God hates and we're
going to be specific, Sometimes people will sit
up a little bit straighter and their ears will
perk up because if sin has a naughty list and
it's clear as day there in the scripture, I want
to make sure I'm not on that naughty list. I
don't want to be doing the things that clearly
scripture says God hates. The reason why we feel
that way. It's because in relationships, we don't
want to do something that the other person we
love hates, right? Why? Well, here's why. When
we do that, when we do things the other person
in this relationship hates, we create a distance
between that individual and ourselves. An emotional,
a spiritual... sometimes even physical distance
as a result. And that distance breeds loneliness,
doesn't it? And that's at the center of what
I want to talk about this evening. Because I
bet many of us, maybe not all, and if it's not
you, praise God for you, but many of us have
felt some distance from God before in our past.
There are a lot of things that can cause us to
have distance from God. Sometimes it's like things
like the untimely death of a loved one. Or it
could be some people are just like, you know,
I don't have any real close relationships. I
don't have any close friends. And I've been trying
to connect with people and I can't. So they just
wall themselves off from everybody. including
God. People that feel like they're in a dead
-end job and it's not working out. We've been
talking about these things over the last couple
of weeks. I keep serving God and I keep doing
this and I keep doing that. All of these different
things for God and I feel like I'm stuck in my
situation and nothing goes my way. It feels like
every time I take one step forward, I get knocked
two steps back. Where is God in this? Remember?
I felt like something was happening. And it distanced
us. It distances us. Right? It creates that feeling
of distance. And that distance breeds in us loneliness.
And that loneliness, again, is going to be at
the center of what we're talking about this evening.
What does God hate? Well, the pivotal thought
for our discussion this evening, our study here,
God hates the loneliness that we feel from the
distance that we create. What does God hate?
God hates that loneliness we feel from the distance
that we create. And that distance is created
by sin. God hates the loneliness, that void,
that thing inside of us that feels like something
is missing. And we create that distance. And
you might say, well, how do we create distance
from God? There are several millions of ways
that we do that. But I'm only going to look at
two this evening and leave the other 98 million
someone else. Romans chapter 3, the Bible says,
for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory
of God. Now, when Paul writes that in Romans,
he uses it. He is using that as a very, very
important statement to not just the people that
he was writing the letter to, but to people who
have read those words down millennia, because
when he says all, He means all, and that means
you, and that means me, and that means the priest
down the street, and it means the really good
teacher you like, and it means Adolf Hitler,
it means everybody, whatever. Every single one
of us, me, the people next to you, the people
behind you, people in front of you, we have all
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
God hates the loneliness we feel because sin
Distance us. Distances us. Remember, right, that
distance creates loneliness. And then we're going
to talk about the impact of that loneliness here
in a minute. God hated that so much, I believe,
that he sent his only son, Jesus, into the world
so that that distance could be closed and that
we could be saved. In fact, the book of John,
chapter 3 and 17 says, for God sent his son into
the world not to condemn the world. but to save
it through him. Right? God hates the loneliness
that we feel from the distance we create, and
that sin creates distance from God. Let me give
you an illustration of this. In the New Testament,
it's called the Book of James. The Book of James
is a book attributed to being written by James,
who was the brother of Jesus. James was actually
not a follower of Jesus when Jesus was alive.
That is one of those things, if you have a sibling,
if you have a brother or sister, that at least
for me, that is one of the things that almost
kind of proves the Bible's true because I can't
imagine what it would take for me to be able
to convince my sister that I'm the Savior of
the world. It wasn't until the resurrection,
it wasn't until James actually saw his brother
die and then awake again, that James went, oh
my gosh, he really is who he says that he is.
And James becomes a wholehearted follower and
ends up leading the church of Christians, early
Christians in Jerusalem. He writes a letter to
them, and that letter is called the book of James.
And in James chapter one, it says, our desire,
once it's conceived, Our desires, once they're
conceived, give birth to sin. And then sin, when
it's full grown, gives birth to death. I love
the way that's written. Our desire, once it's
conceived, gives birth to sin. And when sin is
full grown, it gives birth to death. It's decay.
It's rot. breeds loneliness, and that's what
God hates. Now, that's not the only thing that
will distance us from God. There's another thing,
and this is, I think, for people who I think
will say things like, you know what? I believe
in God. I follow Jesus, right? Okay, I'm a part
of that group. I don't know about how theologically,
whatever, I'm a believer. Here's another thing.
If you say, raise your hand and say, I'm one
of those people. I mean, yeah, I'm on board with
believing. Our complacency also distances us
from God. The truth is there's so many people
who call themselves Christians and they say they
believe in God and they live their lives as if
God does not exist. In other words, God, I believe
in God. I follow Jesus, but it doesn't really
affect my practical everyday life. You say, well,
how does that happen? Well, in Scripture, we
go back to Proverbs chapter 1. The Bible says,
for the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
The Bible says the complacency of fools will
destroy them. In other words, when we find ourselves
becoming complacent, the Bible says you are a
fool and it is going to destroy you. And how
we see this kind of thing happen in our day -to
-day lives, right? It's kind of like we come
to church or something, some sort of experience,
and we have that spiritual moment with God, and
we get on a spiritual high. the beginning of
our journeys with Jesus, whatever. I love this
stuff. God, I am into you. You feel like you're
into me. We're connected. I'm into your word.
I feel like we're together. And then what happens
is, well, different things happen, but something
happens in our lives that causes us to become
distracted. Well, what do you mean? I mean, like,
you know, Sunday morning, God, I love you, but...
Did you see that play? Right? The DVR, rewind
that. Was his foot in bounds? Right? Oh, are
you kidding? Hold on, God. Hold on. I love you
and all, but maybe I'll come back to you after
sports season. We'll get back together. God,
I love you. I'm with you. We're connected. All
is good. Hold on, John. He's got soccer practice.
Sarah has to go to the ballet, to gymnastics,
right? Because she's going to be in the Olympics
one day. Listen, God. I'll get back to you as
soon as school's over, okay? Back in May, maybe.
Don't go anywhere. And what's the problem? It
seems, when we're sitting here in church, it
seems obvious, but we do this kind of thing all
the time. In plain, simple English, this is what
happens. We do this. I've done this in my life.
Right? I've done this, I've done that, and all
kinds of things of life have distracted me from
God. And that's what happens. We're close to
God, and then something distracts us. And just
like a cat with a flashlight or whatever, right?
The moment something distracts us, we leave where
we are, we run right to it. That shiny object
that we desire, whatever it is. And when we make
that move, what happens? We create. Distance
with God. And that distance, because of our movement,
creates a loneliness. A loneliness that eventually
can breed complacency. And what's the problem
with complacency? Well, here's the problem. Because
when we get distant from God, all of a sudden
those things that might have used to have been
vile or sickening to us really aren't that. bad
anymore. Like we kind of begin to see our little
pet sins a little differently. We might even
slip our arm around that favorite sin and say,
you know what? You're not so bad. I kind of like
it. We kind of befriend them. We put another
arm around it and now we're hugging our sin.
all of a sudden. And just as we begin to hold
on to it, right, we begin to love that thing,
something that might have been vile, sickening
to us. We love it so much, we give it little
pet names, sugar -coated names, to make it sound
a little appealing, right? Oh, what's a little
flirting anyway? Completely innocent. It's really
not that bad. It's not hurting anyone. It's just
a little white lie, right? Everything is fair
in business. I mean, I'm just trying to get ahead.
The cost of doing business, so to speak. Our
sin, when we hear it in this setting, we say,
that's gross. That's garbage. But it's that distance
that creates that complacency that happens whether
we see it happening or not. And we sit here and
we think, oh, I would never ever do things like
that. And all of a sudden we find ourselves directly
right smack dab in the middle of that. And how
did it happen? Well, somewhere along the way
we got distracted. We became distant. We got
complacent. And now we're way over here, far
from God, and we're lonely. And God hates that
distance between us. God wants us closer to him.
But it's a distance we create. We need to see
our sin for what it really is. Again, when we
hear it just in the openness, those kind of things.
infidelity, alcoholism, drug abuse, whatever
that sin that creates you from theft, lying,
whatever those things are that creates sin. We
listen to those things now and go, oh gosh, those
things are horrible. But we have to, we have
to see them for what they are and we have to
reject them at every turn. Paul says in chapter
three of his letter to the Philippian church,
what is more, I consider everything a loss. because
of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus,
for whose sake I have lost all things. Those
things, he says, right, that he used to love,
he now considers them, Philippians uses the word
garbage, that I may gain Christ. Let me just
tell you, this is one of the neat, this is one
of the first little Greek word things I ever
learned in pastoring, the word garbage in Philippians
there. That word is actually scubala. And we're
all finished with dinner, right? It means dumb.
Specifically dog dumb, right? So you could use
a word that you might hear your racist uncle
use and say all those things I used to think
were so important, those are doggy poo -poo.
That in return I might gain Christ instead of.
We've come to a place where we realize that stuff
is garbage. And when that happens, it creates
a distance and a loneliness. I mean, we've all
felt distance from God. Every single one of us.
We actually see in the Psalms, in the 10th Psalm,
this one is attributed to being written by King
David, Solomon's father, Goliath fame, right?
The man who was after God's own heart. He says,
Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide
yourself in times of trouble? Can we feel the
loneliness? I can, in his words. I feel like
I can sense a deep hurt in his words. Peter,
one of the disciples of Jesus, Jesus says, You're
all going to deny me. And Peter says, are you
kidding? I'm not going anywhere, Jesus. I am
right there with you. And he says, no, actually,
you're going to deny me three times before the
rooster crows. And the book of Luke records it
that at the third time that Peter denied Christ,
actually, Jesus is walking by and he hears it
and they lock eyes. Put yourself in Peter's sandals
for a second. Could you imagine having denied
Jesus, denied Jesus Christ verbally within his
own earshot and you lock eyes with him enough
for him to see you and you to see his face. And
at the same time, feel the distance between your
two hearts in that moment. Scripture actually
reports that Peter went after that event, went
out and wept bitterly. Why? Because of the distance,
the loneliness he must have felt. Jesus says
in Matthew chapter 27, hanging on the cross,
excruciating pain, right? For my sin and for
yours. He says, my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? Loneliness, distance. Here's the
thing I think we need to understand this evening.
If you're feeling distant from God, I want you
to write this on your heart. This is really important,
I think, to understand, right? When you feel
distance from God, and you will, just remember
God's not distant from us. When we feel distance
from God, and we will, God is not distant from
us, no matter where we go. In our highest of
highs and our lowest of lows, friends, God is
still with us, pursuing us. God is there no matter
how great times are. God is there no matter how
bad times are. When we feel distance from God,
God is not distant. We actually see this play
out in the book of Romans, Paul writing to the
Christians in Rome, chapter 8. For I am convinced
that neither death nor life, nor angels nor demons,
nor presence, I'm sorry, nor the present, nor
the future, nor any powers, neither height nor
depth, nor anything else in all of creation,
none of that will be able to separate us. from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What's that mean? It means it doesn't matter
what you did last night. It doesn't matter what
you're going to do tonight. There's nothing that
you can do. that can separate you from the love
of God that is Christ Jesus. It doesn't matter
how great you are, how wonderful you are, how
many songs you've sung in a band. It doesn't
matter anything. Nothing you can do will separate
you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.
If you go to the highest of heights, is God still
there? The answer is yes. If you go to the bottom
of the sea, is God still there? Absolutely. If
you run as far as you can, is God still there?
Yes. Is God still with you when you go to Walmart?
Yes. Cashiers may not be there anymore, but God
is. Sorry. When we feel distant from God, God
is not distant from us. And what God hates is
the loneliness that we feel for the distance
we create. When we feel distant from God, understand,
again, God is not distant from us. It's the loneliness
we feel from the distance we create because of
our sin. And as a result, the answer of how to
fix that problem is simple. We don't want to
do the things that creates the distance, that
creates the loneliness that God hates. Amen?
Amen. Hey, thanks guys. It is interesting to
me that when we try to talk about, when we often
think about, when we package the spiritual relationship
that we humans are supposed to have with God
and this problem of sin that permeates in the
good and the bad and the do's and the don'ts
and shoulds and shouldn'ts and all of that stuff.
In the end, between God and us, between God and
you, between God and me, seems like worse almost
than the sin, the act itself, is because of that
love that God has for us. The thing that God
hates the most is that loneliness that we feel
because of that separation between us. It's an
interesting way to think about it because I think
it's something that we can establish in every
one of our lives, that person that we desire
to have a relationship. We don't want to create
separation. We don't want a relationship that's
distant, one that might create complacency, one
that might create loneliness. No, we'd rather
have it intimate and close. It's what God desires
for us most, and I think it's what God hates
the most when we can't achieve it. Anyway, that's
something to think about. Until next week, friend,
be blessed.