Your God Is Too Small
I went to see the movie “Robots” yesterday afternoon. It was a good, G-rated family film about a young robot named Rodney who loves to invent things. Near the beginning of the movie, Rodney goes off to the big city to start on his career as an inventor. He hopes to meet the greatest robot of them all, Mr. Big Weld… a robot who is CEO of a major corporation, has his own television show, and is known for his work in the community. I smiled as I watched Rodney go off to the big city, full of good ideas and with all the confidence of the very young. I found myself wondering why Mr. Big Weld would see him… or whether Mr. Big Weld would even know that Rodney had come many miles… with his dreams in hand… with his heart on his sleeve… to meet him.
Well, I won’t ruin the movie for you by telling you what happened when Rodney arrived in the big city. I do want you to think, for a few minutes, about how we are like that young robot in our fearlessness and our confidence before God, the Creator of the universe. Because when you think of Jesus coming to Jerusalem, I want you to understand who it is who died for you… who it is who loves you… and how far we have come to witness the events of this Holy Week. I want to give you yet another picture of God.
The place I want to begin is with the awesomeness of God and the limitlessness of God’s being. I had a long talk about religion with an operations manager from Motorola many years ago now. His perspective was that, if you ever spoke of God or your religious beliefs, you would automatically place limits upon God, just because there are no words that can adequately describe God. Now, I agree that there are no words that can adequately describe God, but I strongly believe that if you do not try to talk about it… even just to yourself… if you don’t try to verbalize what you believe, you will never fully appreciate how awesome God is and how inadequate your words are. It is only by trying to put it into words that you discover how impossible it is to do so and how totally beyond comprehension our God is. So, I am about to begin Mission Impossible.
God is omniscient… omnipotent… and omnipresent. God has infinite awareness… understanding… and insight. God is omniscient. God has unlimited power, authority, and influence. God is omnipotent. And, God is present in all places at all times. God is omnipresent. If you believe, as I do, that God is perfection and that nothing is beyond God’s ability, then some awesome possibilities become apparent. For example, drive down any street and look at the trees… especially Oak trees… or Pecan trees… trees with lots of leaves… and think about God knowing every cell… every vein… every leaf… every branch… on every tree. Look at the leaf that you are holding in your hand and know that God knows exactly which palm tree that leaf came from… knows each cell of it so well that he can 1) reproduce it at will, 2) has instantaneous knowledge of any changes that occur in that cell… such as cell division… and 3) that God cares about, or is intimately involved in, the growth and development of that cell… that vein… that leaf… that branch… and that tree at every moment in time, from before it sprouted… preparing a place for it on the earth… to after its death… using its cells to nurture other living things. And if, at some point in developing this picture, you say to me, "Wait a minute. This is ridiculous. God is not intimately involved with every living cell that exists." My response would be, "Why not?" If God is truly limitless in power… in presence… and in love for all of creation …including us, of course… then, God not only has the ability to do all that I have described, but God actually does it.
Think, for a minute, about the concept of "boundless love". We talk about it in religious circles, but have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? Love that is totally limitless. If you take everything in 1 Corinthians 13 and everything else you have ever heard about the qualities of love and explode it to the ultimate: what an awesome sense of wonder and total security it gives you! Try this sometime when you are alone. Take just one of the concepts of love… pick any one you like… for example… “Love bears all things”… or maybe “Love believes all things”… or, if you like, “Love hopes all things”… or “Love endures all things.” What does this really mean when it is applied to your life… to your world… to the people around you… to your work, and so on?
Those of you who have children, stop, for a moment, and think about the way in which you love your children…any one of them. If you have a girl, do you recognize that you will love her forever… in all times and circumstances… not because she earns your love… or deserves your love, but simply because she exists? And this love that you have for her has nothing to do with what she does… or what she looks like… or how she treats you. You love her just because she is your daughter. The same is true of a son. When they say that “blood is thicker than water,” they speak of this mysterious connection that we have with our own… a connection that often defies logic.
Now, take that thought and apply it to you and God. God loves you. Not because you have done anything worthy… Not because you are a man… or a woman… or because you are good looking… or you have helped others… or you try to do good things… Not because you bring laughter to others… or because you are a good worker… a good husband… wife… father… mother… or child. God loves you simply because you exist. And God loves you the same way in which you love your child… only an order of magnitude greater… deeper… more completely than you could ever love her… or him. For God’s love is limitless. God created you. You are God’s child. And God knows you more completely than you know yourself. God knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows what you struggle with… and every triumph that comes your way. And each time you stumble… it is God who reaches out for you… in the same way that you reach out for your child when she stumbles ... or when he stumbles. Not because you deserve it… for none of us deserves a love that is that total… that complete… that boundless. It is a gift… the gift of a father to a child.
And you don't even have to accept that love. God will love you… and does love you… even if… even when… you reject him. Wouldn't you love your child even if she rejected you? Wouldn't you still hold her… nurture her… feed her… clothe her… and care for her even if she fought you at every turn? So it is with God. You cannot stop God from loving you. He does it anyway. Not because you ask him to… or need him to… God just does it. And there is nothing that you can do that will cause God to stop loving you. For God’s love is boundless… limitless. You can knowingly wallow in sin and depravity. You can lie… cheat… steal… even abuse other people… and God will continue love you. Not that God will condone that behavior… but it will not stop God from loving you. God’s love is unconditional. God’s love is infinite. And God gives that love to you every second… of every minute… of every day… of every week… of every year… into infinity… beyond the limits of what our minds can comprehend. Whether you are conscious of it or not, that love totally surrounds you always. It is truly limitless.
God's power is also limitless. At any moment in time, God can preserve… or destroy… that cell… that vein… that branch… or that tree. God can create worlds… universes… or wipe them out just by thinking about it. And, when God creates, God creates total perfection: Every cell… of every vein… of every leaf… of every branch… of every tree… working together in harmony to grow and develop itself… to nurture other living things… and to provide a balance in nature that creates a perfect world for us… God's ultimate creation… the only living thing created in God’s own image. And yet, in an instant… in the twinkling of an eye… God can vaporize us and there would be no record that we ever existed… no trace of millions of years of development… no knowledge of vast civilizations and peoples… nothing. At a whim, we could be less than nothing… we could simply not be. God has that power.
What saves us is God’s boundless love. A love so great that, not even at the height of his anger would God ever destroy us. God loves us so much that he sent his only son to die for us. Can you even imagine how much love that would take... for you to send your child … your only child… to certain death for someone else? And an agonizing… painful… humiliating death at that. Alone… deserted by his friends and his followers… exhausted… beaten… surrounded by the dregs of society… taunted by those who were less than he was… with nails driven into his hands and his feet… hanging on a rough wooden cross that dug splinters into his raw and bleeding back … dying. Would you wish that on your worst enemy? Could you knowingly send your only child… the child of your heart… to that? What kind of love does it take to do that? Love that is boundless… endless… limitless. Love that our God gives to you and to me every day… always… forever.
Have you been disillusioned by something that was done by the church… or by someone who represented the church… and God’s kingdom here on earth? Have you been looking among the humans who surround you for the evidence of God’s love? There is no human … no institution on earth… that can adequately represent God… or even begin to share God’s love in the way that God does. And there is no church… or even a church member… who can reveal the amazing wonder of God’s love for you. Only God can do that. And, if God chooses to reveal the awesome greatness of his love to you, there is nothing that you can do to stop him. God can… and will… walk into your life… in God’s own time… in God’s own way… and change you forever. You cannot prevent it. You cannot escape. For, as our psalmist said this morning, “If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.” As the Apostle Paul says, there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Before we were even born, God knew us. As the psalm says, “Your eyes beheld my unformed substance [and], in your book, were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.” Just as God knows every cell in the leaf that you hold in your hand, so God knows… and loves… you and me.
So, how can we believe in this incredible, limitless God who knows us… and loves us as a parent loves a child… who has the power to give us anything… and everything we want and more, beyond what we could ever ask or think… and not trust this God with our very lives? Do you still play this back and forth "Today-I-feel-like-giving-my-life-to-you,-but-tomorrow-I-want-it-back" game. You are not so different from many other Christians. We are all human. We are not perfect. And no one knows this better than God. With God’s boundless love, comes endless patience with us… and with our willful ways. Just as your child can fight you and resist what she knows is best for her… and what you, in your wisdom, know is best for her… so we can, in our ignorance, resist God's will for us. And God lets us do it. God has given us the freedom to choose. And God is patient… infinitely patient… as we grow… and learn … and work these things out for ourselves. God is patient with our ignorance … and loves us in spite of our choices… even the choices that lead us away from him. For God’s love never ends. It is perfect … and it knows no limits.
This is the Love that came to earth for you. This is the Love who walked the dusty roads of Galilee for you. This is the Love who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for you. This is the Love who died on a cross for you. This is the Love from which you cannot be separated… and from which you cannot escape. For this is Love Incarnate. Amen.