AW
Tozer – the pursuit of God, chapter 8- Restoring the
Creator-creature Relationship
Psalm 57:1-5
Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on
me,for in you I take refuge.(C)I
will take refuge in the shadow of your wings(D)until
the disaster has passed.(E)2 I
cry out to God Most High,to God, who vindicates me.(F)3 He
sends from heaven and saves me,(G)rebuking
those who hotly pursue me—[c](H)God
sends forth his love and his faithfulness.(I)4 I
am in the midst of lions;(J)I
am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts—men whose teeth are spears
andarrows,whose tongues are sharp swords.(K)5 Be
exalted, O God, above the heavens;let your glory be over all the earth.(L)
The psalmist is shouting out……
God I need you. And you are the top dog, the most high.
order in nature depends upon right
relationships;
to
achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each
other thing.
·
The
male cardinal is red, the female is brown.
·
Momma
birds do kick their babies out after a while
In
human life it is the same
·
Parents
love your children.
·
children,
honor your father and mother.
·
Work
for your employer as unto the lord
The
correct natural relationship between us and God
Master
vs servant
Dominant
vs submissive
Father/child
Creator/created
No
question who is dominant, but there is also great love
Because of selfishness and sin, we have
made it about us
,
It
not that god is against your life, he just know that you were made to love him
Lots
of songs about the connectedness of love
And
until we do, we will not find happiness
Many
frightened people ontheir death bed, believed in god but did not love him
salvation
is not that we are saved from sin and left in some unhappy vacuum
we
are saved to God
loved
by him, welcomed by him
the
relationship is restored
example
of the prodigal son and the restoration that came with the reestablishment of
the father-son relation.
It
was always there, waiting, the son had to choose to go home
Tozer talks about leaning away from the
things of this world
Falls
for a bit into the dualism that he earlier scorns
Good
and bad. Sacred and secular.
88
he says come out of the world
In
the world but not of it
All
I know is I'm not home yet - This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus -This is not where I belong
vs – this is my fathers world
Take this world and give me Jesus -This is not where I belong
vs – this is my fathers world
When
god is exalted to his rightful place, the Christian life ceases to be the
complicated thing it had been before and becomes the very essence of
simplicity.
A we think about the creator-created
relationship
We are not talking about a change of
behavior
But
a change of attitude. A change of heart
Sitting
here is a good start but god is after your heart
You
can tell a child to do certain things. Or an employee.
·
Manage
your budget.
·
Clean
your room.
·
Don’t
open two cartons of milk at the same time.
They
might even do it
But
what you hope for is that they do it from the heart
That
they get it in their hearts
In a world of relativity and
selfishness, god is a fixed point
We
can stop thinking of him, but he does not stop being our creator
As
the sailor locates his position on the sea by "shooting" the sun, so
we may get our moral bearings by looking at God.
Not
just moral bearings but the ground of our being
We want to change god to our liking.
We
want to shape him
We
get mad at god when he doesn’t do it the way that we want him to do it.
Yet
he is unchangeable
In
the face of evil and suffering, job questions god.
God
does not answer job but offers his own questions
Some
of the most rapturous moments we know will be those we spend in reverent
admiration of the Godhead.
And so we begin with god. Above
all, before all, in and thru all.
He
is with us, our loving creator….
"Thou
art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for[Pg
102] thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were
created."
God
was our original habitat and our hearts cannot but feel at home when they enter
again that ancient and beautiful abode.
|
Bruce
springsteen- my hometown
There
is something about that place….
gods
loving arms envelop us in joy and completeness
wanting
to spend time with your parents………my dad at 72
love
involves adoration. Alli and bobby. Bobby on the deck
Who’s number one? And there is this
painful test…..
Let the average man be put to the proof on the question of who is check your
check book. What are we spending on?
“Let
a person be forced into making a choice between God and money, between God and
people, between God and personal ambition, God and self, God and human love,
and God will take second place every time. Those other things will be exalted
above. However the person may protest, the proof is in the choices he or she
makes day after day throughout their life.”
But God honors intention.
effort. Sincereity.
When broken people try to honor god,
god gives them grace.
What
can be said of Abraham, Jacob, David, Elijah God accepted his intention as fact
and acted accordingly.
Not perfection, but holy intention made
the difference.
·
Are
you going on to perfection
·
Do
you expect to be made perfect in this life?
Being
made perfect in love
Perfect
intention - harry crowell
God
desires you
Desiring
god. Desiring your beautiful wife. It is a type of our relationship
with god
conclusion
When
we love god, we become a theater where He can display His exceeding kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
Joshua
24 – As for me and my house…
14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your
ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if
serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom
you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or
the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.”
A
pastor was asked about his retirement…….
Those
whose hearts are turned towards God, whose lives have him in his rightful place
are always looking for someone to love, for someone to care about. Always
about our fathers business.
We
are the creation. He is the creator. Let us love him. With
our heart soul mind and strength. That is after all, the greatest
commandment.
Lets
Pray-
Father,
Rise up into Your proper place of honor, above our ambitions, above our likes
and dislikes, above our families, our health and even our lives. Let us decrease
so that You may increase; let us sink that You may rise above. Let us
join the angels in Heaven crying to You "Hosanna in the Highest."
Amen
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