God is ALWAYS at Work!
John 5:16-20
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.
God is ALWAYS at Work!
Where have you seen God at work over this past week? This past month? This past year?
A number of years ago I saw a bumper sticker on a car that read…
“Gott ist tot”
I remembered German the phrase from my early studies in theology. It means, "God is dead".
It was a widely quoted statement made by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche that used the phrase to express his idea that the Enlightenment period had eliminated the possibility of the existence of God.
I recently went back to refresh my understanding of what this means. The Enlightenment's conclusion of the "Death of God" gave rise to the proposition that humans – and Western Civilization as a whole – could no longer believe in a divinely ordained moral order. This death of God will lead, Nietzsche said, not only to the rejection of a belief of cosmic or physical order but also to a rejection of absolute values themselves – to the rejection of belief in an objective and universal moral law, binding upon all individuals. In this manner, the loss of an absolute basis for morality leads to nihilism and the dismissal of a God who is active in our world.
Nietzsche believed there could be positive new possibilities for humans without God. Relinquishing the belief in God opens the way for human creative abilities to fully develop. "The Christian God", he wrote, "would no longer stand in the way, so human beings might stop turning their eyes toward a supernatural realm and begin to acknowledge the value of this world alone."
My concern, as a follower of Jesus, is that many who “believe in God” have a hard time believing He is active and present in our world today. There are many other activities and focuses that are vying for attention that we miss out on seeing where God is at work today which limits our ability to join Him in His work.
This Sunday and through the next few weeks we are going to spend some time developing our ability to see what God is doing in and around us. I hope you will join us! May you be encouraged today by the following reminder from God’s Word…
God’s Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God.
You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind, and God’s Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God’s mind. But God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think. That’s also why we can recognize the blessings that God has given us. 2 Corinthians 2:10-12 CEV
Grateful to be on this journey with you,
Pastor John
P.S. We have a book (Experiencing God) that you can pick up at the Worship Service the next few Sundays. You can also pick them up at the church office OR we can drop one off at your home!