************ Sermon on Belgic Confession Article 1b ************
Doctrine: God is Spirit
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on Oct 5, 1997
B.C. 1(b)
John 4:19-26
"God is Spirit"
Before I start I want to acknowledge my debt to a book by R.C. Sproul, "ONE HOLY PASSION: The consuming thirst to know God." In my series of sermons on the attributes of God as we find them in Article 1 of the Belgic Confession of Faith I am borrowing many of Sproul's thoughts.
The Amazon River is the largest river in the world. The mouth is 90 miles across. There is enough water to exceed the combined flow of the Yangtze (yan' s ), Mississippi, and Nile Rivers. So much water comes from the Amazon that they can detect its currents 200 miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. One irony of ancient navigation is that sailors in times past died for lack of water ... caught in windless sections of the South Atlantic. They were adrift, helpless, dying of thirst. Sometimes other ships from South America who knew the area would come alongside and call out, "What is your problem?" And they would exclaim, "Can you spare us some water? Our sailors are dying of thirst!" And from the other ship would come the cry, "Just lower you buckets. You are in the mouth of the mighty Amazon River."
The irony and tragedy of our times is that many are adrift, helpless, dying; yet God, the fountain of living water, is right here and people don't see Him!
People don't see God because their eyes are blind to a God Who is invisible, immaterial, without composition or extension. Throughout the ages people have wanted a god they can see, measure, weigh, and comprehend; that's why idol gods of wood, stone, and gold have always been so popular. But our God, He is different. As Jesus says to the Samaritan woman, "God is spirit" (Jn 4:24). As Guido de Brès says in article 1 of the Belgic Confession of Faith:
We all believe in our hearts
and confess with our mouths
that there is a single
and simple spiritual being,
whom we call God ...
God is spirit. He can't be seen, measured, or weighed.
I God is Immaterial Spirit
A What do we mean when we say "God is spirit" or a "spiritual being"? That word "spirit" is difficult to understand. In ancient days the word for spirit was also used for the words "breath" and "wind." For instance, when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born of the Spirit, He said:
(John 3:8) "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Elsewhere in Scripture we read that Jesus "breathed" on His disciples and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22). And, at the beginning of time God "breathed" into man the breath of life and man became a living being or spirit (Gen 2:7). The work of the Spirit is like the working of the wind. So, when we say God is spirit we are saying He works like the wind.
B Does this mean that God as spirit is mere breath or wind? Cartoons and movies would have us believe this for they present spirits as some ghostlike substance, a gaseous form of matter. That is the image popularized by movies or cartoons like the "Ghost busters." Are we, then, to think of God as a kind of gaseous matter?
The conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well answers this question for us. This conversation grew out of an ongoing debate between the Samaritans and the Jews about the true center of worship. As the Samaritan woman said,
(John 4:20) "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus replied,
(John 4:21,23) "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem ... (23) a time ... when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth ..."
Jesus is making the point that because God is spirit His presence can never be contained in or confined to one place. One of the greatest mistakes we can make is thinking that God's presence is limited to these 4 walls. Not so. His presence is not limited to any single place because He is spirit. God is spirit. He is not confined, bound, or limited to one place at one time. Therefore to say "God is spirit" means we cannot say God is some ghostlike substance, a gaseous form of matter; for, gaseous matter can easily be confined into something like a balloon.
How different God is from man. Man is also a spirit but our spirit is confined to our bodies. Wherever our bodies go, our spirit goes. If I want to go to Hawaii, I can't send my body and leave my spirit at home. My spirit is contained within my body. It lives where I am. Unlike God, my spirit is confined, bound, and limited to one place at one time.
God is spirit. He is nonphysical. He does not have a body. He is immaterial. Yes, the Bible does talk of God in physical terms. It tells us that He comes and goes. We are told about His face, eyes, arms, legs, and feet. But these are purely figurative expressions which God has used for our sake, in order that we might more readily understand Who He is and how He works.
God is spirit. He is nonphysical. He has no body. We can say that God has no extension. Matter is defined as that which has extension — it has size. A body, for instance, has extension: 6 feet high, 32 inch waist, 160 pounds. But God has no extension. He cannot be measured. He cannot be weighed. He takes up no space.
Many people say that something with no extension has no being; it is not real; it does not exist. One of the Christian's boldest assertions is that there is a reality that goes beyond the physical world. We accept and believe that there is a spiritual world. We accept and believe that there is a nonphysical, immaterial, spiritual being whom we call God.
II God is Invisible Spirit
A God is spirit. This means not only that He is immaterial but also that He is invisible.
A teacher asked her group of 1st graders to draw something on their papers — whatever they wished. The teacher came around and saw little Frankie and he was busy at work. She said, "What are you drawing a picture of?"
Frankie responded without hesitating, "I'm drawing a picture of God."
The teacher, knowing her theology, said, "Well, Frankie, no one has ever seen God, ... no one knows what He looks like."
Without looking up, Frankie said with a frown, "Well, they will when I'm finished!"
If only Frankie was correct! Countless numbers of people would love to see God as He really is, in all of His glory, splendor, and majesty. Remember when Moses asked to see God? He was on the top of Mount Sinai. He wanted God to come out of hiding. He wanted to see all there is of God and to see it now. "Now show me your glory," Moses said to God (Ex 33:18). "Show me your face; show me Yourself in all Your glory, power, might, wisdom, honor, and blessing. Let me see You, God."
God agreed to this request. However, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Ex 33:20). So in a cleft of rock on Mt. Sinai, in a mysterious and wonderful revelation, God showed Moses what he wanted to see. The Lord passed by Moses and let Moses see His back and hear His name.
We do not know exactly what Moses saw and experienced on the mountain top. But whatever he saw and experienced must have been fantastic and awesome, the deepest religious experience of his life. Do you remember what Moses had to do when he came down from the mountain? He had to put a veil over his face (Ex 34:33). His face was so radiant because he had spoken with the Lord that the people were afraid to come near him (Ex 34:29,30).
Is there anyone of us who aren't like Moses? Who here would not be willing to sell everything to see God, to hear His voice, to walk in a garden alone with Jesus, to talk with Him?
The disciples walking the road to Emmaus 20 centuries ago had this experience. The risen Christ unexpectedly joined them and walked and talked with them, though they did not recognize Him. What was their experience like? When their eyes were finally opened and they recognized the Lord, He suddenly vanished. And they said to one another,
(Luke 24:32) "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
How great and wondrous it must be to see God and His Christ!
B The truth is, though, that none of us can see God. I can't even see His shadow. He leaves no footprints in the sand, no fingerprints on the doorknob, no lingering aroma of after-shave in the breeze. God is spirit, invisible spirit. Paul says,
(1 Timothy 1:17) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(1 Timothy 6:15-16) God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, (16) who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
And Jesus Christ Who was once visible to human eyes has left this planet with His bodily presence. Yes, He is still with us in His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit, but we can no longer see Him.
C God is invisible spirit. And we human beings generally do not like that. This creates problems for us. We are sensual creatures. We respond to what we can see, hear, and touch. Like Thomas we want to place our fingers into Jesus' wounds and verify with our senses that He really is alive. We have a saying, "Out of sight, out of mind." Unfortunately this is especially true with our faith. It is hard to love and to serve someone we have never seen or heard.
God is invisible spirit. So, when we face troubles or when we do not "feel" His presence we think He is absent from us. "Are You there, God?" has been the question of more than one person.
God is invisible spirit. This has led many to believe that there is no God.
Two explorers penetrated a remote area of African jungle. Far from civilization they stumbled upon a clearing that contained a marvelous garden with perfectly symmetrical rows of plants. No weeds were growing, and the garden appeared fully cultivated.
Certain that there must be a gardener nearby, the explorers set up camp and waited for him to appear. The gardener never came. The first explorer suggested that they move along, but the second explorer protested, suggesting that perhaps the gardener was invisible. Maybe the gardener was slipping into the garden during the night. So the explorers set up a wire fence around the garden and hung bells from it that would ring in the event that the invisible gardener came to tend the garden.
During that night and subsequent nights the bells never rang. The first explorer now insisted that they move on. The second explorer still wanted to stay and wait for the gardener. He said to his comrade, "Maybe the gardener is not only invisible but immaterial as well." To this the first explorer replied, "What is the difference between an invisible, immaterial gardener and no gardener at all?" The first explorer could not believe in an invisible, immaterial gardener.
What is the difference between an invisible, immaterial gardener and no gardener at all? The implied answer is that there is no difference. But in fact, there is a difference, a BIG difference. The difference is the garden. It is illogical, irrational, and unreasonable to think there can be a perfectly symmetrical, weedless garden growing in the middle of the jungle without a gardener taking care of it. The garden testifies to both the presence and the power of the gardener.
What is the difference between an invisible, immaterial gardener and no gardener at all? Let's ask the question another way: What is the difference between an invisible, immaterial God and no God at all? The difference is the created universe. The created universe testifies to both the presence and the power of our invisible God.
III God is Personal Spirit
A God is spirit. This means not only that He is immaterial and invisible but also that He is personal. Says Jesus to the Samaritan woman,
(John 4:24) "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Think about it! Why would God demand worship? Because He is a personal spirit. An impersonal spirit, one which doesn't think, and feel, and act would not demand our worship; for such a god, worship is meaningless. But our God wants and demands our worship. He is a personal spirit.
B God is a personal spirit. This means we can have a personal relationship with Him. And, in that relationship what we say, do, and even think matters to Him. If God is impersonal, it would not matter to Him how we behave, what we say, or what we think. He would not care because He could not care. He would be totally unconscious of who we are, let alone what we say and do and think.
There are some people on this earth who hope with all their might that God is not a personal spirit. Do you know who these people are? They are unrepentant sinners. If God is not personal, they need not fear that He might take their sin against Him personally. If God is an impersonal spirit who needs to fear the Last Judgment?
On the other hand, it is only because God is a personal spirit that there is a Savior. The personal spirit called God wants a personal relationship with each and everyone of us and it is only in and through Christ that this is possible.
Conclusion
God is spirit: immaterial (He has no body), invisible (we cannot see Him), personal (He wants our worship).
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, your great name we praise.
(P.H. # 460)