Quote from Forum Archives on August 5, 2003, 10:51 am

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

EMOTIONS OF GOD #1 of 4
DIVINE JEALOUSY
August 3, 2003

Text: Deuteronomy 4:23-31

In his book titled Disappointment with God, Christian author Philip
Yancey writes about a time that he was staying in a cabin in Colorado
when the snow began to fall. And it fell… and fell… and fell. I can’t
remember how many inches came down over two or three days, but Philip was
completely snowed in. He wasn’t too concerned; he had supplies - food,
water, books, and his Bible. Intending to do some studying for a new
assignment anyway, he began reading his Bible. Beginning in Genesis, he
discovered that he set aside thinking about his other books and resources
and just plowed into the Bible. By the time the plows and rescue crews
managed to get to where he was, he had read the entire Bible in this one
sitting. What Philip Yancey came away with from this particular
experience was a deeper sense of who God is. He reflected that so much of
the time, we approach God as a topic for study. Having just read through
the entire panoramic revelation of God, he was aware that the God of the
Bible was not too much interested in being studied, analyzed, and talked
about. What the almighty Creator of all of the universe is most
interested in is our love. God desires to be loved by His created beings.
(as I recall the account by Philip Yancey, Disappointment with God. No
further bibliographical information due to loaning the book at not having
it returned.)

One of the sources of Philip Yancey’s amazement during his time alone in
the cabin was his realization at just how vulnerable God makes Himself
just in order to make Himself known to and be loved by His human
creation. God expresses Himself in very emotional terms. He expresses
Himself as a divine, holy other being quite beyond the comprehension of
His creation; yes, that is most true. But God is also a being who both
expresses and experiences emotion.

Beginning this morning, I am presenting messages on the emotions of God.
I plan to highlight four of the many emotions expressed by God: jealousy,
anger, joy, and love. In each of these sermons, I will contrast how each
of these emotions are treated by humans with how God treats them.

As Philip Yancey reflected, though we often learn about God through
studies, analyses, and debates, God is a being. He is divine; He is holy;
He is eternal; He cannot be completely comprehended by any of us. His
nature is too expansive for our temporal minds to comprehend. Just
focusing on His eternal nature, for instance, is enough to boggle the
mind. It is completely outside our finite abilities to understand. Small
wonder, then, that God is studied far more than understood. Yet, we make
a grave mistake if we believe that God does not make Himself understood
at all. He has. More than anything else - more than history; more than
commands; more than literature - the Bible is about God revealing Himself
to His created beings. That means us, folks. One of the internet terms
used these days is “blog.” It stands for “Web log” and is basically a
diary on the Web that is open to everyone. The Bible is God’s “blog.”

Like any diary or journal, God gets into “who He is.” The problem is not
that God doesn’t tell us who He is; the problem is that we choose to
ignore who He is. We have trouble accepting who He says He is. And when
it comes to God having and expressing emotions, it becomes especially
difficult for us to accept who He is. God doesn’t have a problem with it;
we do. Consider the first emotion - jealousy.

We have trouble dealing with this attribute and emotion of God. Not
without good reason. There are Biblical warnings about jealousy. Let’s
look at some of those verse, beginning with 1 Corinthians 3:3. “You are
still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are
you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?” 2 Corinthians 12:20.
“For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be,
and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be
quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip,
arrogance and disorder.” And Galatians 5:19-20. “The acts of the sinful
nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish
ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the
like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not
inherit the kingdom of God.” There we have it. Jealousy is a negative
emotion and action; we are commanded not to practice it.

But these verses are not complete without some others. Look at 2
Corinthians 11:2. Paul writing, “I am jealous for you with a godly
jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might
present you as a pure virgin to him.” From our text this morning,
Deuteronomy 4:23-24, “Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord
your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the
form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God
is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Now turn to Exodus 34:14. “Do not
worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous
God.” Now that’s not a name for God we invoke very often, is it? We may
pray, “Dear heavenly Father” quite often, but when was the last time we
started a prayer, “Dear Jealous”?

One of the emotional attributes of God is jealousy. Are you comfortable
with that? I’m not always. I’m not because, as I have pointed out, we
have some rather strong Biblical warnings against jealousy. And, if you
are like me, you have had some pretty strong family warnings against
jealousy while growing up. After all, who was it that ended up in trouble
when you threw a fit because someone else got something you didn’t? I
know the answer in my youth - me.

That did not stop me, or anyone else I suspect, from feeling jealous. At
one point in my childhood, my family lived next door to my father’s
sister and family. I was the oldest of my brothers, sister, and cousins.
Being the oldest usually meant that I was the first to get those new
things and do those new things that went along with growing up. All the
younger children could be jealous of me. Felt pretty good, too. But one
day, looking out a window, I saw my cousin learning to ride a new bike! I
didn’t have a bicycle! We didn’t have enough money to get one yet. But
here was a cousin, younger than me, with a new bicycle. Not fair! Oh, I
pouted. I can’t remember if I kept this a secret or not, or whether I got
in trouble or not. I probably don’t want to know. But I know that I was
jealous.

I got over it. It did not effect the long term relationship I had with my
cousins. But we don’t always get over our jealousies, do we? Sometimes
they create major problems in families. Sometimes they create major
problems on the streets. Sometimes they create major problems in our
churches. Paul was absolutely right to warn us about jealousy. Jealousy
can rip apart a family… a life… a church. Interesting how little it can
sometimes take for us to make our lives, and the lives of others, totally
miserable and dysfunctional. Is any of that to the honor and glory of
God, whom we serve?

However, jealousy is not all negative. It is as Biblical to be jealous as
to not be jealous. God is a jealous God, and He will act on the emotion
of jealousy. He has done it before. But let us be clear about this, and
you will here me say it often during this series: God will not do
anything that is not redemptive. God’s relational purpose with us, and
this extends to His divine emotions, is redemption. Salvation. Saving us
from who we are and making us into the likeness of who He wants us to be;
of who He created us to be. And therein lies the difference between
correct and incorrect jealousy. The jealousy expressed and exhibited by
God is always redemptive. Can we always say the same thing about our
jealousy?

In the context of the Old Testament, God’s jealousy is directed toward
idolatry - the worship of false gods. Deuteronomy 4:25-26, “After you
have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time -
if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the
eyes of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and
earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from
the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live
there long but will certainly be destroyed.”

God’s jealousy is based on the covenant promises between Himself and His
people. To go off and engage in idolatry is to break that covenant
relationship, that promise, with God. Illustrations of marital
relationships are frequently used to explain God’s relationship with his
people. When we exchange a vow of marriage with another, then we have a
right and obligation to guard that vow with jealousy. Now this is to be a
jealousy that maintains the relationship, not destroy it. False
accusations are not to be made. But as a husband or a wife, we are not to
engage in any romantic relationships with anyone else. And our marriage
partner has a right and an obligation to guard the vows jealously.

God no less guards His vows jealously. The promises He makes, which are
part of His covenant, include promises of protection and care. He made it
clear to the Israelites on several occasions that their needs and
protection would be met by Him while they lived in obedience to Him.
Knowing what is good for His people, God expects our willing obedience.
But when the people chase after false gods and worship false images, then
losing the care and protection of God is not far behind. I spoke recently
about news reports of a resurgence of “paganism” in America. Whether it
is pagans today or idol worshipers in Moses’ day, the end result is
typical. Ultimately, failing to follow God’s good and just commands,
humans end up treating one another and themselves poorly. We engage in
practices that lead to our death and destruction. We think that we are so
smart because we know more than God and can outsmart Him, but in the end,
it is always us who brings calamity and destruction. God creates and
redeems; we destroy.

Again, God will not do anything that is not redemptive. When God feels
jealous and then acts on His jealousy, He does so in order to save. It is
part of His redemption history with his people. It is sad when we bring
misery on ourselves by breaking our covenant with God, but even then God
redeems. After speaking about the consequences of constructing and
worshiping false idols, and disobeying the Lord our God, Moses continues
with a promise of hope. Even if the worst should happen, and the wayward,
faithless people are ejected from the Promised Land by being taken away
in captivity, there remains God’s promise. Deuteronomy 4:29-31, “But if
from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for
him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress
and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will
return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a
merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant
with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

Hear the difference between human jealousy and divine jealousy? Human
jealousy interferes with relationships and can disrupt lives for
centuries. Human jealousy, taken to extremes, leads to death,
destruction, and devastation. Witness all of the wars and strife around
the world that have been with humanity from almost the earliest of times.
Some wars are fought still today because of things done centuries ago.

Taken to extremes, divine jealousy leads to one thing, and one thing
only. Redemption. It may not seem like it in the moment for those who
experienced it, but we need only look at God’s “blog” to read and
understand clearly that this is the case. Divine jealousy, like all of
God’s emotional attributes, is redemptive. If God was not jealous, He
would not save us. So when we hear and read that we are to worship God,
and Him alone, we need to remain aware that God will be jealous if we
fail to do just that. God jealously guards His people and works in His
ways to keep His people from straying. If we do stray, do not expect God
just to ignore the situation and pretend nothing is going on. He’s
jealous; He won’t do that. Expect Him to lead us back. Expect Him to send
some brothers or sisters to express concern on behalf of God and to issue
the invitation to repent. Expect Him to send some event to cause us to
return from a crooked path. And even if we rebel to the point where we
rain disaster down upon ourselves, expect God to be found when we look
for him with all our heart and with all our soul. Expect God to redeem,
for His name is Jealous.

Rev. Charles A. Layne, pastor, First Baptist Church, Bunker Hill, IN

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!