Sunday Sermons
God IS... Spirit
“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
“There is no article in the Greek. The statement defines God’s nature as spiritual” (Lectures in Systematic Theology, Thiessen p. 119). Jesus then added, “for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39). Therefore, “He hath nothing corporeal, no mixture of matter, not a visible substance” (Charnock p. 178). God is not even refined matter, such as the early philosophers ascribed to the soul, nor is God a being made up of the smallest and thinnest atoms. Simply put, God is not composed of any material substance at all. The same Bible that declares that God is a spirit also often talks about God’s hands, eyes, feet, and so on (Isaiah 65:2; 59:1), but such statements were never intended to teach that God has a physical body. By the statements concerning His eyes and ears we understand His omniscience, His constant watchful care, and willingness to hear our prayers, by the expression His face, the manifestation of His favor, by His mouth, the revelation of His will; by His nostrils, the acceptance of our prayers; by His heart, the sincerity of His affections; and by His hand, the strength of His power. Charnock notes, “Watchful and discerning eyes, not sleepy and lazy ones; a mouth to reveal His will, not to take in food. To eat and sleep are never ascribed to Him, nor those parts that belong to the preparing or transmitting nourishment to the several parts of the body” (p. 189).
The Invisible God
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17); “He is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Therefore it is rather silly for someone to say that they do not believe in God because they cannot see Him. Moses reminded the Israelites that when God came down on Mount Sinai and gave them His laws, that they “did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 4:15). As a result, the Israelites would be without excuse if they attempted to make a visible representation of God, such as an idol(4:16). “Because the Lord has no physical form, no physical representation could be tolerated” (Gaebelein p. 45). Jesus plainly noted, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him” (John 1:18), and Moses was told, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Exodus 33:20). In light of such truths, consider the following:
· God is a spirit but this does not mean that God is a mere idea or some sort of impersonal essence, God is an actual person, who speaks, loves, expresses wrath, and so on.
· The same Bible that says that no man has seen God, at times describes people seeing God, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved” (Genesis 32:30); “Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:6; Deuteronomy 34:10; Isaiah 6:1). In all such verses men are only seeing a vision, or toned down appearance of God, yet no man has seen the full revelation of God nor seen God as He is in His natural state.
Thus when the Bible speaks of God being clothed in white, such is referring to His purity. When God is called the “ancient of days”, His eternal nature is being described, or when He is spoken of as having white hair, the Scriptures are not describing His personal appearance, but His wisdom. Charnock notes, “vain imaginations do easily infest us; tinder will not sooner take fire than are very apt to fashion a god like ourselves (Romans 1:23), we must therefore look upon such representations of God, as accommodated to our weakness” (p. 197). We need to be careful that we do not entertain any notions of God that would debase His true nature, or place human limitations, fickleness, or weakness upon Him. God is not “politically correct”, He is not a believer in all religions, He is not an advocate for homosexual rights (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), He is not your “buddy” or “pal”, neither does He “understand” when you sin (1 John 2:1-2; 3:5), and He does not play a higher priority on “love” and upon His “commandments” (1 John 2:3-5). Yet the Bible is just as clear that one day the righteous will actually see God as He is,“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8); “Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14); “They will see His face” (Revelation 22:4); “Because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).
Practical Applications
· God is personal:
God is not some sort of impersonal influence, but rather God is consistently represented as a “He” or a “Father”. Human beings are created spirits in a physical body, and we are “persons” and not influences. Obviously then, the “Father of our spirits” is personal (Hebrews 12:9).
· A Spirit wants spiritual worship:
“God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). As a result, God is obviously not impressed with external worship invented by men, nor is He awed by pomp, ceremony, or earthly things. Charnock observes, “The nature of God is the foundation of worship; the will of God is the rule of worship. God is a Spirit, therefore He must have a spiritual worship” (p. 178). This is one reason why in the New Testament there are no ornate temples or pomp and elaborate ceremony connected with the worship of the church. Long ago God stressed that what He desires and values are spiritual realities such as obedience (1 Samuel 15:22-23). Samuel learned long ago, that God is not impressed by outward, external appearances, but rather prizes a godly character, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). “This text, which I would call the key verse of 1 and 2 Samuel, sets itself not only against the likes of Saul and Eliab but also, in later pages, against everyone’s ideal Mr. Israel, Absalom (2 Samuel 14:25-27). The text then contains a warning to prophets and others among God’s people. There is at least one thing we can seek to do: beware of the importance of external appearance. We stumble here, for example, when congregations select elders and preachers. What we seem to want are the movers and shakers, the aggressive extroverts, the pushers who meet people well and sell the church in a community, who are smooth in the pulpit. Do we ever ask. How does he pray? Does he enjoy being with his wife? ” (Dale Ralph Davis pp. 29-30). 3. “Sometimes Yahweh must save us from our saviors, our self-chosen solutions to kingdom needs or personal dilemmas” (p. 30). We find the same truth in 1 Peter 3:4 “but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God”. It is so easy to forget such truths, God is a spiritual being and obviously He is not impressed by earthly things. God has always been far more impressed in the character of the individual believer than in the size or prosperity of a local congregation (Revelation 3:15-17; compared with 3:8, and 2:9 compared with 3:1). It is vain to think that God will overlook subtractions and additions to His word as long as a group puts on a good show (Matthew 7:22-23; 2 John 9).
· Created in the image of God: Genesis 1:26
“If God is a pure spiritual being, then man is not the image of God, according to his external bodily form and figure” (Charnock p. 191). The image of God consists not in physical likeness, but in the existence and exercise of our spiritual nature or soul. We manifest the image of God when we pursue spiritual things, demonstrate rational thinking, demonstrate compassion, or simply, when we live like Christ (John 13:34-35; Ephesians 4:24,32; 5:1 “Be imitators of God, as beloved children”).
· Our only hope for fulfillment:
“If God be a Spirit, He can only be the true satisfaction of our spirits: spirit can only be filled with spirit…Spirit can no more be really satisfied with that which is corporeal, than a beast can delight in the company of an angel. Corporeal things can no more fill a hungry spirit, than pure spirit can feed an hungry body. God, the highest Spirit, can only reach out a full content to our spirits. Man is lord of the creation: nothing below him can be fit for his converse. God had no rest from creation till He had made man; and man can have no rest in the creation till he rests in God. God only is our dwelling place” (Charnock pp. 202-203). When the Biblical writers speak of God being our dwelling place, “Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations” (Psalm 90:1). God is the foundation for everything. “Moses was aware, probably more than most of us, that life is uncertain at best. There is no permanence to be found in it” (Boice p. 742). The only permanence is found in God. “Here a great foundational reality is confessed. Throughout her history, God has been home to Israel. He is like a house, filled with comfort and security. It is not the Promised Land or even the temple that lets God’s people be at home, but God Himself. Like the prodigal in Jesus’ parable, to go home is to go home to the waiting Father (Luke 15:11ff)” (Williams p. 160). In all generations people have taken refuge in Him (Hebrews 11:10,16). That is, God has been tested and found true and faithful by countless generations. In addition, a dwelling place is not only a place of security and refuge, but it is truly “home”. God is the only true rest and home for man’s spiritual needs, for until one comes to God, one will continue to be a restless and wander, moving from one physical thing, one earthly dream or goal to another. It is very fitting therefore, that in the verse that opened this lesson, “God is spirit” (John 4:24), Jesus also talked to a restless woman about water that would bring true refreshment(4:10,13-14). This woman had gone through five husbands and had even abandoned the marital relationship in favor of a more “modern” version (4:17-18), yet she still was not happy.
· God is Infinite:
“Whatever God is, He is infinitely so: He is infinite wisdom, infinite goodness, infinite knowledge, infinite power, infinite Spirit…and whatever conception comes into your minds, say, ‘This is not God; God is more than this’” (Charnock p. 200). The idea here is that while the Bible reveals much about God, and we see God in Jesus Christ (John 14:9), the truth of the matter is that God is even far greater than any conception we can have of Him, as Paul noted, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20).
· Value your spirit:
What is made in God’s image is not our body, but our soul, “we should take most care of that wherein we are like to God. Spirit is nobler than body; we must therefore, value our spirits above our bodies. The soul partakes more of the divine nature, and deserves more of our choicest cares” (Charnock p. 203). Jesus expressed this concept in the following words, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the world and forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). Therefore, put the needs of your soul always ahead of the needs of your body (Matthew 6:33).
