Sermon: Living a Three Dimensional Life; Part 3 Height

This week I want to finish up the sermon series living a Three-dimensional life with the third and final dimension, height. Height as you would imagine is a metaphor with things higher, with God and this makes height the most important dimension. However, wee must remember that God loves balance and so we must not neglect the other two dimensions for the third. In fact, if we really look at it then by living fully in the relationship with ourselves and with others around us then we are well on our way in the height dimension. But before we can understand how to have a full relationship with God we must first understand the nature of God in other words we must have some idea on what God is like.

A little 4 year old girl was once hard at study in her drawings with a crayon. Her mother asked her, "Sally, what are you doing which requires such concentration?" Sally said, "I am drawing a picture of God." Her mother smiled and said gently, "Sally, no one knows what God looks like." Sally responded, "Well, they will when I get through!"

One of the great fascinations in all of human existence is what is God like? We have many ideas; most of them revolve around an old man, with a big white beard, in flowing robes, sitting on a big beautiful throne. We wonder things about God. Some people would say that God created the universe and now simply sits back and watches things happen and has no hand, good or bad, in the course of human events. Others would say the complete opposite that God has his hand in everything and the entire world is a battleground between God and his arch-rival Satan and we are just players in a cosmic game of chess. We read a couple of weeks ago that humans were created in the image of God and so we must have some idea of what God is like, but one could and some do spend their entire lives trying figure out this mystery. However, the reality of the situation is that it doesn’t really matter what God looks like, if it matters to you then we need to have a long talk. But this morning let’s look at an event that might shed some light on the nature of God in a way that might increase our relationship with God.

The event comes in Exodus 3 when Moses encounters the burning bush. Moses is having a conversation with God and God appoints Moses to a very important task, to go to Egypt and free God’s people from slavery. Moses is naturally apprehensive at the prospect and one of his protests was that if he goes down there and tells the people that he was sent by God and that God talked to him then they would expect him to know God’s name, so Moses asks God what his name is and God response, “I am who I am” or in the KJV “I am that I am”. This is a very interesting response. All the other deities in the other world religions have names, the Greeks had Zeus, the Canaanites had Baal, the Hindus of today have Vishnu and others, but the God of the Jews and the God of Christians name is “I am”. Why? “I am” is the basic affirmation of existence. So, God was reassuring Moses and God’s people that of his existence. Another important aspect is that “I am” is a verb not a noun. God’s name denotes action. Names are by definition nouns. We remember from school, nouns are persons, places, and things. God is by his name and by his very nature a God of action, a God of purpose. God is active in the world and is active in our lives and the truth is he has been and will always be there because God is constant. “I am” has no time reference. That is “I am” is constant in time. God does not say “I was” or “I will be” but “I am”, it is constant.

We cannot describe ourselves as I am, we can say “I am because of my past” or “I am because of my parents”, or at the very least we have to say “I am because of God, because we are created by God” and so only God can say simply “I am”. God is constant, that same now as he was at the beginning of time and will be the same at the end of the world as we know it. So if God remains constant then we must the variable in our relationship with God. In mathematical equations, there is a constant and there is a variable and the outcome of the equations is dependant on the variable. And our relationship with God is dependant on us.

That brings us to our scripture lesson from Luke 20 and 21. Jesus is speaking to a group of people and says to beware of the scribes because they love to draw attention to themselves. They love to be greeted with honor and have the best place at the table, but behind the scenes they are doing some pretty rotten stuff. Then Jesus sees a widow offering only a few copper coins and says that she has given more than any of these. How do these two stories fit in with the height dimension? They do because our relationship with God is dependant on our where hearts lie.

The scribes outwardly seemed very pious; they kept the Jewish laws down to the letter. They said eloquent prayers and offered large sums of money in the offering plate. On the surface they seemed as though they had a good relationship with God, but it only takes a moment to look a little deeper and see that this is untrue. The scribes’ heart is not in the right place. They are pious not for God but for their own reputations. The rich people placed large sums of money with great announcement into the offering. They did so to demonstrate their great wealth not for the glory of God. They may have done good things; praying, fasting, almsgiving, keeping the laws, but they were doing them for the wrong reasons.

We all can do good things, but for the wrong reasons. The true measure of the good we do is not in the amount but in where our hearts are. That is the key to living fully in the height dimension. Have you ever known anyone who came to church dressed to the nines, prayed loudly and sang loudly so everyone could hear them, when the plate got passed around they pulled out a money clip with a big wad and laid it in there in a way that everyone could see and have you ever seen a person who might have come to church in a t-shirt of overalls, they sang proudly and with love and joy, but not so loudly as to be heard over the congregation, they discreetly put their money in the offering plate, it might not have been much but it was a lot to them, of these two people who has the better relationship with God, who lives fully in the height dimension. It’s not about what words you use when you pray or if those words of beautifully placed together; it’s about being humble to God. It’s not about how much you give or if its cash or check, but it’s about if you give happily or begrudgingly. It’s not about how eloquently you preach the Word, but whose glory you seek.

Our hearts have to be in the right place and the right place is firmly yet humbly at the feet of God. Everything we do should not be about what is in it for us but about serving and glorifying God. So many times in this day and age, we ask what’s in it for us, is that in my job description, what will I get out of it, instead it should be I do this because I want thy will on earth as it is in heaven. I give money to the poor not to show off, but because what I do to the least of these I do to God. That is how we live fully in the height dimension; our hearts have to be focused on the glory of God not the glory of ourselves. But do you know something, God is such a good God that when we glorify him, then he turns around and blesses us for it, when we glorify Him then He turns right around and glorifies us. That’s something to say Amen about.

We have talked about the Body of Christ, unified together, taking our strengths and weaknesses and working together for a common goal, and I am here to tell you this morning that common goal is to bring glory to God. And when to body of Christ finally and completely unites together toward the glorification of God then God will pour out a blessing unlike we have ever known and that day thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We have established a relationship with ourselves and see ourselves as children of God and embrace our strengths weaknesses. We have to establish a relationship with other people, uniting as the Body of Christ, and our hearts must be in the right place and we must have a full relationship with God. That is living a three dimensional life and that is what God wants for each and every one of us. So I ask you. Where is your heart today? When you come to church or to Bible study, whose glory are you seeking? God is constant and he is in the same place he has always been and it is us that have moved. God wants you to return to him and to live fully in all three dimensions. It is up to us to do it. God gives us the keys but we have to unlock the door and take the step.