Our Distorted Concepts of God

1. Dealing With Our Broken
Lives
Part 2: Our Distorted Concepts of God

2. The Problems of Sin
 Sin separates us from God
 But God is our only source and basis of spiritual and
emotional security
 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' (Acts
17:28, NIV)
 ‘Thou hast created us for Thyself, and our heart is not
quiet until it rests in Thee.’ - St. Augustine
 ‘There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every
man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but
only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus’ -
Blaise Pascal

3. The Problems of Sin
 Sin leads to broken relationships
 With God
 With ourselves
 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
 With others
 With the world

4. As a result of the broken relationship with God,
we now look for meaning and significance in
people and things around us

5. “I would say that the greatest weakness in the church today is
that many pastors keep looking over their shoulders for the
approval of men. But as soon as pastors become slaves to
human opinion, trying to please human beings instead of
God, the message of Christ is compromised. No man-pleaser
preaches the whole counsel of God.” – Dr. R.C. Sproul, in Five
Things Every Christian Needs To Grow

6. The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're
still a rat.

8.  Unrealistic expectations - Depression
 Unfulfilled goals - Anger
 Unacknowledged emotions - Bitterness

9. Who am I?

10. We won’t know WHO we are until
we know WHOSE we are
– Selwyn Hughes,
Your Father, My Father
(Every Day With Jesus, Nov/Dec 1997)
See, I have engraved you on
the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before
me. (Isaiah 49:16, NIV)
“I am God’s child, God is my Father, Jesus is my
Savior, the Holy Spirit is my Comforter, Heaven is my
home, the Bible is my guide, the angels are my
companion"

11. GOD
Encode the Good News
Loving Good & Steadfast Uncondi- Present Giver of Nurtur- Accept- Holy,
& Merciful & Reliable tional & good gifts ing & ing just, fair
Caring Grace Available affirming &
impartial
Unhealthy human relationships, betrayals, past religious experiences, etc
# # # # # # # # #
Decode the bad news
Hate- Mean & Unpredita- Condi- Absent A “Killjoy” Critical & Rejecting Unjust,
ful & unfor- ble & tional when unpleasa unfair,
uncon- giving untrustwor Approval needed ble partial
cerned thy
Distorted Perception of God, Others and Self
Erratic, inconsistent emotional & behavioral pattern, etc
Chosen:
Unchosen: Wrong, sinful choices
Fallenness of man Fear, guilt
Inheritance
Resentment, Rebellion,
Environment
Accidents and Tragedies
Sicknesses (Adapted from Redeeming The Past – by David A.
Seamands)

12. Some Distorted Concepts of
God
 A god who keeps an accounting of what we do,
waiting for us to step out of line, a “policeman”
 The “sitting bull” god – relaxes in a yoga position
on cotton candy, up on clouds, expecting burnt
offerings and homages all day
 Previous religious experience prior to conversion
 Chinese ancestral worship

13. Some Distorted Concepts of
God
 A god who is withdrawn, cold, distant, too busy
running the galaxies to get involved in our petty
problems.
 Earthly father who is too busy with other things
 E.g. reading newspaper, hiding behind the computer
screen
 The Pharoah God – unpleasable taskmaster, ever
increasing in his demands, “making more and more
bricks”

14. If you want to know how well a person understands
Chris5anity, find out how much he makes of the thought of
being God’s child and having God as his Father
‐ Jim Packer

15. Adapted from Your Father and My Father, Every Day With Jesus, Nov/Dec
1997 by Selwyn Hughes

16. Do I believe God is good?

17. One cannot get very far in the Chris2an
life carrying the suspicion that God is not
good……
If we cannot trust God because of the
past, how will we ever be able to trust
Him for the future?
Adapted from Your Father and My Father, Every
Day With Jesus, Nov/Dec 1997 by Selwyn
Hughes
WRESTLING WITH
GOD…………..

18. Your name will no longer be ……… but ………..
………and he was limping because……….
26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, "I will not let
you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?” "Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you
have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.”
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, "It is because I saw God face to face,
and yet my life was spared."
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his
hip.
Genesis 32:27-32 (NIV)

21. The fact that Jesus came to earth where he suffered and died
DOES NOT REMOVE pain from our lives. But it does show that
God did not sit idly by and watch us suffer in isolation. He became
one of us….All our questions about God and suffering, should, in
fact, be filtered through what we know about Jesus.
Where is God When It Hurts? – Philip Yancey

22. Christian faith does not offer us a peaceful way to come to terms
with death….it offers instead, a way to overcome death.
Christ stands for Life, and his resurrection should give us a
convincing proof that God is not satisfied with any “cycle of life”
that ends in death. He will go to any extent – and he DID GO any
extent – to break that cycle
Where is God When It Hurts? – Philip Yancey

24. Trus5ng ourselves to a God
whom we consider could have
prevented, and indeed, should
have prevented some hurDul
experience we went through in
the past is not easy, but it is a
vitally important first step

26. A God who is wise enough to rule the universe, is wise enough to
watch over his child, Job, regardless of how things seem in the
bleakest moments.
A God who is wise enough to create me and the world I live in is
wise enough to watch out for me
Where is God When It Hurts? – Philip Yancey

29. We often question God when things go wrong but we seldom
thank Him when things often go right and well
If we demand that God interfere when things are about to go
wrong, then we must give Him the right to interfere when things
are about to go right

30. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples
asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he
was born blind?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said
Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be
displayed in his life....."Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of
Siloam"
(Joh 9:1-7 NIV)
Suffering involves two main issues:
- The cause (WHO SINNED?)
- The response (GO….WASH….) Will you?

31. There in the garden of tears
My heavy load He chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow was torn,
Yet not my will, but Yours he said.
Come see His hands and his feet,
The scars that speak of sacrifice
Hands that flung stars into space
To cruel nails surrendered

32. Do I believe God is good?