“What you think about God when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
What you think decides what you do.
How you view God in your mind determines in large part who God is to you, how you respond to Him, and how you live your life.
God is who He is – the problem is never with God; it’s always with us. If you have your own ideas about God being one particular way, you might be wrong. But we don’t like to think that. If your mind is mis-informed or confused when it comes to God, your faith is going to be mis-led or confused, too. This is an every-person issue!
A lot of people believe in God, had great parents, grew up in a “healthy” church (as far as they knew), and maybe never really had a time they can seem to remember when they didn’t believe in God. That’s kind of the situation when each of our sons realized they needed to be saved, and responded to Jesus’ offer to save them. But ‘till then, like so many others, when pressed, they might even say yes, they love the Lord. But you never really know if you do until it costs you something personally, until you risk trusting Him in some way. So let’s talk about that for a few moments.
I want to take a look at some of Moses’ story with you this morning, about how God treated His friend, that people tend to get wrong, or maybe just don’t get. And getting these things wrong can be an unnecessary barrier to getting close to God. I think a lot of people want to be in deeper friendship with God but are afraid of what that’s going to cost them. Here are some common concerns and hurdles that keep people from knowing God personally – that keep people from believing Him, or, at best, keep them at being acquaintances of God, but not friends with God. Take a stroll with me through the gauntlet of…
Common Hurdles to Knowing God:
Willful sin – having plans for your life apart from God’s plans for your life that you just want more than you’re willing to risk letting go of. Persistent, unconfessed sin acts as a barrier, deafening individuals to God’s voice.
Profound busyness – a hectic, fast-paced life often leaves little time for spiritual reflection where you allow wisdom from God – insights into the inter-connectedness of life – to make sense of life and to guide you. Without these anchors in their life, people drift away, just like the seed that fell among the thorns in Jesus’ parable of the 4 soils.
Eugene Peterson, the primary author of The Message paraphrase and long-time pastor, argued that “Busyness is laziness” – a form of spiritual and personal sloth where frantic activity replaces intentional living, prayer, and deep relationship with God. He believed busyness allows others to dictate our schedule, acting as a “substitute for holiness” and a way to avoid the hard work of spiritual, mental, and emotional focus. He said that because we’re too lazy to intentionally prioritize what matters, we fill our lives with “busy” activities to appear important or productive.
Fear – Fear of the unknown, fear of letting God down, or doubt about His interest in personal problems hinders trust. Fear most often reveals itself in self-protection and self-promotion.
Psalm 127:1 NLT – “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” That’s the difference between Jesus at the center of your life vs Jesus as a checklist item as a part, if He’s a part, of your life. It’s possible to be good without doing any good.
Romans 14:23 NIV – “…everything that does not come from faith [trust-in-God plus action] is sin.” It misses the mark; it misses the point.
Pride – Like willful sin, this is a desire for control and stubbornness to follow your own path and plans for your life instead of God’s ways.
Don’t fake it till you make it! Doesn’t that just reinforce being…fake?
Proverbs 20:11 – Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure [sincere, not fake], and whether it is right.
How about this instead: “Do what’s right, because it’s right, till it feels right.“ Because that is when the Holy Spirit empowers you and uses you!
Guilt and Feelings of Unworthiness – feelings of shame can make people feel too unworthy to approach God, leading to avoidance – a big reason many don’t go, or stop going, to church.
If you only see God as judge, and not savior, that affects how you approach Him. You’ll be content to stay just an acquaintance. Instead of coming to Him for redemption, you’ll keep trying to escape guilt without actually repenting – without letting Him change your mind according to what He says about Himself, reality, or what He actually promises to do.
God says, “Come to me so I can wash you.” He says, “I don’t wanna’ judge you; that’s why I judged my son. Is that what you really want?”
Hebrews 4:16 NIV – Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Idolatry and Comfort – Placing social media, status, reliance on others’ opinions, or personal comfort above spiritual growth creates “idols” that compete with God.
Isn’t that really just self-protection from the perspective that God is not really as good to you as…you?
Lack of Discipline – Neglecting foundational habits like prayer and reading scripture, keeping you from knowing better both God and how He works, so you can’t recognize Him around you. You can’t stand on promises if you don’t know what they are! You can’t apply Godly wisdom and principles that you don’t know! And if you don’t apply principles, they apply themselves to you.
That’s some of what keeps un-believers un-believing. There are also…
Misconceptions about God that keep believers from knowing God better, often based on how and where people grew up. These are all-too-common in churches, but hopefully not as much here after today!
- God is too distant
- God is too demanding
- God is too rigid
- God is humorless
- God is totally emotionless
- God is only concerned with getting the outcomes that He wants, not concerned with what we want, the rationalization being: He doesn’t really care about our dreams, our desires, or our fears. He just wants us to get in line, else He’s just going to leave and go on to the next person.
So, many try to figure out how to keep God at a distance while still trying to be a “Christian”, ‘cause they think that if they let Him get close, that’s when it gets dangerous. Whenever they hear people talk about becoming “sold-out for God”, that was what led them to become a missionary, and they do not want to become a missionary. They don’t even want to have to speak out loud in a meeting!
With that, let’s take a look at Moses – The Friend of God.
Hopefully we all kind’a know the story of Moses – from the Bible, SS, Charleton Heston, or The Prince of Egypt.
From Exodus 2, just the beginning of Moses’ life is filled with the most amazing providence of God. Plus he gets to grow up in a palace, and has it all! Then one day he decides to kill an Egyptian who he saw beating a fellow Hebrew (Prince of Egypt/Ten Commandments) – a bad move – so he goes on the run. He lives in the desert for a while, then in the very next chapter, in Exodus 3 – which is actually 40 years later – Moses encounters God in the burning bush. It’s been 40 years, Moses has been hiding out in this alternate reality, probably fully-convinced that he has ruined his life.
But we know that God calls Moses to lead his people. And I think a case could be made that Moses got to be what some might consider God’s best friend.
Numbers 12:1-15 NIV – 1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite [they’re a little offended at his marrying a non-jew, and they keep on talking]. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.
And that’s where wanting to be close to God breaks down for some.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.).
4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words:
“When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. 7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous – it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease [something that identified her as “unclean”], 11 and he said to Moses [he’s not even talking with God – out of, I’m sure, fear and guilt ], “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” [She must have looked pretty bad!]
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!”
14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? [That was understood custom for them when being rebuked for disrespect by their father. Here Miriam is being rebuked by her Heavenly father.] Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.
Through the eyes of an acquaintance, we want nothing to do with this family dynamic. We see that when God snaps, He really snaps!
2 ways to view this story: 1. Through the eyes of an acquaintance: If God gets ticked-off, watch out! It’s best just to always keep at a distance. God probably doesn’t expect that much out of me anyway, since I don’t really do much; but it’s better that way, ‘cause God is scary, and I don’t want to experience Him snapping at me.
But there’s another way to look at this,2. Through the eyes of a friend: You might ask, “Why is God so angry?” And maybe see: Because someone is messing with one of His friends, perhaps His best friend. This is who has your back when people come against you!
As an acquaintance, we see the snap, and we always think the snap is coming for us – because we live in shame, and we’re scared to death of punishment.
But when you become friends, this is what God brings to the table. And He will call you over, like with Miriam and Aaron: “Are you sure you want to do that?”
Then there’s a second story showing us God dealing with Moses as a friend – but a friend who messes up.
Numbers 20:1-12 NIV – 1 In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
2 Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3 They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4 Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5 Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” [Complain, complain, complain.]
6 Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. 7 The Lord said to Moses [even though both of them are there], 8 “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
9 So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10 He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock [and here’s where things go wrong], and Moses said to them [not to that rock], “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock? [This is not the most humble man in the world talking anymore.]” 11 Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
Moses is out on a limb here in disobedience to God. Q: Why did God still bring water out of the rock? Why didn’t He just not bring water from the rock – show Moses up, make him look like a fool for what he did? Isn’t that like what some of our parents did, what we might do? “Keep hittin’ it” – as we’re nodding, “You think it’s all about you?”
Moses is in total disobedience to the Lord, but the Lord still brings water out of the rock – why? Because Moses is His friend.
12 But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough [the mark of friendship] to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
Through the eyes of an acquaintance: “See, God took away the thing he wants the most! I’m just fine staying over here away from it all. This guy did everything God ever wanted…but makes one mistake, and he’s out. The closer you get, the higher standards He holds you to. I don’t want to be held to higher standards, I want to get away with what I want to get away with. So, God, You stay over there, and we’re good.”
But through the eyes of a friend: This is an act of mercy, not punishment.
When you’re an acquaintance of God, punishment is constantly hanging over your head. But Moses was the most humble man ever, probably why he was God’s best friend:
Both James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 tell us, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
It looks like their friendship was built on Moses being humble and trusting God completely.
And at this moment, perhaps God is seeing his best friend beginning to believe some of the negativism he’s getting from the people, and beginning to slip away from this friendship.
Maybe you see yourself a little in this scenario.
But God will still use you.
Yes, the punishment was severe. It was also a daily reminder of what their friendship was built on in the first place.
But the story doesn’t end here!
Here’s where the story gets amazing…2 things from the death of Moses:
Deuteronomy 34:1-6 – 1 Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land – from Gilead to Dan, 2 all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, 3 the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.
God took Moses to show him The Promised Land.
4 Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”
Again, you can look at this in 1 of 2 ways: 1. Either the Lord is reminding him of His punishment, or 2. He’s giving him a tiny gift at the end of his life – “I’m gonna’ let you see it,” ‘cause it’s worth it to the Lord to do so.
5 And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6 He [The Lord] buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
Hold this in your head and look with me at Jude 9 – “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”
What’s going on here?! Moses dies; for some reason the devil tries to take his dead body; God sends His archangel Michael to take care of it; and God buries Moses Himself.
Perhaps because the devil was never allowed to touch him in life, he’s just gonna’ try to touch him in death – like foreign countries have done by dragging dead bodies of their enemies through the streets as a mockery of them. Moses isn’t even there anymore, and the Lord fights for his dead body. It’s His friend. And He takes and buries the body in a secret place that only He knows – it’s just for Him. Because this was His friend.
But how many people – even in church – think God’s not trust-worthy – we can’t trust Him.
But when you’re friends with God, even death is never the end!
Look over with me at one more stop – Matthew 17:3 or Mark 9:4 – “Just then there appeared before them [before Peter, James, and John] Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus” on “the mount of transfiguration” in the Promised Land!
Our view of God and our interpretation of His action (or inaction) in our lives is usually the thing that’s holding us back from trusting Him, that’s holding us back from friendship with Him. Because what we think about God when we think about God is that significant. It shapes our view or interpretation of the things He is or is not doing in our lives. It’s all up here in our minds; it’s the way we think and view reality.
It seems many people hear these stories and see a God who wants to take something from us, who is impossible to please, who leaves no room for mistakes, or doesn’t care about our misery as long as it accomplishes some goal that He has in mind. But that’s all you’ll see as long as you’re looking through the eyes of an acquaintance and not through the eyes of a friend. And most people don’t really know Him.
Here’s the reality: God asks us to offer up to Him the thing that matters the most to us, not because He wants to take it from us, but because He wants nothing to stand in the way of our relationship with Him.
He made us to love us, and for us to love Him back: “You shall have no other Gods before me.”
If there’s something you’re afraid that He’s going to take from you – it’s probably a god to you, a substitute for Him in your life.
Q: Does God hold you to higher standards the closer you get to Him? You bet He does. And before you say “that’s reason enough not to get close”, we do the exact same thing! If you barely know someone, and they say bad things about you, you don’t really care that much – they don’t know you! But if one of your best friends starts talking behind your back and starts saying things about you, that hurts! We expect more from the people we’re closest to. God is the same way. He expects more from you the closer He gets to you.
It’s not because He’s unreasonably strict; It’s because He’s passionate about His relationship with you!
Does He allow things to happen in your life that will hurt? Yes. He never promised otherwise. All of us can name things where we’ve been at least tempted to ask of God, “Why did you let this happen?” And Jesus even promises us that these kinds of things will happen!
John 16:33 NIV – “…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We don’t get out of it! Christianity is not a get-out-of-trouble card! But Jesus will always meet you in the storm, He will always be a firm foundation to hold onto, and He will be the God who weeps with you.
We all want assurances that everything will be OK. But Jesus wants you to know that He grieves with you.
For someone, that may be the dumbest thing in the world to hear in light of what you’ve gone through or are going through. You might think, “Everyone’s grieving with me – so what!” ‘Cause what we’re most concerned with is, “God, what are You going to do about it?” We want answers, we want change, we want God to do something about it! But we most often completely miss what God is trying to tell us.
In our darkest hours, what do we need? God, the one who made us to love us, who knows us best, and who still loves us most, is what we need: A friend, a friend who isn’t going anywhere, who is present right here.
When the storms hit, God does not shrink into the background.
Next Steps: Your Next Step is to begin, or to intentionally continue, a relationship with God by faith.
If you haven’t done that yet, you can start right now! It’s as simple as A, B, C.:
- A – Admit/Acknowledge that you have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard, requiring repentance. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
- B – Believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God died for your sins, and rose again. (John 3:16, Romans 10:9.)
- C – Confess or declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and ask for His forgiveness (Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 1:9)
Then, once you begin that relationship, how do you grow in closeness? I want to give you 3 Ways To Grow Closer With God:
1. Spend time with God.
If you’ve got a friend, you spend time together. Even if you’re busy, you make time because the person is important to you.
In the same way, carve out some dedicated time alone with God every day (or the best you can do).
If we want to grow in our relationship with God and learn about His heart for us, spending time with Him is not optional.
2. Pray.
This can be a part of your time spent with God, but don’t forget about it!
Prayer is our open line of communication to listen for God’s voice and to be led and filled by His Holy Spirit.
Prayer is talking with God, and prayer is listening to God.
Sometimes prayer can be loud and full of strong emotion. Let Him know you by you letting Him in on knowing You. Don’t let Matthew 7:23 be you – “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you…[not you never knew Me]”
Sometimes prayer can be quiet and super-introspective.
Whatever works for you in the moment is fine; just pray.
3. Do something.
I’m not saying to fill your life up with a bunch of stuff.
Imagine that your heart is a bucket. When we spend time with God, He fills our hearts with love to the point of overflowing. And then we can’t help but pour out God’s love when we serve others.
That’s the bottom line. You show your love through actions.
Don’t just have good intentions; be a person who shows love to others by the things we say and the things we do.
1 John 4:19 NLT – “We love each other because he loved us first.”
Show your love through actions. Do something.
Let me speak a blessing over you and pray for you
Romans 15:13 NIV – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow [onto everyone else around you] with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.