22.11.09 - Living God; Living Relationship

One of the reminders we got while Andrew was here was that God is the living God.

His theme on the last night was that God is real and something else which I can’t remember. In praying for healing there was the expectation that God is alive and able to heal. Each night he asked us to ask ourselves “Am I in relationship with God?’ That is a living thing - a living relationship with the living God.

Christianity is not a set of ideas and teachings. It is a living relationship with a living God.

Christianity is not about a relationship that I had once. It is about being in relationship now.

The Bible talks about “the living God”. Daniel was an Israelite taken into captivity in Babylon where he was put into the service of the king. Others became jealous of his success and the position he gained and so they set a trap. They persuaded the king to outlaw praying, knowing that Daniel would continue praying because he was a devout man. The penalty for praying was to be thrown into a lions’ den.

Sure enough, Daniel continued praying and his enemies saw him and reported it to the king. The king was distressed because Daniel was one of his best servants and, it would seem, someone the king liked. Nevertheless, the law was the law and couldn’t be changed, so Daniel was taken to the lions’ den and thrown in. The den was sealed so no one could rescue Daniel and the king went home to a sleepless night.

READ Daniel 6:19-28
Darius called out “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
 Darius was a pagan king in a very pagan culture. Yet he addressed Daniel as the servant of the living God. Daniel’s God wasn’t a living god but the living God. Amongst all the pagan gods that there were in Babylonian culture, the distinctive thing about Daniel’s God was that He was the living God.

What does that say about all of the others? They were dead! Daniel’s God was different - alive.

Of course, every culture believes that its gods are alive. The Romans believed their gods were alive. The Greeks believed their gods were alive. Of course they did. Every culture does. That is why they offered sacrifices and so on; to please their gods so that they might have plentiful crops or fertility or whatever. But the Bible simply points out how pathetic that is. None of these gods is alive. They are simply represented by worthless, powerless idols of wood or stone or silver.

There are many passages that contrast God with lifeless idols. For example Jeremiah 10:1-16 says pagan nations cut down a tree and shape it and chisel it and cover it with gold and silver. They make a god out of a tree! Then they have to nail it down so it doesn’t fall over. What sort of god is that? It cannot talk. They have to carry it around because it cannot walk. What sort of a god is that?

Jeremiah 10:10
But the Lord is the true God;
He is the living God; the eternal king.
When He is angry, the earth trembles;
The nations cannot endure His wrath.

You remember when Elijah had a competition with the prophets of Baal. They agreed that they would each build an altar and put a bull on it and then pray for their respective gods to send down fire to consume the sacrifice. The prophets of Baal spent most of the day dancing and cutting themselves and crying out to Baal. What happened? Nothing. Why? Because he is nothing more than an idol of stone. Stone cold dead. Can’t do a thing.

In contrast, when Elijah prayed to the living God, it was a different kettle of fish altogether. The living God is able to act. Fire descended and burnt up not only the bull but even the stones of the altar.

Back in the story of Daniel, King Darius called out “Has your God been able to save you?” That is the question, isn’t it? Daniel claimed to serve a living God who does things. Had that living God had the power to save Daniel? How powerful was He?
To the great relief of the king, Daniel called back, “My God has saved me.” He had spent a night with the lions and there wasn’t even a mark on him.

As a result, Darius, the pagan Babylonian king, wrote,
Daniel 6:26-27 26
"I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
"For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
27 He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions."

“For He is the living God.” The indication is again that there is only one living God. And, as the living God, He is active. He rescues and He saves. He performs signs and wonders.

That is the God of Christianity – the living God; the God who rescues and saves and performs signs and wonders. That is the God many of us experienced this week – and the God many more of us can know. Who wants a cold, dead relationship when you can have a living relationship with the living God.

Psalm 42:1-2 1
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

The psalmist hungered for a real relationship with the living God. Stone idols just don’t do it. Lots of material possessions just don’t do it. There will still be that soul thirst for the living God. “When can I go to meet with God?” Maybe you have that same thirst. Doing what Christians are expected to do just isn’t doing it for you. Going through the motions isn’t doing it. You thirst for the reality of a living relationship with the living God.

Psalm 84:1-2
How lovely is your dwelling place,
LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.

It is fantastic having a living relationship with the living God. It is a wonderful thing living with God.

2 Cor 6:16 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
 In a living relationship with the living God, He is our God and we are His people and He lives with us and walks amongst us and talks with us. We can hear the voice of God. We can experience the power of God – answered prayers, miracles, being changed ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit, using our spiritual gifts. It is all part of the fact that God is alive. We can live each day under His lordship. In other words, each day we receive instructions from God and we choose to serve Him and be in relationship with Him.

That is all fantastic, but note that there is another side. Darius wrote, “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For he is the living God and he endures forever.”
 Fear Him because He is alive.

Hebrews 10:31
It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

God is alive and we can know Him and experience His goodness. Or, we can defy Him and experience His judgement. It is a very foolish thing to assume God is dead and will not judge sin. He will. The fact that God is alive means we should fear and reverence Him.

Those who put their faith in Jesus earlier in the week have entered a living relationship with the living God. Now it is a case of developing that relationship and understanding more about it. We would love to give you some help but we actually don’t know everyone who became a Christian during the week. We would like to help you grow. You have been born again. It is like you are now a baby Christian and it would be quite wrong of us to abandon you as a baby. Can I ask that if you have recently become a Christian, you let us know at the table at the back? In fact, if you responded in any way while Andrew was here – a first time commitment or a rededication or asking for healing - we would like to know. There may be stories to tell or maybe we can give you more help. Please leave your name at the table at the back.

However, some people here might not yet be Christians. Maybe you should have responded while Andrew was here but you didn’t. The opportunity has not gone. You still can. Or if there are others who would like to receive more prayer for healing or for anything at all, the invitation is still there. Today can be the time you do respond to the living God.

Maybe your relationship with God is cold and stale; or you have wandered away from God. You thirst for some reality in your faith. You thirst for the living God. You thirst for forgiveness. Andrew has gone but the living God hasn’t and we are going to keep praying. When we sing our last songs today, there will be the opportunity for you to respond to the living God.