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Who Is God

Exodus 3:1-14

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and helps complete my hope in Christ. Every day I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together. I pray as God has continued blessings us, may we continue to be a blessing to others.

I would like to continue with the Catechism teaching that has put in our Weekly Newsletter. This week’s question is “Who Is God?” There are many ways we can answer this. In fact, the way the Catechism has us answering is this, “God is the one true, holy, and living God. The Eternal Spirit, the Holy Trinity.” This answer is based upon the Scripture references found in Deuteronomy 6:4; Leviticus 19:2; Jeremiah 10:10, Matthew 28:19; John 17:3 and Hebrews 9:14.

How would you answer the question, “Who is God?” Many times, we describe someone’s character by what we have heard and more importantly how we have experienced that person. How we have experienced God will influence our definition of who God is. For example, if you have experienced a miracle or two in your life, the answer A God of Miracles may be apart of that definition. If you have experienced His transformation you may say, God is a God of transformation.” If you have experienced God providing throughout your life; your definition may include a God of Provision. The one thing I want to get across is that God is not just a God of love; God is much more.

Let’s look at the definition in the Catechism. God is the one true, holy, living God. Last week the question was “Do you believe in God?” I followed that up with “Why do you believe?” Now we get an answer based upon Scripture. We are reminded that there is no other god. God is the one true God. That is the reason why God commanded us not to bow before any other god. He is the one. Additionally, that is why Jesus taught about morality and commitment to God and God alone. We are not to allow the love of money, or love of anything else to take the place or even share the place of our love for God. 

Our one true God is holy and living. God is Holy means that God is set apart from the rest of creation, He is the only perfect One. The living aspect of the definition reminds us that God is a living God. That is why we are not to create any images or idols. Typically an image or idol is made to honor someone or something that has died. God is not dead. He is surely alive.

The next part of the definition talks about God’s eternal spirit. Not only is God alive, God is eternal. He has been, He is, and He always will be. God was there before the creation of Humanity, and God will remain. With this eternal presence, comes the gifts of God’s love; God’s grace, God’s hope, God’s joy, God’s peace, and so on. All are enteral because they are from God. The world offers love, hope, peace, and joy but these are only temporary. God’s gifts are enteral.

The last part talks about the Holy Trinity. This is part of the mystery of God. This has always been a tension throughout the history of Christianity. What does the Trinity mean? What does it look like? Some believe the belief in the Trinity makes Christianity a polytheistic region, meaning worship of more than one god. However, we stand firm on that truth that the Trinity is one God, yet three persons. We don’t worship God the Father, apart from God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. When we worship God the Father, we also worship God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, because they are one.

Some churches believe that God is the one true God, and created the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But Methodist, specifically Global Methodist believe that God did not create the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but they are all part of the One True, holy, living God. The Nicene Creed says that Jesus is begotten from God, not made from God. We, who are Methodists, believe that the Trinity is one with three distinct persons.

So as you continue to believe in God, and as you continue to serve God, be prepared to define who God is for others who may ask “who is God?” Or they may ask, “Why does God let bad things happen?” The answers to these questions stem from who you believe God is.

Have a blessed Week!

Pastor Frank