We can\u00adnot force encoun\u00adters with the holy God. But when we do encoun\u00adter him, it can some\u00adti\u00admes be ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading. Nevert\u00adhel\u00adess, we do not have to be afraid of this God. For if we use this fear pro\u00adper\u00adly, it leads us into fear of God. This in turn leads us to wor\u00adship in rever\u00adence, as befits a holy God.<\/p>\n
I recent\u00adly had a con\u00adver\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon with a per\u00adson about this year\u2019s teaser for the annu\u00adal the\u00adme. This per\u00adson was basi\u00adcal\u00adly posi\u00adti\u00adve about the teaser, but at least the two pre\u00advious ones sui\u00adted her bet\u00adter. When I asked why, this ans\u00adwer came. They were less scary! \tThink about the sto\u00adry of Jacob again. What do you noti\u00adce that is new? We can\u00adnot force our encoun\u00adters with the holy God. But when we encoun\u00adter him, it can some\u00adti\u00admes be ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading. Nevert\u00adhel\u00adess, we do not have to be afraid of this God. Becau\u00adse if we use this fear cor\u00adrect\u00adly, it will lead us to the fear of God. This in turn leads us to wor\u00adship in rever\u00adence, just as\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":7177,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","wpfc_preacher":[79],"wpfc_sermon_series":[90],"wpfc_sermon_topics":[],"wpfc_bible_book":[],"wpfc_service_type":[12],"class_list":{"0":"wpfc_preacher-cedric-bruegger","1":"wpfc_sermon_series-heilig-heilig-heilig","2":"wpfc-sermon-single","3":"post-7170","4":"wpfc_sermon","5":"type-wpfc_sermon","6":"status-publish","7":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"hentry","11":"wpfc_service_type-gottesdienst"},"acf":[],"sermons_blog_filters_topics":"\t\t\t\t
\nI can\u00adnot force encoun\u00adters with God
\nHoly, holy, holy \u2013 encoun\u00adtering the com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent. This is our the\u00adme for this year. If some\u00adthing is holy, then it is also com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent. Today we want to del\u00adve into a sto\u00adry tog\u00ade\u00adther in which an encoun\u00adter with God tur\u00adned an enti\u00adre life upsi\u00adde down. It is one of the first encoun\u00adters with God. We find it in the first book of Moses in chap\u00adter 28, the sto\u00adry of Jacob. Jacob lives in the third gene\u00adra\u00adti\u00adon of the fami\u00adly that God has cho\u00adsen for his sto\u00adry on this earth. God did not choo\u00adse this fami\u00adly becau\u00adse they were holy. He did not choo\u00adse this fami\u00adly becau\u00adse ever\u00ady\u00adthing always ran smooth\u00adly or becau\u00adse they always did ever\u00ady\u00adthing as they should. He cho\u00adse this fami\u00adly becau\u00adse they always put their trust in God. This is the only way to under\u00adstand why Jacob not only comes off favour\u00ada\u00adb\u00adly in the bibli\u00adcal sto\u00adries, but also very bad\u00adly in some cases. The sto\u00adries tell of the deepest depths of human life.
\nJacob had a twin brot\u00adher named Esau. At that time, it was important to be the first-born son. For he was entit\u00adled to the majo\u00adri\u00adty of the inhe\u00adri\u00adtance and was par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly favou\u00adred by his father. Jacob was the second-born. But he did a lot to turn this situa\u00adti\u00adon around. After all, he too could have been the first-born. In a favoura\u00adble situa\u00adti\u00adon, he black\u00admai\u00adled his brot\u00adher for his bir\u00adth\u00adright. That is, for the majo\u00adri\u00adty of the inhe\u00adri\u00adtance. But that was not enough. When his father wan\u00adted to bless Esau, Jacob obtai\u00adned the bles\u00adsing of his blind father. Even with the help of his mother. Under\u00adstan\u00add\u00ada\u00adb\u00adly, his brot\u00adher Esau was furious and sought his life. Jacob the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre flees to his mother\u2019s coun\u00adtry. On the way, he goes to sleep and takes a stone as a pil\u00adlow. Today\u2019s ser\u00admon revol\u00adves around this event the\u00adre at this slee\u00adping place.
\nAs Jacob slept the\u00adre, he began to dream. In this dream he saw a lad\u00adder from the ground up to hea\u00adven. The angels of God went up and down this lad\u00adder. At the top of the lad\u00adder in hea\u00adven, God stood and said: \u00bb [\u2026] I am the LORD<\/span>, the God of your grand\u00adfa\u00adther Abra\u00adham and the God of your father Isaac. The land on which you lie, I will give to your des\u00adcen\u00addants. Your des\u00adcen\u00addants will be as num\u00ade\u00adrous as the dust of the earth. They will spread out to the east, west, north and south. Through you and your des\u00adcen\u00addants, all the clans of the earth will be bles\u00adsed. Moreo\u00adver, I will be with you and pro\u00adtect you whe\u00adre\u00adver you go. I will bring you back to this land. I will never aban\u00addon you and will honour the pro\u00admi\u00adses I have made to you\u00bb (Gene\u00adsis 28:13\u201315 NLB<\/span>).
\nThis encoun\u00adter with God is exem\u00adpla\u00adry for God\u2019s work and his spea\u00adking. For God meets Jacob in what is pro\u00adba\u00adb\u00adly his wea\u00adk\u00adest hour. Jacob meets God in his weak\u00adne\u00adss. This is still often the case today. When ever\u00ady\u00adthing that sup\u00adpo\u00adsedly gave man sup\u00adport breaks away, he is more open to encoun\u00adters with the divi\u00adne. As long as ever\u00ady\u00adthing runs smooth\u00adly, one trusts in other things, such as finan\u00adcial inde\u00adpen\u00addence, fami\u00adly and fri\u00adends, one\u2019s health or other things. Only when ever\u00ady\u00adthing falls away do you often rea\u00adli\u00adse how important they were to you. And how flee\u00adting the who\u00adle thing is. The accu\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon often comes that peo\u00adp\u00adle are only inte\u00adres\u00adted in God becau\u00adse they are weak. But per\u00adhaps one could rather say that peo\u00adp\u00adle are inte\u00adres\u00adted in God when they rea\u00adli\u00adse that in the end they can\u00adnot take any\u00adthing with them once they die.
\nI would like to make a brief dig\u00adres\u00adsi\u00adon here about the bles\u00adsings that God bestows on peo\u00adp\u00adle. God meets Jacob in his weak\u00adne\u00adss, but pro\u00admi\u00adses him a few things. Becau\u00adse in the Old Tes\u00adta\u00adment, the bles\u00adsings are always lin\u00adked to earth\u00adly things. Howe\u00adver, this focus is dif\u00adfe\u00adrent in the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment. The earth\u00adly fami\u00adly, part\u00adners and child\u00adren, as well as earth\u00adly pos\u00adses\u00adsi\u00adons, are no lon\u00adger seen as the cent\u00adre of divi\u00adne bles\u00adsings. This is par\u00adti\u00adcu\u00adlar\u00adly evi\u00addent in Paul. He was the grea\u00adtest foun\u00adder of the church of his time and a decisi\u00adve influence on theo\u00adlo\u00adgy. He hims\u00adelf lived a sin\u00adgle life and pro\u00adpa\u00adga\u00adted this as the most desi\u00adra\u00adble sta\u00adte as a fol\u00adlower of Jesus Christ. This is easi\u00adly for\u00adgot\u00adten today. After all, it is indi\u00adrect\u00adly part of the image that the fol\u00adlo\u00adwers of Jesus Christ are mar\u00adried and have at least three child\u00adren. But Paul paints a com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent pic\u00adtu\u00adre. Ins\u00adtead of the pro\u00admi\u00adse of many child\u00adren and many pos\u00adses\u00adsi\u00adons, Paul calls for the ren\u00adun\u00adcia\u00adti\u00adon of fami\u00adly and child\u00adren for the good of the king\u00addom of God. For Jesus said: \u00ab[\u2026] Who is my mother? Who are my brot\u00adhers? [\u2026] The\u00adse peo\u00adp\u00adle here are my mother and my brot\u00adhers. Whoe\u00adver does the will of God is my brot\u00adher and sis\u00adter and mother\u00bb (Mark 3:33\u201335 NLB<\/span>). Renoun\u00adcing an earth\u00adly part\u00adner does not mean renoun\u00adcing a fami\u00adly. Becau\u00adse we as a church are a fami\u00adly. Paul\u2019s atti\u00adtu\u00adde is based on the fact that the king\u00addom of God should be our most important con\u00adcern (Matthew 6:33). So if you are mar\u00adried and have child\u00adren, then this can be lost sight of more quick\u00adly than if you remain alo\u00adne for the king\u00addom of God.
\nThe encoun\u00adter with the God of the Bible is terrifying!
\nAre you rea\u00addy to meet God this year? The God who is com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent? But the sto\u00adry of Jacob also shows us one thing. The encoun\u00adter with God is unavailable, we can\u00adnot force it. It is the same with every wor\u00adship ser\u00advice. It is a gathe\u00adring of the fol\u00adlo\u00adwers of Jesus Christ, with the firm con\u00adfi\u00addence that God will show hims\u00adelf to the gathe\u00adred com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty. But the encoun\u00adter of God is some\u00adthing he has to give us. But we may come with gre\u00adat expec\u00adta\u00adti\u00adon that he wants to meet us.
\nBut how did Jacob react to this encoun\u00adter? \u00abWhen Jacob awo\u00adke from his sleep, he said, \u00abSure\u00adly the LORD<\/span> is in this place, and I did not know it! And he was afraid and said, \u00abHow holy is this place! The\u00adre is not\u00adhing here but the house of God, and here is the gate of hea\u00adven\u00bb (Gene\u00adsis 28:16\u201317 LUT<\/span>). Jacob was ama\u00adzed that God was in this place. I think it was his first encoun\u00adter with God and he only knew him from hear\u00adsay and from his father\u2019s pie\u00adty. Prac\u00adti\u00adsing his faith was more of a tra\u00addi\u00adti\u00adon for him. It was not an expres\u00adsi\u00adon of a deep rela\u00adti\u00adonship and con\u00advic\u00adtion. But from now on, he deci\u00addes to put his trust in him com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly. What about you? Do you, like Jacob, only know God from hear\u00adsay or the pie\u00adty around you? Have you ever con\u00adside\u00adred that the God of your fri\u00adends, par\u00adents or wha\u00adte\u00adver could be your God and that you have to deci\u00adde for or against Him yours\u00adelf? Becau\u00adse nowhe\u00adre in the Bible does it say that God has grand\u00adchild\u00adren. He only has child\u00adren. But per\u00adhaps you are also one of tho\u00adse who base their distance to God on hear\u00adsay from other peo\u00adp\u00adle. After all, you often hear that the\u00adre is no reason to belie\u00adve in a God the\u00adse days. Why don\u2019t you belie\u00adve? From your own con\u00advic\u00adtion or from hearsay?
\nWhen we visua\u00adli\u00adse Jacob\u2019s reac\u00adtion, it has litt\u00adle to do with our reac\u00adtion to the ser\u00advice. For Jacob shud\u00adde\u00adred in the face of God\u2019s pre\u00adsence and his dream. The ori\u00adgi\u00adnal Hebrew text uses a word for holy that does not actual\u00adly mean sacred. The word the\u00adre is \u00abyr\u00bb \u00bb. Which means as much as to fear. So in most trans\u00adla\u00adti\u00adons it says fear ins\u00adtead of holy. But the trans\u00adla\u00adti\u00adon with holy is just as cor\u00adrect. The Hebrew word is ren\u00adde\u00adred as holy a total of five times. Holy and fear\u00adso\u00adme are clo\u00adse to each other. This also beco\u00admes clear in our teaser when the words that Moses heard at the bur\u00adning bush are repro\u00addu\u00adced. The holy, as some\u00adthing set apart, not of this world, has some\u00adthing ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading about it. This is evi\u00addent throug\u00adhout the Bible: when God shows hims\u00adelf to peo\u00adp\u00adle, it is not for the faint-hearted.
\nFear of God leads to wor\u00adship in reverence
\nIn theo\u00adlo\u00adgy, this is refer\u00adred to as the fear of God. This descri\u00adbes the atti\u00adtu\u00adde towards God and his will. But the fear of God has not\u00adhing to do with fear in the sen\u00adse of ter\u00adror or inti\u00admi\u00adda\u00adti\u00adon. \u00abThe fear of the Lord is the begin\u00adning of know\u00adledge. [\u2026]\u00bb (Pro\u00adverbs 1:7 LUT<\/span>). In my opi\u00adni\u00adon, the fear of God can be seen as the rea\u00adli\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon that God and we humans are not the same. God is grea\u00adter, stron\u00adger, more exal\u00adted and the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre I step befo\u00adre him in awe.
\nBut how did Jacob deal with this rea\u00adli\u00adsa\u00adti\u00adon? He got up ear\u00adly in the mor\u00adning and set up his pil\u00adlow of stone as a remin\u00adder. He pou\u00adred oil over it and cal\u00adled the place Bethel. That means house of God. He then pro\u00admi\u00adsed God that if he pro\u00adtec\u00adted him on the way and gave him food and clot\u00adhing, he would give him a tenth of ever\u00ady\u00adthing he had. He gives this as thanks for his care. Jacob does not say that he gives God a por\u00adti\u00adon of ever\u00ady\u00adthing when he has the land and the fami\u00adly. Rather, he gives him ever\u00ady\u00adthing when God pro\u00adtects him and he has enough to eat and clo\u00adthes \u2013 not\u00adhing more. Through his encoun\u00adter with the holy God, Jacob is satis\u00adfied with much less. Just a few moments befo\u00adre, he had betray\u00aded his brot\u00adher in order to be blessed.
\nLater in the sto\u00adry of Jacob, it will be shown that God is faithful and keeps his pro\u00admi\u00adse to Jacob. So he also keeps his pro\u00admi\u00adse. God is still the same today. He also keeps his pro\u00admi\u00adses today. But just as the focus of the bles\u00adsing has shifted away from earth\u00adly things, the pro\u00admi\u00adses that Jesus Christ makes to us are also dif\u00adfe\u00adrent. For Jesus Christ does not pro\u00admi\u00adse his fol\u00adlo\u00adwers that faith will always make them hap\u00adpy, rich, beau\u00adtiful and that ever\u00ady\u00adthing will always be easy. After all, Jacob\u2019s life was not at all straight\u00adfor\u00adward. Jesus Christ pro\u00admi\u00adses us: \u00ab[\u2026] If any of you want to walk with me, you must deny your\u00adsel\u00adves, take up your cross anew each day and fol\u00adlow me\u00bb (Luke 9:23 NLB<\/span>). We also find the fear of God in Jesus. Becau\u00adse in the face of God, even death loses its frigh\u00adtening power. \u00abDo not be afraid of tho\u00adse who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; your soul is bey\u00adond their reach. Fear only God, who can des\u00adtroy both body and soul in hell\u00bb (Matthew 10:28 NLB<\/span>).
\nBut the fear of God should still lead us today into a wor\u00adship of God in rever\u00adence. Just as was the case with Jacob. Jacob was afraid of God and set up a stone as a remin\u00adder of his encoun\u00adter. But the fear of God did not lead Jacob to distance from God, rather it led to a gre\u00adat clo\u00adsen\u00adess. When Jacob had a fami\u00adly a few years later, he kept his pro\u00admi\u00adse. He sacri\u00adfi\u00adced to this God who had met him befo\u00adre retur\u00adning to his home\u00adland (Gene\u00adsis 31:54). When he rea\u00adched this place of his encoun\u00adter with God, he erec\u00adted a pro\u00adper altar, ther\u00adeby expres\u00adsing his attach\u00adment to God (Gene\u00adsis 35:7).
\nJacob expe\u00adri\u00aden\u00adced both at Bethel. On the one hand, a deep inti\u00adma\u00adcy with God and, on the other, a gre\u00adat fear of God. Both ulti\u00adm\u00adate\u00adly lead to rever\u00adence for God. Awe means a fear that goes hand in hand with rever\u00adence. The addres\u00adsee befo\u00adre whom someone has rever\u00adence is always a supe\u00adri\u00ador addres\u00adsee. As a fol\u00adlower of Jesus Christ, this addres\u00adsee is God. It is God \u2013 the com\u00adple\u00adte\u00adly dif\u00adfe\u00adrent one. Yet we can never ful\u00adly fathom him. The\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre, deal\u00ading with him is on the one hand plea\u00adsant and on the other hand ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading. The teaser for our the\u00adme for the year shows this very cle\u00adar\u00adly. We should the\u00adr\u00ade\u00adfo\u00adre step befo\u00adre him with rever\u00adence and wor\u00adship him.
\nPos\u00adsi\u00adble ques\u00adti\u00adons for the small group
\nRea\u00adding the Bible text: Gene\u00adsis 28:10\u201322<\/p>\n
\n\tHave you alre\u00ada\u00addy met God? What did this look like? What was your respon\u00adse to this encoun\u00adter? If this is not the case. Do you know God only by hear\u00adsay? What does this \u00abkno\u00adwing\u00bb look like?
\n\tDo you under\u00adstand the uphol\u00adding of celi\u00adba\u00adcy \u2013 the sin\u00adgle life for the glo\u00adry of God? What is the bene\u00adfit of such a life? But how can we con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adte to the see\u00adtal chi\u00adle beco\u00adming more and more like a family?
\n\tHow do you inter\u00adpret the pro\u00adxi\u00admi\u00adty of \u00abholy\u00bb and \u00abfear\u00bb?
\n\tDo you know the fear of God in your life? What does it look like for you?
\n\tWhat might it look like to live a per\u00adso\u00adnal wor\u00adship out of the fear of God that flows into reverence?<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"