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Our God, He Is Alive

Because it acts like He is dead or never existed, the world tells us that everything we see exists by accident or macro-evolution.  But, no matter how smart or advanced man thinks he has become, he cannot explain how something came from nothing, complexity evolved from chaos, how life arose from non-life, or how morality developed from instinct.  Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:19-22).

Rather, because “Our God, He Is Alive,” God is able to help us in many ways here and in eternity.

I.  John 1:1-3.  In the first and second stanzas of the song, God is able to help us as our Creator (Isaiah 40:28-31) and Communicator (2 Timothy 3:16-17):

There is, beyond the azure blue, A God, concealed from human sight, He tinted skies with heav’nly hue And framed the worlds with His great might.

There was, a long, long time ago, A God the prophets heard, He is the God that we should know, Who speaks from His inspired Word.

II. Colossians 1:15-20.  The third stanza shows God as Omnipotent (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) and Omniscient (Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 7:7-8):

Secure, is life from mortal mind, God holds the germ within His hand, Tho’ men may search, they cannot find, For God alone does understand.

III.  John 8:34-36.  The fourth stanza explains that because Jesus was our Sacrifice, He can also be our Savior (Romans 3:21-26):

Our God, whose Son upon a tree, A life was willing there to give, That He from sin might set man free, And evermore with Him could live.

Because we know that we serve a risen Savior, we see how He continues to help us in our daily walk with Him and prepares us for eternity, so we can declare to an unbelieving world that …

There is a God, He is alive, in Him we live, and we survive; From dust our God created man, He is our God, the great I AM.

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Thank You, Lord!

While the ant scurries away, unworthy of the crumb it carries, I am aware of how I could bless (or overwhelm) its life with the entire cake I hold.  Such is God’s grace to us.  So, how should we respond?  Probably like Paul did for the grace God showed the Christians in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:4-9).

I.  2 Corinthians 8:3-7.  A busy seaport city, Corinth was filled with immorality and idolatry, and despite the problems that Paul would address in his letters to them, he begins by giving thanks to God for the grace that He has shown them.  He later urges them to show grace in giving like the churches in northern Greece have shown, letting them know that God has so much more from His abundance that He can give them (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).  We, as they, might sing:

Thank You, Lord, for loving me And thank You, Lord, for blessing me.  Thank You, Lord, for making me whole And saving my soul.

Let us all with one accord Sing praises to Christ the Lord.  Let us all unite in song To praise Him all day long.

Please reveal Your will for me So I can serve You for eternity.  Use my life in every way, Take hold of it today.

Thank You, Lord, for loving me.  Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul.

II.  2 Peter 1:3-4.  Paul was thankful to God that He continued to give to the Corinthians and would sustain them until the end.  Since God has already given us His Son, all else is small in comparison (Romans 8:32).  He gives all we need for life and godliness through His great and precious promises so we might participate in the divine nature with Him and escape this corrupt world.  Our response should be a song of thankfulness from our hearts:

For all that You’ve done, I will thank You.  For all that You’re going to do.  For all that You’ve promised, and all that You are Is all that has carried me through, Jesus, I thank You! 

And I thank You, thank You, Lord.  And I thank You, thank You, Lord. 

Thank You for loving and setting me free, (how I) Thank You for giving Your life just for me.  How I thank You, Jesus, I thank You, gratefully thank You.  Thank You.

III.  Romans 7:21-25.  Paul was also thankful that Jesus was able to present them guiltless (Jude 24) because God is faithful.  And so, we can also trust in Jesus’ work in the gospel for us (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Access to the Tree of Life that was denied mankind to live forever (Genesis 3:22) is now opened to those who obey the gospel (Revelation 22:14).  Lamenting his struggle of the spiritual war waged within himself that we all share, Paul gave thanks to Jesus for his salvation:

How do you explain,
How do you describe,
A love that goes from east to west,
And runs and deep as it is wide?
You know all our hopes
Lord, you know all our fears
And words cannot express the love we feel
But we long for You to hear
So listen to our hearts (oh, Lord, please listen)
Hear our spirits sing (and hear us sing)
A song of praise that flows (a simple song of praise)
From those You have redeemed (from those You have redeemed)
We will use the words we know
To tell You what an awesome God You are
But words are not enough
To tell You of our love
So listen to our hearts
If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine
And if I had a thousand years
I would still run out of time
So if You listen to my heart
Every beat would say,
“Thank You for the Life, thank You for the Truth,
Thank You for the Way.”

Is thankfulness the song of your heart?  Do you reflect on all the ways that Jesus helps you and what He has given you?  May you overflow with thanks to God for His grace that He’s already given You and love He’ll continue to shower you with.

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By Him All Things Were Created

Since the second Person of the Godhead is eternal, what was Jesus doing from creation through incarnation?  The Great Christology of Colossians 1:15-20 tells us quite a lot.  Far from just arriving on the scene for the first time in Bethlehem (Luke 2:11), God says that He alone would be the Savior (Isaiah 43:11) over seven centuries before.

I.  Colossians 1:15.  Jesus was active as the exact imprint or essence of God.  Ask and someone will say that Lincoln is on the penny.  Is he or is that his image?  Jesus backed this concept up with Caesar (Matthew 22:19-21).  Hebrews 1:1-18 further explains this and its necessity for Jesus’ preeminence over all things but especially our salvation.  He was God to be our Savior but man to be our sacrifice.  Though the subject of theophanies in the Old Testament isn’t conclusive that they are Christ and not angelic ambassadors speaking for God, being the exact representation of God would allow for Jesus to be addressed as God if was indeed Him (Genesis 16:10-13, Genesis 18:17-19, Joshua 5:13 — 6:2, Daniel 3:24-25, et. al.).

II. Colossians 1:16.  All things were indeed created through Jesus (John 1:1-18), and so He has dominion over all things as our Sovereign Lord (Romans 9:16-21).  This also means that because of His sovereignty, all things were created FOR Him as well.  Throughout the Bible, God upholds the idea of property rights (Proverbs 22:28, Acts 5:4).  David brings us back to the concept from creation that all things belong to God (1 Chronicles 29:14-16).

III.  Colossians 1:17.  Jesus has also been active since creation (and still is) at sustaining all things.  This means what we often attribute to the laws of nature are really the laws of Christ.  Again Hebrews 1:1-3 deepens our understanding of Jesus’ work.  That means He was upholding the universe while challenged (Matthew 22:18-21), in the garden (Matthew 26:53-54), before Pilate (John 18:36-37), and at the cross (Luke 23:34).  He is sustaining it now while we are here in this chaotic world and for our loved ones who have died in Him.

That Jesus is in control is a comforting thought, especially when we are bombarded by the world’s headlines.  We must put our trust in Him and in His gospel!