17.12.08
The Doctrine of God (SC:5&6) - I - The Only God
Deuteronomy 6:1-6
According to a recent study by finance giant MBNA, around 2 million football fans in Britain alone have pre-match rituals. These range from taking the same route to every game, to wearing lucky clothing, to using a lucky toilet before the game starts. Most football fans have their habits. In the same way, over the years, we Christians often develop habits, some of which are not always helpful. One of these is the imprecise ways in which we speak of God. The Puritan Stephen Charnock wrote, “It is impossible to honour God as we ought, unless we know him as he is.” The more precisely we know God and are able to describe God, the more it becomes possible to honour Him in lifestyle worship and service. The better you know Him, the more you will love Him and the more you will want to give up your life to Him.
Last year, we looked at Q.4 of the Shorter Catechism – “What is God? God is a Spirit – infinite, eternal and unchangeable – in His being wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth”. Over the next seven Wednesday nights, I want to hone our definition of God by looking with you at Q.5 and 6 of the Shorter Catechism. Q.6, which introduces the doctrine of the Trinity, will form 5 of our 7 studies. But for the first 2 of our studies, we will concentrate on Q.5 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism – “Q. Are there more Gods than One? A. There is but one only, the living and true God.” This week, I want to focus on the truth that there is Only One God. Next week, we will explore what it means for God to be the living and true God.
In attempting, in the space of 15 minutes, to establish and apply the truth that there is only One God, I want to ask 2 questions: first, how do we know that there is only One God; and secondly, what does it mean that there is only One God
[A] How do we Know that there is Only One God?
We live in a multicultural, multifaith age. At Glasgow Cathedral’s “Museum of Religious Life and Art”, you will find artefacts celebrating the existence of many different kinds of god – the gods of Hinduism; the god of Islam; the gods of Zoroastrianism. But, despite all the baffling reflections in the mirrors of other religions, we assert that there is Only One God – not a million like the Hindus do; not a thousand like the druids did; but One. But how do we know that there is only One God? There are three reasons we know that there is only One God – first, the Word of God; secondly, the nature of God; lastly, the work of God.
1. The Word of God – we should not be embarrassed by the Word of God. It forms our foundational knowledge of all things. These are the spectacles through which we view the world. The Bible repeats the message over and over again – there is only One God. Moses spoke Deuteronomy 6:4 to a people who had been released from captivity in an Egypt which worshipped many different gods – ranging from Isis to Osiris to the living God Pharaoh. The peoples the Israelites had met as they wandered through the wilderness were, by and large, believers in many different gods. But by contrast to everything they had been used to, the Israelites were told, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” In Mark 12:29, when Jesus is asked what is the most important commandment, He answers saying, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” Whether you are Moses or Jesus; whether you are in the Old Testament or in the New Testament; there is only One God.
2. The Nature of God – when you take into consideration what the Bible says about the God who is, it become clear that there can only be One God. This becomes apparent when you take into consideration two things: first, the infinity of God and secondly, the omnipotence of God.
· The Infinity of God – this point does not need to be laboured. Simply put, if God is infinite, then there can be but one infinite God because there is no space for another God. If the box is full, there is no space for anything else. God fills all things, leaving no space for any other God. The Infinite God of the Bible therefore cannot co-exist with the God of Islam or the Gods of Hinduism.
· The Omnipotence of God – again, this point is a logical necessity. If the God of the Bible is all powerful, then there can only be one of Him. If there were two, then our God might do whatever He wills only for the other to resist and hinder. Neither would be able to do everything they want to. Since our God is omnipotent – doing, according to Psalm 115:3, whatever He pleases – then He must be the only Omnipotent God. It cannot reasonably be any other.
3. The Work of God – Psalm 19:1 tells us that ‘the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim his handiwork.’ The heavens themselves – the universe and the created order – it all proclaims the God who is only One. We see this in two areas:
- The Harmony of the Universe – the Universe is One –that is to say there is an essential harmony such that the functioning of the Universe can be adequately described by mathematical and physical equations. What we calculate on paper finds reality in the Universe around. There is an essential harmony and no contradiction between abstract concepts and reality. I remember using this as an apologetic argument with an honours student mathematician. I asked her if she had ever wondered why it was possible to do mathematics, and that the very fact there is real order in the Universe points to the existence of one ordering God. And as such, when it comes to any argument about whether there is one god or a thousand, no more than one God is required. As one theologian writes, “nature is one machine moved by one mind”.
- The Sense of His Touch – I want to be very careful with this point, but, in the words of Thomas Boston, “the secret touches of God upon your hearts … are to you a clearer evidence of the being of God than all the works of nature.” God touches us in the heart – a heart He has made to respond to Himself - and we know that He exists, and that He is One.
So God’s Word, the Reason of God’s Nature, and the Reality of God’s Work all point to their being only one God – the God of the Bible. Multifaith may be a trendy idea, but it’s a theological, philosophical and scientific fantasy.
[C] What does it Mean that there is Only One God?
What practical difference does it make whether there is one God or five hundred Gods? What difference will it make to your day to day life that there is but one God only? Among the millions of reasons, there are two main:
1. In Worship – When I was working for a living, I had a line manager. But he had a line manager too, and then the top boss was his manager again. Sometimes, I would be asked to do a project for my line manager’s line manager – for which I was also accountable to the top boss. Confused by my description? I should think so, because it was a logistical nightmare and affected my ability to do any work at all. Who was I accountable to – who was I meant to be serving? As one commentator puts it, “happy they are who have this one Lord for their God, for they have but one master to please and but one benefactor to look to.” We worship God and God alone. If you look carefully at the context in which Moses delivered Deuteronomy 6:4, you find him commanding the people of God to serve and obey the Lord God and Him only – to serve the Lord God with all your heart, soul and strength. The total life-devotion of all God’s people is to be directed to this One Lord.
We worship and serve because there is only One Creator – only One God who created the heavens and the earth. There are not a thousand, each one of which must be honoured in a special way. We also worship God because there is only One Redeemer – only one God who won redemption for us. So often, when it comes to issues surrounding our salvation, we are too imprecise in our thinking – for there were not three gods operating – one god we call the Father, looking to smash us; one god we call Jesus, soft on us and loving us; and another god we call the Holy Spirit, who was acting independently of both of the others. Rather, there was one God – One God who won salvation for us. We therefore worship Him.
We therefore worship and serve One God – not a thousand. Your line manager at work isn’t God that you should give him the honour only God is due; you aren’t God that you should give yourself the worship that only God is due. Worship God and Him alone, for no-one and nothing else has created or redeemed you – only God. One God became flesh and died for you. Make sure you worship only Him and not the thousands of other gods which people in Glasgow worship tonight.
2. In Unity – Jesus prayed in John 17:11 and 22, “make them one, even as we are one.” God is one – He is a unity – One entity. We, as His Church, are also to strive after One-ness – after Unity. I read last week of a boat load of 30 refugees from the Dominican Republic, whose boat became lost for 15 days in the Caribbean. Only four survived and they admitted to keeping alive by eating the corpse of a dead shipmate. When times were difficult, they resorted to cannibalism. Who knows what anyone would do in such a situation, but the point here is that there is far too much cannibalism going on the Christian church today – far too many people eating up each other’s faith. By contrast, just as God is One and does not damage Himself, we must also be One. We must look not only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. This is the most God-like thing we can ever do.
There is only One God! It’s not politically correct to say, but I’ll say it again, because the Word of God says it, reason says it and science says it – there is only One God. The marvellous thing is that through Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can know this God – this God, who we will discover in a later sermon is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We can have a relationship with the Only God there ever was or ever will be – we can know His touch upon our hearts. In a moment, when we pray, we are praying to the one and Only God, who truly exists, and therefore, our prayers are no empty things. I pray that, over the weeks, this series of sermons would be no dry thing for us, but would truly be the means of drawing you into a deeper relationship with the one and Only God. AMEN