What is God like?

Some receive their image of God through religious

indoctrination.

Others develop ideas of God from life

experiences.

Or did I make God in my own image?

A projection of myself?

Believers & atheists alike oftenaccept or reject images of God that are toxic.

Distorted images need cleansing because we become like the God we worship.

Some notions of God are harsh: God the

tyrant king,

God the punishing judge,

God the abusive step-parent,

God the ‘mighty smiter.’

Others think to manipulate God, like a doting grandparent,

A genie in a lantern,

Or a sugar-daddy in the sky.

Others think of God as a deadbeat dad,

absent, delinquent, unsupportive &

uncaring,

the God who wasn’t there when I needed

him.

And then there’s the Santa hybrid …

And then there’s the Santa hybrid …

You better watch outYou better not cryBetter not poutI'm telling you whySanta Claus is coming to town

He's making a listAnd checking it twiceGonna find out Who's naughty and niceSanta Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you're sleepingHe knows when you're awakeHe knows if you've been bad or goodSo be good for goodness sake!

O! You better watch out!You better not cryBetter not poutI'm telling you whySanta Claus is coming to townSanta Claus is coming to town

If there is a God, what is he like? Scripture

says …

To see this God of love, look at Jesus, ‘God

with skin.’

“God incarnate”

Jesus said, “If you’ve seen me,

you’ve seen my father.” —John

14:9

Paul said, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” —Col. 1:15

Paul said, “All the fullness of God was embodied in him.” —Col. 2:9

“Hebrew Jesus perfectly mirrored God and is stamped with God’s own nature.” Heb.

1:3 (MSG)

To see God’s true image, we look at Jesus life, how he

loved people.

We look at how he cared for those on the margins, the

abused & excluded.

We also see him face down religious abusers & spiritual

bullies.

But the clearest image of

God comes into focus in Christ crucified.

What does the Cross show us

about God?

That God is:

- self-giving,- radically forgiving,- co-suffering love.

“Self-giving” God has poured himself into the world as love incarnate.

“Radically forgiving”Even when wicked men

conspired to murder him, he forgave them.

“Co-suffering”He willingly experienced the

depths of the human condition,

… including suffering and death,

and he overcame it all.

So the New Testament says

God is exactly like Jesus,

The NT concludes that Christ is “God the

Son.”

The NT announces an achingly beautiful

gospel,

“Neither do I condemn you.”

The beautiful gospels does not say,

“God is too holy to tolerate ‘sinners,’ but if you change your ways, he’ll forgive you, but if not …”

Rather, the beautiful gospel says,

The Christlike God has always loved you, has always been with you, is always for you. God has already forgiven you & wants you to know and experience the divine love that never gives up on you.

God, the shepherd who goes down into the ditch to find lost

and tangled sheep.

God, the Father who runs to welcome the wayward child

home.

God the crucified

Lord who, while

humanity rejected & killed him, forgave & reconciled

us to himself.

The risen Christ is

alive, among us. He knows us, loves us, and

wants us to know him.