The TMP Podcast
A More Christlike God | Ryan Murray | Reconstruction With Jesus
We all carry around ideas, images, and experiences of God. It is important to unearth these stories, experiences, and pictures of God because the God we imagine is the God we become like. So what is God like? Some folks may have an image of God that resembles a deadbeat dad, a prosecuting attorney, or a master of puppets who secretly has some anger management issues. Ancient peoples imagined that the gods were like Zeus, Molech, or Loki. But really…. What is God like? The witness of Scripture is that God is like Jesus. Jesus is what God has to say! Instead of viewing Jesus as the "pleasant side of God,” we should look at Jesus as the accurate picture of what God looks like. And this radical truth reshapes everything. This means God is NOT a distant deadbeat dad, an accuser of sin, or an almighty smiter. God is like Jesus! The Jesus who dwells with us forgives sinners, heals the sick, sets up the Kingdom, and shows us a better way. The Jesus who lived, died, rose on the third day, and will come again. This Jesus is God with skin on. Once Jesus’ disciples grasped these important paradigm shifts produced by Jesus, they never viewed the Bible the same way again. The disciple's views of God were permanently changed because Jesus became their primary way to understand God. And Scripture became all about God as they understood how Jesus explained and modelled him.
We all carry around ideas, images, and experiences of God. It is important to unearth these stories, experiences, and pictures of God because the God we imagine is the God we become like. So what is God like? Some folks may have an image of God that resembles a deadbeat dad, a prosecuting attorney, or a master of puppets who secretly has some anger management issues. Ancient peoples imagined that the gods were like Zeus, Molech, or Loki. But really…. What is God like? The witness of Scripture is that God is like Jesus. Jesus is what God has to say! Instead of viewing Jesus as the "pleasant side of God,” we should look at Jesus as the accurate picture of what God looks like. And this radical truth reshapes everything. This means God is NOT a distant deadbeat dad, an accuser of sin, or an almighty smiter. God is like Jesus! The Jesus who dwells with us forgives sinners, heals the sick, sets up the Kingdom, and shows us a better way. The Jesus who lived, died, rose on the third day, and will come again. This Jesus is God with skin on. Once Jesus’ disciples grasped these important paradigm shifts produced by Jesus, they never viewed the Bible the same way again. The disciple's views of God were permanently changed because Jesus became their primary way to understand God. And Scripture became all about God as they understood how Jesus explained and modelled him.