The temptation to be like God
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· 68 viewsBecause God is our creator and we are are his creatures we should embrace our God given limitations
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A few years ago there I saw this movie called Limitless. In it Bradley Cooper plays a man named Eddie who is a struggling author and everything seems to be going south for him, he can’t make money, he has terrible writers block, and then his girlfriend finally has enough and breaks up with him. But things turn when he finds this drug called NZT and this drug super charges his brain in such a way that he can learn a new language in day, he writes an award winning book overnight, figures out how to game the stock market, and as it turns out also gives him perfect hand eye coordination, making him ineradicable a fighting, something he needed for all the action scenes in the movie. But the drug also has terrible side effects and once you are on NZT if you get off, you will die. But Eddie with his supper intelligence works to reverse engineering the drug so he can save his life.
Now spoiler alert, I am going to tell you how it ends. It ends in a way that I did not expect. I expected it to end with Eddie somehow solving the problem and coming off the drug and learning to appreciate his limited life, but it doesn't. the move ends with him figuring the drug out and living as a limitless man running for the US Senate with his eye on the presidency and ultimately a desire to save the world.
The movie leaves you feeling, wow that really would be ineradicable to be limitless like that. he movie sells a vision of the good life that is actually not only not possible but runs against God’s vision of the good life. The movie is tempts in the same way the serpent tempted in the garden. “You will be like God.” But there is only one God who is limitless and only one savior of the world.
Satan sowed seeds of discontentment with God’s good gifts and their limitations, told them they could be “like God.” We today are still tempted to be like God, to be discontent with our limits and move past God’s boundaries, so we busy ourselves striving to overcome our limits and we busy ourselves trying do more than we can or we try to be in multiple places at once.
In the end we end up hurried and spiritually exhausted. And the more that we believe that God given limitations are something to be overcome or pushed aside the more we feel tired, stressed, restless, and unsatisfied.
FCF: Often we feel tired, restless, and hurried, because we have been sold that our limitations are something to be overcome and two things happen when we buy this vision. Either we busy ourselves striving to overcome our limits and we busy ourselves trying to fix it all, know it all, or be everywhere for all or we feel feel defeated with the thought that we can’t do enough, know enough or be enough.
This morning what we will see is that
We are tempted to try and do more than we can, or feel that we should do more than we are doing, We are tempted to think we know more than we actually do or that we should know more than we do, and we are tempted to be in more than one place at one time.
because God is the only limitless one we should embrace our God gift of limitations
Because God is our creator and we are not we should embrace our God given limitations
We are going to look at three ways we are tempted to be like God and move past our limits, in power, in knowledge, and in our presence.
First, Because God has limitless power we should embrace our limited power
First, Because God has limitless power we should embrace our limited power
Look with me at
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Power is simply the ability to do something, or control something. God can do all things.
And all throughout Scripture God is refereed to as the Lord Almighty. All powerful, what this means is that God can do anything he desires to do. There is nothing that hinders God and his purpose.
And God created us with power to do things, control things, and make things happen. But our power is limited. And if we try and exert our power and do something or control something that we cannot we feel frustrated, stressed and exhausted.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
One of the ways we try and exert our power in a way that causes us stress is trying to control future outcomes.
James reminds us of our limited power this way
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
James 4:13-
The power to control belongs in God’s hands, not ours. and if we think it lies in our hands we will be stressed and feel frustratingly out of control.
Now this does not mean we don’t save and plan, it just means we don’t presume. As Proverbs tells us we plan our steps, but the Lord directs our ways.
Now our culture tells us that we can do anything we want to do.
With some hard work anything is possible.
Just listen to a line from the Dr. Seuss book “o the places you will go” that is often give at graduation.
book many students are given at graduation
“You have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who will decide where to go.” And will you succeed? Yes! you will indeed!
We are taught by Dr. Seuss and others in our culture that you are the master of your destiny. The power belongs to you. You can do anything you want to do.
This line of thought that say you can do anything you want to do can be great to an extent, but what often happens is that it breeds frenetic energy in us. That we should be doing something else or something better something greater than what we are doing now.
I wonder if Adam and Eve were feeling and thinking when they were tempted in the Garden. You know I really wish we could do something great and important instead of tend this garden and look after these animals. I want to do something great with my life, not be satisfied with this boring stuff.
I wonder if Adam and Eve felt that when they were tempted in the Garden. God I wish we could do something great and important instead of tend this garden and look after these animals.
Today we face this tremendous pressure to “succeed” which in our culture is usually connected to income or your power to influence others. And if we don’t do these great successful things, well someone is to blame either you or someone else. But what we as Christians must realize is that God is the one who is all powerful, he is the one who is in control. He is the one who directs the paths of our life and God calls a whole lot more people into a life of humble obscurity than he does wealth or multiplied influence.
I wonder if Adam and Eve felt that when they were tempted in the Garden. God I wish we could do something great and important instead of tend this garden and look after these animals.
or doing more for Jesus.
So if we find ourselves stressing about things that are not in our power, let us be still and know that the Lord is God and we are not.
But God is the one who is all powerful, he is the one who is in control. And when we are stressing about things that are not in our power, let us be still and know that the Lord is God and we are not.
And when we are stressing about things that are not in our power, let us be still and know that the Lord is God and we are not.
This does not mean you don’t plan or work hard, it just means you plan and work with an open hand. Plan, but know that whatever God calls you to he will call you to love him, and your neighbors. For success in God’s eyes, and greatness in God’s eyes is not measured by the number of people you influence, or the amount of change you affect, or how big your platform is. But success and greatness is about loving God and loving our spouse, kids, friends, neighbors. So whether you are president, parent, engineer, or missionary. You will have laundry to wash, kids to feed, and neighbors to love.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
When we know that God is all powerful it means we can freedom to work and love because our power is limited and we don’t control the outcome.
James 4:13-14
Knowing that GOd is omnipotent means we don’t have to be
So if we want to feel less frantic, stressed, and overwhelmed one thing we can do is embrace the gift of being God’s limited creatures
But it is not our power to control stuff that is limited, but we are also limited in presence.
But it is not our power to control stuff that is limited, but we are also limited in presence.
Let’s go back to creation. After creating everything and made Adam, look with me at chapter 2 verse 15
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
God created Adam and put him in a specific place at a specific time. God created us to be in one place at one time.
When God became incarnate he did so in a place and time. Jesus who took on our limitations. This is one reason why his ascension was good news so that he could be present with all believers through his Spirit
One way we can do this is with our attention, our attention focused on the next thing on our agenda or trying to get there instead of being here.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
But because we are fallen humna beings we try to
Okay so this is in some way stating the obvious, but we all know what it is like when we try to be in two places at once, or when we are with someone who is trying to be in two place at once. Physically present, but mentally in another place.
You probably know that song the “piano man”
Or can try and be in more than one place with technology on our smartphones we get the illusion of being in more than one place at a time.
Or can try and be in more than one place with technology on our smartphones we get the illusion of being in more than one place at a time.
One thing I enjoyed about the military was the customs, courtesies, and traditions, they gave the sense that you were part of something bigger than yourself. Everyday you were reminded of this during reveille and retreat when the flag was raised an lowered. No matter where you were or who you were talking to or if you were driving when the music started playing everyone stopped faced the flag and saluted. Some customs were quite arbitrary others seemed to make a lot of sense. Like the customs around cell phones. You were not allowed to walk and talk on the phone. So if you were waling with someone to the store and your phone rang and you answered it you had to stand still have a conversion and then keep walking.
The idea being that if you are on the phone that is where you are and your attention is focused on the person you are talking with, you can only be in once place at a time.
Now
So we can sit behind a keyboard and in a chair and craft an image of ourselves that we can project into the
Application:
Now what does it look like for us to embrace God’s gift to us of limited presence and resist the temptation to be like him and be in more than one place at a time?
It looks like being engaged mentally and emotionally with those you are with and not trying to multitask. We should honor those we are with by being present with them. And multitasking, that is switching between tasks quickly actually causes us to feel frenetic and stressed.
Constantly dividing where we place our mental energy and
When you read Scripture and pray on your own or with your family get the devices away. So you can be present and attentive with God.
Our limited presence also deals with our commitments.
We need to embrace the reality that you can’t commit to everything you would like to, and realize when you commit to one thing, you are saying no to a thousand other places you could be, and other people you could be with. So choose wisely your commitments and your kids commitments.
Resist peer pressure and no I am not talking to teens right now. Parents, you experience peer pressure to run your kids around to every activity and sport known to man. And if you don’t do it then you are depriving opportunities for your kids. The cultural peer pressure that says what kind of parent are you to let your kid miss out on xy or z.
We must realize because God made us limited, that every choice and commitment we make is a negation of something else. And in our culture which sees maximizing choice as one of the highest values it can be hard to commit.
As limited creatures you can’t commit to being everywhere.
But even though every choice and commitment we still should make commitments even in the face of FOMO, also know as the fear of missing out. Those who experience the fear of missing out assume they should be able to be anywhere at a moments notice, so you don’t to commit to much of anything. But because God created us limited creatures know this, you will always miss out on something or someone. God did not make us omnipresent, he made us limited and there is joy and what you will find is that that there is joy in committing to others and having the multiplicity of choices reduced, You don’t have to decide do I do this or this or ho here or there or get this thing or that thing, you know what you where you need to go and who to be with. And in commitments you will actually experience less stress, and feel less frantic, because well you are not having to make choices all the time, you can just enjoy doing and being with people you are commited to.
You will always miss out on something or someone, but that is not the point. God did not make us omnipresent, he made us limited and there is joy in
You will always miss out on something or someone, but that is not the point. God did not make us omnipresent, he made us limited and there is joy in
So choose wisely your commitments and your kids commitments.
Often we feel a vague sense of restlessness because we think we should be somewhere other than we are are.
so choose wisely your commitments and your kids commitments
First we should resist the temptation to be in multiple places at once.
Now all of us face the temptation to try and be in more than once place at one time. And this happens in many ways.
One way this look
One way we can do this is with our attention, our attention focused on the next thing on our agenda or trying to get there instead of being here.
One way we can do this is with our attention, our attention focused on the next thing on our agenda or trying to get there instead of being here.
Another way is through technol
What causes us to strive to be in one place at a time is the desire
Every choice to be somewhere is a choice to not be anywhere else.
Ecclesiastes 12:11-12
This ambition to be in more than one place at a time is the experience of Fomo
The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
But we are tempted to try and be in more than one place at one time. And when we strive to be in more than one place at a time we usually reside no where in particular.
Make this a short point
When we try to be in more than one place at a time we are essentially trying to be like God in a way that he did not intend. It is actually an attempt to be God.
This kind of technology is great, but if we use it reflectively and not intentionally we will end up being used by it.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
God does not see our limited power and our limited presence as a problem. It is how he made us. When he created Adam and Eve he created them with limitations, but the serpent came and tested them, and rather than being content with the limitations God had given them they listened to the words of the serpent and attempted to be like God bring misery upon them and all humanity. But while they sinned in trying to be like God, God saved in becoming like them.
And Jesus standing in the desert heard the voice of the same serpent promising power and ruling omnipresence he resisted and chose rather to embrace our human limitations and trust his heavenly father.
Adam could not be like God,
Embracing various things at once, Ambition
And through Jesus death and resurrection we are brought back into relationship with God the way God intended it he as our creator father and us as his limited dependent human children. Our limitations far from being something to overcome actually remind us that we are not are own, but belong to our creator and redeemer.
Obscurity and greatness are not exclusive
Muual display
restless discontent