Jan. 19, 2025

God Has Feelings (BTS, 19 Jan 25)

Introduction - This is part of a loose series of messages on the theme of loving God.  Today, I hope to communicate a point that I am learning myself, that is, God actually has feelings.  I’m sure there are many other people who feel much like I have for years, that God is a big, powerful, self-sufficient person.  He is all-powerful, present everywhere, and all-knowing.  Surely, He does not need anything from me.  What could I possibly give to the Almighty? Since there is nothing I can really give Him, I concluded throughout my years that the best I could do was what He seemed to be demanding from the Israelites: obedience and service. Pray hard, serve hard, do the mission.  Let’s consider you for a moment.  You have feelings, don’t you?  Even though we are born in sin, not all of our feelings are sinful.  We should consider that we are made in the image of God:

Genesis 1:27 So God created human beings in his own image.In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. NLT

This must have included something we call fellowship, because God walked in the Garden of Eden and sought Adam and Eve out, calling to them to ascertain their whereabouts.  

Genesis 3:8-10  8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees. 9 Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

Adam and Eve had chosen to disobey God, not trusting His only command to them, and ate from the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This was a grave breach of trust and therefore a form of adultery, in which they chose to believe Satan’s lies over God’s loving, protective Word.  It would be similar to a boyfriend or girlfriend displaying disloyalty by demonstrating affection for another partner.  This was a very grievous wounding of God’s Spirit, one he later said (Genesis 6:6) broke His heart.  

All of us have a complex mixture of feelings, much more complex than the animals and all of the rest of creation, because we are made to be small copies of God Himself.  We all have needs for approval, acceptance, comfort, encouragement, companionship, praise, admiration, etc.  Every single one of us has these and similar needs because God has them also!  He made us (minus the sin nature) to be copies of Him.  It is a certainty that He has all the needs we have.  

Life under the Mosaic Covenant

The Israelites lived out a life under an agreement which God made with them called the Mosaic Covenant. It was temporary, and depended on two people keeping their agreed upon responsibilities.  God said He would bless the Israelites if they obeyed Him.  If they didn’t, they would be cursed.  It was not a bad covenant, but one which required a lot of obedience to detailed laws (animal sacrifices, ritual purity, dietary restrictions).  They were to be God’s light to other sinful populations around them. If they did well, dramatic victories and miracles dazzled the other sinful nations.  The Mosaic Covenant only lasted until the coming of the promised “seed” (Jesus) who then replaced the Mosaic Covenant with the New Covenant, which became available to all people everywhere.  The lessons taught to the nation of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant were like tutorials to demonstrate basic relational rules for dealing with God: Be faithful to Him, put Him first, and you’ll be blessed.  Spend time serving another God and you’ll be punished.  As He said very simply:

Deuteronomy 6:14-15  14 “You must not worship any of the gods of neighboring nations, 15 for the LORD your God, who lives among you, is a jealous God. His anger will flare up against you, and he will wipe you from the face of the earth.  NLT

In these verses, God is telling us He gets jealous when an adulterous suitor seduces His people to follow him.  He gets angry when His beloved children are seduced by another.  We, likewise, have occasions when we should be angry (perverse parties seeking to introduce moral sin or foolishness in a school district or city, for example).  It should motivate us to go, become part of the school board or council, and use our power to preserve righteousness.  In this verse, God is pleased with His Son, Jesus.  It tells us that God gets happy about some things:

Matthew 12:18 18 “Look at my Servant, whom I have chosen.He is my Beloved, who pleases me. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not fight or shout or raise his voice in public. 20 He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious. 21 And his name will be the hope of all the world.” NLT

Life Under the New Covenant

The New covenant is often spoken of as being better than the Old (meaning usually the Mosaic Covenant).  The thing that changed was the massive injection of love in the form of God giving up His Son as a permanent cure for the sin of man.  When we see how sinful we all are, we really start to understand God’s love toward us.  We then are able to start loving Him in the full depth He yearns for.  Here’s a principle which is a starting point for all of us: 

Luke 7:36-48 36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. 37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. 38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. 39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” 40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. 41Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. 42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.” “That’s right,” Jesus said. 44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume. 47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

There is probably a good reason why this account is in the Bible.  It probably a very widespread need.  Most Christians are decent, law abiding people whose lives are in good order.  Few are smitten with sorrow over recent crimes or failures.  It is easy to look past our hopeless sin nature and assume we’re   

1 John 4:9-17 9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. 13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.  NLT

Conclusion:  Since we know that God has feelings, Lets start supplying them.  Jesus is not walking the earth so we don’t have the opportunity to wash His feet or anoint His head, but we do have the opportunity to love each other and to worship together.  Maybe what we’re talking about this morning will be a key in your life, like it is becoming a key in mine, to take on the “easy yoke” and "light burden” which Jesus talked about:

Matthew 11:28-30 28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”  NLT