Transcendence of God - Josh

I didn't get this to you guys Friday, I'll try to get all the info I can find on this subject up before tonight so you can bring it tomorrow to the tournament. Copy it down on note cards so you have it then.

- Josh T., Creator

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Transcendence - Defined - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

R.C. Sproul tells us "transcendence means literally, 'to climb across'. It is defined as 'exceeding the usual limits'. When we speak of the transcendence of God we are talking about that sense in which God is above and beyond us. He is higher than the world. He has absolute power over the world. The world has no power over Him. Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness. He is an infinite cut above everything else."

[The Holiness of God p.55]
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Transcendence - Scripture - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

Isaiah was pointing to God's transcendence when he wrote,

To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [Isaiah 40:18-29]

And scripture records God's own testimony . . .

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. [Isaiah 55:8,9]

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Transcendence - Reasons - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

God is transcendent for many reasons.

First, Jesus tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24). God is not limited by time and space. He is not bound by a body. We are created in God's image . . . We are fashioned according to His plan . . . and we have characteristics that reflect some of God's own (intelligence, compassion, a spiritual essence), but God does not have hands, feet, a body, and is not confined to a time and space continuum. God is not like us. He is Spirit.

God is Self-Existent. Everything we hear, taste, smell or touch comes from something. Anything we observe must have a cause adequate to explain it. This idea of cause and effect is even the basis some non-believers use for their belief in a "Supreme Being". They infer him from the idea of cause and effect. They see order in a universe and conclude there must be one who established the order. Sometimes you will hear people ask, "Well, who made God?" The answer is "No one". In fact, if something or someone made God then that something or someone would be more God than God!!

Third, we see God's transcendence in the fact that He is self-sufficient. God has no needs and therefore He depends on no one. He does not need worshippers, he does not need helpers, he does not need defenders. God is sufficient in and of Himself.

Fourth we see God's transcendence in the fact that God is eternal. God has always been here. No one made God. He does not have a birthday. He is not limited by time. He has no beginning and no end. He does not change. He always has been . . . and always will be.

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Transcendence - Quote - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

"God's self-existence means that he is not answerable to us or to anybody. Although He sometimes explains things to us, he does not have to and often he does not. God does not have to explain himself to anybody."
James Boice

[Foundations of the Christian Faith p. 103]

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Transcendence - Why Does It Matter? - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

But you may be thinking, "Why should I care about this?" "What difference does it makee" Let me give you two reasons that this matters to us.

First, since God is transcendent it reminds us that we must describe God carefully. We make a mistake when we seek to "draw a picture of God." Inevitably we will diminish Him even though we have the best of intentions. We should not be surprised when words fail us when we try to describe God. Yes, we should talk about Him. Of course, we need to tell others about Him. But we must always do so with a quiet reverence that admits that God is so much bigger than our descriptions of Him.

Second, since God is transcendent it means we should worship Him passionately. God is unique, spectacular, the One before whom we should bow. Every time we come to worship. Every time we bow in prayer, every time we open His Word we should do so with a reverence that comes from the fact that He is above and beyond us. But we have lost some of this sense of wonder and awe.

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Transcendence - Quote - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

"You are ever active, yet always at rest. You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need. . . . You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain. You can be angry and yet serene. Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same. . .You welcome those who come to you, though you never lost them. You are never in need yet are glad to gain, never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts . . . You release us from our debts, but you lose nothing thereby. You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, but is this enough to say of you? Can any man say enough when he speaks of you? Yet woe betide those who are silent about you."
St. Augustine

[Confessions p. 21]
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Transcendence - Ways To Be Reminded - http://www.unionchurch.com/archive/061800.html

Ways to remind yourself of God's transcendence:

• Make it a point to pray when you get into your seat in worship
• Stop and ask God to help you every time you open His Word
• Adopt a posture of prayer when you pray at home
• Make times to intentionally sit in silent wonder before Him
• Consciously give the words of the hymn you are singing as an offering to the Lord
• When you place your check in the offering plate remind yourself that you are giving not to pay the bills, you are giving a gift in honor of the God who has changed your life in Christ.
• Be careful about how you talk about God . . . speak about Him with respect and honor.