Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Attributes of God - The Jealousy of God

Episode Date: August 17, 2021

Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis: Attributes of GodIn this episode Jonny discusses the Jealousy of GodWatch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey guys, my name is Johnny Artavanis and this is Dial In. In this series, we're studying the attributes of God. And in this episode, we are going to consider God's jealousy. Let's dial in. Maybe you have done a study on or have seen a poster of the names of God. It's a worthy study because biblical names are not just titles. They define in detail someone's character, and that's how it is with God. God's names are representative of God's nature, how he operates, what he does. And here are some of those names

that we see throughout scripture. God is El Shaddai, which means he is almighty, or Jehovah Rapha, which means he is the God who heals. Or in Genesis 16, we see that God is El Roy, the God who sees, or Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides, or Jehovah Shalom, the Lord who is our peace. And there are a number of other names of God that are known to us and highlighted throughout the scripture. But there is another name of God that you don't often hear of. It's not often sung about in church. It's often left off posters or books that detail the names and nature of God. And we see this name in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus.

In Exodus 34, we're going to see the last name that God, that Yahweh, gives to Moses. He has given his covenant commands, and he is going to show how important it is to keep those commands. In Exodus 34, verse 12, God says, going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their asherim, for you shall not worship any other gods. Pause here. God is about to give the reason for that command, why they are to worship no other God. Now think with me of all the reasons that God could have given for that command. He could have said, because if you worship other gods, you will get sexually transmitted diseases, which would have been true. Or he could have said, because those other gods won't satisfy you, which also would have been true.

Or he could have said, it will destroy the nation, which would have been true as well. But look what God says. Here's the reason why you should worship no other gods, Israel. He says, for Yahweh, speaking of himself, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God. God says, I am jealous, and my name is Elkanah. Call me that. Make that my name. When you think about who I am, think about my jealousy so intensely that you call me Elkanah. We know, don't we, that names are more than mere titles. They give us the sum and substance of who they represent. And God is a jealous God. And he says, my name is jealous. Before we begin, how do we define God's jealousy? Well, human jealousy is often described as a feeling of resentment against someone because

of that person's success or advantages or achievements. It is characterized by a suspicious fear or envious resentment. But God's jealousy is so different than that. God's jealousy is his constant aim to promote and proclaim his own honor, glory, and love, and his commitment to operate with justice towards those who stand in opposition to his supremacy. One writer says that God's jealousy is his righteous and loving demand of exclusive faithfulness from his covenant people. As James Montgomery Boyce rightfully says, he says, rightly understood, the idea of jealousy is central to any true concept of God. God is not jealous because he

takes a petty dislike to certain individuals and then gets ticked off at their achievements because he is frustrated or confused with his position in the universe. The modern world teaches us that jealousy is a petty and pathetic vindictive emotion that is married to insecurity and hypersensitivity. But God's jealousy is his aim to maintain exclusive favor from his people and honor and glory for himself. It is a zeal to maintain relational faithfulness. And despite your confusion or aversion to this attribute of God or even my own, we must not reject or neglect this important aspect of God's

character. The jealousy of God is an attribute that pervades the pages of scripture and is an essential part of God's covenantal love. There are three main ways that I'll focus on where God expresses his jealousy. Number one, God is jealous for his own glory. God is not the mayor of a small village. He is the great king of the entire universe. Throughout the scripture, like in Isaiah chapter 44, chapter 45, and chapter 46, we see a theme proclaimed by God. I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is none like me. God is all about his own glory, and something in you, if you're a Christian, knows that this is right. Sometimes when I'm running camp during the summer,

it'll be one of the students' birthdays or the youth pastor's birthdays, and I'll bring them up on stage and in front of 1,000 people in the chapel, I'll sing happy birthday to them. And for the person who is celebrating their birthday, this is somewhat of an awkward 45 seconds. What do you do when you're center stage and everyone else is singing to you?

Do you sing along with them and clap along with them or shrug your shoulders in like a stop it guys. Thanks so much. Wave your hands. Type away. Let's be done. Haha. Thank you guys.

We like when people are self-deprecating and modest when they dismiss the attention that is being directed towards them. And in our human minds, we may want or think that God would respond in a similar way when we say, you, Lord, deserve all the glory. And we think that God will respond and say, ah, gee, thanks, guys. Come on. It's okay. It's okay. But no, in the Bible, we find a God who doesn't say, ah, shucks, thanks guys. No, he says louder for the people in the back, get the megaphone, get the microphone, plug in the speakers, spend your time, talents and treasures proclaiming this.

I am glorious and that there is no one like me. God is jealous for his own glory. And God wants us, wants you to know that there are none like him. Psalm 86, among the gods there is none like you, Lord. Psalm 96, great is the Lord. He is to be feared above all gods. Psalm 97, worship him, all you gods, for you, Lord, are the most high over all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. It is perhaps one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this sentence. While God is a God of great forgiveness, he is not indifferent to whether or not you truly live for his glory. Even atheists realize that human beings being a place where glory terminates is wrong.

There is room for one glory in the universe. And the moment we glorify ourselves, we set ourselves up as rivals to God. You may be heartless about God's glory, but God is not. God is not cold or callous to the prospect of you living completely for him. God loves God. He burns with red hot passion for his own glory. He takes to heart his own glory and he is jealous for his glory. Number two, God is jealous for the faithfulness of his people. God is not a loving husband to his people if he tolerates their harlotry. All genuine love is jealous of the affection of their lover. God does not tolerate any cheating or any alienation of affections from his beloved.

He demands that his bride has eyes for no one else. I want you to imagine with me a husband or a wife who finds out that their spouse, their beloved, is living unfaithfully to them. And then after hearing the news of repeated adultery and unfaithfulness, the husband responds by saying, or by yawning or by shrugging his shoulders. No big deal, he says. Would you doubt the husband's love? I would.

Yes, because genuine love, real love is jealous love. God is jealous for the love of his people, and he demands the fidelity of his people because he loves them, but not only because he loves them, but because he is most glorified when they give to him the honor that belongs to him alone. One writer says that God is jealous for the devotion of his people because he has the loving heart of a father, but ultimately because he desires to protect the honor of his name. If he did not care when we love idols more than him, he would allow himself to be dishonored and let us settle for so much less

than he intends for us to have from this life. So when God tells us that he is jealous, he means that he demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed complete loyalty and allegiance and will come after his people if they betray his love by unfaithfulness. There is encouragement here. God is jealous for us because he loves us. Where there is no love, there is no jealousy of affection. We see this idea in Exodus 20 verses five and six, where God says, you shall not bow down to other gods or serve them for I, the Lord, your God am a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who

love and keep my commandments. In Deuteronomy 4, Moses is preparing a new generation of Israelites to enter the promised land after his death. He pleads with them not to forget the covenant that they have made with the Lord their God by making any sort of idol or graven image. And he says the reason for that is because the Lord your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God. Charles Spurgeon says men cannot be God's favorites without being the subjects of his watchfulness and jealousy. As a husband is jealous for his bride, so is God jealous for his people. God doesn't allow for any side relationships. He wants all of his people because he loves his people and he redeems his people. He tells them, you are not your own and no idols of gold or stone and no idols of the heart. Yahweh allows for no room for

any false gods. And for us to think about idols and false gods, there is no need for any of us to travel to the plains of Africa or to Papua New Guinea. There are many idols and false gods amongst us today in our own hearts, our finances, our success, our goals, our dreams, our relationships, our charms, and our comforts. We take these good things and we make them ultimate things, and they quickly become idols in our life. And God says, no, I am jealous for my people. And thirdly, God is jealous

for your love. James chapter four, verse five says, or do you think the scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell within us. Giving honor to God is not a set of motions that we pass, but a condition of the heart. There are a number of times in scripture, as we see with the prophet Malachi or with the church in Ephesus and the book of Revelation, where we see the people of God and the motions are there and the performance is there, but their hearts are not. Half-hearted exercises. As a loving husband doesn't want his wife just to admit that they love him without any sort of true affection. God is also disinterested in mere performance or a mere claim. He wants total allegiance and affection from you. God doesn't

want your half-hearted emotions. He wants your heart. If you're a Christian, did he not choose you? Spurgeon asks, did he not buy you with his own blood? He cannot endure the thought that you should think of your own life as your own or that you belong to this world. He would sooner die than that you would perish. He stripped himself to nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty. He bowed his face to himself to nakedness that he might clothe you with beauty. He bowed his face to shame and spitting that he might lift you up to honor and glory. And he cannot endure the thought that you would love the world and the things of the world rather than him. God is jealous for you. He is jealous over the human spirits that he has created and

placed within us. God is jealous for our love, our wholehearted devotion to him. It's not just what he deserves and demands. It is something that he wants. He wants our affection. God has absolutely no room for open relationships. We see godly jealousy exampled for us most clearly and vividly through the life of Jesus Christ. In John 2, Jesus clears the temple and then his disciples recognize this attitude as the same one that drove King David. They recalled his words from Psalm 69 after Jesus had driven everyone out. And in John 2, 17, it says, his disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. Jesus is indeed gracious and loving, but his grace and love are ultimately driven by a passion and zeal for God's glory. His jealous love caused him to hate sin and all that

dishonors God so much that he gave his life to vanquish evil and idolatry once and for all. As Christians, we are to imitate Jesus this way by living completely for God's glory and honor, to have the same type of jealousy for God's glory as God does, to be consumed with it. It is possible for us as Christians to provoke the jealousy of God. And we can evaluate if we are provoking God to jealousy by asking ourselves these six simple questions. Number one, do I delight, find joy, and find satisfaction in something or someone else more than Jesus Christ? If I do, I am provoking God to jealousy. Number two, do I long for rich and intimate fellowship with God my Father?

If not, I am provoking God to jealousy. Number three, do I easily give in to sin and temptation? If I do, I am provoking God to jealousy. Number four, is my relationship with the church something that I nominally attend rather than being wholeheartedly devoted and committed to the people of God? If I view it as mere attendance, I am provoking the jealousy of God who loves his people. Number five, do I view obedience as a limitation to my happiness rather than as an expression of God's love to me? If I do, I am provoking the jealousy of God. And number six, do I tolerate, enjoy, and participate and laugh at the things

that Jesus Christ came to die for? If I do, I am provoking the jealousy of God. Now you may be asking, how can I cultivate within my own heart a jealous love for a jealous God. And of yourselves, think about it. Are you able to turn on this white, hot heat for God? Do you have it in you? Do you have the natural resources in your heart to turn it on, to ignite it? The answer is no. You don't have a spark or a flame. You don't have a little bit of life in your heart. There is a certain sense that what God asks of us is impossible in of ourselves. And that's why the new covenant doesn't just give us commandments, but it gives us a heart to know him, not just the rewards for obedience, but a heart that longs for obedience and a heart that lives jealously for a jealous God. We can pray like David

that God will grant us more of a heart like God or like Phineas in the book of Numbers who was consumed with the glory of God. I pray that we all are. Stay dialed in.