Text: Psalm 119:81–88, Jer. 23:16–29, Heb.12:1–3, Luke 12:49–53
Theme: “Is God big enough? – 3: For our present”
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Intr – Right now. Those two words carry so much weight, don’t they? Right now there’s the difficult conversation you’re avoiding. Right now there’s the diagnosis you’re processing. Right now there’s the relationship that’s falling apart. Unlike past regrets or future fears, present problems demand an immediate response. They won’t wait.
And in these “right now” moments, we often experience God as strangely absent. When the crisis hits, when the pressure mounts, when we need Him most – where is He? Present struggles make us question God’s goodness or His power. We want comfort; sometimes God brings fire, as Jesus says in Luke 12:49.
So the question becomes urgent: Is God big enough for our present?
When God Becomes Too Small for Our Present (SLIDE 1)
Yes, we want to live in the moment. This is the time in which we are living and in which we are called to make the most of God’s gifts in our life. But in the fray of daily life, in the difficulties the we ourselves and others cause to us. In the sterility of a world that less and less baptized and more and more bot-tized, we may fall in the trap of doubt: Is God big enough? Is he even here?
When is God not big enough for our present? Let me tell you – it’s not because God has shrunk. It’s because we’ve made Him small.
We make God small when we reduce Him to our limited human concepts, expectations, and moral standards. We shrink God down to the size of our understanding, designing a deity we can predict and control. Think about this small sentence we use daily that may present a trap to our faith: “yeah, that makes sense to me”. And then we accept it. If we look closely we are trying to make everything fit in our capacity of processing it. Including God and his teachings and his promises. But when God fits in my mind… I am God. And God can’t do anything beyond what my mind can conceive.
We make God small when we derail from what He has revealed. Once a prominent televangelist said, “When you go to church, it’s for yourself, not for God, because he doesn’t need it.” This sounds spiritual, but it’s packaging God into human concepts rather than seeking His divine teaching. This and many other examples show that when we disconnect teaching from the Word, God won’t big enough anymore for our spiritual needs.
We make God small when we would only accept “yes” as answer. Are we prepared for a God who says no? Or does He become small when He denies our desires?
Think about it this way: What if a five-year-old evaluated their parents’ financial decisions? “Mom, why did you spend money on that weird insurance thing instead of more toys?” The child’s perspective is limited by their understanding. This is exactly how we act when we try to measure God’s will and actions according to our perception.
In the OT reading today, Jeremiah addresses people who make God small by fitting Him into their own understanding. The false prophets speak “visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.” But God’s word is “like fire” and “like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.”
God IS Great Enough for Our Present (SLIDE 2)
Here’s what we miss: God isn’t absent in your struggle; He’s present in the refining. When we look at 12:49, we see Jesus bringing fire—but not destruction but purification. The Psalmist cries out honestly: “My soul faints with longing for your salvation” and “How long must your servant wait?” This is the raw honesty of present suffering while maintaining hope in God’s bigger plan.
This is how we know that God is great enough, and more than enough. When we turn to the word and learn that:
He’s great enough to meet your external needs. Matthew 6 reminds us that God is sufficient for all physical and earthly needs. He rules through what we call the left-hand kingdom – His governance of the world – providing for our daily bread.
He’s great enough to renew your mind. Romans 12 tells us we don’t have to conform to our age. God can transform how you think about your present circumstances.
He’s great enough to give you identity through Baptism. Your worth isn’t determined by your present struggles.
He’s great enough to love you deeply. This is the Second Article of our faith – Jesus. God’s greatness is most evident in His love for us, demonstrated on the cross.
He’s great enough to inspire you to love others. When do you feel great? When you feel loved. God’s love makes us great enough to love others in their present struggles too.
Think of it like a musical scale. Just like the simple seven notes can create endless compositions in the hands of geniuses like Bach and Mozart, God, who fits into our hearts, has a love and care that is never exhausted.
(SLIDE 3)Living in the Moment?
With all our talk about living in the present, I wanted to take the occasion to tackle a saying you[ve heard a thousand times already: “The past is gone, the future is not here yet, so you should live in the moment.” There’s good intention in this saying, but there are problems with it and I explain why:
(SLIDE 4)First, the past is not just about bad stuff. The past is what brought us here – family, tradition, church, teaching. If you don’t have a past, you don’t have a future. For us Christians, that’s crucial. Our Master and Saviour started his ministry at what age? Thirty. It is the solid past that grounds us in the present. And every time you doubt it, especially when the present seems dull, unfulfilling or that your are stuck, remember this video: (Video 1)
(SLIDE 5)Second, the future is not just about anxiety and control. For us Christians, we walk today with our eyes on tomorrow – on eternal life. We know that we walk with our heads lifted and we know where we are going.(SLIDE 6)
Thinking about the present, I remember what came along with the “live in the moment” mantra: (SLIDE 7) Internet addiction. Do you know where the present is extended to last indefinitely? On your phone, on your computer. You go from one website to the next, from one video to the other, and the present never ends. It’s an artificial, endless now that keeps us from dealing with real life. In many occasions, this is not a good present to live in.
Therefore, what we want to do is to live with in the Present bookended by the past as Foundation and the Future as Destination. We want to live in God’s present.
Living in God’s Present (SLIDE 8)
Paul writes in Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” But when can dying become gain? Only when living is Christ!
That’s why Jesus is so fierce in the Gospel today. There’s no middle or neutral ground. His Word divides faith and faithlessness, salvation and condemnation, life eternal and eternal death.
So what do we need for our present? (Slide 9)Grounding – that comes from the past. Purpose – that comes from looking to the future. Living our faith in love – that comes from seeing the present time as a gift of God. God is big enough for your present – all of it. The difficult conversation, the diagnosis, the broken relationship. He’s the God who entered into human flesh, who suffered on a cross, who rose from the dead. That’s a God big enough for whatever you’re facing right now.
As a final thought to these series, we remember that all your tomorrows begin today. This is how we want to live our present: With the past as foundation and the future as destination. But what happens when God’s agenda doesn’t match ours? When the plans we had and the dreams we dreamed don’t seem to be the same as God’s?
Then, we have another now moment. A moment to be reminded that walking with our good Shepherd is the one who walks with us. In every season in life, through every single day, (SLIDE 10) He leads in the present, leading us to the future that has no end.
Conclusion: “He leads us”- Video
