Sinclair Ferguson

Don't do that.

Remember the family name that's been placed on you and live as a member of the family of God.

I wonder what you would say was the most important question a Christian can ask.

Maybe there's no single right answer to that question.

Certainly some philosophers have thought that the most important question is, why is there something there and not nothing?

And that's a great question to ask people, isn't it?

It gives you the opportunity to point out that answers like the Big Bang or evolution can't possibly be right.

Even if there were a Big Bang at the beginning of the cosmos, and even if things did evolve, neither Big Bangs nor things evolving come from nothing.

And nothing is no thing.

Nothing.

I'm sure you know the wise old Latin adage, ex nihilo nihil fit, nothing comes from nothing.

That's exactly right.

But for the Christian, as someone who believes in God and trusts God, perhaps the most important question is, what is God really like?

I'd like to think with you this week about that question.

And perhaps we should begin with a negative.

No, I don't mean what is sometimes called negative theology or describing God by saying what he isn't, what the theologians call apophatic theology or the via negativa.

The negative I'm thinking about is that the answer to the questions, what is God like and who is God, should never begin with the words, well, the way I like to think about God is,

Not to put too fine a point on it, how I like to think about God isn't really a relevant factor when it comes to the question, what is God actually like?

God isn't the result of what I like or don't like to think.

He isn't in the business of saying, if that's the way you'd like me to be, well, of course I'll become like that.