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Welcome back to the Jesus Versus sermon series at Redemption Church. Hello to everyone watching & listening online. We are glad to be reaching you all the way from Plano Tx. Please remember to take a moment to give us a great rating on itunes, likes & comments on Youtube, or any other things that help us reach more people with the Gospel.
Happy Mother’s day!!! My Name is Chris Fluitt and I am so excited to be preaching about Jesus today. We do not a have a traditional mother’s day sermon tonight, but we honor our Mothers! Mother you are a gift of God. Thank you!
Jesus Vs
I want you to remember that you have a God who will fight for you. So let’s take some time to study how God fights for us, and at the same time play a fun game of “imagine if Jesus were to fight a well known Marvel villain.
Does anyone remember who Jesus fought in week 1?
Jesus Vs Thanos
Thanos! Last week we imagined the merciful savior Jesus Christ, vs the merciless mad Titan Thanos.
Although Thanos gained the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, he lost to a merciful Jesus who holds power over all 6 infinity stones. Jesus showed us the Mercy triumphs over judgment.
We are loved by a God of Mercy! God is merciful, even in judgment. He offers us all…
- A way of escape.
- Space for grace.
- Merciful correction.
God is merciful even in judgment
Today we are talking about a more obscure marvel comic-book character. As you saw in our introductory video, today’s character is The Watcher known as Uatu.
Uatu the Watcher
The Watchers are a race of fictional extraterrestrials appearing in Marvel Comics. The first watcher to appear is named Uatu, appearing in the 1963 Fantastic Four #13 comic. The purpose of the Watcher is to watch over the multiverses, but not to ever get involved.
The Watchers are among the oldest and most advanced beings in the cosmos. Eons ago, they sought to spread their knowledge to benefit the lesser races of the Universe. Their first attempt, on the planet Prosilicus, included sharing nuclear technology. When the Watchers returned to Prosilicus, they found the natives had all but destroyed themselves in a nuclear war. The Watchers blamed themselves for the catastrophe and vowed to never again meddle in the affairs of other races. Instead, they passively observe and record events for those who will come after the universe ends.
Among his recorded abilities are telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, astral projection, and clairovoyance. He can generate energy blasts and fire them from his hands or eyes. He can alter his appearance, growing in size or can impersonate others. Like all watchers he is virtually immortal.
Uatu is powerful. Just how powerful no one knows. No one has ever witnessed the fullness of his power.
Uatu is knowledgeable. Just how knowledgeable no one knows. No one has ever witnessed the fullness of his knowledge.
This makes me wonder what would happen in a battle of Jesus vs Uatu the Watcher.
Jesus Vs Uatu The Watecher
How would that battle play out? What do you think?
In the comic series Infinity Gauntlet, the universe almost come to an end. Thanos, with the power of the infinity gauntlet, wipes the floor with your favorite super heroes. Uatu the Watcher is present, but merely watches.
Then Thanos turns his attention to the strongest beings in the universe. In the Marvel universe there are god like cosmic entities. These are the strongest beings in the Marvel Universe…They make the Hulk look more like Bruce Banner… The watchers are among these powerful beings. Here is a quick synopsis of Thanos’ fight against these powerful cosmic beings.
2 Celestial beings throw planets at Thanos. The watcher witnesses their demise.
The mighty Chronos buries him in time, but Thanos’ time stone captures Chronos. The Watcher notices this..
Thanos is attacked by Master Order & Lord Chaos and for a brief moment they seem to divide the Titan to defeat. But then the Titan blasts them away. …Uatu just watches it happen.
Thanos then faces Galactus, the stranger, and eon at one time. The Watcher observes..
Eternity then is defeated by Thanos as he takes full control over all reality. Uatu the Watcher merely stands by and does nothing. He admits that Thanos is all powerful.
Cosmic being after cosmic being are defeated by Thanos and the Watcher is present… but simply watches.
The Watcher has amazing power. The watcher has impressive knowledge. Yet the watcher only watches…
Our battle of Jesus vs Uatu The Watcher is really a theological question of an Active God vs an Inactive God.
Active God vs Inactive God
The Watcher is an example of an inactive god. There are people who believe in the existence of God but believe God to be unknowable.
Deism is a belief that God created the world in brilliant scientific order. They believe the only way to be aware of God is through science & reason… They don’t believe God has given us any other way to be aware of Him.
Deists often use a “clockmaker” analogy – that God created the world, he put it all in place, he wound it up like an old alarm clock, and then he walked off and left his creation to run on its own.
This is a lot like the watcher. Powerful & knowledgeable, yet now only watches and is unknowable & inactive.
Agnosticism is a belief in only what is knowable. An agnostic does not exclude the possibility that a God created this world, but without proof they will not believe in God. Many Agnostics believe there could be a God but that God is unknowable & inactive.
There are even some Christians that make the mistake of believing God is no longer active…
Cessationists believe that God no operates by the Spirit. Cessationism is a belief that the gifts of the Spirit have ceased and God no longer is active in revelatory gifts like PROPHECY or in miraculous ways like HEALING. They believe that the Word of God is our only source of knowledge on God.
Cessationism forms a Watcher God, where the only way to know God is to read the writings of someone who knew God. It is a belief that although God is POWERFUL & KNOWLEDGEABLE, he is just standing by and watching.
Jesus vs Uatu the Watcher is really a question of God… Is He still active? Is He still knowable?
What good is power & knowledge if it stands by and simply watches evil happen?
In the case Uatu The Watcher, He watched Thanos forge the infinity gauntlet…
…He viewed Thanos violently gather the 6 infinity stones… He saw Thanos destroy half the universe…
…Uatu witnessed Thanos destroy the heroes of our Galaxy and then turn and defeat all cosmic entities.
Yet all Uatu did was watch. What good is his power if all He ever does is watch? What good is his knowledge if he remains silent?
One could make the argument, doing nothing in the face of evil is equally evil.
A pastor in Germany named Dietrich Bonhoeffer gives us this quote…
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless.
Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
Dietrich did not remain silent and died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
Dietrich’s powerful words echo the word of God.
Leviticus 5:1 (NIV2011) “‘If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.
Not speaking up is a sin!
James 4:17 (NIV2011) If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
Sin is not just WHAT YOU DO… sin is also WHAT YOU DO NOT DO.
Do Nothing Sinner
You can sin by doing nothing. We usually think of sin as something we do that is wrong… We can sin by doing nothing.
In Matthew 25 Jesus gives the “parable of the talents.” 3 servants are given money (talents) by the master. The one servant who is called wicked by the master, was the servant who did nothing with the money. He just buried the money in the ground… He did not do anything and was called wicked.
Does God stand by and watch evil happen?
What a big question that is! This question can be asked a lot of ways.
“Why do bad things happen to good people?”
“Why does a good God allow evil?”
This is a heavy question. I will try to briefly answer it, but by no means by our short answer are we making light of this question. People ask this question in the middle of deep pain…
- A child cries this question while their parents are fighting over a divorce.
- A husband wonders this as he carries his wife to the hospital for chemotherapy.
- You have wondered this as you say goodbye at a funeral.
- You ask this when you hear the terrible news of school shootings, suicide, and war…
God I am hurting… why am I hurting? God I am hurting… where are you? Are you just going to stand there and watch God… or are you going to do something?
No logical answer can touch an emotional hurting heart… but here is my best effort.
God allows evil…
There is no way around this fact. Now I do not agree that God created evil… God created only good things in the beginning, but in giving his creation FREE WILL they chose to not do good.
So why did God allow evil… The short answer is – If God did away with all evil, then you and I would not be here.
Romans 3:10 tells us that none of us are good (righteous). Jeremiah 17:9 says our hearts our lying & deceitful. Although we like to think we are good people… we have all lied, stolen, said and done hateful things… We are not good.
God in his mercy allows us to exist… He allows evil.. out of mercy. See last week’s sermon for more on mercy.
God does not just watch evil, He interacts with evil
As we said earlier – Doing nothing in the face of evil is a sin. God does not just stand by and watch like Uatu. God does not simply allow evil… He does something more shocking. He interacts with evil.
- God pleads
- God does not just allow evil… he pleads with the evil actor not to do the evil thing. We can see the physical evil being done, but what you cannot see is that God pleads with the person to not do the evil act.
- Over and over in God’s Word do we see God Plead with people to repent and to stop doing evil. (Jer 2:9 &35, Eze 17:20, 18:31-32, Eze 20:35-36, Rom 10:21)
Ezekiel 20:35-36 (KJV) And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.
- You
listen to me! God is pleading with you to not do the evil thing.
- He pleads with you to forgive and get rid of bitterness!
- He pleads with you to not destroy your relationships.
- He pleads with you to repent.
- He pleads with you to not harm yourself in your addiction.
- He pleads with you to not harm others.
God does not just watch evil happen! He interacts with evil. He pleads with us to STOP DOING EVIL!!!
- God
forgives & redeems
- If we listen to God he will forgive us & redeem us from evil.
1 John 1:9 (KJV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Ephesians 1:7 (NIV2011) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
- God doesn’t just watch… God forgives & redeems evil.
- God
will destroy evil
- God interacts with evil… God allows evil… God pleads with evil… God will forgive & redeem evil… HOWEVER God will not allow evil to continue.
- If
we do not interact with God there is a place where evil will not be
allowed to continue.
- The flood & hell are examples of God doing away with evil
- This same God who promises forgiveness & redemption also promises judgment…
Psalm 94:23 (NIV2011) He will repay them for their sins and destroy them for their wickedness; the Lord our God will destroy them.
And this is why He pleads with us.
2 Peter 3:9 (KJV) The Lord… not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God is not a do nothing sinner. Unlike The Watcher, the God of the Bible is present and active!
God is active
God actively hears every prayer.
1 John 5:14 (NIV2011) This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
God actively draws us to Himself.
John 6:44 (NIV2011) “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
God’s Word is active & alive!
Hebrews 4:12 (NIV2011) For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
When you actively love God… He actively does amazing things for you!
Psalm 91:14-16 (NIV2011) “Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”
I have got news for Uatu The Watcher – An active God beats an inactive God.
Jesus vs Uatu The Watcher
Let’s compare their power to heal.
Uatu has never healed anyone. He merely watches on as God heals…
God heals… He healed the Israelites bitten by poisonous snakes, he healed lepers -Miriam, Namaan, the 10 lepers healed by Jesus, the man with the withered hand, the nobleman’s son, Peter’s mother in law, the centurion’s servant, the widow’s son, the demoniac, the paralyzed man, the ruler’s dead daughter, the woman with the issue of blood, the man with the tied tongue, the blind men, the invalid at the pool of Bethesda, the deaf & mute man, the epileptic demon possessed boy, the man born blind from birth, the woman who had been afflicted for 18 years, a dead man named Lazarus raised, the soldier with the cut off ear, Tabitha raised from the dead, Paul raised from the dead, eutychus raised from the dead, Paul healed from the deadly viper…
God still heals! He is active! He has healed people in the room! If you need healing, call on Jesus!
Let’s compare their power to deliver.
God delivers… He delivered Noah and his family, Lot & his daughters, the 3 Hebrews boys from the fiery furnace, Daniel from the lion’s den, , David from a bear, a lion, a giant, & king saul, Elijah from Jezebel, Mordechai from Haman, Peter from Herod…
God delivered Israel from the Egyptians, Amelekites, Edomites, Amorites, Bashan, Canaanites, Syrians, Moabites, Ammonites, Midianites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans…
God still delivers. He can deliver you today! Right now He delivers!
Meanwhile Uatu The Watcher delivers no one. He only observes people who need deliverance.
musician
In every imaginable way Jesus defeats Uatu.
Jesus Wins
In a few moments I am going to invite you to come talk to a God who still delivers, heals, saves… He is still active.
He has never walked away from His creation. He will never leave or forsake us! (Hebrews 13:5)
His power has not diminished! Jesus is the same yesterday, the same, and forever! (Hebrews 13:8)
The same God who spoke Let there be light in the beginning… that same voice spoke truth on earth, forgave you on the cross, and speaks to us now!
The same God who with his hands formed Adam & Eve… those same hands reached down and wrote in the dirt to deliver the woman caught in the act of adultery, bore nails on the cross, and his hands reach us now!
God wants to interact with you today.