God Is Infinite

Today it is my pleasure to kick off a new message series we’re calling “God is. . . .” Some of you may feel a little disappointed at going from such a practical series as “Anxious for Nothing” to one some of you might expect to be dry and boring.

I understand any apprehension you may have. I’ll be using some big words from theology (the study of God) like “omnipotence” and “omniscience,” and maybe your eyes will start to glaze over and you’ll feel like this might go over your head or be a waste of your time.

However, I promise this series won’t be dry and disconnected from the life you’re living. My goal with this series is to teach you things about God that I hope will help you understand your life better. I want you to understand God better and grow in your love and worship of Him as you get to KNOW Him more intimately.

That’s how relationships work, right? Those of you who have been married for many decades may understand this best. I often hear that through the years and with the ever-increasing knowledge of each other, a couple’s love grows. You know exactly how your spouse will react to a picture of a puppy or an invitation to a big formal event. Each one knows what makes the other happy and what makes them angry. (I hope you provide far more happy occasions for your spouse than incidents that provoke anger.)

Here’s my point – we inherently understand that building a strong relationship with another person means learning about them. We need to know what they like and don’t like, how they act, and who they truly are. However, we then turn around and think that studying God in a similar way will be boring and impractical for our daily lives. I hope this series will show you the importance of learning about God so you can ultimately KNOW Him more fully.

Your goal as a follower of Jesus should be to know God more every day, but the goal isn’t to simply know ABOUT Him. It is to truly KNOW Him. Knowing about God means knowing the facts, the doctrines of God and the big words we associate with God. I agree with you – if that’s all we talked about in the series, that WOULD be really boring. However, the fact is, you do need to know more ABOUT God to begin to KNOW GOD more. Mastering the doctrine of God is a terrible finish line for your faith, but it is a useful path to take you to your goal of knowing God intimately.

I’ll use my marriage as an example. If my whole goal as a husband was to know ABOUT Michelle, I could easily do that. She’s 5’7”with brown hair and brown eyes, and she loves Snickers, ice cream, and Diet Coke (though not necessarily all at once). I know where she grew up, where she has worked, who her friends are, and what type of flowers she loves.

My knowing all this information ABOUT my wife doesn’t mean our relationship is strong; but I can use this information ABOUT her to help me build a strong and loving relationship WITH her. Using what I know ABOUT her has taught me that when I upset her, I can help myself by bringing  home a Diet Coke and a Snickers bar. All this information helps me navigate our relationship and try to do things that bring us closer

The same can be said of our relationship to God. Knowing God Better Allows Us To Love God More. Additionally, the closer we grow to God, the more excited we will be to worship Him, to serve Him, and to give our whole lives to the things that most please Him. People don’t give up their lives for the desires of a stranger, but we might give our lives completely to God as we understand more about Him. He is the almighty, all-knowing, majestic King of the Universe who, in spite of His splendor and greatness, chooses to know each one of us personally and intimately.

So that’s the series we begin today. Today we kick off this journey of helping you grow in your knowledge ABOUT God so you can grow in your love FOR God as we see that God is infinite.

Imagine Infinity

Most of you have some idea of what “infinity” means. Children learn pretty early that “infinity” is the biggest number ever and no number can ever be bigger (even though the smarty-pants in the group always says, “Infinity plus one.”)

I want to give us a better definition than that. If something is infinite, it is limitless or endless in space, extent, time, or size. It cannot be measured or calculated. It is without any end. Since it is limitless, it is unimaginable for our human minds. We are finite creatures who struggle to understand the infinite. If we feel that we can finally wrap our minds around what it means to be infinite, then we have defined infinity in some way – boxed it in – limited it. By definition, we know our minds actually can never fully grasp what “infinity” means.

We can, however, experience the infinite. That’s what the apostle Paul tries to teach the church at Ephesus about the incomprehensible love of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19 – ^17”And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ ¹⁹and to know his love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Do you see how Paul says the love of God surpasses our knowledge, yet prays that the Ephesians would still somehow grasp the love of Christ? It seems contradictory, but I believe he’s communicating the same thing I said earlier: we might never be able to fully understand God, but we can try our best, given our very limited understanding.

By trying to know God better, we have the hope of experiencing His great love. While it’s true that God’s infinite nature makes it impossible for us to fully know and comprehend Him, we can still know Him as far as He has revealed himself to us. I want to look at the ways God has allowed His infinite nature to be described to us in various passages throughout scripture.

The Omnis

Omnipotent

I want to begin where the entire story begins, in Genesis 1:1 –

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

We see here that the very first thing God communicates to His people about himself is that HE is the creator of all. He is the one behind the heavens and the earth. He is the one with POWER and AUTHORITY to speak creation into existence.

And here’s a verse from the Psalms, a song God’s people would have memorized.

Psalm 135:5-6 – ⁵I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. ⁶The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.

Again, we see here a picture of God as greater than ALL gods – supreme over every other thing people might have thought was supreme. He is described as able to do whatever He wants. Absolutely anything, anywhere He wants.

These verses, combined with countless other verses and stories in the Bible, lead us to the conclusion that God is ALL-POWERFUL. The fancy doctrine for this is called “Omnipotence.” “Omni” means “all”’ and “potence” means “power.” As Christians we believe that God has the power to do absolutely anything He desires.

Omniscient

Let’s look at the next way God is infinite.

Psalm 147:5 – Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

In the New Testament, the apostle John writes:

1 John 3:20 – If our hearts condemns us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Do you see the common idea here that God has limitless knowledge? The way He thinks and comprehends is beyond our ability to understand. That’s exactly how the prophet Isaiah explained it:

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

This tells us that God is REALLY smart! In fact, He knows everything. EVERYTHING! Another way of saying this is that God is ALL-KNOWING – omniscient.

God created a world in perfect balance between gravitational forces and the pull of electrons in atoms. In His infinite wisdom, He created a universe in which He placed the earth the perfect distance from the sun for us to enjoy the seasons and survive all the extremes.  God also knows what you’re thinking even when you don’t say it out loud. He knows your future; He knows your past; He knows how you will respond to any situation; and He uses all this to move you where He wants you.

Omnipresent

Now we come to the last aspect of God’s infinite character. King David wrote about this in one of his psalms:

David describes God as being everywhere! There is no place David can go to hide from God. No matter where David is, God is right there with him. If you’re in sin, that’s a scary thought, but when you’re facing the trials of life, it’s a wonderful promise.

Not only is God everywhere across space, but He is also everywhere across time.

Revelation 1:8 – “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

These are just two passages that describe God’s infinite character, but they paint the picture of a God who is not limited by location or time. He can be equally in Asia and in Iowa; and He can be in the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the garden in your backyard all at the same time.

This doctrine of God’s limitless presence is called Omnipresence. He is EVER-PRESENT to all people in all places at all times.

Implications of the Omnis

Now that we have completed a brief lesson on the infinite nature of God, this is where the theology of God (studying who God is) makes a difference in how we relate to Him. There are countless application points I could make at this juncture, but to follow the workings of these doctrines, let’s look at prayer.

• When you pray silently in your mind, never speaking a word out loud, you are depending on God’s Omniscience to know your thoughts.
• And you’re relying on His Omnipresence to be with you and hear you.
• And as you ask God to actually do something on your behalf, you are counting on His Omnipotence to meet your need.

Another important outworking of God’s infinite nature is recognizing that God’s infinite qualities give Him a perspective on this life that is different from and superior to ours.

God’s Omniscience means He knows what’s best, even when His methods seem unjust or illogical. From His Omnipresence He sees time differently than we do. When we feel like He has left us in a terrible situation and is unfair and unloving, we would be better off sitting quietly and trusting Him. When we complain, we act like teenagers telling their parents they are SO STUPID. (Really, who is typically the “stupid” one in that conversation?)

The final consequence of God’s infinite nature I want to discuss is that this character trait separates all of creation from God. God is infinite. All else is finite; so nothing can compare.

The chasm between the Creator and His creation is impossible for us to comprehend. Take a mental step back and try to think about what it means that God is limitless, boundless, and beyond being understood by our human minds. He knows everything and everyone through all time, from beginning to end. As we let that sink into our tiny, finite minds, we realize that there truly is NONE like God!

Many of the attributes of God we will look at in future weeks are traits we are to emulate. However, the fact that God is infinite is not something we created, finite beings can copy. We may try. Like the people who began building the tower of Babel to reach God, humans now try to capture all the wisdom of the world through AI. As humanity, we are seeking omniscience, but we will never achieve the wisdom and knowledge God holds.

Now, as we grasp the fact that we will never match God’s infinite nature, we can begin to see the majesty of God. This is another word we don’t use often, but it means supreme greatness or authority. Nothing is as good. Nothing compares. Nothing is of any kind of value compared to God. In fact, mathematically, if God is infinity, then anything we compare with Him is zero. No matter how significant the item or person you compare to God, it is a big fat zero when compared with His greatness and majesty.

Our Response

This leads us to our response to today’s message. I don’t care whether you walk out of here remembering the three “Omni” words I taught you. What I DO want you to understand when you walk out of here is the incredible greatness of God.

It is with this right understanding of God – when we don’t box Him in by our tiny, preconceived notions – that we can stand in awe and reverence for a God so supreme He really has no obligation to care about any single person on this planet. Yet, for some reason, He DOES care! He knows you. He cares about you. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows what you like, what you don’t like, what you hope for, and what you most fear; and He wants you to know Him personally and intimately.

When we realize that a God so great, so powerful, and so majestic actually LOVES us and cares about us, we can respond in only one way – with worship. That’s what the Israelites did back during King David’s time. Very often in the Psalms (the hymn book for the Israelites) the people sang ABOUT God’s nature and then worshiped Him because of that nature. These Psalms weren’t just dry doctrinal statements ABOUT GOD; they came from hearts full of worship TO Him. Take a look:

Psalm 139:13-14 (David) – ¹³For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Conclusion

I hope that today I have left you with a humble perspective of your finite existence compared to the infinite and matchless power of God. Rather than making you feel like a nobody, I want to help you respond with a passion to praise God for His infinite character.

There are many parts of your relationship with God you take for granted without recognizing that these things come to you because of God’s infinite qualities. The fact that you pray, and do so quietly, is proof that you believe God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present.

These are the qualities of God that make Him wholly other and wholly supreme. He is better than and above everything else in the world. The sooner you understand that and worship Him for it, the sooner life will start to make more sense for you.

The Lord God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, is great and worthy to be praised with every breath and every moment of our lives. Let’s choose to live a life of worship as we try to understand the incredible, infinite nature of the God who holds the whole world in His hands.