SIGNS OF DIVINITY: The Sign of Divine Authority

Some reasons that employees have given for missing work:

I ate cat food instead of tuna and am deathly ill. 

 
Someone glued my doors and windows shut so I can’t leave the house to come to work. 

My false teeth flew out the window while I was driving down the highway. 

I am experiencing traumatic stress from a large spider found in my home, and I have to stay home to deal with it. 

I have a headache after going to too many garage sales. 

I have to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the Homeowners’ Association. 

I woke up in a good mood and don’t want to ruin it. 

 

What are some reasons that you have heard of that people give for not choosing to get physically, emotionally, or spiritually well? 

When people assume Divine compassion and power is limited the same as humanity’s, they give excuses for their conditions rather than trust Divine authority to accomplish the supernatural. Consequently, they might miss Divine compassion and power in action. In this Rewind we look at a sign of Jesus' authority that shows that Jesus works in a way that goes beyond our expectations.  We look at Jesus' visit to the pool of Bethesda and see an example that challenges us to evaluate whether we have legitimate reasons or merely excuses for our conditions. 

We all make assumptions every day...we assume that people will drive carefully; we assume that the food we are served was healthfully prepared. We also make assumptions about how Divinity works. We assume we know how, but this episode with Jesus paints a far better and more accurate picture of how God works.

SIGNS OF DIVINITY: The Sign of Divine Glory

When you see a sign do you tend to believe it or to ignore it?  For example, "slippery when wet" or "caution wet floor" sign. The result of ignoring signs often results in adverse consequences. This eight session study titled Signs of Divinity looks at the signs of Divinity to which the Gospel of John points.

Let’s start by looking at two things.  The word divine is derived from an ancient word root dyeu meaning to shine.  And the word glory is from a Hebrew word meaning brightness, splendor, magnificence, and majesty of outward appearance. 

The glory that WE bring to our own lives is a flawed glory.  When we "shine the spotlight" on ourselves it fades quickly.  But when we bring glory to Divinity we are pointing out eternal glory to those around us.  “Hey, look at ME!” Is much different than “Wow!  Look at those stars!”

 

The first recorded miracle of Jesus brought, or reinforced,  a first hand awareness of the divine to Jesus' mother, some of his disciples, some servants and perhaps some party goers at a wedding in Cana.  While unnoticed by a majority of the public this miracle serves to point out the divine nature of miracles, which are extraordinary events attributed to the direct intervention or power of a divine being.  It surpasses ordinary capabilities of nature, human effort, or scientific explanation, inspiring awe, wonder, or faith serving as a sign point to the presence, power, authority or revelation of a Divine Being.

CHARACTER COUNTS: Godliness

 Have you ever put a puzzle together and the last piece was missing? Without that critical piece the work is lacking and the whole picture is less than whole.

This session points us to a quality that is the critical piece to building our own lives: godliness. Without godliness, the structure of our lives is incomplete and our wholeness is lacking. 

Godliness is the quality or state of reflecting the character of God in our will and the ways in which we live.  It is not about religious rituals, moral superiority, or trying to earn divine favor. It’s about alignment: a transformed heart and life that increasingly mirrors  the holiness, love, justice, mercy, wisdom, and truth of the Divine.  The word “godliness” (Greek: eusebeia) It comes from eu (“well” or “good”) and sebas (“reverence” or “awe”), literally suggesting “well-reverence” or proper respect. In classical Greek philosophy and culture:

•  It referred to the dutiful attitude and actions of reverence toward the gods (through rituals, prayers, and sacrifices), family, ancestors, and societal order.

•  For Platonists, it meant right conduct toward the divine; for Stoics, proper worship of God.

•  It was a civic and religious virtue—piety expressed in both attitude and behavior, maintaining harmony with the sacred and social order. 

Godliness is a profound respect and awe toward God that flows into practical living.

CHARACTER COUNTS: Generosity

Everyone loves the stories of philanthropists—those who give away large sums of money through donations, trusts, and foundations. Elon Musk recently offered to pay over a full month of salaries of 54,000 people and Warren Buffet gives away 99 percent of his wealth.

Considering that in 2023, Buffet made over $37 million every day, his pledge to give away 99 percent certainly gets our attention, for he would give away $36.63 million a day. That sounds noble and sacrificial, but if you had $135 Billion (Warren Buffet’s net worth) and chose to live on a mere one percent, you would still have $1.3 billion to scrape by on!  That's 3.6 Million dollars EVERY day of the year.

Sure, that’s a lot of money to give, but is that same as being generous? Generosity has nothing to do with the amount. Generosity is a heart issue.

CHARACTER COUNTS: Contentment

Children…No matter how many toys are out on the floor there must always be more sought.  

Babysitting is sometimes a perfect object lesson for the need for contentment. Like little children, it seems that no matter what we have, we still have a craving for more. No matter what you have in your hands, you always want what someone else has in their hands. It seems that when children are together there is seldom contentment.  Often, the same is true of adults.

I saw a meme that said "I will never forget when my grandfather said to me: "Our life [then] was tiring for the body but it was comfortable for the soul.  Your life today is comfortable for the body, but it is tiring for the soul."

We look at Philippians 4:10-20 and learn that we should be content in the power and provision of the Divine.  

CHARACTER COUNTS: Integrity

More in the CHARACTER COUNTS Series In an effort to strive for balance we tend to create “silos” for the different areas of life such as family, work, church, and leisure.  While it can be good to keep work from seeping into our family life, our character should be consistent in all areas of life regardless of where we are and what we are doing. This is a life of integrity.

Integrity is from the same word as integer, indicating a whole number, not a fractional number.  Integrity to character is when we are wholly authentic and not only "partially" authentic.  We are wholly godly and not only partially Godly.