Moralistic Therapeutic Deism is a religious worldview that is different from Christianity, but it also affects how Christians perceive God. It has five basic beliefs:

  1. God created the world and looks down on it.

  2. God wants us to be good, nice, and fair like the major religions teach.

  3. The goal of life is to be happy and feel good about ourselves.

  4. God doesn’t need to be involved in my life unless there’s a problem.

  5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

This sermon discusses the first belief, God created the world and looks down on it. On the face of things, this looks like it is Christian. God did created the world, the Bible regularly talks about God looking down on earth from heaven. But the Bible describes God’s active involvement in creation far more often. God is not a distant, jolly uncle. He isn’t some white-robed Santa floating on a cloud. He isn’t distant. He’s near.

We know that, because God shows himself in Jesus. He is God made flesh, who comes to be one of us. We see him, both God and man, and he gives himself to us in every situation. He lived through joy and sadness, pain and pleasure, rejoicing and mourning. He even wanted to be with us so badly that he entered death. God isn’t distant, he’s near.