We reflect God’s image in our work
18/November 2007
I. Work is painful because of the work beneath the work.
[this connects with the sermon on Rest, bringing that material back into play]
Work feels bad because…
Gen. 3:17 Then to Adam He said …Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
A. I am working to meet my own EMOTIONAL needs; it’s a matter of status.
1. I work in order to gain the approval of others; they make my work ABOUT ME.
[For men: many of us are still working to please Dad, to gain his approval]
2. I work in order to prove myself: to show I’m not a bum.
B. I am working to get things the things I want, which always outnumber my resources; it’s a matter of wealth.
The guy with the most toys wins.
So, I feel that I am never making progress…
i. Don’t get entrapped by your money or your capacity for making money.
Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
ii. Don’t be deceived by the things you want.
Luke 16:15 And He said to them, “… that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
C. I am working for the wrong boss; it’s a matter of power.
Working with multiple masters: Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Transition: Work feels bad because of the WORK BENEATH THE WORK, we also struggle with…
II. The work within the work: allowing the thorns and thorny people to do their work on me.
Gen. 3:18 Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you…
There is resistance to your work; how might a good God use that resistance for your good? The resistance I experience from my surroundings can leave me bitter and paralyzed, OR…
A. My persistence can be strengthened by the resistance from the material world.
1. My courage is stretched by the challenge that comes from a difficult task.
2. My character is deepened by the resistance from the earth.
B. My motives and needs are challenged by the response of people to my work.
1. I am not heard, therefore without status. STATUS
Others do not respect me; resist my hard work.
2. I am not effective, therefore without power. POWER
Work feels bad when others interfere with my work.
3. I am not rewarded, therefore deprived. WEALTH
Work feels bad when others take credit for what I do.
The goal, though is not status, wealth and power, but…
C. My frustration can be a pathway to significance.
1. Character
a. Paul—
2Cor. 1:5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
b. James—
James 1:2-3 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
2. Effectiveness
a. Peter
2Pet. 1:5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
2Pet. 1:6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
2Pet. 1:7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
2Pet. 1:8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Reward
Jesus’ reward for faithfulness
Luke 16:10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Matt. 25:21 “His master replied, ’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
CONCLUSION:
So how do I work THIS WAY?
You go to the One who gave up His STATUS, WEALTH AND POWER for YOU and promises that, if you come to him…
Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Next week: The work ABOVE the Work; finding satisfaction in your work.
Principles:
Saturday, November 17, 2007
We glorify God with our Work
We reflect God’s image in our work 11/11
But, the material world was not evil as the prevailing worldview said.
I. Genesis teaches that the world is good.
a. God made the world and called it good.
In contrast to the way the world was described as evil by other religions.
When we say we have a CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW, this is what we mean! This is the PARADIGM Genesis provides.
i. He demonstrates that by planting a garden and tending it.
Gen. 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Gen. 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
ii. God formed Adam out of the ground!
II. Genesis teaches that work is noble.
a. God is a worker.
b. God placed Adam in the garden to do what God himself had already been doing; this was not BENEATH God!
i. The story of Genesis teaches that God made humans to work.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen. 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
ii. We are to work in Paradise!
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
1. Notice that even menial work is good, it mimics God’s own work.
2. Though we might all be concerned about being high-borne, our earliest parents were arborists & gardeners! As Tim Keller says it: God dug a ditch to make a man!
3. This is a unique view of work in all of human history. Only European socialists in the nineteenth century, represented by Karl Marx, approached this high a view of work.
c. God defined the work Adam is to do.
i. Naming the animals: intellectual.
Gen. 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
Gen. 2:20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
ii. Gardening the garden: physical.
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
iii. Generally, “having dominion over the earth”: managerial.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
iv. Naming his wife, Ishah, then Eve: relational.
d. We are made to work like Adam worked.
i. We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are workers.
ii. Regardless of the kind of work we do.
What we sort of what must we do?
We can know the work we must do when we answer these three questions:
Who am I
Whom can I help?
Whom do I serve?
III. We can experience deep happiness in our work as we discover who we are:
a. We must have insight into ourselves.
what are my gifts, talents, abilities, and skills?
i. What are my gifts.
ii. What are my abilities, skills, and talents.
iii. What do I enjoy?
b. We must understand how to help those around us.
Ask this question: is my work helping?
i. Create art—which we have discussed and exhibited.
ii. Design a business that will help reduce the damage we do to the world.
iii. Invent a new product—designed to serve others.
iv. Bring order out of a chaotic business, such that jobs are secured, even added.
v. Cultivate a vision for your students to transform their view of life, knowledge, etc.
vi. Design a garden, or Clean up a yard, your own, perhaps a neighbour’s who would welcome the help.
Your design will guide your choices of work.
c. We must understand that God has a mission in mind for our work.
i. take care of the world you were given.
ii. take care of the people around you; they were given to you to look after.
iii. if your gifts make you lots of money, then give!
iv. if you are wealthy now because of your gifts, don’t wait until you have earned a fortune to give away; give yourself away now!
v. You are on a mission.
vi. John Coltrane: nunc dimitis
“A Love Supreme”
Next week:
9th sermon: If work is so good, why does it feel so bad?
But, the material world was not evil as the prevailing worldview said.
I. Genesis teaches that the world is good.
a. God made the world and called it good.
In contrast to the way the world was described as evil by other religions.
When we say we have a CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW, this is what we mean! This is the PARADIGM Genesis provides.
i. He demonstrates that by planting a garden and tending it.
Gen. 2:8 The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.
Gen. 2:9 Out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
ii. God formed Adam out of the ground!
II. Genesis teaches that work is noble.
a. God is a worker.
b. God placed Adam in the garden to do what God himself had already been doing; this was not BENEATH God!
i. The story of Genesis teaches that God made humans to work.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen. 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
ii. We are to work in Paradise!
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
1. Notice that even menial work is good, it mimics God’s own work.
2. Though we might all be concerned about being high-borne, our earliest parents were arborists & gardeners! As Tim Keller says it: God dug a ditch to make a man!
3. This is a unique view of work in all of human history. Only European socialists in the nineteenth century, represented by Karl Marx, approached this high a view of work.
c. God defined the work Adam is to do.
i. Naming the animals: intellectual.
Gen. 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.
Gen. 2:20 The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper suitable for him.
ii. Gardening the garden: physical.
Gen. 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
iii. Generally, “having dominion over the earth”: managerial.
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
iv. Naming his wife, Ishah, then Eve: relational.
d. We are made to work like Adam worked.
i. We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are workers.
ii. Regardless of the kind of work we do.
What we sort of what must we do?
We can know the work we must do when we answer these three questions:
Who am I
Whom can I help?
Whom do I serve?
III. We can experience deep happiness in our work as we discover who we are:
a. We must have insight into ourselves.
what are my gifts, talents, abilities, and skills?
i. What are my gifts.
ii. What are my abilities, skills, and talents.
iii. What do I enjoy?
b. We must understand how to help those around us.
Ask this question: is my work helping?
i. Create art—which we have discussed and exhibited.
ii. Design a business that will help reduce the damage we do to the world.
iii. Invent a new product—designed to serve others.
iv. Bring order out of a chaotic business, such that jobs are secured, even added.
v. Cultivate a vision for your students to transform their view of life, knowledge, etc.
vi. Design a garden, or Clean up a yard, your own, perhaps a neighbour’s who would welcome the help.
Your design will guide your choices of work.
c. We must understand that God has a mission in mind for our work.
i. take care of the world you were given.
ii. take care of the people around you; they were given to you to look after.
iii. if your gifts make you lots of money, then give!
iv. if you are wealthy now because of your gifts, don’t wait until you have earned a fortune to give away; give yourself away now!
v. You are on a mission.
vi. John Coltrane: nunc dimitis
“A Love Supreme”
Next week:
9th sermon: If work is so good, why does it feel so bad?
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
7th Genesis Sermon: Creativity Glorifies God
7th sermon: We reflect God’s glory by our creative behaviors 11/4
Central Idea: We reflect the image of God when we express our unique giftedness together.
The image of God/likeness of God is stamped within us all. Each person expresses that image, his likeness in unique ways.
The unique expression of the divine image…
1. God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
a. And God said…
b. And Adam said…
c. David said…
d. Amos composed poetry.
e. Solomon collected Proverbs.
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
2. God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
a. His creation sings and claps with delight.
i. The rivers “clap their hands”…
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Is. 55:12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
ii. The stars sang as he finished his work.
Job 38:4 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
b. Psa. 96:1-4: “sing a new song…”
c. Eph. 5:18-20:
Eph. 5:18-20 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
3. God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
Ex. 31:3
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
4. God’s creativity makes systems that work, and so can we.
a. God made ‘systems.’
i. Land/land animals
ii. Sea/creatures that swim
iii. Heavens/birds that fly
b. We make “systems” as engineers and managers, bringing order out of chaos.
All of God’s creativity highlights his own glory, as Father, Son, and Spirit work together; not one of us alone is adequate to fully reflect that glory.
5. We reflect God’s glory as our creativity blends with that of others.
a. God gave remarkable instructions to Israel for their place of worship, the Tabernacle.
i. Colours
1. Tradition tells us that each tribe of Israel moved together following a color-coded banner, which corresponded to the colors of the jewels on the high priest’s breastplate.
2. Exodus 25: the Tabernacle was to be decorated with
a. Gold
b. Silver
c. Bronze
d. Purple from a snail.
e. Scarlet from holly plant worms.
f. Blue from a shellfish extract.
g. Sea-green onyx
ii. Aromas
1. Olive oil for the lamps
2. Spices: cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense
iii. Textures
Exodus 25:
a. Fine linen
b. Goat hair
c. Ram skins
d. Acacia wood
b. Sounds…symphonies of instruments: stringed, etc.
c. Singing with voices solo [Pavorotti, Robert Goulet] and in harmony.
In May 1993, I stood in front of my first Kandinski, in L’Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. I was wondering through the galleries, taking in as much as I could in the few hours I had there. Not wanting to miss anything, I moved quickly through the galleries, until I sidestepped into a back hallway, leading to a stairwell; hanging on that obscure wall was a brilliantly-coloured Kandinski.
Conclusion
Back in university, I had a hard time paying attention in class. I’ve never done well when told to “sit down here and read this”. I was greatly challenged by physics and calculus, by organic chemistry and molecular biology, but my greatest enjoyment came from debating the War in Vietnam on the streets of Boston and by rehearsing Bach and Stravinksy with the men’s Glee Club.
The school was mostly male, so our fifty voices were joined to fifty female voices from Smith College. We first met in their campus chapel—fifty men, fifty women. We ran through some of the difficult pieces, testing, sampling, seeking the resonance of harmonies we had never heard. It was stunning. The genius of Stravinksi, the sweetness of Ives, the passion of Poulenc.
The crowning glory was Bach. Not just a Bach chorale. Bach’s Funeral Cantata, that revolutionary funerary piece in a major key. Bach didn’t fear death, he embraced death as the gateway into the divine presence.
I began to understand his German phrasings…In himm leben, leben, und sind wir…so lange er will.
Away from home, I left my family’s faith behind. I dabbled in atheism, verbalized agnosticsm, struggled to find my own view of life and the world.
We sang that cantata in Mt. Holyoke Massachusetts in the chapel balcony, with a few dozen folk taking it in from the pews on the floor below. The sound in that small chapel of 100 voices, singing their pleasure, transfixed us all. It was a perfect moment. The awesome wonder of that music, the power of those words, touched my soul and changed my thought.
The words? For the funeral service: IN HIM WE HAVE LIFE!!
Johann Sebastian Bach’s creativity had brought me back to faith; now it was my faith.
We were made for this. Can you hear the music? Someone next to you is humming, waiting for you to join in.
What, you’re not creative? Not alone, you’re not. You were made for us. Together, we transform chaos into order; we can splash the canvas with colour, with life. Life lived together. True fellowship composes symphonies, blends sounds without losing a single voice, paints vivid images of wonder and beauty, sculpts forms that draw us into them, slings out words that form thoughts in the minds of a reader who dares not be left alone.
This creativity is life together, this is what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God.
Communion:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Central Idea: We reflect the image of God when we express our unique giftedness together.
The image of God/likeness of God is stamped within us all. Each person expresses that image, his likeness in unique ways.
The unique expression of the divine image…
1. God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
a. And God said…
b. And Adam said…
c. David said…
d. Amos composed poetry.
e. Solomon collected Proverbs.
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
2. God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
a. His creation sings and claps with delight.
i. The rivers “clap their hands”…
Psa. 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Is. 55:12 “For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
ii. The stars sang as he finished his work.
Job 38:4 ¶ “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
b. Psa. 96:1-4: “sing a new song…”
c. Eph. 5:18-20:
Eph. 5:18-20 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;
always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
3. God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
Ex. 31:3
God’s creativity is verbal and ours can be verbal.
God’s creativity is musical and ours can be musical.
God’s creativity is visual, as our can be.
4. God’s creativity makes systems that work, and so can we.
a. God made ‘systems.’
i. Land/land animals
ii. Sea/creatures that swim
iii. Heavens/birds that fly
b. We make “systems” as engineers and managers, bringing order out of chaos.
All of God’s creativity highlights his own glory, as Father, Son, and Spirit work together; not one of us alone is adequate to fully reflect that glory.
5. We reflect God’s glory as our creativity blends with that of others.
a. God gave remarkable instructions to Israel for their place of worship, the Tabernacle.
i. Colours
1. Tradition tells us that each tribe of Israel moved together following a color-coded banner, which corresponded to the colors of the jewels on the high priest’s breastplate.
2. Exodus 25: the Tabernacle was to be decorated with
a. Gold
b. Silver
c. Bronze
d. Purple from a snail.
e. Scarlet from holly plant worms.
f. Blue from a shellfish extract.
g. Sea-green onyx
ii. Aromas
1. Olive oil for the lamps
2. Spices: cinnamon, myrrh, frankincense
iii. Textures
Exodus 25:
a. Fine linen
b. Goat hair
c. Ram skins
d. Acacia wood
b. Sounds…symphonies of instruments: stringed, etc.
c. Singing with voices solo [Pavorotti, Robert Goulet] and in harmony.
In May 1993, I stood in front of my first Kandinski, in L’Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. I was wondering through the galleries, taking in as much as I could in the few hours I had there. Not wanting to miss anything, I moved quickly through the galleries, until I sidestepped into a back hallway, leading to a stairwell; hanging on that obscure wall was a brilliantly-coloured Kandinski.
Conclusion
Back in university, I had a hard time paying attention in class. I’ve never done well when told to “sit down here and read this”. I was greatly challenged by physics and calculus, by organic chemistry and molecular biology, but my greatest enjoyment came from debating the War in Vietnam on the streets of Boston and by rehearsing Bach and Stravinksy with the men’s Glee Club.
The school was mostly male, so our fifty voices were joined to fifty female voices from Smith College. We first met in their campus chapel—fifty men, fifty women. We ran through some of the difficult pieces, testing, sampling, seeking the resonance of harmonies we had never heard. It was stunning. The genius of Stravinksi, the sweetness of Ives, the passion of Poulenc.
The crowning glory was Bach. Not just a Bach chorale. Bach’s Funeral Cantata, that revolutionary funerary piece in a major key. Bach didn’t fear death, he embraced death as the gateway into the divine presence.
I began to understand his German phrasings…In himm leben, leben, und sind wir…so lange er will.
Away from home, I left my family’s faith behind. I dabbled in atheism, verbalized agnosticsm, struggled to find my own view of life and the world.
We sang that cantata in Mt. Holyoke Massachusetts in the chapel balcony, with a few dozen folk taking it in from the pews on the floor below. The sound in that small chapel of 100 voices, singing their pleasure, transfixed us all. It was a perfect moment. The awesome wonder of that music, the power of those words, touched my soul and changed my thought.
The words? For the funeral service: IN HIM WE HAVE LIFE!!
Johann Sebastian Bach’s creativity had brought me back to faith; now it was my faith.
We were made for this. Can you hear the music? Someone next to you is humming, waiting for you to join in.
What, you’re not creative? Not alone, you’re not. You were made for us. Together, we transform chaos into order; we can splash the canvas with colour, with life. Life lived together. True fellowship composes symphonies, blends sounds without losing a single voice, paints vivid images of wonder and beauty, sculpts forms that draw us into them, slings out words that form thoughts in the minds of a reader who dares not be left alone.
This creativity is life together, this is what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God.
Communion:
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
Monday, October 29, 2007
We Glorify God With Our Words, OR Not!
We Glorify God With Our Words
What would life be like if we could not communicate with speech?
What if God sent you a text-message?
God
10/28/07
“ily lets b bffls”
We reflect the image of God by our use of language, glorifying Him and strengthening one another, or not.
1. Language is an awesome gift.
a. Creation was accomplished by God’s Words.
i. And God said.
Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Gen. 1:6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
Gen. 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
Gen. 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
Gen. 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
ii. The remainder of Genesis records what people said.
1. Gen. 2: Adam had the gift of language, as evident by his NAMING of the animals.
2. Gen. 2: Adam spoke to Eve.
3. Gen. 3: Adam did not say enough to Eve.
4. Gen. 3: Adam & Eve spoke to God.
5. Gen. 4: Cain spoke.
6. Gen. 11: People spoke among themselves.
b. The creation was made with full potency, declared with words.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
c. Speech is a uniquely human gift.
i. Serpent: how was it that the serpent could speak?
1. Some rabbis—perhaps all animals spoke then!
2. Serpent spoke as enabled by Satan.
3. Serpent was a visible manifestation of the Archangel Lucifer/Satan.
ii. What about Koko? [www.koko.org]
1. Many animals have a “language” to communicate basic needs and alarms, but humans have invented alphabets, writing,
2. Can a gorilla speak? No. Understand? Yes.
3. Does this not prove the rule?
For the believer…
d. Speech is a key sign of the Holy Spirit’s work within us!
Eph. 5:18-19 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord…
2. The purpose of the gift of Words
a. The purpose for the gift of speech to Adam…
i. Communicate with God.
ii. Communicate to animals: to “name” is to have dominion.
iii. Communicate with Eve et al.
b. The purpose for the gifts of speech all…
i. To speak the truth in love.
Eph. 4:15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.
Eph. 4:25 ¶ Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
Eph. 4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Eph. 5:4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting—all of which are out of character—but rather thanksgiving.
ii. To speak words seasoned with grace.
Col. 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.
iii. To build up one another: 21 “one anothers.”
iv. To reveal the state of our hearts.
1. James: compares to a rudder and a bit & bridle;
2. We use words to praise God.
3. We use our tongues to curse his people.
3. The misuse of the gift of Words…
a. Descendants of Adam & Eve used language to plot against God.
Gen. 11:4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Since then, we have shown similar trouble with our words…
b. We use language for good and for evil.
James 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image.
c. Our words reflect the condition of our hearts.
[Psychiatrist Paul Meyer: everything we say is true.]
Application: Listen to yourself for one day: you will self-discover what is in your heart.
Matt. 12:34 …For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.
Transition: That’s the difficulty, we are all evil; our problem is…
d. We will be held accountable for all that we say.
Matt. 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
If our words do indeed reflect the state of our heart:
And if we will give an account for every word:
Then…
4. The solution to this grave dilemma…
a. Own your words, “I did say that!”
Matt. 12:34 …For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
b. Glorify God with your words…
Col. 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
i. Calligraphers: illustrate!
ii. Linguists: analyse!
iii. Philosophers: experiment!
iv. Attorneys: argue!
v. Writers: write!
vi. Poets: compose!
vii. Speakers: communicate!
viii. Teachers: inform!
ix. Believers: encourage, speak mercy, bear one another’s burdens, exhort, admonish, teach, love…
Transition: This is all very difficult to do, BECAUSE…
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well.
c. Look to the Perfect Man, The Word.
They called Jesus “the Word” because he is the perfect expression of the Father.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
i. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
ii. When we give an account for every word, THE WORD will give an account for us!
1. Our Redeemer, Jesus.
Psa. 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Our Redeemer then becomes…
2. Our Advocate!
1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…
2:2 He is the offering for our sins; and not for ours only, but for all the world.
Conclusion:
We reflect the image of God by our use of language, glorifying Him and strengthening one another, or not.
What would life be like if we could not communicate with speech?
What if God sent you a text-message?
God
10/28/07
“ily lets b bffls”
We reflect the image of God by our use of language, glorifying Him and strengthening one another, or not.
1. Language is an awesome gift.
a. Creation was accomplished by God’s Words.
i. And God said.
Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Gen. 1:6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
Gen. 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years;
Gen. 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”
Gen. 1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
ii. The remainder of Genesis records what people said.
1. Gen. 2: Adam had the gift of language, as evident by his NAMING of the animals.
2. Gen. 2: Adam spoke to Eve.
3. Gen. 3: Adam did not say enough to Eve.
4. Gen. 3: Adam & Eve spoke to God.
5. Gen. 4: Cain spoke.
6. Gen. 11: People spoke among themselves.
b. The creation was made with full potency, declared with words.
Gen. 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
Gen. 1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
Gen. 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
c. Speech is a uniquely human gift.
i. Serpent: how was it that the serpent could speak?
1. Some rabbis—perhaps all animals spoke then!
2. Serpent spoke as enabled by Satan.
3. Serpent was a visible manifestation of the Archangel Lucifer/Satan.
ii. What about Koko? [www.koko.org]
1. Many animals have a “language” to communicate basic needs and alarms, but humans have invented alphabets, writing,
2. Can a gorilla speak? No. Understand? Yes.
3. Does this not prove the rule?
For the believer…
d. Speech is a key sign of the Holy Spirit’s work within us!
Eph. 5:18-19 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord…
2. The purpose of the gift of Words
a. The purpose for the gift of speech to Adam…
i. Communicate with God.
ii. Communicate to animals: to “name” is to have dominion.
iii. Communicate with Eve et al.
b. The purpose for the gifts of speech all…
i. To speak the truth in love.
Eph. 4:15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.
Eph. 4:25 ¶ Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
Eph. 4:29 You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it may give grace to those who hear.
Eph. 5:4 Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting—all of which are out of character—but rather thanksgiving.
ii. To speak words seasoned with grace.
Col. 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone.
iii. To build up one another: 21 “one anothers.”
iv. To reveal the state of our hearts.
1. James: compares to a rudder and a bit & bridle;
2. We use words to praise God.
3. We use our tongues to curse his people.
3. The misuse of the gift of Words…
a. Descendants of Adam & Eve used language to plot against God.
Gen. 11:4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
Since then, we have shown similar trouble with our words…
b. We use language for good and for evil.
James 3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image.
c. Our words reflect the condition of our hearts.
[Psychiatrist Paul Meyer: everything we say is true.]
Application: Listen to yourself for one day: you will self-discover what is in your heart.
Matt. 12:34 …For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.
Transition: That’s the difficulty, we are all evil; our problem is…
d. We will be held accountable for all that we say.
Matt. 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
If our words do indeed reflect the state of our heart:
And if we will give an account for every word:
Then…
4. The solution to this grave dilemma…
a. Own your words, “I did say that!”
Matt. 12:34 …For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart.
b. Glorify God with your words…
Col. 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
i. Calligraphers: illustrate!
ii. Linguists: analyse!
iii. Philosophers: experiment!
iv. Attorneys: argue!
v. Writers: write!
vi. Poets: compose!
vii. Speakers: communicate!
viii. Teachers: inform!
ix. Believers: encourage, speak mercy, bear one another’s burdens, exhort, admonish, teach, love…
Transition: This is all very difficult to do, BECAUSE…
James 3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If someone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect individual, able to control the entire body as well.
c. Look to the Perfect Man, The Word.
They called Jesus “the Word” because he is the perfect expression of the Father.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
i. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
ii. When we give an account for every word, THE WORD will give an account for us!
1. Our Redeemer, Jesus.
Psa. 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.
Our Redeemer then becomes…
2. Our Advocate!
1John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous…
2:2 He is the offering for our sins; and not for ours only, but for all the world.
Conclusion:
We reflect the image of God by our use of language, glorifying Him and strengthening one another, or not.
A Community of Relationships
5th sermon, Genesis 1 & 2
10/21
As the creation account shifts focus, humans are on the centre-stage of the divine production.
God glorifies himself by…
a. Declaring his pre-existence.
b. Inventing time.
c. Establishing order.
Today
Central Idea: We reflect the glory of God by relating to one another in community.
Kidner It is misleading to call this a second creation account, for it hastens to localize the scene, passing straight from the world at large to ‘a garden…in the east’; all that follows is played out on this narrow stage.
Introduction
When God created Adam and Eve, he was making MORE than a family, he was reproducing Community, the same sort of community enjoyed by the Father, Son, and Spirit in the godhead.
Of course, this community experience will overlap with family life; but much more later, when we consider Gen. 3 & 4.
Here, the dynamic of the Trinity is the ground of all our relationships.
Transition: If God is a God of order, most of us feel this way about our relationships:
Slide: CHAOS
Paradigm Shifting: Children’s drawings in response to the question—“Draw something about RELATIONSHIPS.”
This is what relationships look like from our children’s perspectives!
Our need for community is deep-seated; most are conscious of this, some are not.
Adam was hungry for such a connection:
Naming the animals: in order to recognize his needs for Eve.
Each one of us has to do that! We must comprehend our need for community.
Adam found a connection with someone who was both…
LIKE him and NOT LIKE him.
1. Like him: another human being; Eve’s similarity RELIEVED Adam.
2. Not Like Adam: another human being of a different kind; Eve’s distinctions DELIGHTED Adam.
Transition: From the beginning, God intended community; at time’s end, we will experience community, relating to God, as we interrelate with one another before God.
I. We reflect God’s glory as we broadcast his image.
Creation: everything God created has the potential for creation/reproduction.
The first human community was Adam & Eve.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
A. The mere fact that we have the image and likeness of God in our makeup brings glory to him as we allow others to see that reflection.
B. This is why we exist and why we live on the earth.
Kidner After the Fall, man is still said to be in God’s image (Gen. 9:6) and likeness (Jas. 3:9); nonetheless he requires to be ‘renewed…after the image of him that created him’ (col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 4:24).
Likeness in this sense survived the Fall, since it is structural. As long as we are human we are, by definition, in the image of God. But spiritual likeness—in a single word, love—can be present only where God and man are in fellowship; hence the Fall destroyed it, and our redemption recreates and perfects it. ‘We are God’s children now; …when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is’ (1 Jn. 3:2).
C. We reflect God’s glory in numerous ways, by using words, practicing creativity, by working, etc.
Today we give ourselves to one of those means…
II. We reflect the glory of God by relating to one another in community.
a. Community may seem an alien idea today when we live out our lives in our cocoons, but humans have long recognized its importance.
SLIDE: John Donne
Bryan Wylie…a reading from John Donne: NO MAN IS AN ISLAND.
b. The story of Scripture confirms the centrality of community.
i. We reflect the community of the godhead as we thrive in community ourselves.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
This is a unique self-reference in the Creative Week, LET US. The Community of the godhead is the context for creating humans for Community.
ii. We fully express our humanity in Community.
1. We are made for this.
Gen. 2:18 ¶ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
a. We were made for God, but… “it’s not good for man to be alone”
Even in paradise, where God walked daily with God, it wasn’t enough. God made Adam to belong to a human community; “it is NOT GOOD for man to be alone.”
God one-on-one, did not address all needs.
Keller Why is the first human unhappy in paradise? We are made in the image of someone in relationship and community.
b. We are made with self-consciousness; we value time alone, but not absolute solitude…
Solitude can be good, God pronounced absolute solitude NOT GOOD.
c. We were made for work, but…
Work alone is not all that we are made for.
d. We were made for pleasure, but…
Gen. 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely…”
But, Pleasure alone is not an end in itself.
2. Being made for community, Does NOT mean…
a. That we must be married.
Jesus was the first religious figure to teach that SINGLENESS IS OKAY; we cannot teach that all men and all women must be married to fully obey God the Father, nor can we say that each person must be married in order to find personal fulfillment.
Jesus restated the truth of Genesis: by our life in community, we most clearly reflect God’s glory.
OR,
b. That the family is the only setting for community.
Transition: Or, That we must all be alike…
iii. We experience Community in corresponding, yet distinct relationships.
1. We cannot adequately understand God alone.
2. We cannot fulfill our personal destiny alone.
Gen. 2:18 ¶ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
Alter “sustainer beside him”--…notoriously difficult to translate. The second term means alongside him, opposite him, a counterpart to him. “help” is too weak because it suggests a merely auxiliary function, whereas ‘ezer elsewhere connotes active intervention on behalf of someone, especially in military contexts, as often in Psalms.
3. We cannot adequately reflect God’s image by ourselves, by our families alone, by our culture alone.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves [p. 92]
In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend.
They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, “Here comes one who will augment our loves.”
For in this love “to divide is not to take away.” Of course the scarcity of kindred souls—not to mention practical considerations about the size of rooms and the audibility of voices—set limits to the enlargement of the circle; but within those limits we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.
Application:
1. “People” people—many of you feel guilty about this; it is a strength, not a weakness.
2. Non-people people—our lack of interest is a weakness to be addressed, not a strength to revel in.
3. Community as a reflection of shalom:
I was given glasses in Grade Eight. That impacted by life, especially in baseball.
As I ran across the outline, chasing a batted ball, every part of me had to work at its optimum, shalom expressed or failure to catch the ball.
God’s desire for us is shalom: all of us relating ideally
4. If you are a loner, not responsive to this aspect of the story, you need to get ready now for heaven/the kingdom. Get into a community now!
Tim Keller
Time together
Permission to speak
Outside community, you don’t know who you are! You can’t see yourself or hear yourself as you are (you can’t tell how you sound from inside).
Transparent—not in a group, not in the church!
5. Welcome others into the community:
What the new Canadians bring to us, sheds new light on the character and person of God; all of these new people expand our understanding of God and amplify our reflection of God to the world.
Transition: How can we experience this sort of community?
iv. We experience community in nakedness.
Gen. 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
In this world, we cannot live naked and unashamed.
1. Adam and Eve were physically naked.
2. The first couple were also emotionally and spiritually transparent.
3. This nakedness seems not to have lasted long!
4. Their later shame is our own shame.
5. How can we have community then, when we are embarrassed about our deepest selves?
6. Later on, there was another naked man, exposed before the world and before God. God the Father looked down at him as he was splayed out and strung upon another Tree. All the shame of the world was displayed in him.
7. God the Father turned away; he allowed his unique Son to pay the ultimate price for all shame of all people of all time.
8. When you hear the call to community and know that you have too much to hide, too much shame to expose, Look to the Cross.
9. Because Jesus became naked, our shame is removed in him, by him.
10. We can experience community now, without shame, because we have been fully forgiven and are being forever cleansed. Exposure of our hearts now brings healing and shamelessness, rather than embarrassment and pain.
Bono:
You broke the bonds
You loosened the chains
You carried the cross
of my shame
of all my shame
Transition: How we can extend our experience of this sort of community?
v. We expand our experience community through words, by working together, by creating together, by loving one another, etc. [More of these later!]
Next week…
By our words.
CONCLUSION
It is not good for man to be alone.
It is not good for us.
It is not good for God’s plan;
*We cannot adequately understand God alone;
* We cannot adequately reflect God’s image alone, by our families alone, by our culture alone.
We find fulfillment in such a place.
We enter community without fear of being exposed and vulnerable because our nakedness is covered by Jesus’.
10/21
As the creation account shifts focus, humans are on the centre-stage of the divine production.
God glorifies himself by…
a. Declaring his pre-existence.
b. Inventing time.
c. Establishing order.
Today
Central Idea: We reflect the glory of God by relating to one another in community.
Kidner It is misleading to call this a second creation account, for it hastens to localize the scene, passing straight from the world at large to ‘a garden…in the east’; all that follows is played out on this narrow stage.
Introduction
When God created Adam and Eve, he was making MORE than a family, he was reproducing Community, the same sort of community enjoyed by the Father, Son, and Spirit in the godhead.
Of course, this community experience will overlap with family life; but much more later, when we consider Gen. 3 & 4.
Here, the dynamic of the Trinity is the ground of all our relationships.
Transition: If God is a God of order, most of us feel this way about our relationships:
Slide: CHAOS
Paradigm Shifting: Children’s drawings in response to the question—“Draw something about RELATIONSHIPS.”
This is what relationships look like from our children’s perspectives!
Our need for community is deep-seated; most are conscious of this, some are not.
Adam was hungry for such a connection:
Naming the animals: in order to recognize his needs for Eve.
Each one of us has to do that! We must comprehend our need for community.
Adam found a connection with someone who was both…
LIKE him and NOT LIKE him.
1. Like him: another human being; Eve’s similarity RELIEVED Adam.
2. Not Like Adam: another human being of a different kind; Eve’s distinctions DELIGHTED Adam.
Transition: From the beginning, God intended community; at time’s end, we will experience community, relating to God, as we interrelate with one another before God.
I. We reflect God’s glory as we broadcast his image.
Creation: everything God created has the potential for creation/reproduction.
The first human community was Adam & Eve.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
A. The mere fact that we have the image and likeness of God in our makeup brings glory to him as we allow others to see that reflection.
B. This is why we exist and why we live on the earth.
Kidner After the Fall, man is still said to be in God’s image (Gen. 9:6) and likeness (Jas. 3:9); nonetheless he requires to be ‘renewed…after the image of him that created him’ (col. 3:10; cf. Eph. 4:24).
Likeness in this sense survived the Fall, since it is structural. As long as we are human we are, by definition, in the image of God. But spiritual likeness—in a single word, love—can be present only where God and man are in fellowship; hence the Fall destroyed it, and our redemption recreates and perfects it. ‘We are God’s children now; …when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is’ (1 Jn. 3:2).
C. We reflect God’s glory in numerous ways, by using words, practicing creativity, by working, etc.
Today we give ourselves to one of those means…
II. We reflect the glory of God by relating to one another in community.
a. Community may seem an alien idea today when we live out our lives in our cocoons, but humans have long recognized its importance.
SLIDE: John Donne
Bryan Wylie…a reading from John Donne: NO MAN IS AN ISLAND.
b. The story of Scripture confirms the centrality of community.
i. We reflect the community of the godhead as we thrive in community ourselves.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
This is a unique self-reference in the Creative Week, LET US. The Community of the godhead is the context for creating humans for Community.
ii. We fully express our humanity in Community.
1. We are made for this.
Gen. 2:18 ¶ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
a. We were made for God, but… “it’s not good for man to be alone”
Even in paradise, where God walked daily with God, it wasn’t enough. God made Adam to belong to a human community; “it is NOT GOOD for man to be alone.”
God one-on-one, did not address all needs.
Keller Why is the first human unhappy in paradise? We are made in the image of someone in relationship and community.
b. We are made with self-consciousness; we value time alone, but not absolute solitude…
Solitude can be good, God pronounced absolute solitude NOT GOOD.
c. We were made for work, but…
Work alone is not all that we are made for.
d. We were made for pleasure, but…
Gen. 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely…”
But, Pleasure alone is not an end in itself.
2. Being made for community, Does NOT mean…
a. That we must be married.
Jesus was the first religious figure to teach that SINGLENESS IS OKAY; we cannot teach that all men and all women must be married to fully obey God the Father, nor can we say that each person must be married in order to find personal fulfillment.
Jesus restated the truth of Genesis: by our life in community, we most clearly reflect God’s glory.
OR,
b. That the family is the only setting for community.
Transition: Or, That we must all be alike…
iii. We experience Community in corresponding, yet distinct relationships.
1. We cannot adequately understand God alone.
2. We cannot fulfill our personal destiny alone.
Gen. 2:18 ¶ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.”
Alter “sustainer beside him”--…notoriously difficult to translate. The second term means alongside him, opposite him, a counterpart to him. “help” is too weak because it suggests a merely auxiliary function, whereas ‘ezer elsewhere connotes active intervention on behalf of someone, especially in military contexts, as often in Psalms.
3. We cannot adequately reflect God’s image by ourselves, by our families alone, by our culture alone.
C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves [p. 92]
In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend.
They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, “Here comes one who will augment our loves.”
For in this love “to divide is not to take away.” Of course the scarcity of kindred souls—not to mention practical considerations about the size of rooms and the audibility of voices—set limits to the enlargement of the circle; but within those limits we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.
Application:
1. “People” people—many of you feel guilty about this; it is a strength, not a weakness.
2. Non-people people—our lack of interest is a weakness to be addressed, not a strength to revel in.
3. Community as a reflection of shalom:
I was given glasses in Grade Eight. That impacted by life, especially in baseball.
As I ran across the outline, chasing a batted ball, every part of me had to work at its optimum, shalom expressed or failure to catch the ball.
God’s desire for us is shalom: all of us relating ideally
4. If you are a loner, not responsive to this aspect of the story, you need to get ready now for heaven/the kingdom. Get into a community now!
Tim Keller
Time together
Permission to speak
Outside community, you don’t know who you are! You can’t see yourself or hear yourself as you are (you can’t tell how you sound from inside).
Transparent—not in a group, not in the church!
5. Welcome others into the community:
What the new Canadians bring to us, sheds new light on the character and person of God; all of these new people expand our understanding of God and amplify our reflection of God to the world.
Transition: How can we experience this sort of community?
iv. We experience community in nakedness.
Gen. 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
In this world, we cannot live naked and unashamed.
1. Adam and Eve were physically naked.
2. The first couple were also emotionally and spiritually transparent.
3. This nakedness seems not to have lasted long!
4. Their later shame is our own shame.
5. How can we have community then, when we are embarrassed about our deepest selves?
6. Later on, there was another naked man, exposed before the world and before God. God the Father looked down at him as he was splayed out and strung upon another Tree. All the shame of the world was displayed in him.
7. God the Father turned away; he allowed his unique Son to pay the ultimate price for all shame of all people of all time.
8. When you hear the call to community and know that you have too much to hide, too much shame to expose, Look to the Cross.
9. Because Jesus became naked, our shame is removed in him, by him.
10. We can experience community now, without shame, because we have been fully forgiven and are being forever cleansed. Exposure of our hearts now brings healing and shamelessness, rather than embarrassment and pain.
Bono:
You broke the bonds
You loosened the chains
You carried the cross
of my shame
of all my shame
Transition: How we can extend our experience of this sort of community?
v. We expand our experience community through words, by working together, by creating together, by loving one another, etc. [More of these later!]
Next week…
By our words.
CONCLUSION
It is not good for man to be alone.
It is not good for us.
It is not good for God’s plan;
*We cannot adequately understand God alone;
* We cannot adequately reflect God’s image alone, by our families alone, by our culture alone.
We find fulfillment in such a place.
We enter community without fear of being exposed and vulnerable because our nakedness is covered by Jesus’.
A Day & A Life of Rest
4th sermon: Day Seven: The First Rest 10/14
Central Idea: As God rested after his work of creation, we rest by faith.
Gen. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
Gen. 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Gen. 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
I. Why did God rest?
A. God did rest.
Gen. 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Ross, p. 113—“Sabbath”—the word actually means “cease,” more than “rest” as understood today. It is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion.
B. God was not exhausted; he never tires.
Is. 40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth.
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom.
C. God did not rest because he was exhausted; he rested to SAVOR his creation.
1. “It is good!” God was completely satisfied with all that he had done; he could relax.
Kidner It is the rest of achievement, not inactivity, for He nurtures what he creates; we may compare the symbolism of Jesus ‘seated’ after his finished redemption (Heb. 8:1; 10:12), to dispense its benefits.
Our Lord based his own constructive use of the Sabbath on this understanding of the divine rest (“My Father is working still”, John 5:17)…
But God’s rest was pregnant with more than the gift of the Sabbath: it is still big with promise for the believer, who is summoned to share it (Heb 3:7-4:11).
2. God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening; he planted it, he enjoyed it.
3. G.K. Chesterton:
A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon.
…It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
D. We are made in God’s image, so we have the capacity to savour, to enjoy what we see. Our problem is three-fold…
1. We find nothing with great enough worth to satisfy our deepest longings.
2. We don’t have the strength to enjoy the greatest treasures to their greatest worth.
3. All of our joys here come to an end.
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
A. Exodus 20—fourth of the Ten Commandments.
Waltke: The fourth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 is grounded in God’s creative action of working six days and resting on the seventh, as recorded in Gen. 1:1-2:3 (cf. Ex. 16). The order of creation stands behind Sabbath observance. God’s work in one week becomes stamped upon his people as a repeating design for their sanctification. In Hebrews 3 & 4 rest serves as a metaphor of our faith in God, who provides salvation as we rest in him.
B. Exodus 31—a sign of Israel’s covenant with God.
Ex. 31:16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
Ex. 31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days24 the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”25
C. Hebrews 3 & 4—the fulfillment of the quest for life.
Heb. 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Rest: able to look at your work the way that God looked at his.
“it is completely satisfying, nothing else needs to be done.”
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
A. Jesus said that he is Lord of the Sabbath.
*Sabbath regulations pointed to me.
*I am the one who dispenses this rest.
Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
1. You must go to him to find rest.
2. If you have no rest, you have not gone to him.
3. You go to him because you need rest…
B. Jesus said that the Sabbath is made for humans, not humans for the Sabbath.
1. It’s not the rule that needs our support,
2. The rule supports us.
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
IV. In light of these remarkable ideas, how might we rest?
1. Emulate: the divine rest, which is the mark of God’s people (Israel, Ex. 31); by this we identify ourselves with God.
2. Enjoy: savor our work/ his work (shared enjoyment of beauty, success, etc.); sharing doubles our joy.
3. Enter: rest, as obedience: Exodus 20.
4. Effort: By faith, we enter into his rest; work to enter his rest. Since the Fall, we have no instinct for joy, for savoring.
5. Exhaust: Post-Fall: We rest because we are not God; we will be exhausted by our work if we do not acknowledge our fallenness.
a. If we are made to work, why does our work exhaust us? MORE LATER.
b. We fear loss of our jobs if we rest.
c. We trust in technology, to allow us to work anywhere, which means we are pressed to work EVERYWHERE?
d. Whereas older cultures gave meaning through families, we gain our meaning through our jobs.
i. No job; no meaning!
ii. No job, no respect.
V. Great News!
Ensure that Your rest is the sort that prepares you for what is coming.
The resting Father does not imply that there was no more work to be done; Christ’s work was to follow.
If you are astonished by the power of God evident in the creation, how much greater power is demonstrated in his redemption!
Psa. 8:3 ¶ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
Psa. 8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Arm of God brings salvation
Is. 51:4 “Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
The law will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.
Is. 51:5 My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.
Is. 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail
Central Idea: As God rested after his work of creation, we rest by faith.
Gen. 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
Gen. 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Gen. 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
I. Why did God rest?
A. God did rest.
Gen. 2:2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
Ross, p. 113—“Sabbath”—the word actually means “cease,” more than “rest” as understood today. It is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion.
B. God was not exhausted; he never tires.
Is. 40:28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is an eternal God,
the creator of the whole earth.
He does not get tired or weary;
there is no limit to his wisdom.
C. God did not rest because he was exhausted; he rested to SAVOR his creation.
1. “It is good!” God was completely satisfied with all that he had done; he could relax.
Kidner It is the rest of achievement, not inactivity, for He nurtures what he creates; we may compare the symbolism of Jesus ‘seated’ after his finished redemption (Heb. 8:1; 10:12), to dispense its benefits.
Our Lord based his own constructive use of the Sabbath on this understanding of the divine rest (“My Father is working still”, John 5:17)…
But God’s rest was pregnant with more than the gift of the Sabbath: it is still big with promise for the believer, who is summoned to share it (Heb 3:7-4:11).
2. God walked in the garden in the cool of the evening; he planted it, he enjoyed it.
3. G.K. Chesterton:
A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again," to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again," to the moon.
…It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.
D. We are made in God’s image, so we have the capacity to savour, to enjoy what we see. Our problem is three-fold…
1. We find nothing with great enough worth to satisfy our deepest longings.
2. We don’t have the strength to enjoy the greatest treasures to their greatest worth.
3. All of our joys here come to an end.
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
A. Exodus 20—fourth of the Ten Commandments.
Waltke: The fourth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 is grounded in God’s creative action of working six days and resting on the seventh, as recorded in Gen. 1:1-2:3 (cf. Ex. 16). The order of creation stands behind Sabbath observance. God’s work in one week becomes stamped upon his people as a repeating design for their sanctification. In Hebrews 3 & 4 rest serves as a metaphor of our faith in God, who provides salvation as we rest in him.
B. Exodus 31—a sign of Israel’s covenant with God.
Ex. 31:16 The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
Ex. 31:17 It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days24 the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”25
C. Hebrews 3 & 4—the fulfillment of the quest for life.
Heb. 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
Rest: able to look at your work the way that God looked at his.
“it is completely satisfying, nothing else needs to be done.”
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
A. Jesus said that he is Lord of the Sabbath.
*Sabbath regulations pointed to me.
*I am the one who dispenses this rest.
Matt. 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
1. You must go to him to find rest.
2. If you have no rest, you have not gone to him.
3. You go to him because you need rest…
B. Jesus said that the Sabbath is made for humans, not humans for the Sabbath.
1. It’s not the rule that needs our support,
2. The rule supports us.
I. God rested to savour his work.
II. The concept of Sabbath rest was developed in Scripture as a metaphor for spiritual deepening and trust.
III. Jesus carried this forward when he spoke of the Sabbath.
IV. In light of these remarkable ideas, how might we rest?
1. Emulate: the divine rest, which is the mark of God’s people (Israel, Ex. 31); by this we identify ourselves with God.
2. Enjoy: savor our work/ his work (shared enjoyment of beauty, success, etc.); sharing doubles our joy.
3. Enter: rest, as obedience: Exodus 20.
4. Effort: By faith, we enter into his rest; work to enter his rest. Since the Fall, we have no instinct for joy, for savoring.
5. Exhaust: Post-Fall: We rest because we are not God; we will be exhausted by our work if we do not acknowledge our fallenness.
a. If we are made to work, why does our work exhaust us? MORE LATER.
b. We fear loss of our jobs if we rest.
c. We trust in technology, to allow us to work anywhere, which means we are pressed to work EVERYWHERE?
d. Whereas older cultures gave meaning through families, we gain our meaning through our jobs.
i. No job; no meaning!
ii. No job, no respect.
V. Great News!
Ensure that Your rest is the sort that prepares you for what is coming.
The resting Father does not imply that there was no more work to be done; Christ’s work was to follow.
If you are astonished by the power of God evident in the creation, how much greater power is demonstrated in his redemption!
Psa. 8:3 ¶ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
Psa. 8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Arm of God brings salvation
Is. 51:4 “Listen to me, my people;
hear me, my nation:
The law will go out from me;
my justice will become a light to the nations.
Is. 51:5 My righteousness draws near speedily,
my salvation is on the way,
and my arm will bring justice to the nations.
The islands will look to me
and wait in hope for my arm.
Is. 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Creation of Humans
1. Paradigms…This is about perceptions. Seeing life from the divine-eye view.
2. Review of Days One to Five;
Form out of Formlessness Fullness out of Emptiness
FORM [versus tohu] FILL [versus bohu]
Day Day
1 Light (1:3-5) 4 Lights (1:14-19)
2 Firmament (1:6-8) 5 Inhabitants (1:20-34)
sky birds
seas fish
3 Dry land (1:9-10) 6 Land animals (1:24-25)
Vegetation (1:11-13) Human beings (1:26-31)
a. God declares his timelessness.
b. The God who implemented the creation can be trusted to sustain all it contains.
c. He invented time and is therefore master of it.
Day Six Central Idea: God created humans in his own image as the high point of creation, so that we could reveal his image and thus glorify him.
Gen. 1:24 ¶ God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.
Gen. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
Gen. 1:28 ¶ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Gen. 1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
Gen. 1:31 ¶ God saw all that he had made–and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
Father, Son, and Spirit overflow with love and fellowship.
“Let us…”
1. They did this work of creation together (God created, Spirit hovered, by the Son all things were made).
2. They created out of delight, not necessity.
3. The love and community that existed before time could not be contained within the godhead.
Heb. 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
Is. 42:1 Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
Matt. 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
4. It was the divine intention to draw us into their passion for one another.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
John 17:26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Out of that overflow…
God created us in (their) own image.
Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
We glorify God when we highlight our resemblance on earth.
We know that we reflect that image as we…
1. Express our creativity.
Cf. Robin Boughan’s sculpture in photographs.
Of course, not all of us are creative in that way!
a. Artists will commonly say that we bring our own interpretation to another’s artwork, that, too, is a form of creativity. When you view art, listen to music, you are a participant with the artist in celebrating that work.
b. Appreciating beauty is an aspect of creativity. The lower animals do not hang paintings in their den.
c. When we bring order out of chaos, we are creating order, just as God did when he gave form to the formless world and filled the emptiness of the void.
Application: we lose our fear of the world as we bring order out of the chaos around us.
2. Absorb godly character.
Phil. 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
Phil. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Application: we enjoy divine power as we experience his transforming strength within.
3. Experience community that overflows through relationships.
Phil. 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Phil. 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…
Application: we lose our fear of others when we encounter true community.
4. Enthusiastically work as God works.
Application: we find an end to boredom and cynicism as we work as God works, with divine empowerment.
5. Express thoughts and ideas with words.
Application: we release the power of God as we speak, write, and listen to words.
6. Enjoy all things as God himself enjoys.
Greg Ogden: “Joy is living under the pleasure of the Father’s delight in you.”
Application: we experience the richness of life that God intends when we seek our pleasure in him.
CONCLUSION:
The Gospel for Communion…
Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
2. Review of Days One to Five;
Form out of Formlessness Fullness out of Emptiness
FORM [versus tohu] FILL [versus bohu]
Day Day
1 Light (1:3-5) 4 Lights (1:14-19)
2 Firmament (1:6-8) 5 Inhabitants (1:20-34)
sky birds
seas fish
3 Dry land (1:9-10) 6 Land animals (1:24-25)
Vegetation (1:11-13) Human beings (1:26-31)
a. God declares his timelessness.
b. The God who implemented the creation can be trusted to sustain all it contains.
c. He invented time and is therefore master of it.
Day Six Central Idea: God created humans in his own image as the high point of creation, so that we could reveal his image and thus glorify him.
Gen. 1:24 ¶ God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” It was so.
Gen. 1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.
Gen. 1:26 ¶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”
Gen. 1:27 God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.
Gen. 1:28 ¶ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”
Gen. 1:29 Then God said, “I now give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the entire earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Gen. 1:30 And to all the animals of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to all the creatures that move on the ground–everything that has the breath of life in it–I give every green plant for food.” It was so.
Gen. 1:31 ¶ God saw all that he had made–and it was very good! There was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
Father, Son, and Spirit overflow with love and fellowship.
“Let us…”
1. They did this work of creation together (God created, Spirit hovered, by the Son all things were made).
2. They created out of delight, not necessity.
3. The love and community that existed before time could not be contained within the godhead.
Heb. 1:3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.
Is. 42:1 Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;
My chosen one in whom My soul delights.
Matt. 3:17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
4. It was the divine intention to draw us into their passion for one another.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
John 17:25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me;
John 17:26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Out of that overflow…
God created us in (their) own image.
Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
We glorify God when we highlight our resemblance on earth.
We know that we reflect that image as we…
1. Express our creativity.
Cf. Robin Boughan’s sculpture in photographs.
Of course, not all of us are creative in that way!
a. Artists will commonly say that we bring our own interpretation to another’s artwork, that, too, is a form of creativity. When you view art, listen to music, you are a participant with the artist in celebrating that work.
b. Appreciating beauty is an aspect of creativity. The lower animals do not hang paintings in their den.
c. When we bring order out of chaos, we are creating order, just as God did when he gave form to the formless world and filled the emptiness of the void.
Application: we lose our fear of the world as we bring order out of the chaos around us.
2. Absorb godly character.
Phil. 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
Phil. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Application: we enjoy divine power as we experience his transforming strength within.
3. Experience community that overflows through relationships.
Phil. 2:1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion,
Phil. 2:2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Phil. 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves…
Application: we lose our fear of others when we encounter true community.
4. Enthusiastically work as God works.
Application: we find an end to boredom and cynicism as we work as God works, with divine empowerment.
5. Express thoughts and ideas with words.
Application: we release the power of God as we speak, write, and listen to words.
6. Enjoy all things as God himself enjoys.
Greg Ogden: “Joy is living under the pleasure of the Father’s delight in you.”
Application: we experience the richness of life that God intends when we seek our pleasure in him.
CONCLUSION:
The Gospel for Communion…
Zeph. 3:17
The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.”
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Genesis 1:3-23 Why Did God Do This?
Quotes
Augustine—The Spirit of God who spoke through them did not choose to teach about the heavens to men, as it was of no use for salvation.
Galileo Galilie—The Bible tells how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go.
Albert Einstein—The function of setting up goals and passing statements of value transcends the domain of science.
Waltke: …Genesis 1 is concerned with ultimate cause, not proximation. …When the psalmist says “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psa. 139:13), he is not intending to comment on genetics or immediate cause. To suggest otherwise is to distort the text.
What, then, is the genre of the Genesis creation account? Following Henri Bocher, we can describe the creation account as an artistic, literary representation of creation intended to fortify God’s covenant with creation. It represents truths about origins in anthropomorphic language so that the covenant community may have a proper worldview and be wise unto salvation. It represents the world as coming into being through God’s proclamation so that the world depends on his will, purpose, and presence.
2nd Sermon: WHY DID HE CREATE THE WORLD THE WAY HE DID? To show us who he is!
WHY?
Why should Creation Week mean anything to me? Why should we take time to understand it?
1. The story claims that God created the world by his word; does that not mean it is yet under his control?
2. The world I see is broken. The original construction of the universe, the architectural drawing, offers us the divine plan for its reconstruction, by his Word.
3. The creation of the world by His Word was described to Israel by Moses as God was forming the nation by His spoken Word.
4. The creation of the church is following a similar pattern, by His Word.
5. If God did in fact create the universe, that changes the way I see that world and my place in it.
What happened in the Creative Week? How might that impact my worldview?
A. The importance of Paradigms.
i. Why does all this exist?
Premodern view: invisible forces have produced this dark, dangerous place; dark means are required to deal with dark threats.
Modern view: by chance, don’t read anything into it, nor out of it! It’s just there; deal with it.
Postmodern view: who knows? Enjoy the mystery; just don’t tell me that you have figured this all out and that we must all see things as you do! (Jean-François Lyotard)
ii. What role does perspective play?
[cycle paradigm-shift graphics]
ii. God confronts other paradigms and expects us to do the same.
2Cor. 10:3-5 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.
1. Other religions.
2. Secularism.
3. Consumerism.
iii. God offers us a very old paradigm that is new to us:
1. Mercy.
2. Justice.
3. Restoration.
4. Peace.
Central Idea: The Days of Creation are an explanation of God’s nature, a statement of God’s intentions, and a polemic against the religions of that day and this.
They serve us in the same manner: see and understand what is there, live out of this paradigm, which explains our lives, and subverts our culture’s paradigm. This is the pathway to reinventing the world, restoring justice…evangelism.
Transition: “in the beginning” in defiance of the world’s religions, which are cyclical.
Days of Creation: what they are and what they represent.
WHAT?
B. God creates and affirms what he did: “it is good.”
He allows us to interpret and understand his work.
What is good/what is not good.
Our eyes and minds must discern.
HOW DOES GOD ACCOMPLISH THESE INTENTIONS WITHIN CREATION WEEK?
Central Idea: The Days of Creation are a snapshot of God’s nature, a statement of God’s intentions, and a polemic against the religions of the day.
C. God implements his intentions through Creation Week:
1. God reveals His nature by creating the world.
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. NASB95
a. God declares his timelessness.
1. He was before time.
“Genesis begins with breathtaking comprehensiveness. It commences with the limits of time (“in the beginning”), and proceeds immediately to the limits of space (“the heavens and the earth”). …the introductory and concluding statements of ‘chaos’ and ‘rest,’ form a complementary pair.” Laurence Turner, Genesis, p. 19
2. He has no ancestors.
New sections of Genesis…”These are the descendants of…” (5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12, 13, 19; 36:1; 37:2), and all human characters in Genesis 1:11 have genealogical relationships with one another. Yet here, God, the major charcter in Genesis 1-11, is given neither toledot formula nor genealogy. The concluding formula (2:4a) refers to the toledot of the ‘heavens and earth,’ not God. With no family tree, God is the unique character in the story. He transcends the creative and procreative processes, as the creator of the “universe.” Laurence Turner
APPLICATION: God’s timelessness, an antidote to my fear of mortality, as I am anchored in him.
b. God demonstrates his Providence, his orderly nature.
…An integral part of God’s creating…is the organizing of the cosmos. For example, the separating of day from night, waters above from waters below, dry land from seas. Before this separation the earth was an undifferentiated mass. …as order increases with each successive day, chaos is left further and further behind. Laurence Turner
i. The intricate design evident in the Creative Week describes the careful precision, the harmony and balance of God’s work.
Waltke, p.57—“The creation account is divided into two triads, which contrast with the unformed (tohu) and unfilled (bohu) state of the earth when the story begins.”
FORM [versus tohu] FILL [versus bohu]
Day Day
1 Light (1:3-5) 4 Lights (1:14-19)
2 Firmament (1:6-8) 5 Inhabitants (1:20-34)
sky birds
seas fish
3 Dry land (1:9-10) 6 Land animals (1:24-25)
Vegetation (1:11-13) Human beings (1:26-31)
Waltke, p. 57
The first triad separates the formless chaos into three static spheres. In the second triad, the spheres that house and shelter life are filled with the moving forms of sun, moon, and living creatures. The inhabitants of the second triad rule over the corresponding spheres: the sun and the moon rule the darkness, while humanity (head over everything) rules the earth.
APPLICATION: God’s providence, a comfort in my fear of chaos.
ii. The God who implemented the creation can be trusted to sustain all it contains.
Cf. Cassuto; Whereas the forces of nature are often deities in the ancient Near Eastern creation myths, here all derive from and are subject to God’s word.
iii. The God who created the world proves his overarching purposes are good.
1. When God later formed Israel, he used the same means; Israel received the Word of God, which defined the nation.
“Later, when Israel received “the Word of the Lord,” they knew it was that creative word. Should they not obey this powerful word, as all creation had? Could they not trust it? Ross, Creation and Blessing, p. 102
2. Creation of the world symbolizes the work of God in our redemption; he transforms chaos and darkness into good and worthy.
Ross, p. 102--…God transformed the chaos into the cosmos, turned darkness into light, and altered that which was unprofitable to that which was good, holy, and worth blessing. This direction in the passage parallels the direction of the message in the Pentateuch as a whole, in which God redeems Israel from the darkness and chaos of Egypt and leads them on toward blessing and rest. The pattern of God’s redemptive work thus first begins to unfold at creation.
APPLICATION: God’s care and order in creation persuades me that his Word can bring order and personal care into my life.
CREATIVE WEEK:
Day One: Light & Darkness
Gen. 1:3-5 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
Waltke: Day--…literal twenty-four-hours periods, extended ages or epochs, and structures of a literary framework designed to illustrate the orderly nature of God’s creation and to enable the covenant people to mime the Creator. The first two interpretations pose scientific and textual difficulties. The third interpretation is consistent with the text’s emphasis on theological, rather than scientific, issues. The presentation of creation through “days” reveals God’s sovereign ordering of creation and God’s care to accommodate himself to humanity in finite and understandable terms. God’s decision to create the cosmos through successive days, not instantaneous fiat, serves as a paradigm for his development of humanity through successive eras of history.
Polemic: Time has its limits; God does not.
Turner: The separation of light from darkenss initiates the temporal rhythm of ‘evening and morning’, forming the first day. Once ‘darkness’ is set in its place, given a function, and named “Night,” it ceases to be an element of chaos. Creation, therefore, involves not only the advent of a new element (‘light’), but also the ‘domestication’ of previously existing chaos.
Laf—implication: human humility in the face of our limited grasp or control of either space or time.
Ross: Light—It is natural, physical light; but it is much more. …light is the realm of God and the righteous; darkness is the domain of the Evil One and death. …when God brought the judgment of darkness on Egypt, Israel enjoyed light in their dwellings [Exod. 10:21-23]. When Israel followed the Lord’s light through the wilderness by night, they were assured of his presence. When they were instructed to keep the lamps burning in the Holy Place, they knew that there was something symbolic about that light. In the act of creating light in the darkened arena of the world, God thus also manifested his nature and will.
Day Two: Sky
Gen. 1:6-8 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so. God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
Pagan mythology considered the heavens to be the domain of the high gods. According to Genesis, however, God not only created this domain but also controlled it by making a division in it. the theological significance of this teaching involves Israel’s compliance with all the divisions and distinctions he made in his creation. Ross: p. 109f.
Polemic: God controls the supposed domain of the pagan gods; he controls our “heavens” as well. Our domain is that of our minds, our supposed control of our lives and of nature through trust in technology (our selves and our smartest neighbours).
Day Three: Plants & Trees
Gen. 1:9-13 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. The land produced vegetation–plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
Turner: … Because the earth is ordered it may now participate in the ongoing act of creation by itself ‘bringing forth’ vegetation (1:11).
Ross: shift from bringing order to bringing fullness.
In contrast to corrupt accounts of fertility, the text of Genesis simply but powerfully reports that God gathered the seas together and decreed that the fertile earth produce vegetation. Fertility is a self-perpetuating process decreed by God, a created capacity from the true Lord of life. …Vegetation does not result from some pagan God’s springtime ascendancy through depraved ritual. It results from the majestic Word of the sovereign Lord of creation.
Waltke: Good—with the life-support systems now in place, God evaluates creation and twice declares it good (1:10,12).
Polemic: The sea is not to be worshiped, but its Maker.
Fertility does not come by sacrifices to the gods, but by the gift of God.
Potency comes by his potent Word.
Day Four: Sun, Moon, Stars
Day & Night
Gen. 1:14-19 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. God made two great lights–the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
Laf: As the earth is now perpetually fertile, so the sun, moon and stars now perpetually provide light…
Polemic: the Egyptian sun-god (most religions worshiped the sun); just the ‘greater light’, casually described.
Astrology: the stars have no control over our destinies.
Day Five: Water creatures, birds
Gen. 1:20-23 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
Turner: p. 23--…a new element occurs on the fifth day: God blesses the creatures of sea and air.
Ross: …declares that life came into being by the direct command of God.
Polemic: the great sea creatures worshiped by fearful pagans are dismissed.
The great sea itself does not have the power for spontaneous generation.
CONCLUSION:
The world exists because God wanted us to know that He created all things, that he rules all that he created, and that his work is our work.
1. By His Word.
2. By His Will.
3. Ex nihilo
All that we see and much that we cannot has been carefully created and personally placed in a setting that highlights the person and nature of God himself.
Conclusion: Gospel
So, what will we do with our knowledge of this account?
Weigh it against other paradigms.
Given thoughtful review, I suggest that you will conclude with me that this account explains away all others.
The claim, then, is on our minds, our wills, our hearts.
The Word of God was made human. He was named Jesus; he lived his childhood in Nazareth, walked out his adulthood in Palestine, surrendered his life outside Jerusalem, was buried in a tomb near the city, but as creator of the universe overcame death after three days. He ascended to the throne of his father and rules all his creation from there now.
He challenged his followers to complete the work he began, by the same power he launched the restoration of the world, his Holy Spirit.
Augustine—The Spirit of God who spoke through them did not choose to teach about the heavens to men, as it was of no use for salvation.
Galileo Galilie—The Bible tells how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go.
Albert Einstein—The function of setting up goals and passing statements of value transcends the domain of science.
Waltke: …Genesis 1 is concerned with ultimate cause, not proximation. …When the psalmist says “You knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psa. 139:13), he is not intending to comment on genetics or immediate cause. To suggest otherwise is to distort the text.
What, then, is the genre of the Genesis creation account? Following Henri Bocher, we can describe the creation account as an artistic, literary representation of creation intended to fortify God’s covenant with creation. It represents truths about origins in anthropomorphic language so that the covenant community may have a proper worldview and be wise unto salvation. It represents the world as coming into being through God’s proclamation so that the world depends on his will, purpose, and presence.
2nd Sermon: WHY DID HE CREATE THE WORLD THE WAY HE DID? To show us who he is!
WHY?
Why should Creation Week mean anything to me? Why should we take time to understand it?
1. The story claims that God created the world by his word; does that not mean it is yet under his control?
2. The world I see is broken. The original construction of the universe, the architectural drawing, offers us the divine plan for its reconstruction, by his Word.
3. The creation of the world by His Word was described to Israel by Moses as God was forming the nation by His spoken Word.
4. The creation of the church is following a similar pattern, by His Word.
5. If God did in fact create the universe, that changes the way I see that world and my place in it.
What happened in the Creative Week? How might that impact my worldview?
A. The importance of Paradigms.
i. Why does all this exist?
Premodern view: invisible forces have produced this dark, dangerous place; dark means are required to deal with dark threats.
Modern view: by chance, don’t read anything into it, nor out of it! It’s just there; deal with it.
Postmodern view: who knows? Enjoy the mystery; just don’t tell me that you have figured this all out and that we must all see things as you do! (Jean-François Lyotard)
ii. What role does perspective play?
[cycle paradigm-shift graphics]
ii. God confronts other paradigms and expects us to do the same.
2Cor. 10:3-5 For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ.
1. Other religions.
2. Secularism.
3. Consumerism.
iii. God offers us a very old paradigm that is new to us:
1. Mercy.
2. Justice.
3. Restoration.
4. Peace.
Central Idea: The Days of Creation are an explanation of God’s nature, a statement of God’s intentions, and a polemic against the religions of that day and this.
They serve us in the same manner: see and understand what is there, live out of this paradigm, which explains our lives, and subverts our culture’s paradigm. This is the pathway to reinventing the world, restoring justice…evangelism.
Transition: “in the beginning” in defiance of the world’s religions, which are cyclical.
Days of Creation: what they are and what they represent.
WHAT?
B. God creates and affirms what he did: “it is good.”
He allows us to interpret and understand his work.
What is good/what is not good.
Our eyes and minds must discern.
HOW DOES GOD ACCOMPLISH THESE INTENTIONS WITHIN CREATION WEEK?
Central Idea: The Days of Creation are a snapshot of God’s nature, a statement of God’s intentions, and a polemic against the religions of the day.
C. God implements his intentions through Creation Week:
1. God reveals His nature by creating the world.
Rom. 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. NASB95
a. God declares his timelessness.
1. He was before time.
“Genesis begins with breathtaking comprehensiveness. It commences with the limits of time (“in the beginning”), and proceeds immediately to the limits of space (“the heavens and the earth”). …the introductory and concluding statements of ‘chaos’ and ‘rest,’ form a complementary pair.” Laurence Turner, Genesis, p. 19
2. He has no ancestors.
New sections of Genesis…”These are the descendants of…” (5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12, 13, 19; 36:1; 37:2), and all human characters in Genesis 1:11 have genealogical relationships with one another. Yet here, God, the major charcter in Genesis 1-11, is given neither toledot formula nor genealogy. The concluding formula (2:4a) refers to the toledot of the ‘heavens and earth,’ not God. With no family tree, God is the unique character in the story. He transcends the creative and procreative processes, as the creator of the “universe.” Laurence Turner
APPLICATION: God’s timelessness, an antidote to my fear of mortality, as I am anchored in him.
b. God demonstrates his Providence, his orderly nature.
…An integral part of God’s creating…is the organizing of the cosmos. For example, the separating of day from night, waters above from waters below, dry land from seas. Before this separation the earth was an undifferentiated mass. …as order increases with each successive day, chaos is left further and further behind. Laurence Turner
i. The intricate design evident in the Creative Week describes the careful precision, the harmony and balance of God’s work.
Waltke, p.57—“The creation account is divided into two triads, which contrast with the unformed (tohu) and unfilled (bohu) state of the earth when the story begins.”
FORM [versus tohu] FILL [versus bohu]
Day Day
1 Light (1:3-5) 4 Lights (1:14-19)
2 Firmament (1:6-8) 5 Inhabitants (1:20-34)
sky birds
seas fish
3 Dry land (1:9-10) 6 Land animals (1:24-25)
Vegetation (1:11-13) Human beings (1:26-31)
Waltke, p. 57
The first triad separates the formless chaos into three static spheres. In the second triad, the spheres that house and shelter life are filled with the moving forms of sun, moon, and living creatures. The inhabitants of the second triad rule over the corresponding spheres: the sun and the moon rule the darkness, while humanity (head over everything) rules the earth.
APPLICATION: God’s providence, a comfort in my fear of chaos.
ii. The God who implemented the creation can be trusted to sustain all it contains.
Cf. Cassuto; Whereas the forces of nature are often deities in the ancient Near Eastern creation myths, here all derive from and are subject to God’s word.
iii. The God who created the world proves his overarching purposes are good.
1. When God later formed Israel, he used the same means; Israel received the Word of God, which defined the nation.
“Later, when Israel received “the Word of the Lord,” they knew it was that creative word. Should they not obey this powerful word, as all creation had? Could they not trust it? Ross, Creation and Blessing, p. 102
2. Creation of the world symbolizes the work of God in our redemption; he transforms chaos and darkness into good and worthy.
Ross, p. 102--…God transformed the chaos into the cosmos, turned darkness into light, and altered that which was unprofitable to that which was good, holy, and worth blessing. This direction in the passage parallels the direction of the message in the Pentateuch as a whole, in which God redeems Israel from the darkness and chaos of Egypt and leads them on toward blessing and rest. The pattern of God’s redemptive work thus first begins to unfold at creation.
APPLICATION: God’s care and order in creation persuades me that his Word can bring order and personal care into my life.
CREATIVE WEEK:
Day One: Light & Darkness
Gen. 1:3-5 God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light! God saw that the light was good, so God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.” There was evening, and there was morning, marking the first day.
Waltke: Day--…literal twenty-four-hours periods, extended ages or epochs, and structures of a literary framework designed to illustrate the orderly nature of God’s creation and to enable the covenant people to mime the Creator. The first two interpretations pose scientific and textual difficulties. The third interpretation is consistent with the text’s emphasis on theological, rather than scientific, issues. The presentation of creation through “days” reveals God’s sovereign ordering of creation and God’s care to accommodate himself to humanity in finite and understandable terms. God’s decision to create the cosmos through successive days, not instantaneous fiat, serves as a paradigm for his development of humanity through successive eras of history.
Polemic: Time has its limits; God does not.
Turner: The separation of light from darkenss initiates the temporal rhythm of ‘evening and morning’, forming the first day. Once ‘darkness’ is set in its place, given a function, and named “Night,” it ceases to be an element of chaos. Creation, therefore, involves not only the advent of a new element (‘light’), but also the ‘domestication’ of previously existing chaos.
Laf—implication: human humility in the face of our limited grasp or control of either space or time.
Ross: Light—It is natural, physical light; but it is much more. …light is the realm of God and the righteous; darkness is the domain of the Evil One and death. …when God brought the judgment of darkness on Egypt, Israel enjoyed light in their dwellings [Exod. 10:21-23]. When Israel followed the Lord’s light through the wilderness by night, they were assured of his presence. When they were instructed to keep the lamps burning in the Holy Place, they knew that there was something symbolic about that light. In the act of creating light in the darkened arena of the world, God thus also manifested his nature and will.
Day Two: Sky
Gen. 1:6-8 God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate water from water. So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. It was so. God called the expanse “sky.” There was evening, and there was morning, a second day.
Pagan mythology considered the heavens to be the domain of the high gods. According to Genesis, however, God not only created this domain but also controlled it by making a division in it. the theological significance of this teaching involves Israel’s compliance with all the divisions and distinctions he made in his creation. Ross: p. 109f.
Polemic: God controls the supposed domain of the pagan gods; he controls our “heavens” as well. Our domain is that of our minds, our supposed control of our lives and of nature through trust in technology (our selves and our smartest neighbours).
Day Three: Plants & Trees
Gen. 1:9-13 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” It was so. God called the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” God saw that it was good. God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” It was so. The land produced vegetation–plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a third day.
Turner: … Because the earth is ordered it may now participate in the ongoing act of creation by itself ‘bringing forth’ vegetation (1:11).
Ross: shift from bringing order to bringing fullness.
In contrast to corrupt accounts of fertility, the text of Genesis simply but powerfully reports that God gathered the seas together and decreed that the fertile earth produce vegetation. Fertility is a self-perpetuating process decreed by God, a created capacity from the true Lord of life. …Vegetation does not result from some pagan God’s springtime ascendancy through depraved ritual. It results from the majestic Word of the sovereign Lord of creation.
Waltke: Good—with the life-support systems now in place, God evaluates creation and twice declares it good (1:10,12).
Polemic: The sea is not to be worshiped, but its Maker.
Fertility does not come by sacrifices to the gods, but by the gift of God.
Potency comes by his potent Word.
Day Four: Sun, Moon, Stars
Day & Night
Gen. 1:14-19 God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs to indicate seasons and days and years, and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. God made two great lights–the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.
Laf: As the earth is now perpetually fertile, so the sun, moon and stars now perpetually provide light…
Polemic: the Egyptian sun-god (most religions worshiped the sun); just the ‘greater light’, casually described.
Astrology: the stars have no control over our destinies.
Day Five: Water creatures, birds
Gen. 1:20-23 God said, “Let the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” God created the great sea creatures and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” There was evening, and there was morning, a fifth day.
Turner: p. 23--…a new element occurs on the fifth day: God blesses the creatures of sea and air.
Ross: …declares that life came into being by the direct command of God.
Polemic: the great sea creatures worshiped by fearful pagans are dismissed.
The great sea itself does not have the power for spontaneous generation.
CONCLUSION:
The world exists because God wanted us to know that He created all things, that he rules all that he created, and that his work is our work.
1. By His Word.
2. By His Will.
3. Ex nihilo
All that we see and much that we cannot has been carefully created and personally placed in a setting that highlights the person and nature of God himself.
Conclusion: Gospel
So, what will we do with our knowledge of this account?
Weigh it against other paradigms.
Given thoughtful review, I suggest that you will conclude with me that this account explains away all others.
The claim, then, is on our minds, our wills, our hearts.
The Word of God was made human. He was named Jesus; he lived his childhood in Nazareth, walked out his adulthood in Palestine, surrendered his life outside Jerusalem, was buried in a tomb near the city, but as creator of the universe overcame death after three days. He ascended to the throne of his father and rules all his creation from there now.
He challenged his followers to complete the work he began, by the same power he launched the restoration of the world, his Holy Spirit.
Genesis Introduction
1st sermon: What’s important about the creation story? 9/23
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen. 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Questions raised by this text:
How did we get here? OR,
Why are we here?
Whoa! Disclaimer: we learn from this text…
We know how: God created us by his word, his will, ex nihilo.
We know why: God created us for his pleasure and his glory.
This sermon series is not about how old the earth is, etc, because Genesis is not about that.
[What about the questions of origins?
1. Evolution
2. Deistic evolution
3. Theistic creationism
4. Intelligent Design
Transition:If not about creation/evolution, then Why is the study of Genesis important?
My questions have always focused on HOW--If God created, then HOW did he do that? When did he do that? Does this text mean that God created the world in seven twenty-four hour days? If not, then how long were these days of creation? Or, how many years, did it take, how many millions? How can we measure the data to support God’s claim? What do we do if the scientific data collected contradict God’s claim as creator?
After 40 years of wrestling over these questions, I am ready to move on! I believe that the greater, more important questions have to do with WHY? In fact, I believe that Genesis 1 & 2 lets us know not so much the HOW, as the WHY.
Why did God claim to create the world? If God is the creator, WHY would he have created the world?
What does the creation mean? What does this say about my life and its purpose, its meaning, its choices?
If we cannot resolve the Creation/Evolution debate here, What benefit can we find in Genesis?
a. Genesis is the foundation of all Scripture, not merely the Pentateuch or the Old Testament.
a. If we are to understand the OT, or
b. If we are to understand the NT, or
c. If we are to understand Jesus; then we must master Genesis.
d. Themes of Scripture launch in Genesis 1-11:
i. God as sovereign (here, creator);
ii. light & darkness; form & purpose (telos);
iii. trees and the Tree;
iv. the Garden and garderning;
v. beginning and end; rise and fall;
vi. work and rest;
vii. words and language;
viii. blessing and cursing;
ix. personhood and family; ETC.!!!
If Genesis is THAT important, and so hotly debated, then how can we correctly understand it?
b. Genesis is presented as revelation in the form of story.
• There is no list of propositional truths in the OT; the Ten Commandments are a part of the story!
• There is no list of propositional truths in the NT; the Sermon on the Mount is a terrific summary!
• Westerners are terrific systematizers, but Scripture is not systematic, though thoughtful.
• All revelation in Scripture is couched in story form.
• If we are to understand Scripture, we must grasp the story.
• More importantly: this story claims to reveal the divine paradigm. Your story makes no sense without this story.
c. We live in a multicultural setting, a pluralistic society. Our neighbours live out of paradigms that we are unfamiliar with.
a. Those paradigms challenge our interpretation of the world;
b. our views challenge theirs.
c. Paradigm shifts are common now.
SHOW PARADIGM SLIDE
d. Scripture’s story is presented from the divine paradigm.
With that as introduction, let’s look at the text:
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen. 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
What is important about the story of Creation? in 1:1-2
I. By what means did God create the world?
a. God created by His Word.
Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
i. Power of the Word.
1. External power in creation.
2. Internal power in humans.
Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
ii. Given to humans, uniquely in creation. We will return to this later in the series: teaser—why our words matter.
b. God created by His Will.
i. He carefully chose his creative activities. We will discuss that more carefully.
Based on your experience with your own body…
ii. You might wonder just how much care was put into his creation of you!
1. Illustrations of things that I don’t think so great, but God has good intentions for them.
2. CS Lewis’ thumb was double-jointed; he couldn’t create with scissors, to he had to write the story.
c. God created ex nihilo.
i. Out of nothing.
ii. Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
iii. Romans 4—we depend on him to do this again.
Rom. 4:17 (as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
iv. “God created” implies that the sovereign God of the universe was personally involved in this act.
v. “heavens and earth”
1. His will is all-encompassing:
2. “heavens and earth” is a merism, standing for all things between those extremes, meaning he created everything.
vi. “Spirit of God” was closely, personally involved in the creative process, in haunting contrast to the impression we might have from the geologic record.
vii. “in the beginning” requires that there BE a beginning; the world is NOT derivative.
viii. “formless and void” implies steps in creation, moving from disorder to order.
II. WHY did God create the world?
A. For his own pleasure.
Is. 46:9
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Is. 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’…
B. For his own glory.
What’s this about?
Is. 48:11
“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My glory I will not give to another.
Application: God created with purpose; and he has a purpose for your own life, uniquely so, because he has created you by his will (thoughtful, intentional), thoughtful and intentional about you (to broadcast to the world all we know of God. You can know that unique purpose!
All this came into being by the personal intention of God, THEREFORE, SO DID YOU!
Conclusion
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen. 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Questions raised by this text:
How did we get here? OR,
Why are we here?
Whoa! Disclaimer: we learn from this text…
We know how: God created us by his word, his will, ex nihilo.
We know why: God created us for his pleasure and his glory.
This sermon series is not about how old the earth is, etc, because Genesis is not about that.
[What about the questions of origins?
1. Evolution
2. Deistic evolution
3. Theistic creationism
4. Intelligent Design
Transition:If not about creation/evolution, then Why is the study of Genesis important?
My questions have always focused on HOW--If God created, then HOW did he do that? When did he do that? Does this text mean that God created the world in seven twenty-four hour days? If not, then how long were these days of creation? Or, how many years, did it take, how many millions? How can we measure the data to support God’s claim? What do we do if the scientific data collected contradict God’s claim as creator?
After 40 years of wrestling over these questions, I am ready to move on! I believe that the greater, more important questions have to do with WHY? In fact, I believe that Genesis 1 & 2 lets us know not so much the HOW, as the WHY.
Why did God claim to create the world? If God is the creator, WHY would he have created the world?
What does the creation mean? What does this say about my life and its purpose, its meaning, its choices?
If we cannot resolve the Creation/Evolution debate here, What benefit can we find in Genesis?
a. Genesis is the foundation of all Scripture, not merely the Pentateuch or the Old Testament.
a. If we are to understand the OT, or
b. If we are to understand the NT, or
c. If we are to understand Jesus; then we must master Genesis.
d. Themes of Scripture launch in Genesis 1-11:
i. God as sovereign (here, creator);
ii. light & darkness; form & purpose (telos);
iii. trees and the Tree;
iv. the Garden and garderning;
v. beginning and end; rise and fall;
vi. work and rest;
vii. words and language;
viii. blessing and cursing;
ix. personhood and family; ETC.!!!
If Genesis is THAT important, and so hotly debated, then how can we correctly understand it?
b. Genesis is presented as revelation in the form of story.
• There is no list of propositional truths in the OT; the Ten Commandments are a part of the story!
• There is no list of propositional truths in the NT; the Sermon on the Mount is a terrific summary!
• Westerners are terrific systematizers, but Scripture is not systematic, though thoughtful.
• All revelation in Scripture is couched in story form.
• If we are to understand Scripture, we must grasp the story.
• More importantly: this story claims to reveal the divine paradigm. Your story makes no sense without this story.
c. We live in a multicultural setting, a pluralistic society. Our neighbours live out of paradigms that we are unfamiliar with.
a. Those paradigms challenge our interpretation of the world;
b. our views challenge theirs.
c. Paradigm shifts are common now.
SHOW PARADIGM SLIDE
d. Scripture’s story is presented from the divine paradigm.
With that as introduction, let’s look at the text:
Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Gen. 1:2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
What is important about the story of Creation? in 1:1-2
I. By what means did God create the world?
a. God created by His Word.
Gen. 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
i. Power of the Word.
1. External power in creation.
2. Internal power in humans.
Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
ii. Given to humans, uniquely in creation. We will return to this later in the series: teaser—why our words matter.
b. God created by His Will.
i. He carefully chose his creative activities. We will discuss that more carefully.
Based on your experience with your own body…
ii. You might wonder just how much care was put into his creation of you!
1. Illustrations of things that I don’t think so great, but God has good intentions for them.
2. CS Lewis’ thumb was double-jointed; he couldn’t create with scissors, to he had to write the story.
c. God created ex nihilo.
i. Out of nothing.
ii. Heb. 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
iii. Romans 4—we depend on him to do this again.
Rom. 4:17 (as it is written, “A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
iv. “God created” implies that the sovereign God of the universe was personally involved in this act.
v. “heavens and earth”
1. His will is all-encompassing:
2. “heavens and earth” is a merism, standing for all things between those extremes, meaning he created everything.
vi. “Spirit of God” was closely, personally involved in the creative process, in haunting contrast to the impression we might have from the geologic record.
vii. “in the beginning” requires that there BE a beginning; the world is NOT derivative.
viii. “formless and void” implies steps in creation, moving from disorder to order.
II. WHY did God create the world?
A. For his own pleasure.
Is. 46:9
“Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Is. 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’…
B. For his own glory.
What’s this about?
Is. 48:11
“For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;
For how can My name be profaned?
And My glory I will not give to another.
Application: God created with purpose; and he has a purpose for your own life, uniquely so, because he has created you by his will (thoughtful, intentional), thoughtful and intentional about you (to broadcast to the world all we know of God. You can know that unique purpose!
All this came into being by the personal intention of God, THEREFORE, SO DID YOU!
Conclusion
Monday, May 21, 2007
Lunch with Levi notes
Here are my sermon notes from 20 May 2007. The second service message did not include my references to Peter in the Caravaggio painting of the Call of St. Matthew. You can find this painting in a variety of places on the web. If you have questions or concerns about my interpretation of Caravvaggio's interpretation of the story, I'd love to interact here.
Lunch With Levi
Matt. 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32
Matt. 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
Matt. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples.
Matt. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Matt. 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.
Matt. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” NETBible
Background of the story…Jesus’ story.
Meals with Jesus
Healing the leper
A miracle of healing visibly (the leper) is followed by a miracle of healing invisibly (the visit to Levi’s house brought an outsider into the kingdom by Jesus’ contact and cleansing).
I. Jesus calls Matthew, who follows him.
Matt. 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
a. Matthew = Levi
b. Sitting at the “tax booth”
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Norman Hillyer,
For Matthew himself (called Levi by Mark and Luke) the call of Jesus entailed great sacrifice. He left everything (Lk. 5:28). Fishermen could return to their boats (Jn. 21:3), but a teloœneœs who gave up his occupation had no prospect of another job, even with the skills that he undoubtedly possessed. Of necessity a tax collector would be versed in several languages, experienced in keeping records, and probably know shorthand (G. Milligan, The New Testament Documents, 1913, 241-7). A system of shorthand invented by Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freedman of Cicero, in 63 B.C. was widely used.
The toll house (teloœnion) at Capernaum was an important centre commanding both the sea route from east and north of the lake and also the great land road, the way of the sea (Matt. 4:15), leading from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast. Custom would thus be levied on all goods carried by ship or caravan. In Matthew’s case the duty would be collected not on behalf of the Roman government but for the tetrarch Herod Antipas. This fact would however not make his calling or class any the less unpopular. Two inscriptions from the Asian cities of Magnesia and Ephesus mention “those concerned with the toll on fish” (A. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Matthäus, 19636, 302), and it is possible that a toll on catches of fish was collected at Capernaum as well. If so, Matthew would have known the fishermen-disciples, and probably Jesus himself, who used Capernaum as his headquarters. This would explain Matthew’s immediate and total response to Jesus’ call to discipleship.
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Dennis C. Duling
The location was probably a toll or customs office or booth normally found at ports of entry (Jos. JW 2.287), or on the boundaries between various districts, for example, Jericho (cf. Luke 19:2), or, in this case, Capernaum (Mark 2:1; Matt 8:5, 9:1).
c. Matthew follows Jesus.
By this response, Levi/Matthew begins a new life; he now cedes control over his life to the rabbi, Jesus. Walking away from this Tax Station, he is making Jesus the centre-point of his life.
Application: I recognize the call of Jesus on my life by my readiness to give him the central role in my life.
Watch what happens next…
II. Jesus follows Matthew.
Matt. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples.
a. Jesus has a meal at Matthew’s place.
The family meal was the centre-point of family life. To be invited to this meal was to be virtually included in the family itself.
The extensive list of dietary laws in the Torah not only protected Israel from some harmful consumables, it also separated obedient Israelites from their nonconforming neighbours. They could not therefore eat with their neighbours without compromising their distinctiveness in being God’s people.
Inviting Jesus to this meal embraced the rabbi as a family member, invited him into the identity of the family, perhaps it was the ultimate expression of fellowship with Jesus, and therefore, followership of Jesus.
Rev. 3:20—Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone will open the door, I will come in and will eat with him and fellowship with him.
Application: When you have the sense that Jesus has knocked on the door, asked to be given entrance, invited himself to dinner, then you have heard the call.
Responding to the call means that Jesus is now central to your life and work.
b. Matthew’s colleagues join in the meal.
Notice that one of Matthew’s first acts was to invite his colleagues to share this same meal with Jesus; that is another sign of the call. Once called, there is a compelling desire to invite others to share the meal, share the life, share the journey with Jesus.
III. The Pharisees question Jesus’ other disciples.
Matt. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
a. The recurring problem of ceremonial cleanness.
We saw this with the healing of the Leper last time: one of the ways that the Mosaic Law communicated the centrality of divine holiness was to draw lines around physical wholeness, to clarify distinctions between broken and whole bodies, and thereby to draw attention to the need for divine holiness, and divine intervention.
Here, the centrality of separation and purity are represented by the Pharisees, those zealous for national purity.
These were not merely grumpy church ladies; the Pharisees were convinced that the blessing of YHWH could only come, Israel would only be liberated from Roman rule, when the nation repented and returned to full obedience.
If Jesus were teaching that the Law was not central, that obedience was not important, then Jesus would prove to be a false teacher, a betrayer of Israel.
b. Tax collectors and sinners contaminate the clean.
The tax collectors were normally Jews who sold out to Roman rule by making the highest bid for tax collection. Gaining the governor’s contract, the chief tax collector would then collect taxes from his neighbours and forward the bid amount to the governor, on its way to Rome. His own profit came from charging his neighbours some amount above the committed remittance.
Now, these betrayers of Israel were gathering for a meal with Jesus, proving that Jesus was the friend of the unclean, and by that a betrayer himself.
Application: the Pharisees were so concerned about this because it was evident that YOU BECOME LIKE THE PEOPLE YOU EAT WITH MOST.
In university, I took my meals at the commons. Every evening, I would meet friends there, eat the meal, discuss our experiences during the day.
We would chat about the lectures that challenged us most, about profs who were openly antagonistic about the faith. We tore into readings that impacted our developing worldview. We learned together. Over the weeks, months and years that this took place, I formed my own worldview, I became somewhat like those men and women, and they became like me.
In a similar way, when debi and I married, we ate the evening meal together, learned from one another, developed a common commitment to our family and deepened our commitment to Christ.
When our children were old enough to remain at table after the food was consumed, they entered into a similar experience with us, as the borders of our family expanded.
The people who share meals with you are influenced by you and you by them.
If you invite Jesus into the conversation around the table of your life, he will influence you; if he becomes the one with whom you most often ‘eat’, then you will become like him.
Keller: Jews were not infected with pagan beliefs because they couldn’t eat with them.
IV. Jesus overheard the Pharisee’s objection and responded with several obscure riddles.
Matt. 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.
Matt. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
a. Only the sick need a doctor.
Virtually all religions operate on the principle of CONTAMINATION OF THE HEALTHY THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE INFECTED.
Here, Jesus claims that THE CLEAN CLEANSE THE UNCLEAN.
EBC, DA Carson
12-13 These verses again connect Jesus’ healing ministry with his “healing” of sinners (see on 8:17). The sick need a doctor (v.12), and Jesus healed them; likewise the sinful need mercy, forgiveness, restoration, and Jesus healed them (v.13). The Pharisees were not so healthy as they thought (cf. 7:1-5); more important they did not understand the purpose of Jesus’ mission. Expecting a Messiah who would crush the sinful and support the righteous, they had little place for one who accepted and transformed the sinner and dismissed the “righteous” as hypocrites. Jesus explained his mission in terms reminiscent of 1:21. There is no suggestion here that he went to sinners because they gladly received him; rather, he went to them because they were sinners, just as a doctor goes to the sick because they are sick.
The quotation (v.13) is from Hosea 6:6 and is introduced by the rabbinic formula “go and learn,” used of those who needed to study the text further. Use of the formula may be slightly sardonic: those who prided themselves in their knowledge of and conformity to Scripture needed to “go and learn” what it means. The quotation, possibly translated from the Hebrew by Matthew himself, is cast in Semitic antithesis: “not A but B” often means “B is of more basic importance than A.”
The Hebrew word for “mercy” (hesed ) is close in meaning to “covenant love,” which, according to Hosea, is more important than “sacrifice.” Through Hosea, God said that the apostates of Hosea’s day, though continuing the formal ritual of temple worship, had lost its center. As applied to the Pharisees by Jesus, therefore, the Hosea quotation was not simply telling them that they should be more sympathetic to outcasts and less concerned about ceremonial purity, but that they were aligned with the apostates of ancient Israel in that they too preserved the shell while losing the heart of the matter, as exemplified by their attitude to tax collectors and sinners (cf. France, Jesus, p. 70). Jesus’ final statement (v.13b) therefore cannot mean that he viewed the Pharisees as righteous people who did not need him, who were already perfectly acceptable to God by virtue of their obedience to his laws so that their only fault was the exclusion of others (contra Hill, Greek Words, pp. 130f.). If the Pharisees were so righteous, the demand for righteousness surpassing that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20) would be incoherent.
b. I want mercy and not sacrifice.
NIBC, ROBERT H. MOUNCE
Mercy translates the Hebrew hesed, a word rich in meaning and conveying the idea of strong covenant faithfulness and love. Jesus then interprets his earlier statement by adding, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (v. 13). The pronouncement reveals a consciousness of having come to this world from a heavenly sphere. There is no reason to assign this insight to the faith of the early church (as some do), unless one begins with the assumption that Jesus was no more than a man or that he was unaware of his divine origin.
Dramatically, Jesus then challenges their view of holiness. The Pharisees had a fragile view of holiness, a view that considered everyone around as a threat to personal holiness.
Jesus had no such fear. He knew that he could NOT be contaminated. Rather, contact with him could cleanse!!
Those who have been cleansed by him become cleansers themselves. Therefore, a disciple of Jesus can become a little Jesus, can live fearlessly, can cleanse those who might have been a threat in their former life.
Keller: The mark is mercy, not sacrifice [the sacrificial system]. Don’t look to see how compliant you are with the codes, but look for mercy: love, service and compassion to people who are not like you. If you are now able to deal with “the bad people” then you are becoming like Jesus.
c. I came to call sinners, not the righteous.
Tim Keller’s:
How do we get the power to live that way?
why is it that your disciples don’t fast like we do?
Jesus: no fasting while the bridegroom is with them!
He does not want to have a relationship only like that of a king to subjects, but like that of a husband to a wife.
If you have a relationship with the Lord of the universe that is SO PERMANENT, then you have the sort of confidence that will lead you to contact the bad people around you.
How can he make the unclean clean? How can he impute holiness to us?
Because he took our diseases, became an outcast. He experienced all that we fear might occur to us.
2 Cor. 5:21
It melts you emotionally.
If there is a line, then the humble are in and the proud are out!
Now you don’t go out into the world with the fragile, self-achieved self-image. In him, you are beautiful to your spouse.
When you are living the way I lived, then you know that you are being transformed.
This is a “good infection.”
V. What’s the point?
a. What was Jesus’ message?
b. What does this mean to us?
c. How do we respond to these riddles?
d. What might happen if we were to take these seriously?
http://lanefusilier.blogspot.com/
Mark 2:13 ¶ Jesus24 went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.
Mark 2:14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth.25 “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
Mark 2:15 As Jesus26 was having a meal27 in Levi’s28 home, many tax collectors29 and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
Mark 2:16 When the experts in the law30 and the Pharisees31 saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”32
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.33 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Luke 5:27 ¶ After105 this, Jesus106 went out and saw a tax collector107 named Levi108 sitting at the tax booth.109 “Follow me,”110 he said to him.
Luke 5:28 And he got up and followed him, leaving everything111 behind.112
Luke 5:29 ¶ Then113 Levi gave a great banquet114 in his house for Jesus,115 and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting116 at the table with them.
Luke 5:30 But117 the Pharisees118 and their experts in the law119 complained120 to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”121
Luke 5:31 Jesus122 answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.123
Luke 5:32 I have not come124 to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”125
Lunch With Levi
Matt. 9:9-13; Mark 2:13-17; Luke 5:27-32
Matt. 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
Matt. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples.
Matt. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
Matt. 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.
Matt. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” NETBible
Background of the story…Jesus’ story.
Meals with Jesus
Healing the leper
A miracle of healing visibly (the leper) is followed by a miracle of healing invisibly (the visit to Levi’s house brought an outsider into the kingdom by Jesus’ contact and cleansing).
I. Jesus calls Matthew, who follows him.
Matt. 9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
a. Matthew = Levi
b. Sitting at the “tax booth”
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Norman Hillyer,
For Matthew himself (called Levi by Mark and Luke) the call of Jesus entailed great sacrifice. He left everything (Lk. 5:28). Fishermen could return to their boats (Jn. 21:3), but a teloœneœs who gave up his occupation had no prospect of another job, even with the skills that he undoubtedly possessed. Of necessity a tax collector would be versed in several languages, experienced in keeping records, and probably know shorthand (G. Milligan, The New Testament Documents, 1913, 241-7). A system of shorthand invented by Marcus Tullius Tiro, a freedman of Cicero, in 63 B.C. was widely used.
The toll house (teloœnion) at Capernaum was an important centre commanding both the sea route from east and north of the lake and also the great land road, the way of the sea (Matt. 4:15), leading from Damascus to the Mediterranean coast. Custom would thus be levied on all goods carried by ship or caravan. In Matthew’s case the duty would be collected not on behalf of the Roman government but for the tetrarch Herod Antipas. This fact would however not make his calling or class any the less unpopular. Two inscriptions from the Asian cities of Magnesia and Ephesus mention “those concerned with the toll on fish” (A. Schlatter, Der Evangelist Matthäus, 19636, 302), and it is possible that a toll on catches of fish was collected at Capernaum as well. If so, Matthew would have known the fishermen-disciples, and probably Jesus himself, who used Capernaum as his headquarters. This would explain Matthew’s immediate and total response to Jesus’ call to discipleship.
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Dennis C. Duling
The location was probably a toll or customs office or booth normally found at ports of entry (Jos. JW 2.287), or on the boundaries between various districts, for example, Jericho (cf. Luke 19:2), or, in this case, Capernaum (Mark 2:1; Matt 8:5, 9:1).
c. Matthew follows Jesus.
By this response, Levi/Matthew begins a new life; he now cedes control over his life to the rabbi, Jesus. Walking away from this Tax Station, he is making Jesus the centre-point of his life.
Application: I recognize the call of Jesus on my life by my readiness to give him the central role in my life.
Watch what happens next…
II. Jesus follows Matthew.
Matt. 9:10 As Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples.
a. Jesus has a meal at Matthew’s place.
The family meal was the centre-point of family life. To be invited to this meal was to be virtually included in the family itself.
The extensive list of dietary laws in the Torah not only protected Israel from some harmful consumables, it also separated obedient Israelites from their nonconforming neighbours. They could not therefore eat with their neighbours without compromising their distinctiveness in being God’s people.
Inviting Jesus to this meal embraced the rabbi as a family member, invited him into the identity of the family, perhaps it was the ultimate expression of fellowship with Jesus, and therefore, followership of Jesus.
Rev. 3:20—Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone will open the door, I will come in and will eat with him and fellowship with him.
Application: When you have the sense that Jesus has knocked on the door, asked to be given entrance, invited himself to dinner, then you have heard the call.
Responding to the call means that Jesus is now central to your life and work.
b. Matthew’s colleagues join in the meal.
Notice that one of Matthew’s first acts was to invite his colleagues to share this same meal with Jesus; that is another sign of the call. Once called, there is a compelling desire to invite others to share the meal, share the life, share the journey with Jesus.
III. The Pharisees question Jesus’ other disciples.
Matt. 9:11 When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
a. The recurring problem of ceremonial cleanness.
We saw this with the healing of the Leper last time: one of the ways that the Mosaic Law communicated the centrality of divine holiness was to draw lines around physical wholeness, to clarify distinctions between broken and whole bodies, and thereby to draw attention to the need for divine holiness, and divine intervention.
Here, the centrality of separation and purity are represented by the Pharisees, those zealous for national purity.
These were not merely grumpy church ladies; the Pharisees were convinced that the blessing of YHWH could only come, Israel would only be liberated from Roman rule, when the nation repented and returned to full obedience.
If Jesus were teaching that the Law was not central, that obedience was not important, then Jesus would prove to be a false teacher, a betrayer of Israel.
b. Tax collectors and sinners contaminate the clean.
The tax collectors were normally Jews who sold out to Roman rule by making the highest bid for tax collection. Gaining the governor’s contract, the chief tax collector would then collect taxes from his neighbours and forward the bid amount to the governor, on its way to Rome. His own profit came from charging his neighbours some amount above the committed remittance.
Now, these betrayers of Israel were gathering for a meal with Jesus, proving that Jesus was the friend of the unclean, and by that a betrayer himself.
Application: the Pharisees were so concerned about this because it was evident that YOU BECOME LIKE THE PEOPLE YOU EAT WITH MOST.
In university, I took my meals at the commons. Every evening, I would meet friends there, eat the meal, discuss our experiences during the day.
We would chat about the lectures that challenged us most, about profs who were openly antagonistic about the faith. We tore into readings that impacted our developing worldview. We learned together. Over the weeks, months and years that this took place, I formed my own worldview, I became somewhat like those men and women, and they became like me.
In a similar way, when debi and I married, we ate the evening meal together, learned from one another, developed a common commitment to our family and deepened our commitment to Christ.
When our children were old enough to remain at table after the food was consumed, they entered into a similar experience with us, as the borders of our family expanded.
The people who share meals with you are influenced by you and you by them.
If you invite Jesus into the conversation around the table of your life, he will influence you; if he becomes the one with whom you most often ‘eat’, then you will become like him.
Keller: Jews were not infected with pagan beliefs because they couldn’t eat with them.
IV. Jesus overheard the Pharisee’s objection and responded with several obscure riddles.
Matt. 9:12 When Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.
Matt. 9:13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
a. Only the sick need a doctor.
Virtually all religions operate on the principle of CONTAMINATION OF THE HEALTHY THROUGH CONTACT WITH THE INFECTED.
Here, Jesus claims that THE CLEAN CLEANSE THE UNCLEAN.
EBC, DA Carson
12-13 These verses again connect Jesus’ healing ministry with his “healing” of sinners (see on 8:17). The sick need a doctor (v.12), and Jesus healed them; likewise the sinful need mercy, forgiveness, restoration, and Jesus healed them (v.13). The Pharisees were not so healthy as they thought (cf. 7:1-5); more important they did not understand the purpose of Jesus’ mission. Expecting a Messiah who would crush the sinful and support the righteous, they had little place for one who accepted and transformed the sinner and dismissed the “righteous” as hypocrites. Jesus explained his mission in terms reminiscent of 1:21. There is no suggestion here that he went to sinners because they gladly received him; rather, he went to them because they were sinners, just as a doctor goes to the sick because they are sick.
The quotation (v.13) is from Hosea 6:6 and is introduced by the rabbinic formula “go and learn,” used of those who needed to study the text further. Use of the formula may be slightly sardonic: those who prided themselves in their knowledge of and conformity to Scripture needed to “go and learn” what it means. The quotation, possibly translated from the Hebrew by Matthew himself, is cast in Semitic antithesis: “not A but B” often means “B is of more basic importance than A.”
The Hebrew word for “mercy” (hesed ) is close in meaning to “covenant love,” which, according to Hosea, is more important than “sacrifice.” Through Hosea, God said that the apostates of Hosea’s day, though continuing the formal ritual of temple worship, had lost its center. As applied to the Pharisees by Jesus, therefore, the Hosea quotation was not simply telling them that they should be more sympathetic to outcasts and less concerned about ceremonial purity, but that they were aligned with the apostates of ancient Israel in that they too preserved the shell while losing the heart of the matter, as exemplified by their attitude to tax collectors and sinners (cf. France, Jesus, p. 70). Jesus’ final statement (v.13b) therefore cannot mean that he viewed the Pharisees as righteous people who did not need him, who were already perfectly acceptable to God by virtue of their obedience to his laws so that their only fault was the exclusion of others (contra Hill, Greek Words, pp. 130f.). If the Pharisees were so righteous, the demand for righteousness surpassing that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (5:20) would be incoherent.
b. I want mercy and not sacrifice.
NIBC, ROBERT H. MOUNCE
Mercy translates the Hebrew hesed, a word rich in meaning and conveying the idea of strong covenant faithfulness and love. Jesus then interprets his earlier statement by adding, I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (v. 13). The pronouncement reveals a consciousness of having come to this world from a heavenly sphere. There is no reason to assign this insight to the faith of the early church (as some do), unless one begins with the assumption that Jesus was no more than a man or that he was unaware of his divine origin.
Dramatically, Jesus then challenges their view of holiness. The Pharisees had a fragile view of holiness, a view that considered everyone around as a threat to personal holiness.
Jesus had no such fear. He knew that he could NOT be contaminated. Rather, contact with him could cleanse!!
Those who have been cleansed by him become cleansers themselves. Therefore, a disciple of Jesus can become a little Jesus, can live fearlessly, can cleanse those who might have been a threat in their former life.
Keller: The mark is mercy, not sacrifice [the sacrificial system]. Don’t look to see how compliant you are with the codes, but look for mercy: love, service and compassion to people who are not like you. If you are now able to deal with “the bad people” then you are becoming like Jesus.
c. I came to call sinners, not the righteous.
Tim Keller’s:
How do we get the power to live that way?
why is it that your disciples don’t fast like we do?
Jesus: no fasting while the bridegroom is with them!
He does not want to have a relationship only like that of a king to subjects, but like that of a husband to a wife.
If you have a relationship with the Lord of the universe that is SO PERMANENT, then you have the sort of confidence that will lead you to contact the bad people around you.
How can he make the unclean clean? How can he impute holiness to us?
Because he took our diseases, became an outcast. He experienced all that we fear might occur to us.
2 Cor. 5:21
It melts you emotionally.
If there is a line, then the humble are in and the proud are out!
Now you don’t go out into the world with the fragile, self-achieved self-image. In him, you are beautiful to your spouse.
When you are living the way I lived, then you know that you are being transformed.
This is a “good infection.”
V. What’s the point?
a. What was Jesus’ message?
b. What does this mean to us?
c. How do we respond to these riddles?
d. What might happen if we were to take these seriously?
http://lanefusilier.blogspot.com/
Mark 2:13 ¶ Jesus24 went out again by the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.
Mark 2:14 As he went along, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax booth.25 “Follow me,” he said to him. And he got up and followed him.
Mark 2:15 As Jesus26 was having a meal27 in Levi’s28 home, many tax collectors29 and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.
Mark 2:16 When the experts in the law30 and the Pharisees31 saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”32
Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard this he said to them, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.33 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Luke 5:27 ¶ After105 this, Jesus106 went out and saw a tax collector107 named Levi108 sitting at the tax booth.109 “Follow me,”110 he said to him.
Luke 5:28 And he got up and followed him, leaving everything111 behind.112
Luke 5:29 ¶ Then113 Levi gave a great banquet114 in his house for Jesus,115 and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting116 at the table with them.
Luke 5:30 But117 the Pharisees118 and their experts in the law119 complained120 to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”121
Luke 5:31 Jesus122 answered them, “Those who are well don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.123
Luke 5:32 I have not come124 to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”125
Sunday, April 29, 2007
NET Bible reference
Net.bible.org has a terrific on-line Bible, tagged with cross references, bibliographies, footnotes, translators notes, Greek & Hebrew tags, etc.
If you are web-connected, you will find this helpful in tracing down related passages. For example, as I walk through the various passages from Piper's prayer passages, you probably find that not every passage is clear to you. Search for that reference on this NETBible page and read other, parallel texts that you may find clearer, or more on topic. This provides an amazing array of source material for meditation.
If you are web-connected, you will find this helpful in tracing down related passages. For example, as I walk through the various passages from Piper's prayer passages, you probably find that not every passage is clear to you. Search for that reference on this NETBible page and read other, parallel texts that you may find clearer, or more on topic. This provides an amazing array of source material for meditation.
How Did They Pray?
This is John Piper's list of prayer settings in the New Testament, which I used as a discussion guide on 29 April.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Marriage Banquet of the Lamb
Here are the notes from the message this morning (22 April 07)…
Meals With Jesus: Consummation
Background…
I. …meal as metaphor
a. A feast is described as the setting for the culmination of God’s promises to Israel.
Isaiah 25:6 provides the benchmark image of this banquet:
“On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines” (NIV).
b. Jesus invited guests to meals as a sign.
"a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Mt 11:19 NRSV)
c. Jesus predicts a time when all peoples will gather to celebrate at such a meal.
…“people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God” (Lk 13:29 NRSV; cf. Mt 8:11–12).
d. Jesus used his last meal to predict later feasting in the Kingdom.
“I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Mt 26:29 NRSV; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18; cf. Lk 22:28–30).
II. …meal as metaphor of Messianic fulfillment.
a. The Old Testament often describes the coming peace of the world as a banquet.
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Dennis Smith
…Isa 54:5–55:5, where the theme of a divine marriage (54:5) is combined with a joyful feast which is characterized by abundance of food (55:1–2), vindication for the righteous (54:6–17), and the pilgrimage of the nations (55:5).
b. The New Testament restates this theme, with Jesus in the role of the Messiah who invites all to the meal.
i. In his food miracles, all are fed, even the poor who are not prepared to feed themselves.
(Matt 14:13–21 = Mark 6:32–44 = Luke 9:10–17 = John 6:1–15; Matt 15:32–39 = Mark 8:1–10; John 2:1–11)
ii. In his prophetic role, Jesus predicted that the nations would gather for a great meal of celebration.
“I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven, (Matt 8:11–12)
iii. In his teaching, Jesus related parables that contained meals.
(Matt 9:15 = Mark 2:19–20 = Luke 5:34–35; Matt 22:1–14; 25:1–13; Luke 14:7–11; cf. John 3:29)
III. …marriage as metaphor
a. Marriage is used as a metaphor for the intimate relationship between God and his people.
Isa 54:5
For your husband is the one who made you– the Lord who commands armies is his name. He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel. He is called “God of the entire earth.”
Jer. 2:2 “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.
b. Jesus used wedding celebrations to preview his own intentions.
The wedding at Cana in John 2
c. John described Jesus as the bridegroom.
John 3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete.
d. Paul used the same figure.
2Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Context of this particular meal…The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the end of the story.
Text…
Rev. 19:1-2 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”
Rev. 19:3-4Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!”
Rev. 19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God all you his servants, and all you who fear Him, both the small and the great!”
Rev. 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-powerful, reigns!
Rev. 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Rev. 19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).
Rev. 19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
CONCLUSION AND GOSPEL OFFER
PRINCIPLES:
1. We eat meals daily, because we require food; we are sensitive to this figure.
2. We eat meals together, because we long for satisfying friendship; an end to enmity.
3. We celebrate the Lord’s Table together, as a sign of hope for eternal life and the coming of the Kingdom.
APPLICATIONS
1. We invite all to share this meal with us, that all who anticipate the Kingdom might enjoy fellowship with us!
2. We invite others to share meals in our homes as an offer and a sign of friendship.
3. We include those friends in our common life; such is the mark of the believer, the Christfollower.
Meals With Jesus: Consummation
Background…
I. …meal as metaphor
a. A feast is described as the setting for the culmination of God’s promises to Israel.
Isaiah 25:6 provides the benchmark image of this banquet:
“On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine—the best of meats and the finest of wines” (NIV).
b. Jesus invited guests to meals as a sign.
"a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Mt 11:19 NRSV)
c. Jesus predicts a time when all peoples will gather to celebrate at such a meal.
…“people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God” (Lk 13:29 NRSV; cf. Mt 8:11–12).
d. Jesus used his last meal to predict later feasting in the Kingdom.
“I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Mt 26:29 NRSV; Mk 14:25; Lk 22:18; cf. Lk 22:28–30).
II. …meal as metaphor of Messianic fulfillment.
a. The Old Testament often describes the coming peace of the world as a banquet.
Anchor Bible Dictionary, Dennis Smith
…Isa 54:5–55:5, where the theme of a divine marriage (54:5) is combined with a joyful feast which is characterized by abundance of food (55:1–2), vindication for the righteous (54:6–17), and the pilgrimage of the nations (55:5).
b. The New Testament restates this theme, with Jesus in the role of the Messiah who invites all to the meal.
i. In his food miracles, all are fed, even the poor who are not prepared to feed themselves.
(Matt 14:13–21 = Mark 6:32–44 = Luke 9:10–17 = John 6:1–15; Matt 15:32–39 = Mark 8:1–10; John 2:1–11)
ii. In his prophetic role, Jesus predicted that the nations would gather for a great meal of celebration.
“I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven, (Matt 8:11–12)
iii. In his teaching, Jesus related parables that contained meals.
(Matt 9:15 = Mark 2:19–20 = Luke 5:34–35; Matt 22:1–14; 25:1–13; Luke 14:7–11; cf. John 3:29)
III. …marriage as metaphor
a. Marriage is used as a metaphor for the intimate relationship between God and his people.
Isa 54:5
For your husband is the one who made you– the Lord who commands armies is his name. He is your protector, the Holy One of Israel. He is called “God of the entire earth.”
Jer. 2:2 “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.
b. Jesus used wedding celebrations to preview his own intentions.
The wedding at Cana in John 2
c. John described Jesus as the bridegroom.
John 3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete.
d. Paul used the same figure.
2Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Context of this particular meal…The Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the end of the story.
Text…
Rev. 19:1-2 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a vast throng in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and has avenged the blood of his servants poured out by her own hands!”
Rev. 19:3-4Then a second time the crowd shouted, “Hallelujah!” The smoke rises from her forever and ever. The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures threw themselves to the ground and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne, saying: “Amen! Hallelujah!”
Rev. 19:5 Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God all you his servants, and all you who fear Him, both the small and the great!”
Rev. 19:6 Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-powerful, reigns!
Rev. 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Rev. 19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).
Rev. 19:9 Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
CONCLUSION AND GOSPEL OFFER
PRINCIPLES:
1. We eat meals daily, because we require food; we are sensitive to this figure.
2. We eat meals together, because we long for satisfying friendship; an end to enmity.
3. We celebrate the Lord’s Table together, as a sign of hope for eternal life and the coming of the Kingdom.
APPLICATIONS
1. We invite all to share this meal with us, that all who anticipate the Kingdom might enjoy fellowship with us!
2. We invite others to share meals in our homes as an offer and a sign of friendship.
3. We include those friends in our common life; such is the mark of the believer, the Christfollower.
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