What Did He Say?
Gen. 3:15-24
Foundation of Scripture: resonances reverberate throughout the Bible.
* Key to understanding our world. * Key to understanding ourselves.
Central Idea: God responds to the choices of Adam and Eve by blessing the man and the woman through curses.
This is a NONINTUITIVE truth that is a key to unlock life.
A. By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
B. By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
C. By removing them from the Orchard of Eden.
God was merciful and gracious to the new sinners, even as he justly responded to their sin.
Gen. 3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all the wild beasts
and all the living creatures of the field!
On your belly you will crawl
and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman
and between your offspring and her offspring;
her offspring will attack your head,
and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”
A. By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
Gen. 3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase your labor pains;
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband,
but he will dominate you.”
i. Increase labor pains:
1. Real pain.
2. Imagine a painless labor.
ii. Pain in giving birth to children
1. Real pain.
2. Real pain from the children.
3. Real pain for the children: conflict with the serpent’s offspring.
iii. Preoccupation with controlling your controlling husband.
1. Gen. 4:7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”
2. Desire for domination now controls interaction between husband and wife.
3. Antidote comes from Eph. 5:
a. A husband is to love his wife to death, as Christ loves us to his death.
b. A wife is to seek the best for her husband.
c. Both of these attitudes & behaviours only come by means of the CONTROL by the Holy Spirit; 5:17-18
Eph. 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
Eph. 5:18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. Eve was to have children; she would not be cut off because of her sin.
2. Eve’s offspring would continue to interact with the serpent’s offspring, but it would be strident, rather than cooperative.
3. Mystery is here: the offspring so important to this narrative resonates later with God’s promise to Abram that HIS seed would bless all.
By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
B. By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
The ground will lose efficiency by producing thorns instead of fruit only. [woman will be painfully fruitful, man will be…]
Gen. 3:17 But to Adam he said,
“Because you obeyed your wife
and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,
‘You must not eat from it,’
cursed is the ground thanks to you;
in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
but you will eat the grain of the field.
Gen. 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
Gen. 3:20 ¶ The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. The work will be fruitful; life will be sustained.
In contrast to the destiny of the Greek mythological king, Sisyphus:
Wikipedia: Sisyphus was a character in Greek mythology. He was a king punished in the Tartarus by being cursed to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll down again, and repeat this throughout eternity.
2. His authority to name remains: “…named his wife Eve…” his destiny continues.
By cursing childbirth with pain, and promising hope through that childbirth.
By cursing the ground where Adam is to work,
C. By removing them from the Orchard of Eden.
Gen. 3:22 And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”
Gen. 3:23 So the LORD God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.
Gen. 3:24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword to guard the way to the tree of life.
i. Now, Adam and Eve were “like” God.
ii. Eternal life in this state of fallenness would be good for no one.
iii. Adam is removed [“drove out”] from the orchard to till the ground of his origin.
iv. Guards prevented Adam’s return.
Implication: we long to live forever, regardless of our condition.
Where was the blessing in this curse?
1. Though we may not, cannot, know what is best for us, God intervenes.
2. God prevented the thorough ruination of the Garden and of humanity.
3. The longing for the Garden remains within us; we love what is good, beautiful, and satisfying.
For further reflection: Gen. 3:14-24 How to live in light of the Fall:
No 12 step process, but several irreplaceable elements:
1. God does not destroy his own people; his discipline is designed to RESTORE.
2. The Fall impacts ME; accept that in humility. My Soul requires major surgery, personal regeneration with the aid of the HS.
3. Acknowledge that the Garden is out of our reach, guarded by an angel, even though we long to return now.
4. BUT God IS doing his work of regenerating us, so that he can restore the Garden; at the end of time, he will complete the task in a spectacular, all-satisfying manner.
5. Seek justice, walk humbly with our God; show yourself not only involved but committed; do the work HE is doing, restoring the world.
6. GOSPEL: garments made from skin trump fig leaves! Leaves fade quickly, skins are more suitable to a hostile environment…
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Gen. 3:21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
a. Of course, skins implies that something else must have died to hide the nakedness of the couple.
These skins portend a divine solution to shame and guilt.
b. Much later in the story, the only MAN not shamed by the Fall had his garments taken away, leaving HIM naked for crucifixion.
c. Now, we enjoy the gift promised in Isa. 61.
Is. 61:3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.
d. Gal. 3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
6 April--Finding The Love of Your Life/Living With The Intermittent Love Of Your Life
Is. 61:10 ¶ I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Setting Things Right!
Setting Things Right: The Cross of Jesus
23 March 2008
Question: why was the crucifixion and the resurrection necessary? Because we cannot fix ourselves.
I. We are broken and in need of repair. [shame]
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
From sin to shame…
a. Shame is an emotion: …we are NOT what we are supposed to be. If allowed to soak in, it dyes the soul a dull gray.
Andrew Zantingh www.firsthamilton.ca
I am unworthy and unacceptable, I am inferior and inadequate.
I am seriously flawed, a fake and phony. I feel naked and ugly and vulnerable.
b. Shame leads me to compare myself with others.
i. Comparison with others leads me to feel shame.
ii. Shame is a never-ending cycle.
Lewis Smedes: “Compulsive Comparers.” Feelings of shame cause us to compare ourselves with others—to see how we measure up.
1. Positive comparison leads me to PRIDE.
If we compare ourselves with unsuccessful or insignificant people—it has a way of alleviating our shame for a moment. Bolstering some pride.
2. Negative comparison leads me to a sense of FAILURE.
If we compare ourselves with successful and significant people—it has a way of making us feel like failures. Everyone else’s sun darkens our day.
Conclusion: Indeed---People are Big factors in our shame---inevitably we compare ourselves to others (at times---compulsively so).
c. Our culture of shame impacts me.
i. Intrinsically—no one told Adam & Eve to hide.
ii. Extrinsically—I have no other model, so…
A world—according to Rom 12—is constantly seeking to
conform us to its ideal—its likeness
“squeeze us into its mold”—its mold of what it means to be acceptable
iii. Spiritually—this needs an Easter sermon!
There is the unhealthy shame that is shared in shame-based religions.
II. We have long tried to repair ourselves, long before there were self-help sections in our bookshops.
a. All our religious creations are attempts to attend to our shame.
Andrew Zantingh:
Based on prescribed ways to deal with our worthlessness---ways to become perfect—and therefore worthy of acceptance through personal effort.
b. Religions of all stripes and ethnic roots have given us steps to fix ourselves.
i. The five pillars of Islam
ii. The eight-fold path of Hinduism
iii. The ten commandments of Judaism.
iv. Even Christianity, have all been reduced to a set of rules.
v. Rules break us and highlight our shame.
And so, all religions have failed to remove the shame, have in fact ADDED to our sense of shame and despair; nothing has been repaired.
c. More recently, secularism has made a run at self-repair: the proposed solution has to do with…
i. Self-improvement by denying the validity of mind-draining religion.
ii. Self-improvement by attempting a secular morality.
iii. Atheism—we are alone, we do our best to pass on our genes.
III. Each of these efforts, religious and secular, has met with failure.
This is an ancient problem and from the beginning, the solution comes from God.
Gen. 3:8 ¶ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard.
Gen. 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Gen. 3:10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Gen. 3:11 And the LORD God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Gen. 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
Gen. 3:13 So the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
It was an orchard, but we only know of two trees within the orchard: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A. Shame moves us to blame someone else, because we are not honest enough to face who we are and what we’ve done.
“the woman whom you gave me…”
B. If something goes wrong, it can’t be my fault, because I can’t endure any more shame.
“the serpent whom you created…”
C. The sin which causes guilt and shame is directly addressed by God.
Gen. 3:14 ¶ So the LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:15 ¶ And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
D. There will be future generations.
E. The shame will be passed on to those generations.
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Something wonderful is hidden here, in the details
F. God promises that Eve will have offspring that will crush the head of the serpent.
From an orchard dominated by TWO CENTRAL TREES, God promised that the cunning serpent would be dealt with by the woman’s offspring; that her son would crush his heritage. God reveals mercy and grace at the very point of failure.
What is grace?
God’s grace involves:
1) pardon---forgiveness from the wrong---God’s answer to guilt.
2) acceptance---being re-united with God and our true selves, accepted, held, affirmed and loved. God’s answer to shame.
OT Judaism was grace-based. While Israel was captive in Egypt:
* He gave them freedom when He led them out of Egypt.
* He gave them the law: The ideal way to know how live without guilt and shame in their relationship.
* He gave them the sacrificial system: The way he gave for imperfect people (he knew would fail) to remain forgiven and accepted.
Which points to the final sacrifice, which we celebrated Friday.
Jesus came—full of God’s grace and truth—meeting shame with grace:
Jesus was criticized for meeting and eating with sinners.
Grace-based faith finds hope in helplessness.
a. You must know that you are a sinner, and cannot help yourself.
b. Presumes a good God, who forgives.
c. Requires a payment for forgiveness.
i. We all understand that forgiveness is never free, not trivial.
ii. We all understand that someone pays.
1. We “forgive” a debt, means that we absorb the cost.
2. We “forgive” an offense, we accept the pain caused by the offense.
3. When God forgives, he takes onto himself the pain caused by our offense; somebody pays!
The problem of evil is fully resolved at the Cross.
How? All the wrong, the shame that came from eating from the Wrong Tree was placed on the shoulders of Eve’s son, Jesus, who hung on Another Tree. The weight of that shame, that evil, that guilt crushed him.
The One who deserved life died for all who deserved Death, so that we cannot deserve life, could share in HIS life.
Once it had done its work, Jesus overcame death, he was raised from the dead.
Today, it looks like Satan has crushed Jesus, hanging and dieing on the Cross.
That was Friday, this is Sunday.
We celebrate his Victory over sin and death, guilt and shame, by his resurrection from the dead.
He is alive today, giving us
pardon---forgiveness from wrong
acceptance---being re-united with God and our true selves, accepted, held, affirmed and loved.
The answer to our guilt and shame is grounded in the Resurrection of Christ, if you will personally respond in faith, claim it as your own.
Pathway: From sin to shame…
From shame to Guilt…
From guilt to the Cross…
From the Cross to freedom
PRAY WITH ME/PRAY AFTERWARDS
23 March 2008
Question: why was the crucifixion and the resurrection necessary? Because we cannot fix ourselves.
I. We are broken and in need of repair. [shame]
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
From sin to shame…
a. Shame is an emotion: …we are NOT what we are supposed to be. If allowed to soak in, it dyes the soul a dull gray.
Andrew Zantingh www.firsthamilton.ca
I am unworthy and unacceptable, I am inferior and inadequate.
I am seriously flawed, a fake and phony. I feel naked and ugly and vulnerable.
b. Shame leads me to compare myself with others.
i. Comparison with others leads me to feel shame.
ii. Shame is a never-ending cycle.
Lewis Smedes: “Compulsive Comparers.” Feelings of shame cause us to compare ourselves with others—to see how we measure up.
1. Positive comparison leads me to PRIDE.
If we compare ourselves with unsuccessful or insignificant people—it has a way of alleviating our shame for a moment. Bolstering some pride.
2. Negative comparison leads me to a sense of FAILURE.
If we compare ourselves with successful and significant people—it has a way of making us feel like failures. Everyone else’s sun darkens our day.
Conclusion: Indeed---People are Big factors in our shame---inevitably we compare ourselves to others (at times---compulsively so).
c. Our culture of shame impacts me.
i. Intrinsically—no one told Adam & Eve to hide.
ii. Extrinsically—I have no other model, so…
A world—according to Rom 12—is constantly seeking to
conform us to its ideal—its likeness
“squeeze us into its mold”—its mold of what it means to be acceptable
iii. Spiritually—this needs an Easter sermon!
There is the unhealthy shame that is shared in shame-based religions.
II. We have long tried to repair ourselves, long before there were self-help sections in our bookshops.
a. All our religious creations are attempts to attend to our shame.
Andrew Zantingh:
Based on prescribed ways to deal with our worthlessness---ways to become perfect—and therefore worthy of acceptance through personal effort.
b. Religions of all stripes and ethnic roots have given us steps to fix ourselves.
i. The five pillars of Islam
ii. The eight-fold path of Hinduism
iii. The ten commandments of Judaism.
iv. Even Christianity, have all been reduced to a set of rules.
v. Rules break us and highlight our shame.
And so, all religions have failed to remove the shame, have in fact ADDED to our sense of shame and despair; nothing has been repaired.
c. More recently, secularism has made a run at self-repair: the proposed solution has to do with…
i. Self-improvement by denying the validity of mind-draining religion.
ii. Self-improvement by attempting a secular morality.
iii. Atheism—we are alone, we do our best to pass on our genes.
III. Each of these efforts, religious and secular, has met with failure.
This is an ancient problem and from the beginning, the solution comes from God.
Gen. 3:8 ¶ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the orchard.
Gen. 3:9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Gen. 3:10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
Gen. 3:11 And the LORD God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
Gen. 3:12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”
Gen. 3:13 So the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
It was an orchard, but we only know of two trees within the orchard: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
A. Shame moves us to blame someone else, because we are not honest enough to face who we are and what we’ve done.
“the woman whom you gave me…”
B. If something goes wrong, it can’t be my fault, because I can’t endure any more shame.
“the serpent whom you created…”
C. The sin which causes guilt and shame is directly addressed by God.
Gen. 3:14 ¶ So the LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
Gen. 3:15 ¶ And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
D. There will be future generations.
E. The shame will be passed on to those generations.
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Something wonderful is hidden here, in the details
F. God promises that Eve will have offspring that will crush the head of the serpent.
From an orchard dominated by TWO CENTRAL TREES, God promised that the cunning serpent would be dealt with by the woman’s offspring; that her son would crush his heritage. God reveals mercy and grace at the very point of failure.
What is grace?
God’s grace involves:
1) pardon---forgiveness from the wrong---God’s answer to guilt.
2) acceptance---being re-united with God and our true selves, accepted, held, affirmed and loved. God’s answer to shame.
OT Judaism was grace-based. While Israel was captive in Egypt:
* He gave them freedom when He led them out of Egypt.
* He gave them the law: The ideal way to know how live without guilt and shame in their relationship.
* He gave them the sacrificial system: The way he gave for imperfect people (he knew would fail) to remain forgiven and accepted.
Which points to the final sacrifice, which we celebrated Friday.
Jesus came—full of God’s grace and truth—meeting shame with grace:
Jesus was criticized for meeting and eating with sinners.
Grace-based faith finds hope in helplessness.
a. You must know that you are a sinner, and cannot help yourself.
b. Presumes a good God, who forgives.
c. Requires a payment for forgiveness.
i. We all understand that forgiveness is never free, not trivial.
ii. We all understand that someone pays.
1. We “forgive” a debt, means that we absorb the cost.
2. We “forgive” an offense, we accept the pain caused by the offense.
3. When God forgives, he takes onto himself the pain caused by our offense; somebody pays!
The problem of evil is fully resolved at the Cross.
How? All the wrong, the shame that came from eating from the Wrong Tree was placed on the shoulders of Eve’s son, Jesus, who hung on Another Tree. The weight of that shame, that evil, that guilt crushed him.
The One who deserved life died for all who deserved Death, so that we cannot deserve life, could share in HIS life.
Once it had done its work, Jesus overcame death, he was raised from the dead.
Today, it looks like Satan has crushed Jesus, hanging and dieing on the Cross.
That was Friday, this is Sunday.
We celebrate his Victory over sin and death, guilt and shame, by his resurrection from the dead.
He is alive today, giving us
pardon---forgiveness from wrong
acceptance---being re-united with God and our true selves, accepted, held, affirmed and loved.
The answer to our guilt and shame is grounded in the Resurrection of Christ, if you will personally respond in faith, claim it as your own.
Pathway: From sin to shame…
From shame to Guilt…
From guilt to the Cross…
From the Cross to freedom
PRAY WITH ME/PRAY AFTERWARDS
Sunday, March 16, 2008
What Went Shamefully Wrong?
What Went Shamefully Wrong?
Pathway: From sin to shame…
From shame to Guilt…
From Guilt to freedom
I. Sin…that awful word
a. Let’s define sin: anything that puts me in the place of God.
Genesis 3:1 ¶ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Gen. 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
Gen. 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Gen. 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
Gen. 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Gen. 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
i. God wanted for Eve what Eve wanted for herself.
Eve desired it.
It was beautiful for the eyes.
She wanted wisdom.
ii. The serpent challenged Eve to think that God did NOT want her to have what was good for her, beautiful and satisfying.
Is. 14:13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
Is. 14:14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Sin is putting myself in the place reserved for God alone.
b. Sin affects me:
1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
c. Sin impacts every culture.
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
d. The culture of sin impacts me by…
i. Persuading me that I know what is best for me; God cannot be trusted.
From sin to shame…
II. Shame:
a. Shame is an emotion: …we are NOT what we are supposed to be. If allowed to soak in, it dyes the soul a dull gray.
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Andrew Zantingh (7 excellent sermons on Shame vs. Grace) www.firsthamilton.ca
I am unworthy and unacceptable, I am inferior and inadequate.
I am seriously flawed, a fake and phony. I feel naked and ugly and vulnerable.
b. Shame leads me to compare myself with others.
i. Comparison with others leads me to feel shame.
ii. Shame is a never-ending cycle.
Lewis Smedes: “Compulsive Comparers.” Feelings of shame cause us to compare ourselves with others—to see how we measure up.
1. Positive comparison leads me to PRIDE.
If we compare ourselves with unsuccessful or insignificant people—it has a way of alleviating our shame for a moment. Bolstering some pride.
2. Negative comparison leads me to a sense of FAILURE.
If we compare ourselves with successful and significant people—it has a way of making us feel like failures. Everyone else’s sun darkens our day.
iii. Shame is relational.
Andrew Z.:
I raise this issue of comparison—because it puts us in touch with the relational character of shame.
Our sense of identity is formed in relationship. Who we are and how we feel about our-selves is shape, molded and influenced by the messages other people send. By their word, their faces, their gestures, their presence or their absence.
Other people are significant in instilling in us a sense of self-worth at our center.
Other people (parents/pastors/peers) are often the source of our healthy or unhealthy feelings of shame.
Conclusion: Indeed---People are Big factors in our shame---inevitably we compare ourselves to others (at times---compulsively so).
c. Our culture of shame impacts me.
i. Intrinsically—no one told Adam & Eve to hide.
ii. Extrinsically—I have no other model, so…
A world—according to Rom 12—is constantly seeking to
conform us to its ideal—its likeness
“squeeze us into its mold”—its mold of what it means to be acceptable
iii. Spiritually—Easter sermon!
There is the unhealthy shame that is shared in shame-based religions.
TRANSITION:
Romans: the world is trying to squeeze us into its mold: Compare ourselves to one another!
Comparison to others heightens my shame.
I need a different mold, THE ONE THAT GOD INTENDED:
Comparison to Christ lets me see what I AM SUPPOSED TO BE, that leaves me with NO HOPE!!!!
Comparison with Christ CAN lead me to faith…
From Shame to Guilt…
III. Guilt is that state of mind and heart where I KNOW that I cannot be what I am supposed to be.
a. Shame deceives me into thinking that if only…
i. If I only try harder.
ii. If I only had a little more time.
iii. If I only had better friends.
iv. If I only had had better parents.
b. Guilt convinces me that…My status before God is hopeless because I am helpless.
I CAN NEVER attain to Christ’s righteous despite more time, better friends, better family, etc.
COUNTERCULTURAL: HELPLESSNESS IS BLASPHEMY IN A SELF-HELP SOCIETY
Therefore, only God can intervene.
2. A Culture of true Guilt is a transparent one.
a. False Guilt is actually SHAME.
b. Shame avoids/Guilt confesses.
c. Shame denies/Guilt agrees.
3. Shame provides false hope/Guilt leads to true hope.
a. Forgiveness is available.
b. Humility is required.
c. Confession is essential.
d. Restoration is real.
i. Shame is a feeling; nothing can be done about it.
ii. Guilt is a status, which can be changed by divine decree.
Andrew Z.:
He took responsibility for our guilt. He bore the weight upon himself through his Son.
We read in Isaiah 53 that he made his Son to be a public guilt offering:
• Like a priest--God placed his Hand upon his Son.
• God put his hand upon his son—transferred our guilt on him
• God’s will was to crush him upon the cross for our cleansing.
• In order to make a sacrifice—that does satisfaction.
• In order to make reparation—to repair the relationship
• In order to make guilty people----ghost free!
Conclusion: But in order to becoming guilt free there is a high cost!
The pain of moving from avoidance to admission.
The price of going from private to public.
Psalm 130:1-8
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Setting Things Right (Easter) 3/23
Text: Divine solutions to the problem of evil.
Pathway: From sin to shame…
From shame to Guilt…
From Guilt to freedom
I. Sin…that awful word
a. Let’s define sin: anything that puts me in the place of God.
Genesis 3:1 ¶ Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
Gen. 3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
Gen. 3:3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”
Gen. 3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
Gen. 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Gen. 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
i. God wanted for Eve what Eve wanted for herself.
Eve desired it.
It was beautiful for the eyes.
She wanted wisdom.
ii. The serpent challenged Eve to think that God did NOT want her to have what was good for her, beautiful and satisfying.
Is. 14:13 “But you said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne above the stars of God,
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north.
Is. 14:14 ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
Sin is putting myself in the place reserved for God alone.
b. Sin affects me:
1John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
c. Sin impacts every culture.
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
d. The culture of sin impacts me by…
i. Persuading me that I know what is best for me; God cannot be trusted.
From sin to shame…
II. Shame:
a. Shame is an emotion: …we are NOT what we are supposed to be. If allowed to soak in, it dyes the soul a dull gray.
Gen. 3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Andrew Zantingh (7 excellent sermons on Shame vs. Grace) www.firsthamilton.ca
I am unworthy and unacceptable, I am inferior and inadequate.
I am seriously flawed, a fake and phony. I feel naked and ugly and vulnerable.
b. Shame leads me to compare myself with others.
i. Comparison with others leads me to feel shame.
ii. Shame is a never-ending cycle.
Lewis Smedes: “Compulsive Comparers.” Feelings of shame cause us to compare ourselves with others—to see how we measure up.
1. Positive comparison leads me to PRIDE.
If we compare ourselves with unsuccessful or insignificant people—it has a way of alleviating our shame for a moment. Bolstering some pride.
2. Negative comparison leads me to a sense of FAILURE.
If we compare ourselves with successful and significant people—it has a way of making us feel like failures. Everyone else’s sun darkens our day.
iii. Shame is relational.
Andrew Z.:
I raise this issue of comparison—because it puts us in touch with the relational character of shame.
Our sense of identity is formed in relationship. Who we are and how we feel about our-selves is shape, molded and influenced by the messages other people send. By their word, their faces, their gestures, their presence or their absence.
Other people are significant in instilling in us a sense of self-worth at our center.
Other people (parents/pastors/peers) are often the source of our healthy or unhealthy feelings of shame.
Conclusion: Indeed---People are Big factors in our shame---inevitably we compare ourselves to others (at times---compulsively so).
c. Our culture of shame impacts me.
i. Intrinsically—no one told Adam & Eve to hide.
ii. Extrinsically—I have no other model, so…
A world—according to Rom 12—is constantly seeking to
conform us to its ideal—its likeness
“squeeze us into its mold”—its mold of what it means to be acceptable
iii. Spiritually—Easter sermon!
There is the unhealthy shame that is shared in shame-based religions.
TRANSITION:
Romans: the world is trying to squeeze us into its mold: Compare ourselves to one another!
Comparison to others heightens my shame.
I need a different mold, THE ONE THAT GOD INTENDED:
Comparison to Christ lets me see what I AM SUPPOSED TO BE, that leaves me with NO HOPE!!!!
Comparison with Christ CAN lead me to faith…
From Shame to Guilt…
III. Guilt is that state of mind and heart where I KNOW that I cannot be what I am supposed to be.
a. Shame deceives me into thinking that if only…
i. If I only try harder.
ii. If I only had a little more time.
iii. If I only had better friends.
iv. If I only had had better parents.
b. Guilt convinces me that…My status before God is hopeless because I am helpless.
I CAN NEVER attain to Christ’s righteous despite more time, better friends, better family, etc.
COUNTERCULTURAL: HELPLESSNESS IS BLASPHEMY IN A SELF-HELP SOCIETY
Therefore, only God can intervene.
2. A Culture of true Guilt is a transparent one.
a. False Guilt is actually SHAME.
b. Shame avoids/Guilt confesses.
c. Shame denies/Guilt agrees.
3. Shame provides false hope/Guilt leads to true hope.
a. Forgiveness is available.
b. Humility is required.
c. Confession is essential.
d. Restoration is real.
i. Shame is a feeling; nothing can be done about it.
ii. Guilt is a status, which can be changed by divine decree.
Andrew Z.:
He took responsibility for our guilt. He bore the weight upon himself through his Son.
We read in Isaiah 53 that he made his Son to be a public guilt offering:
• Like a priest--God placed his Hand upon his Son.
• God put his hand upon his son—transferred our guilt on him
• God’s will was to crush him upon the cross for our cleansing.
• In order to make a sacrifice—that does satisfaction.
• In order to make reparation—to repair the relationship
• In order to make guilty people----ghost free!
Conclusion: But in order to becoming guilt free there is a high cost!
The pain of moving from avoidance to admission.
The price of going from private to public.
Psalm 130:1-8
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
Setting Things Right (Easter) 3/23
Text: Divine solutions to the problem of evil.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
What Went Wrong? Natural & Moral Evil
I. What Went Wrong: Natural evil & Moral evil
Natural disasters
Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, 225,000 died in eleven countries
Katrina, more than 1,800 died in August 2005 in Mississippi and Louisiana
Kashmir earthquake, October 2005; 75,000 died in Pakistan and India
Moral disasters
The Somme, WWI; one million casualties combined.
Holocaust, WWII: six million Jews exterminated; many more “undesirables.”
September 11, 2001: 3,000 civilians killed by terrorists in NYC and Washington.
* Perhaps we might have quibbled about the definition of “evil” some time ago, in our post-modern way. In this century, the reality of evil is tangible, acknowledged by virtually everyone.
* Some have used the presence of evil as an argument to support atheism.
1. If evil exists, then either God does not, or.
2. God is either not good (else, he would prevent evil), or he is not powerful (unable to prevent evil).
3. Thus, a god too weak to prevent evil or too evil to so desire, is not God at all.
The Bible presents a very different explanation of the problem of evil.
A. The World was made well and good.
i. Gen. 1, 2: “and it was good.”
ii. “and it was good.”
B. The World remains essentially good.
i. Jesus walked the earth without suit armor.
ii. Jesus provided an ethic for dealing with the world as it is and as it will be.
C. The World is now morally broken and in need of repair.
i. Genesis 3:1-7
ii. Genesis 3:8-
D. The World is being reconstructed by the Creator God who made it.
i. Our moral problem was addressed directly by God in Genesis 3:9-15
ii. The shame of Adam and Eve was directly confronted by God’s seeking them out.
iii. The question of cause is highlighted by
1. God’s direct questions, “Where are you…Who told you…?
2. Many other questions were left unanswered!
a. Where did evil originate?
b. Why was a serpent in the Garden?
c. Why did the serpent choose to use its cunning in such a deceptive manner?
iv. The problem of human rebellion was
1. confronted by God
2. addressed by expulsion from the Garden.
a. The rebellion problem was treated with expulsion and curses.
i. Avoid the Tree of Life.
ii. Endure the curses for the serpent, the man, the woman, and their posterity.
1. Posterity includes us; the blessing of fruitfulness was not rescinded; yet…
2. A curse for the Posterity means that the brokenness runs through even the best of us, “and he died…” as we all do!
b. The wickedness of Noah’s time was treated with a torrential Flood.
c. The arrogance of Babel’s Tower was treated with confusion and dispersal.
3. What do we learn?
a. Satan, who introduces evil into the world, is important, but not all-important; ‘the devil made me do it’ is not an accepted excuse.
b. Human responsibility is highlighted, not diminished.
c. Human evil-doing is mixed up with the brokenness of the creation.
d. The eradication of evil in the world will not come as a mere spoken word; the process is much more complicated, because
i. The world is still mostly good.
ii. Humans will be the means of restoration.
1. Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel.
2. Abraham & Israel.
3. Jesus & the church.
N.T. Wright: "Evil and the Justice of God"
…the OT never tries to give us the sort of picture the philosophers want, that of a static world order with everything explained tidily. At no point does the picture collapse into the simplistic one which so many skeptics assume must be what religious people believe, in which God is the omnicompetent managing director of a very large machine and ought to be able to keep it in proper working order. What we are offered instead is stranger and more mysterious: a narrative of God’s project of justice within a world of injustice.
Natural disasters
Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, 225,000 died in eleven countries
Katrina, more than 1,800 died in August 2005 in Mississippi and Louisiana
Kashmir earthquake, October 2005; 75,000 died in Pakistan and India
Moral disasters
The Somme, WWI; one million casualties combined.
Holocaust, WWII: six million Jews exterminated; many more “undesirables.”
September 11, 2001: 3,000 civilians killed by terrorists in NYC and Washington.
* Perhaps we might have quibbled about the definition of “evil” some time ago, in our post-modern way. In this century, the reality of evil is tangible, acknowledged by virtually everyone.
* Some have used the presence of evil as an argument to support atheism.
1. If evil exists, then either God does not, or.
2. God is either not good (else, he would prevent evil), or he is not powerful (unable to prevent evil).
3. Thus, a god too weak to prevent evil or too evil to so desire, is not God at all.
The Bible presents a very different explanation of the problem of evil.
A. The World was made well and good.
i. Gen. 1, 2: “and it was good.”
ii. “and it was good.”
B. The World remains essentially good.
i. Jesus walked the earth without suit armor.
ii. Jesus provided an ethic for dealing with the world as it is and as it will be.
C. The World is now morally broken and in need of repair.
i. Genesis 3:1-7
ii. Genesis 3:8-
D. The World is being reconstructed by the Creator God who made it.
i. Our moral problem was addressed directly by God in Genesis 3:9-15
ii. The shame of Adam and Eve was directly confronted by God’s seeking them out.
iii. The question of cause is highlighted by
1. God’s direct questions, “Where are you…Who told you…?
2. Many other questions were left unanswered!
a. Where did evil originate?
b. Why was a serpent in the Garden?
c. Why did the serpent choose to use its cunning in such a deceptive manner?
iv. The problem of human rebellion was
1. confronted by God
2. addressed by expulsion from the Garden.
a. The rebellion problem was treated with expulsion and curses.
i. Avoid the Tree of Life.
ii. Endure the curses for the serpent, the man, the woman, and their posterity.
1. Posterity includes us; the blessing of fruitfulness was not rescinded; yet…
2. A curse for the Posterity means that the brokenness runs through even the best of us, “and he died…” as we all do!
b. The wickedness of Noah’s time was treated with a torrential Flood.
c. The arrogance of Babel’s Tower was treated with confusion and dispersal.
3. What do we learn?
a. Satan, who introduces evil into the world, is important, but not all-important; ‘the devil made me do it’ is not an accepted excuse.
b. Human responsibility is highlighted, not diminished.
c. Human evil-doing is mixed up with the brokenness of the creation.
d. The eradication of evil in the world will not come as a mere spoken word; the process is much more complicated, because
i. The world is still mostly good.
ii. Humans will be the means of restoration.
1. Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel.
2. Abraham & Israel.
3. Jesus & the church.
N.T. Wright: "Evil and the Justice of God"
…the OT never tries to give us the sort of picture the philosophers want, that of a static world order with everything explained tidily. At no point does the picture collapse into the simplistic one which so many skeptics assume must be what religious people believe, in which God is the omnicompetent managing director of a very large machine and ought to be able to keep it in proper working order. What we are offered instead is stranger and more mysterious: a narrative of God’s project of justice within a world of injustice.
A Vision For Evangelism: Bearing Witness
I. We bear witness to hope that is within.
I Peter 3:15
1Pet. 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
II. We bear witness to the Lord who gives us hope.
1Pet. 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
III. We bear witness to the Lord, so that the hearers might be granted repentance.
2Tim. 2:24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
2Tim. 2:25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
IV. We bear witness, stimulated and empowered by the Spirit of Christ.
Acts 1:6 ¶ So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
…church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette:
"the primary change agents in the spread of faith...were the men and women who earned their livelihood in some purely secular manner, and spoke of their faith to those whom they met in this natural fashion."
--Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity,
Volume I: The First Five Centuries, 116.,
Recovering from a serious illness, Phillips Brooks refused to receive any visitors, even his closest friends.
When the agnostic Robert Ingersoll called, however, the bishop did not turn him away. Ingersoll, conscious of the privilege, was curious to know the reason behind it.
Said the bishop, "I feel confident of seeing my friends in the next world, but this may be my last chance of seeing you."
--Phillips Brooks (1835-93), US Episcopal bishop—Massachusetts (b.1835-d.1893).
The Little, Brown Book of Ancedotes edited by Clifton Fadiman
I Peter 3:15
1Pet. 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
II. We bear witness to the Lord who gives us hope.
1Pet. 3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;
III. We bear witness to the Lord, so that the hearers might be granted repentance.
2Tim. 2:24 The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
2Tim. 2:25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
IV. We bear witness, stimulated and empowered by the Spirit of Christ.
Acts 1:6 ¶ So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
Acts 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
…church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette:
"the primary change agents in the spread of faith...were the men and women who earned their livelihood in some purely secular manner, and spoke of their faith to those whom they met in this natural fashion."
--Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity,
Volume I: The First Five Centuries, 116.,
Recovering from a serious illness, Phillips Brooks refused to receive any visitors, even his closest friends.
When the agnostic Robert Ingersoll called, however, the bishop did not turn him away. Ingersoll, conscious of the privilege, was curious to know the reason behind it.
Said the bishop, "I feel confident of seeing my friends in the next world, but this may be my last chance of seeing you."
--Phillips Brooks (1835-93), US Episcopal bishop—Massachusetts (b.1835-d.1893).
The Little, Brown Book of Ancedotes edited by Clifton Fadiman
A Vision For Worship 24 February 08 notes
A few comments…
1. Tabernacle, feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles—in the wilderness, God dwelt with men-- “TABERNACLE”
Feast of Tabernacles—built outdoor tents, to commemorates God’s preservation when they were vulnerable in the wilderness
Temple—recently lost it’s appeal because God was no longer visibly present; rebuilt by Herod the Great as a political claim, overshadowed by cultic traditions that obscured God.
Now, the Temple is a shadow of Jesus!
Davis, John D., Westminster Dictionary
Bronze altar
fire continually burned, sacrifices evening & morning
Laver
water to wash hands and feet before entering
Screen
Table of the Bread of the Presence
12 loaves of bread, eaten by Levites
God sustains life with its necessities
Lampstand burned continually
Altar of incense-- (Ex. 30:1-10), symbolical of the adoration of God by His
people cleansed of sin
Veil
Holy Place
Holy of Holies
Ark--tablets, manna, Aaron’s rod
…God’s majesty is displayed in the grandeur required of His sanctuary. His holiness is expressed in the restrictions on access to His sanctuary. The divinely ordained sacrificial system shows that people can approach Yahweh only on the terms He appoints, and only as provision has been made to atone for sin.
But the central theme of the tabernacle accounts remains Yahweh’s desire to dwell with His people. Here the tabernacle takes its place in the unfolding drama of the Bible as a whole. Humanity’s unrestricted communion with God is forfeited by sin (Gen.3). The tabernacle testifies, however, to God’s continuing desire to commune with His people. Yet the communion made possible by divine grace and appointment in the tabernacle is in constant jeopardy because of human impurity and guilt. In the NT the theme is carried further. The language of the tabernacle is used to show how the Word of God became incarnate and ‘dwelt’ among us (Jn., 1:14). The consummation of the dine plan will be reached when the ‘dwelling [lit. ‘tent’] of God is with men’ (Rev. 21:3).
2. They were terrified by Jesus…
God the Father: Shut up and listen!
Silence is a skill we don’t have.
In each Gospel account, the disciples are terrified, afraid. [Mark 9; Luke 9]
Brightness in all accounts.
* If we are not terrified, we are merely singing, not worshiping.
Isaiah—his terror was responded to with ‘I’ll clean up Isaiah.”
Matthew—Jesus came and touched them, get up and don’t be afraid.
About their wanting to build tabernacles; Jesus said
NOT YET, THREE WORSHIPERS is not enough.
3. Drowsy disciples almost missed the sight of Jesus in all his beauty.
A little more detail in Luke…
Luke 9:32 Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.
They were sleepy! Similar to the Garden drowsiness later.
Drowsy worshipers???
4. The impact of worship…What if we lived this out?
Lyrics would matter to us, melodies & harmonies would serve as delightful ways to float those words to the ears of God. We would be on a constant quest to say more clearly how great our God is, a constant search for new harmonies to reflect our corporate delight in Him.
Mercy, justice, delight, and joy would pervade all of Hamilton, a holy city, full of people whose joy would be undaunted. A place where merely uttering the Name of God would bring joy and laughter, music and dancing. A community with a passion for work and development of our garden.
5. Worship for those who don’t…
John Piper
The reason man was created in the beginning and the reason the church is being recreated in the end is for the worship of God. Missions therefore is neither God's primary end nor the primary end of the church. It is a means to the primary end of worship. Missions exists because worship doesn't. There will be no missions in the age to come. Worship will be our life. Missions is not our ultimate goal. It is a means to our goal.
6. Gospel—how is it that we can see God and not be afraid!
Awestruck, reverent, terrified, welcomed.
Heb. 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Heb. 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1. Tabernacle, feast of Tabernacles.
Tabernacles—in the wilderness, God dwelt with men-- “TABERNACLE”
Feast of Tabernacles—built outdoor tents, to commemorates God’s preservation when they were vulnerable in the wilderness
Temple—recently lost it’s appeal because God was no longer visibly present; rebuilt by Herod the Great as a political claim, overshadowed by cultic traditions that obscured God.
Now, the Temple is a shadow of Jesus!
Davis, John D., Westminster Dictionary
Bronze altar
fire continually burned, sacrifices evening & morning
Laver
water to wash hands and feet before entering
Screen
Table of the Bread of the Presence
12 loaves of bread, eaten by Levites
God sustains life with its necessities
Lampstand burned continually
Altar of incense-- (Ex. 30:1-10), symbolical of the adoration of God by His
people cleansed of sin
Veil
Holy Place
Holy of Holies
Ark--tablets, manna, Aaron’s rod
…God’s majesty is displayed in the grandeur required of His sanctuary. His holiness is expressed in the restrictions on access to His sanctuary. The divinely ordained sacrificial system shows that people can approach Yahweh only on the terms He appoints, and only as provision has been made to atone for sin.
But the central theme of the tabernacle accounts remains Yahweh’s desire to dwell with His people. Here the tabernacle takes its place in the unfolding drama of the Bible as a whole. Humanity’s unrestricted communion with God is forfeited by sin (Gen.3). The tabernacle testifies, however, to God’s continuing desire to commune with His people. Yet the communion made possible by divine grace and appointment in the tabernacle is in constant jeopardy because of human impurity and guilt. In the NT the theme is carried further. The language of the tabernacle is used to show how the Word of God became incarnate and ‘dwelt’ among us (Jn., 1:14). The consummation of the dine plan will be reached when the ‘dwelling [lit. ‘tent’] of God is with men’ (Rev. 21:3).
2. They were terrified by Jesus…
God the Father: Shut up and listen!
Silence is a skill we don’t have.
In each Gospel account, the disciples are terrified, afraid. [Mark 9; Luke 9]
Brightness in all accounts.
* If we are not terrified, we are merely singing, not worshiping.
Isaiah—his terror was responded to with ‘I’ll clean up Isaiah.”
Matthew—Jesus came and touched them, get up and don’t be afraid.
About their wanting to build tabernacles; Jesus said
NOT YET, THREE WORSHIPERS is not enough.
3. Drowsy disciples almost missed the sight of Jesus in all his beauty.
A little more detail in Luke…
Luke 9:32 Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him.
They were sleepy! Similar to the Garden drowsiness later.
Drowsy worshipers???
4. The impact of worship…What if we lived this out?
Lyrics would matter to us, melodies & harmonies would serve as delightful ways to float those words to the ears of God. We would be on a constant quest to say more clearly how great our God is, a constant search for new harmonies to reflect our corporate delight in Him.
Mercy, justice, delight, and joy would pervade all of Hamilton, a holy city, full of people whose joy would be undaunted. A place where merely uttering the Name of God would bring joy and laughter, music and dancing. A community with a passion for work and development of our garden.
5. Worship for those who don’t…
John Piper
The reason man was created in the beginning and the reason the church is being recreated in the end is for the worship of God. Missions therefore is neither God's primary end nor the primary end of the church. It is a means to the primary end of worship. Missions exists because worship doesn't. There will be no missions in the age to come. Worship will be our life. Missions is not our ultimate goal. It is a means to our goal.
6. Gospel—how is it that we can see God and not be afraid!
Awestruck, reverent, terrified, welcomed.
Heb. 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
Heb. 4:16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
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