A "Unique" Problem...

For several weeks as a church, we have been asking the question “Where did human life begin? How did human life begin? Where did the universe come from?” We talked about the reality that human beings throughout history have sought answers to these questions. And human beings have come up with a wide range of potential answers to these questions.

We then asked the following question: how do we know which answer is the right answer? And is there more than one answer? Does the answer that science gives regarding where life begins compete and contradict the answer that religion gives to this question? In other words, do you have to turn your brain off when you read the Bible? Do you have to compartmentalize your religious views from science into two separate ways to look at life? Or does faith and science complement one another and provide a cohesive answer when it comes to this question?

So to find the answers to these questions, we have been looking at the opening chapters of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. Two weeks ago, we looked at the very first chapter of the book of Genesis and discovered that before there was a beginning, there was God. Before there was space and time, there was God. Before anything existed, nothing existed except God.

We discovered that the timeless answer to the timeless question "where did we come from?" is that in the beginning, God created everything that existed out of nothing....and it was all very good!! We discovered that we are not a product of chance. We are not the result of evolutionary process of random mutation and natural selection. And we are not here on earth on a cosmic journey to get in touch with the spark of the Divine within us. We are not here on earth on a journey to become God.

 

We discovered that there is a God, and you are not Him. There is a Creator and you are not Him. Instead we are the result of God’s creative activity. We discovered that God spoke the universe into existence and that Jesus was the hands of that creation. We discovered that the Bible does not contradict or compete with science. Instead, the Biblical account of God’s initial creative activity in the universe fits within that science. We ended our time recognizing that the Bible was not written by God as a scientific textbook to explain every detail of God’s creative process. Instead the Bible was written as God’s revelation to humanity of Him being the Creator and sustainer of the universe.

Last week, Matt Robards unpacked for us the reality that God created humanity to have a unique role when it came to their relationship with God and their relationship with the rest of creation. In Genesis 1:26-2:17, we discovered that in the beginning God created humanity to reveal and represent Him as they live in relationship with Him and one another... and it was all very good!

We discovered that just as God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit live in relationship with one another, we were created for relationships. We were created for a relationship with God vertically and for relationships with one another horizontally. We discovered that humanity was divinely designed to be God’s representative on earth. We discovered that God created humanity for work and gave humanity amazing freedom and responsibility. And it is in the midst of that freedom and responsibility that humanity was created to live life in such a way that they revealed God as they lived in relationship with Him and represented Him here on the earth.

Now this week, I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump back into the opening chapters of God’s story, we will see something new introduced into the story. And it is this new element into the story and God’s response to this new element that will reveal to us another truth when it comes to who God is and how we were created to live. So let’s jump back into this story together, beginning in Genesis 2:18:

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

As we enter back into the story, we see Moses record for us the reality that for the first time, there was something that was not good. Up to this point in God’s story, after God’s creative activity, God would look at what He had created and say that it was good. In Genesis 1:31, we read that God saw that all that He had made and behold it was very good. Now however, God sees something that is not good. And what is not good, God explains is for the man to be alone.

As we have discovered a few weeks ago, part of being created in God’s image; part of bearing the thumbprint of God in our lives is that we are relational beings. We were created for relationships. We were created for a relationship with God vertically and we were created for relationships with others horizontally.

However, while Adam was connected with God vertically, he did not connect with any of the other creation horizontally. Adam was unique as an image bearer of God. And as God looked at Adam and his uniqueness, God immediately saw that was not good. Adam did not complain about a lack of connection. Instead God sees the lack of connection and takes the initiative.

Yet while Adam did not complain, that is why the most painful emotion is one of loneliness. Loneliness is so painful because when we are lonely, we are living outside how God designed us to live. Moses tells us that God responded to the situation by stating that He would make a helper suitable for Adam.

Now the phrase “helper suitable”, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to make corresponding to. In other words, God was not going to create something inferior to Adam to be his servant. And God was not going to create something that was superior to Adam that he would have to serve. Instead God was going to create something that was equal to Adam that would compliment Adam and that Adam could connect and correspond to. We see what happens next in verse 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. 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.

Here we see that God gave Adam the responsibility to name all of the animals. You see, Adam was not some Neanderthal with his knuckles dragging on the ground. The very first human on the planet had the capacity to name all the animals in the Garden of Eden. God did not name all the animals. Instead, Gods gave Adam the freedom and the responsibility to name all the animals. “Adam, what do you want to call that animal? Let’s call that animal an aardvark. Alright, an aardvark it is”.

You see, Adam was creative, because God designed humanity to be creative. Humanity was created with amazing creativity and capabilities. However, as Adam looked at all of the animals that he had named, there was no animal that corresponded to him and that would compliment him as an equal. There was nothing else in creation that could connect and relate to the creativity and capability that Adam was given as an image bearer of God.

Tomorrow, we will see how God responded to this reality…

In the beginning, God created everything that exists out of nothing….and it was all very good!

This week, we are looking at the opening section of the very first letter in the Bible, called the book of Genesis, which records for us the creation of the universe. Yesterday, we looked at six different views of how God created the universe. Both Young Earth Creationism and historic creationism align with what the Bible teaches regarding God’s creation of the Heavens and the earth. How God created the universe is an open handed issue.

What is a closed handed issue is that God did create the universe from nothing. Since no one was around when God created the universe, whether young earth or historic creationism is right we will not know until we go to be with Jesus. The Bible was not written by God as a scientific textbook to explain every detail of God’s creative process. Instead the Bible was written as God’s revelation to humanity of Him being the Creator and sustainer of the universe. Today, let’s look at how God created the universe, beginning in Genesis 1:3:

Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.

Moses records for us God’s activity on the first day of creation. God said “let there be light and there was light. But this morning, did you know that all three members of the Trinity were actively involved in creation? In the gospel of John, we read that all things came into being through Jesus. In addition, in the book of Colossians, Paul explains that all things have been created through Jesus and for Jesus.

What the Bible teaches us is that Jesus was the hands of creation; all of creation was brought into existence through His activity throughout all of history. Here is an analogy to help us wrap our minds around what John is saying here. Let’s say Rachel and I are at home. I’m watching a football game and during the course of the game I became hungry. Rachel was in the kitchen, so I asked her if she would make me a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Rachel then asked me some questions about how I wanted my sandwich, and then went to work making the sandwich. When she was finished, she brought me a delicious peanut butter and banana sandwich, which I quickly devoured.

Now let me ask you a question: who created the sandwich? Did Rachel create the sandwich or did I create the sandwich? Would Rachel have created the sandwich if I had not asked her to? We both had a role in creating the sandwich. I spoke the sandwich into existence; Rachel was the hands of creation who made the sandwich.

In a similar way, Jesus was the hands of creation; God spoke to universe into existence and Jesus was the hands of that creation. In addition, as we saw in Genesis 1:2, the Holy Spirit was also actively involved in the creative process. And here, in Genesis 1:3, we see Moses record for us that on day one, God created time. When Moses says that God separated the light from darkness, the word separated here literally means to assign to a specific sphere of existence or order.

So God created time and assigned time to function in a specific sphere and in a specific order. Moses then records for us what happened on day two, beginning in Genesis 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." God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. ⁸ God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

Here we see Moses reveal for us the reality that on day two, God created space. The wording of these verses, in the language that this letter was originally written in, paints a word picture of someone spreading out or stretching something out. God spoke and Jesus took the play dough of the elements that they had created and stretched and spread out those elements to create space from where there had previously been no space.

God, through Jesus stretched out the universe above and the skies of the earth. And in the skies of the earth there was created water that was suspended in the air like a think dense fog. We then see what God did on day three of creation in verse 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. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 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. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

On the third day, God spoke and Jesus gathered the waters that He suspended in the air above the earth to make the seas. In addition, God spoke and Jesus molded the play dough of the elements in such a way that there were masses of land and areas of water, or seas. In addition, God spoke and Jesus created from the play dough vegetation. Now when the Bible uses the phrase after their kind, this phrase means that God created vegetation according to a specific species or order.

Take apple trees, for example. God created an apple tree, which resulted is subsequent apple trees that could produce Gala apples, or red delicious apples, or Fuji apples. But God did not create apple trees that evolved into orange trees. And as God looked at all that He had created, Moses tells us that God saw that it was good. Moses then records for us what happened on day four in Genesis 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; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

On the fourth day, Moses tells us that God created the sun, moon, and stars. And as God spoke and Jesus shaped and molded the sun moon and stars into motion, Moses explains that these luminaries had a specific purpose in God’s creation. The function of the sun, moon, and stars in God’s creation was to separate between day and night.

In other words, these luminaries purpose was to serve as signs that would mark the passage of time and provide light to the earth. Moses then records God’s creative activity on day five, beginning in Genesis 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." God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

On the fifth day, we see God create fish and birds. God spoke and Jesus shaped and molded the elements of creation in order to form various fish and birds, according to their kind. So God created birds that became a variety of different birds, but the birds did not become dogs. God created fish that became a variety of different kinds of fish, but the fish did not become lizards. So, in the Bible we see that there is microevolution within species, but not macroevolution between species.

And for the first time, we see God speak to the creation in verse 22. In a one way conversation, God blesses the birds and fish. This blessing conveys the sense of fruitfulness and fertility. God created and blessed His creation to fill the creation. Moses then records what happens on day six of creation in verse 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. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 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."

On the sixth day, God created land animals and humanity. God spoke and Jesus shaped and molded the elements of creation in order to form various types of land animals and to create human beings, according to their kind. The phrase after their kind means that God created the land animals according to a specific species or order.

So God created cows to become different types of cows, but the cows did not become pigs. God created snakes and lizards that became a variety of different kinds of snakes and lizards, but the snakes and lizards did not become monkeys. God created monkeys that became different species of monkeys, but monkeys did not become humans. So there is microevolution within species, but not macroevolution between species.

Instead in verse 26, we see that God created humanity to have a unique role when it came to their relationship with God and their relationship with the rest of creation. Next week, we will spend our entire time together unpacking the unique role that humanity has in creation. However, let’s look at how Genesis chapter one ends as God describes what He saw as He looked over His creation in verse 31:

 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

And it is here that we see God reveal for us the timeless answer to the timeless question “where did we come from?” And that answer also reveals for us a timeless truth about God. And that timeless truth is this: In the beginning, God created everything that exists out of nothing….and it was all very good! You see, we are not a product of chance. We are not the result of evolutionary process of random mutation and natural selection. And we are not here on earth on a cosmic journey to get in touch with the spark of the Divine within you. We are not here on earth on a journey to become God.

There is a God, and you are not Him. There is a Creator and you are not Him. Instead we are the result of God’s creative activity. There is a Creator who created us for a life of meaning and purpose. Next week, we will see Moses record for us the unique role and purpose that God has given humanity in His creation.

Debating the Creation...

This week, we are looking at the opening chapter of the very first book in the bible called the book of Genesis. Yesterday we discovered that,  unlike Eastern religions; unlike the New Age Movement; unlike monism and pantheism, God and creation are not one essence that are intertwined with one another. The Bible teaches us that there is a Creator and there is a creation and that the Creator is distinct and separate from the creation. There is only one God and you and I or any other created thing is not God. “In the beginning God”. Today, with that in mind, let’s look at all of Genesis 1:1:

            In the beginning God created the heavens and

           the earth.

Now that leads us to a first and obvious question that has been asked by all of humanity throughout history. And that question is this: How? How did God create the Heavens and earth? We begin to find answers to that question beginning in verse 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.

Moses records for us that God created the heavens and the earth and that the earth was formless and void. But this morning, why would Moses say that the earth was formless and void after God created the heavens and earth? At first glance, that does not seem to make sense, does it? Here we see Moses revealing for us the reality that God’s first creative act was to create the materials that would be used to create the heavens and the earth.

Think of it this way. Prior to Genesis 1:1, there was nothing else that existed except for God. Nothing. In Genesis 1:1 God created the elements that make up the universe that we live in. In Genesis 1:2, Moses is recording that the elements that God would later use to create the universe were formless and void. It is kind of like this glob of play dough here. At this point, this play dough is just a glob of play dough. It has no form and it is devoid of any meaning and purpose. It is just here existing. That is what has happened in Genesis 1:1-2. Out of nothing God has created the elements that He will later shape into what we not know as the universe, which Moses refers to as the heavens and the earth.

Now this leads us to another aspect of the question “How did God create the heavens and the earth?” And that aspect involves the time it took God to create the universe and how old the universe actually is. Amongst people who have read and studied the Bible, there are six prominent views when it comes to the time that God took in creating the universe.

The reason that there are six views is due to two reasons. First, the word used for beginning in Genesis 1:1, in Hebrew, simply marks a starting point for what comes afterwards. This word does not denote any specific length of time, nor does it mean that the next thing follows immediately. In addition, the Hebrew word for day, yom, can refer to either a literal 24 hour day or a period of time. And since both of these words can be ambiguous, it has led to a great deal of debate and to six different views of how God created the universe.

So I just want to take a minute to explain what these views are and how they relate to what the Bible teaches regarding how God created the universe. The first view is referred to as Historic Creationism. This view holds that what God created in Genesis 1:1 existed for an undefined period of time before God began preparing the uninhabited universe as a functioning system. God first created the stuff that would be used in creation from nothing and then shaped that stuff into something. This view holds that the preparation of the uncultivated land and the creation of Adam and Eve occurred in six literal 24 hour days. So this view leaves the possibility of an old earth, six literal days of creation, and a young humanity on an old earth.

The second view is referred to as Young Earth creationism. In this view God created the entire universe, including Adam and Eve, in six literal 24 hour days. This view affirms that the universe is less than ten thousand years old and interprets the data of science in terms of Scripture and does not compromise God’s teaching about the date and divine methods of creation with naturalistic scientific theories.

The third view is referred to as the Gap Theory. This view maintains that a first creation occurred perhaps a billion years ago, then, a catastrophic event, likely the fall of Satan, left the earth in the destroyed condition of Genesis 1:2. God responded to the disaster by recreating the earth as recorded in Genesis 1:3-27. So the earth is old from the 1^st creation and mankind is young because of the recent creation. The problem with this view is that the Bible does not speak of two creations. Also at the end of the six days of creation, God declared all that He had made “very good” which does not correlate with the claim that He made the earth very bad and destroyed.

A fourth view is referred to as the literary framework view. In this view Genesis 1 and 2 are intended to be read as a figurative framework explaining creation in a topical, not sequential, order. The six days of creation, according to this view, are to be interpreted metaphorically. The problem, however, is that even when God uses figurative language in the Bible, it does so to communicate a literal truth, which is not what this view does when it comes to creation.

A fifth view is referred to as the Day/Age view. In this view, God created the universe, including Adam and Eve, in six sequential periods of time that are geologic ages, not literal 24 hour periods of time. The biggest problem with this view is that the order of events in the six days is not the same order as held by old-earth science. For example, the sun appears on day four, which contradicts the scientific view of creation. Another problem with this view is that the six days of creation seem to be six literal days, which we will see in a minute.  

A sixth view is referred to as Theistic Evolution. Theistic evolution maintains that God essentially began creation and then stopped working directly with creation to instead work through evolution. This view has three huge problems. First, it inherits all the scientific impossibilities of evolution as a theory of origins. Second, evolution teaches that one species evolves into other species, while Genesis 1 teaches that each species had offspring “according to its kind”, not another kind, as evolution postulates. The scientific data actually agrees with Genesis on the impossibility of one species evolving into another. And third, the rest of Scripture portrays God as being continually involved in the details of creation, not indirectly involved.

Now this is where the meaning of the Hebrew word for day comes into play. If you believe that the six days are literal 24 hour days, then you must accept either historic creationism, young earth creationism, or the gap theory as how God created the heavens and the earth. However, if you believe that the six days are not literal 24 hour days, then you must accept one of the last three views of creation, which are the literary framework, day/age view, or theistic evolution.

So how can we tell which of these views is right? When we read the story of creation in the Bible, which we will do in a minute, it seems apparent that the six days are six literal days. We will see that each day is numbered so that there is a succession of days, with morning and an evening, which is the common vernacular for a day. In addition, in a section of another letter in the Bible called the book of Exodus, we see God say the following to Moses in Exodus 20:8:

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

In God’s command to the Jewish people to remember the Sabbath, God’s creative work is set as a precedent for us. God Himself, speaks of the creation as being in six literal 24 hour days. So what view is the right view? Here is a question to help you think through this issue: Did Adam and Eve have a belly button? Did Adam and Eve have to have a belly button? Do you think God created Adam and Eve as babies and said good luck surviving? Do you think that God created plants as seeds that had to grow into plants to produce fruit? 

I believe that both Young Earth Creationism and historic creationism align with what the Bible teaches regarding God’s creation of the Heavens and the earth. Young earth creationism faithfully communicates God’s creative activity as recorded in the first chapter of the book of Genesis and also does not contradict scientific evidence, such as carbon dating, because the Bible states that God created the universe as a fully functioning and mature system that was ready and able to sustain the creation.

And Historic creationism,  which holds that what God created in Genesis 1:1 existed for an undefined period of time before God began preparing the uninhabited universe as a functioning system, which occurred in six literal 24 hour days also faithfully communicates God’s creative activity as recorded in the first chapter of the book of Genesis and also does not contradict scientific evidence, as this view leaves the possibility of an old earth, six literal days of creation, and a young humanity on an old earth.

And more importantly how God created the universe is an open handed issue. What is a closed handed issue is that God did create the universe from nothing. Since no one was around when God created the universe, whether young earth or historic creationism is right we will not know until we go to be with Jesus.

What I find so interesting is that the people in the Bible were far more concerned about knowing who God was than how God did. The Bible was not written by God as a scientific textbook to explain every detail of God’s creative process. Instead the Bible was written as God’s revelation to humanity of Him being the Creator and sustainer of the universe.

Tomorrow, with that in mind we will look at how God created the universe…

Beginning at the Beginning...

What are the three most important questions that any human being needs to answer? What are the three most important questions that we need to answer as we live life here on earth? Here is my answer to this question: I believe that the three most important questions that every human being asks and answers are these three questions: Who am I? Do I matter? And why am I here? The answers to these questions profoundly shape how we view ourselves and those around us. The answers to these questions profoundly shape what we value and what we leverage our lives into.

And directly related to these three questions is a fourth question. And that fourth question is this “How did I get here?” And the answer to this question is not simply an answer from biology. You see, even though we know the biological answer to how we got here, that answer does not satisfy the deeper question of “where did we come from?” in terms of humanity as a whole. Where did human life begin? How did human life begin? Where did the universe come from?

Human beings throughout history have sought answers to these questions. And human beings have come up with a wide range of potential answers to these questions. But this morning, how do we know which answer is the right answer? And is there more than one answer? Does the answer that science gives regarding where life begins compete and contradict the answer that religion gives to this question? In other words, do you have to turn your brain off when you read the Bible? Do you have to compartmentalize your religious views from science into two separate ways to look at life? Or does faith and science complement one another and provide a cohesive answer when it comes to this question?

To find the answers to these questions, I would like for us to spend the next three looking at the opening chapters of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible, called the book of Genesis. And as we look at the opening chapters of the book of Genesis, we are going to discover where the universe and humanity came from. We are going to discover that science and the Bible are not at odds, but actually provide a cohesive answer to the question “where did we come from?”

 In the opening chapters of the book of Genesis, we will discover the answers to the three most important questions that every human being asks and answers in their lives. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts and hands so that we would not only discover the answer to these questions, but that we would live our day to day lives in light of the answers to these questions.

So let’s begin where the Bible begins, which is in Genesis chapter one. Now the book Genesis is actually the first of five letters that were written by Moses and were referred to as the Pentateuch. These five letters serve as the opening chapters of God’s story to humanity. Now a natural question that arises here is “well Dave, how could Moses write all of the first five letters that are recorded for us in the Bible? I mean, Moses was not alive during the times that are recorded for us in the book of Genesis?”

 If that question is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that you are asking a great question. And fortunately, the Bible itself provides us the answer to that question.  First, the first five letters that make up the Pentateuch claim that Moses wrote the book of Genesis. In addition, other letters in the Old Testament affirm that Moses wrote the book of Genesis.  And finally, Jesus also affirms that Moses wrote the book of Genesis.

Even though Moses was not alive during the time of the book of Genesis, Moses had both oral and written records of early history, which he used under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to write the book of Genesis, which records events that occurred before his life. So let’s look together as Moses begins to share the story that helps answer the question “where did we come from?”, beginning in Genesis 1:1:

In the beginning God

Let’s just take a minute and stop right there. You see, I believe that these four words set the tone not only for the book of Genesis, but for the entire Bible. “In the beginning God”.  In other words, before there was a beginning, there was God. Before there was space and time, there was God. Before anything existed, nothing existed except God. This morning, just take a minute and let that sink in. “In the beginning God”.

There is only one being that has existed from eternity past and that being is God. You see, we think of eternity as eternity in the future. However, eternity exists also as eternity past. The bottom line is this, God has always existed. God is outside of space and time and is thus not constrained by space and time. God looks at space and time like I would look at a music stand.

You see, unlike Eastern religions; unlike the New Age Movement; unlike monism and pantheism, God and creation are not one essence that are intertwined with one another. The Bible teaches us that there is a Creator and there is a creation and that the Creator is distinct and separate from the creation. There is only one God and you and I or any other created thing is not God. “In the beginning God”. With that in mind, let’s look at all of Genesis 1:1:

          In the beginning God created the heavens and

         the earth.

Now that leads us to a first and obvious question that has been asked by all of humanity throughout history. And that question is this: How? How did God create the Heavens and earth?

Tomorrow, we will begin to find answers to that question…

Jesus last words command us to focus on following Him and His mission regardless of the cost...

This week, we are looking at the final section of a letter in the Bible called the gospel of John. Wednesday, we saw Jesus provide breakfast for the disciples. Now imagine yourselves around that campfire eating breakfast with Jesus as one of the disciples. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? You might feel joy, excitement, and even a sense of reassurance. But would you still have questions?

How about Peter? Do you think it might be a little awkward? “Sure, Jesus obviously is God, so He knows how bad I felt after denying Him. He knows that I went and wept bitterly after failing Him so miserably. As God, He has to know how sorry I am, doesn’t He?” Well as breakfast is wrapping up, Jesus ratchets up the tension by calling out Peter in front of the other disciples. We see John record what happens in verse 15:  

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?"

Now imagine yourself as Peter. Talk about being put on the spot!  Peter, do you love me more than you love these other six guys? Peter, do you love me with a selfless, sacrificial love, which is the meaning of the word love that is used here. Can you imagine what the other disciples were thinking? I bet you could have heard a pin drop.

 He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Tend My lambs."

Jesus doesn’t stop there, however;

He said to him again a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?"

This time, however, Jesus doesn’t ask the question in a comparative sense. Jesus doesn’t want to know if Peter loves Him 1 % more than he loves the other disciples. Jesus wants to know DO YOU REALLY LOVE ME? Are you consumed with me?

 He said to Him, "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." He said to him, "Shepherd My sheep."

If that wasn’t enough, Jesus asks again;

He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep.

This time Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me with a brotherly love, a deep abiding relational love that stands over time, which captures the sense of the word used here in the original language. But why does Jesus have to ask Peter 3 times if he loves Him? Doesn’t He already know the answer? To grasp the significance of this, we must understand that Peter had failed the big test, not once, but three separate times. Peter had talked the talk, but failed to walk the walk. At issue here is not whether Peter was emotionally invested in Jesus.

The issue is whether Peter was willing to love at all costs. Peter was grieved after being questioned a third time as to his love for Jesus not only because of the repeated question but because Jesus, in essence is saying, “Peter is your love for me more than skin deep”? Peter, are you willing to leverage your life for me? 

Jesus’ responses are also important. The response of shepherding requires a total commitment to the care and well being of the sheep, regardless of the cost. Jesus, in His response is calling Peter back to be the fisher of men, not just a fisherman. Jesus is calling Peter back to be the leader that he is capable of being. Jesus is calling Peter back to the special and unique relationship that they had. Regardless of his failure, Jesus is calling Peter back to place of trust.

Jesus makes that same call to us. Regardless of our past, regardless of our mistakes and our failures, Jesus has created us and calls us to a special and dynamic relationship in which He works in us and through us to be the vehicle that He sues to reveal Himself to the world. The reality is that Jesus is not as concerned about where we started life as He is about how we are finishing life. The key requirement that Jesus has for Peter, and for us here today, is that of love. While other qualities, gifts and abilities can be desirable and helpful, it is love that is indispensable. Another reason for the repeated questioning can be seen in verse 18:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!"

Jesus let’s Peter know in no uncertain terms that this commitment will end up costing him his freedom and his life. It is as if Jesus is saying to Peter “Peter do you really love me? You better be sure of this because it is going to cost you your life”. The literal meaning of “follow me” in the original language conveys the sense of “keep on following me”.

Jesus is not just calling Peter to follow Him. It is not a suggestion. Jesus is commanding Peter to follow Him regardless of the cost, to deny self, pick up his cross and keep a laser focus on following Jesus. Peter, however, seems to miss the point, as seen in verse 20:

Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?"

Peter hears from Jesus that he is going to lose his life for the gospel, and responds “Jesus, what about John!! It’s not fair”! Can you relate to Peter here? Do you find yourself comparing your lot in life to others? Do you find yourself ranking yourself against others? Maybe its competing with a classmate. Maybe it’s with a coworker. Maybe it’s in your spiritual life. “Well I’m about an 85 on the spirituality scale, while she is only a 70. But he is a 95 and I could never be used by God like he can be”.

Here we see Peter doing the same thing with John. Jesus responds quickly and to the point. In modern terms Jesus says “What I choose to do with John is none of your business. Quit worrying about John and keep focused on following me”. The message to us is the same. When we lose sight of following Jesus and focus instead on comparing ourselves to others, we get off track and our Spiritual life suffers as a result.

And it is here that we see Jesus reveal a timeless truth for His followers. And that timeless truth is this: Jesus last words command us to focus on following Him and His mission regardless of the cost.  Just as it was for Peter; just as it was for the disciples; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; there is only one calling in the Christian life. There is only one focus in the Christian life. And there is only one mission in the Christian life. Jesus reminds Peter and us here today, when He says “You must follow me”. 

So let’s reflect on the same questions that Jesus deals with Peter on; First, do you love Jesus more than these? Is there someone or something that you love more than Jesus? Maybe a first step is to ask God what those things are and for the strength and love to place Jesus as your ultimate desire.

Second, do you believe that Jesus would really forgive you and desire to use you when you stumble and fail? Maybe you do not believe that God could use you in light of your past. I believe how God responded to Peter is how He desires to respond to us today. God desires to work in and through us, even in our weaknesses so that His grace and glory can be seen.

Third, do you have a laser focus on following Jesus, or do you get caught up in worrying about others?

And fourth, are you willing to love and follow Jesus regardless of the cost? At school? At work? In your relationships?

 

Because Jesus last words command us to focus on following Him and His mission regardless of the cost.

A Familiar Story that Leads to an Awkward Scene...

This week, we are looking at the final section of an account of Jesus life in the bible called the gospel of John. Yesterday, we placed ourselves in the shoes of Peter, who gave up everything to follow Jesus, but at the final exam, the big test, had failed miserably. We talked about the reality that we often can relate to Peter as he thought about going back to the safety and familiarity of fishing. Today, we will see that unfortunately for the disciples the fish are not biting, and they catch nothing. Then Jesus shows up in verse 4:

But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch." So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.

Does this sound familiar? It may, because there is a similar event recorded in Luke 5:1-11. Let’s look at it together;

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

This sounds familiar because Jesus worked a similar miracle in the lives of many on this boat when He first called them from fishing to following Him. The disciples recognize the hand of Jesus once again and again respond in verses 7-14:

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about one hundred yards away, dragging the net full of fish. So when they got out on the land, they saw a charcoal fire already laid and fish placed on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish which you have now caught." Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

As so often the case in the Gospels, we see John, the disciple who Jesus loved, being the first to discern the hand of Jesus. In the same way, however, throughout the Gospels, it was always Peter who was the first to take action. Think of when John and Peter arrived at the empty tomb that first Easter Sunday. While John arrived first, it was Peter who had the courage and boldness to enter the tomb.

Remember back to when Jesus walked on water. When Jesus walked on the water, we often think of Peter and rip on him because he started to sink because of his lack of faith, but in reality Peter was the only one to have the guts to get out of the boat and act on his faith.

So here is Peter again taking action by jumping into the water to make a beeline to Jesus. The remainder of the disciples follow Peter to shore in the boat carrying the incredible catch of fish. When the disciples reach shore, they discover that a fire had already been started with fish and bread cooking for breakfast. Jesus then asks the disciples to bring in the fish so that they could cook some more.

But why would Jesus need to have them bring more fish to grill? Wasn’t Jesus smart enough or prepared enough to have the right amount of food? I do not think that is the issue. Jesus simply started breakfast and allowed the disciples to contribute to the meal through His work in and around them that morning.

Now imagine yourselves around that campfire eating breakfast as one of the disciples. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? You might feel joy, excitement, and even a sense of reassurance. But would you still have questions?

How about Peter? Do you think it might be a little awkward? “Sure, Jesus obviously is God, so He knows how bad I felt after denying Him. He knows that I went and wept bitterly after failing Him so miserably. As God, He has to know how sorry I am, doesn’t He?” Well as breakfast is wrapping up, Jesus ratchets up the tension by calling out Peter in front of the other disciples.

Friday, we will see John reveal what happened next…

A Spiritual Walk....or a Spiritual Stumble?

During the Easter season, we have been looking at the final conversation that Jesus had with His closest followers before His death, which is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in our Bibles called the gospel of John.  This week I would like for us to jump back into the story. I would like us to jump back into this story because the gospel of John does not end with the resurrection of Jesus. Instead, the gospel of John ends with a conversation between Jesus and Peter, who was the undisputed leader of Jesus closest followers.

However, at the time when Jesus needed Peter most, Peter had denied Jesus. And Peter did not just deny Jesus once. Peter denied Jesus three times. And not only did Peter know that he had denied Jesus; Jesus had seen and heard Peter deny Him three times. And now, Jesus had been raised from the dead. So as we have done throughout this series, I would like for us to place ourselves in this story as one of Jesus closest followers. In particular, I would like us to walk in the shoes of Peter. To do that, let’s look together at John Chapter 21, beginning in verse 1:

After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing

John begins this section of his account of Jesus life by providing us the context for what will happen in the story that we will be looking at this morning. But, this morning, what does John means when he says “after these things”? By after these things, John is referring to the events that occurred the week of Easter Sunday.

John is referring to the empty tomb that he and Peter had seen with their own eyes that Sunday morning. John is referring back to that 1^st Easter night, when Jesus walked through the walls and locked door and appeared to the disciples, revealing Himself as the Risen Lord. John is referring back to an evening a week after Easter Sunday, when Jesus again appeared and made Himself known to the disciples, who were again locked in a room for fear of the religious leaders of the day. John is referring back to the declaration by Thomas, who did not believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead, but upon seeing the risen Lord that night proclaimed “My Lord and my God”.

Some time after these incredible events John shares with us another incident in which Jesus reveals Himself as the risen Lord to His disciples. John begins to paint the picture that will enable us to walk in the disciple’s shoes by sharing who was present. First, we have Peter, the leader and often spokesperson for the twelve, who had denied the Lord three times that fateful night before the crucifixion. Then there is Thomas, Nathaniel, James and John, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples who remained unnamed.

The seven disciples were hanging out at the Sea of Tiberias, which is another name that the Romans gave for the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were in Galilee according to Jesus direction, which is seen in Matthew 28:10, whereby Jesus directs the women at the empty tomb to have the disciples go to Galilee and wait for Jesus to show up.

Now imagine yourself hanging out with the disciples at the Sea of Galilee waiting for Jesus to show up. You do not know when He will show, all you know is that you were told to wait there until He showed. It is in this context that Peter decides that he is going to go fishing. The other six, upon hearing what Peter is going to do, basically say “sounds good, we’ll join you”. So the disciples get into a boat and hit the water looking for a big catch.

But why go fishing? Are they bored and looking for a quiet evening out? I don’t think so. The disciples aren’t hitting the bait shop and cruising out in their powerboats with rod and reel in hand. Fishing was hard work, involving a night of rowing and casting and retrieving nets in an often rough sea.

Place yourself in the shoes of the disciples. You had given up everything to follow Jesus for 3 ½ years. You left family, friends, and careers to follow Jesus. And now, the person who you had left everything to follow is now absent, having been crucified. Yeah you have seen Him twice since then, raised from the dead, but He is no longer hanging out with you. So what now? What am I supposed to do now? I gave everything up for this man and He is gone. What now? How would you feel?

And imagine being Peter. Not only did you give up everything to follow Jesus, not only did you go through extensive on the job training, spending every waking moment with Jesus, but at the final exam, the big test, you fail miserably. You denied Jesus. You said you would follow Him regardless of the cost, you said that you would give your life for Him, but when push came to shove, and you turned tail and bailed on Him.

Can you imagine what Peter was thinking?  “What does Jesus think about me? I have seen Him twice since that night, but we haven’t talked. What do the others think about me? Do they think I am a hypocrite? Spineless? Is God able to use me, after I denied Him? After I fell on my face? Probably not. Well, I used to be a pretty good fisherman. I could always go back to that. It’s familiar; it’s in my blood, so to speak. It’s comfortable. The exercise; the smells. It’s safe. I never let anyone down or failed like I did with Jesus when I fished”.

Maybe you are here and you can relate to Peter. Maybe you are thinking to yourself “I desire to follow Jesus. I want to please Him. I desire to tell others about Jesus and be used by Him, but I have failed in the past”. Maybe you feel like your spiritual walk is more like a stumble. Maybe it seems like your spiritual life is two steps forward, one step back. The bottom line is that you feel like you can’t ever seem to get this following Jesus thing down right. “How can God use me when I have let Him down?” Unfortunately for the disciples the fish are not biting, and they catch nothing.

Tomorrow, we will see what happens next…

Jesus last words call us to place our trust in Him for life with God...

This week, we are looking at what happened on the first Easter weekend. Yesterday, we saw Jesus reveal Himself to Mary Magdalene after He was raised from the dead that first Easter Sunday. While there is something different about Jesus in His appearance, that voice; that voice that first called to her when she was lost in a lifestyle of sin; that voice that called to His followers to Him; she could not miss that voice.

And while Mary wanted to cling to Jesus, Jesus would have nothing of the sort. You see Jesus rose from the dead not to go back to the good old days. Jesus rose from the dead to launch something new. So Jesus tells Mary to go and let the others know what she had seen. Which is exactly what Mary does in verse 18:

 Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."

Now the reason Jesus says peace be with you, because the disciples had no peace. I mean imagine being one of the disciples, locked in a room filled with fear of being arrested like Jesus was, when Jesus basically enters the room by walking through the wall, like something out of a scene in the Matrix movies. Wouldn’t you be freaked out?

And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. "If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

Jesus appears to the disciples and then gives them a kingdom mission that would forever change their lives. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you”. Just as Jesus was sent on a mission to be the vehicle that God used to reveal Himself to the world, these followers of Jesus were now given the mission to be the vehicle that He would use to reveal Himself around the world. John then tells us that Jesus breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit”. But what does that mean?

Here we see that just as God the Father breathed the breath of life into Adam, Jesus breathes into His followers the Holy Spirit which gives new life as a new creation in the relationship with God that they were created for. 50 days later, the Holy Spirit would come in a way that would give birth to the church and launch the mission that they were given. However, there is one follower of Jesus who was not present. We meet this follower in verse 24:

 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you." Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing." Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

Thomas, who is forever known by the adjective “doubting” next to his name, was adamant that he would only believe if he was shown unmistakable proof. So, eight days later, Jesus appears again in the same manner as before and provides that proof. After providing the proof Jesus then calls Thomas to a point of decision: “do not be unbelieving but believing”.  Now when Jesus uses the word believe here, this word is the same word that is also translated trust in our English Bibles. This word literally means to entrust oneself with complete confidence in someone or something. Jesus is saying “You need to trust Me”. We then see Thomas respond to Jesus proof and Jesus call by making a powerful confession: “My Lord and my God”.

Now notice what Jesus does not say. Jesus does not say “Do not worship Me as God. Do not place Me as large and in charge of your life.” Instead, Jesus says something altogether different: "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." In other words, Jesus says to Thomas “You are placing your trust in Me as God in a bod because you have seen Me with your own eyes? Well blessed are those who place their trust in Me as God in a bod who did not see all the evidence that you have seen”.

And it is here that we see Jesus reveal a timeless truth for His followers. And that timeless truth is this: Jesus last words call us to place our trust in Him for life with God.  Just as it was for Thomas; just as it was for the disciples; just as it has been for humanity throughout history; forgiveness and a relationship with God requires placing one’s confident trust in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promises. And God, throughout history, has continued to pursue humanity and provide the proof that He is a promise maker and a promise keeper that is worthy of trust. We see John reveal this reality for us in the verses that follow:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

You see, the Bible does have an agenda. And John clearly reveals the agenda that he had in writing this account of Jesus life. While John did not record every detail of Jesus life for us, John did record what was most important for us, so that we would place our confident trust in Jesus as God in a bod and be able to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that we were created for.

So, have you placed your confident trust in Jesus for life with God?