News from May 2011
Paradise
Posted on May 31, 2011 by Pastor Tom
Paradise. If I asked you to describe paradise, what would you include? Moms with young children might say “paradise occurs when everything is quiet and I have a moment to think.” Canadians in January might say paradise is “a deserted white sand beach in the Caribbean.” Project managers might say “paradise is when the project is finished or when the pieces of the project come together.” Parents might say “paradise happens for me when everyone in the family is getting along.” Seniors might say “paradise for me occurs when my kids and grandkids grow in the faith.”
For some paradise, depends on circumstances. For some paradise is some place you go to for a short time to experience. Then you have to come back to the real world. For most of us paradise is somewhere desirable but not something really attainable.
One author put it this way. “Paradise: a place without pain, without suffering; a time when love and peace flourish. Paradise has been the object of hopes and dreams for every generation. Within the bosom of every person who experiences pain, injustice or the death of a loved one, there aches the longing for a place of wholeness, a thirst for a time of healing. This is rooted in the essence of humanity: we are beings who do not accept the world as it is; something in our instinct, in our collective consciousness, tells us that the world at present is out of sync – there has to be a better time, a better place. We should assume from our experience that every human desire has an object to satisfy it. . . . People yearn for paradise, and paradise is meant for people to enjoy.”
But did you know that there once was a real paradise. This place was not some holiday destination that one could go to for a week or two. It was a place designed for permanent residence. It was a place we could have lived in. It’s described in Genesis 2:4–25. As we continue in our journey through the bible’s storyline, we come to paradise. We learned that key event #1 in the Bible’s storyline is “The One Triune God is creator of all that exists.” #2 – The life-giving God provided paradise for the first man and woman.
Next time – Notice the change in God’s name.
What does Genesis 1 say to us today?
Posted on May 27, 2011 by Pastor Tom
What does this mean for our lives?
We discover our true identity in relationship to this Creator. You are not some accident. You are not some random collection of atoms that happened to show up in the form of a person. You are a creation of the Triune God. He doesn’t make mistakes.
You are a person made in the image and likeness of the Triune God. In the Ancient Near East, to bear the image of a god meant to act on behalf of the god. But here Moses seems to expand that understating. The image of God seems to refer to the ways man is different from the other animals. Man resembles God in the areas of reason, morality, language, creativity and a capacity for relationship governed by love and commitment. So man resembles God which enables man to represent God. Notice the image of God is stamped on both male and female.
We are commissioned to rule over the earth and its creatures.
Genesis 1:26 – Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping things that creeps on the earth. We have been commissioned as God’s representatives to rule over and care for this Earth. We’ll see that more in Genesis 2 next week. But this chapter further reveals that
We are dependent on our Creator God.
We had to be given life; we were born into a family that had opportunity for survival and education; We may have survived war; sickness; trials. We had DNA and “natural” talents and abilities born into us. We received our personality. All of these were given to us.
When I think about giving this message right now, it is amazing how dependent I am on what’s been given to me. I have to have the ability to speak out words; I depend on other scholars and commentators to explain meaning and give perspective. I depend on people who can translate Hebrew into English. I depend on having a brain that can work to put together this information in a meaningful. I depend on teachers who have helped me learn how to communicate this information in hopefully helpful ways. I depend on the Holy Spirit to deliver into your hearts what He wants you to hear and understand.
All the resources we have come ultimately from God. The food we eat needed land to grow in or grow on. The space to live required a separating of the waters so we could actually settle somewhere. The plants we eat need light to grow. To inhabit this planet, we need a sun placed at exactly the right distance from the Earth so that it won’t burn us or freeze us. We depend on the Creator God.
We are accountable to our Creator God.
This is the one most people don’t like today or just don’t believe. Why do you think there is so much disbelief in Hell? Well if we’re all a product of some random natural cause, we’re not accountable to anyone. If there is confusion about the nature of the universe or doubt about the exist of a designer, then there’s no accountability. But this passage declares the supremacy and authority of God because He and He alone created the entire universe.
This is the starting point of the Bible’s story line. If we don’t get this, the rest of the Bible doesn’t make a lot of sense. The cross doesn’t make sense. Why would need a savior from a God of wrath if He didn’t create us in the first place? Why would we need to be concerned about judgment if God has no authority over us? Why would we rejoice in the redemption Jesus purchased if there is no reality beyond natural causes? But this chapter reveals that the same God who redeemed creation from a formless, empty and dark state paid the ultimate price to redeem us from emptiness and darkness. To Him alone be all glory! Amen.
What about the length of creation days?
Posted on May 26, 2011 by Pastor Tom
But what about the length of those creation days? How do they fit or harmonize with the claims of modern science? There have been different interpretations offered by Christians committed to the divine inspiration of Scripture. These include the 24 hour interpretation where God accomplished His work in a 24 hour period. There is the day age view which basically claims that the days of creation represent ages of time. There is the literary framework view which argues that Genesis 1 is arranged in a way to that communicates God’s order and design for creation and not necessarily the time of creation.
Now the length of the creation days is an important question. A lot of good work and study has gone into the various positions held. But is the length of the creation days the most important question? As soon as I asked about this, what happened to your focus? What did you begin to think about? Some of you who have looked into this may have started to think about your own conclusions about the length of creation days. Some may have drawn up battle lines. Suddenly, we’re not thinking about this chapter in terms of the One Triune God creating everything that exists. We may think about winning an argument.
Sadly, some Christians have taken this question and used it to vilify their brothers and sisters in Christ who hold to different interpretations. Instead of the world hearing about God as the Creator of everything, they witness or read about Christians intensely fighting about this. Friends there are some people in this room who hold a different interpretation of the length of days of creation than you do. If you know of someone who holds a different interpretation than you, will that affect your view of them? Will that affect your fellowship with them?
There is a book entitled the “The Genesis Debate” which specifically deals with the length of the creation days. It contains proponents of those 3 views. They engage in fairly respectful dialogue and debate. But I think the most helpful part of that book was the forward. Christian apologist and philosopher Dr. Norman Geisler writes:
The Genesis Debate points out the need for that old saying – “In essentials unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. All participants in this debate hold a high view of Scripture, affirming both the infallibility and inerrancy of Holy Scripture. Within this context, the participants carry on a civil and scholarly interchange on topic of considerable interest: whether the Genesis creation days are 24 hours long, ages of time or merely a literary framework.
This debate teaches us several important lessons.
• The creation day debate is not over the inspiration of the Bible, but over it’s interpretation. So different interpretations do not necessarily imply false teaching.
• Second – at best the creation day debate is not one of evangelical authenticity but of evangelical consistency. That is, the maximum charge that should be leveled by one proponent against another is that his view is not consistent with Scripture or the facts of nature, not that it is unorthodox.
• Third, the time of creation is not as important as the fact of creation. That is, it is far more important to defend the biblical position that God created the universe, all basic kinds of life, and man in His image than it is to argue about how long it took God to do so.
• Fourth, the issue is not one of morality. Good and Godly people are found on all sides of the creation debate. No one should doubt or question another’s faith or character simply because he holds one of the views represented in this volume. Yet sadly, some Christians have concluded that because another Christian holds a different interpretation on creation days, they must be an immoral person or a stupid person. Neither of these conclusions is helpful or God-honoring.
• Fifth, the real opponent is the naturalistic no-God worldview. But when approaching people who hold this view, our approach must not be to win an argument but to win them.
Certainly, we must uphold the historical nature of the creation account. On it rest other important doctrines of Scripture (R 5:12, Matt 19:4–6). In addition, we must uphold the factual nature of the record as important to orthodoxy. We should reject all attempts to reduce the creation record to fable as opposed to fact, or to mythology as opposed to history. But we must also guard against the temptation of getting sarcastic, disrespectful and judgmental towards others.
I hope this little interlude points to how careful we have to be about this. I believe we can get seriously sidetracked about the primary purpose of this passage – to declare and demonstrate that the One God created everything that exists. This is the starting point of the Bible’s storyline. It lays the framework through which we must look at the rest of the Bible and through which we can look at the rest of the world.
(Next time – what does Genesis 1 and its revelation about God mean for our lives today?)
Do people today worship other "gods?"
Posted on May 25, 2011 by Pastor Tom
We have seen how each day of creation dismissed the pagan gods. But does this really speak to us today?
And we say, “oh well, that was for those people who were confused about the reality and believed in nature gods. We aren’t so deluded. We have no issue with worshipping other gods.” Well we don’t call those gods by personal names. But our culture worships other gods that come from a profoundly different worldview.
Our culture worships materialism. It believes that matter and materials make up the universe and there is nothing beyond them. So going to the mall and gathering more materials can actually be an act of pagan worship. People today believe in determinism where reality is mechanical. The origin of life and the nature of our humanity is just a result of natural causes.
Our culture worships secularism which is a philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship in the public sphere. Has anyone here heard any of the federal leaders campaigning for the election talk about God or their faith in God or their party’s platform on faith? No. Canadians expect their political leaders to keep their faith private. They would suffer immense political damage for advocating a faith or mentioning their faith. That’s how secular our society has become. You probably know people who worship the god of secular humanism. They do not acknowledge God and God’s ownership of the created order. And now we have post-modernism or new agism. The New Age was/is – old fashioned paganism with a modern twist. It incorporates Eastern religions with their multiple gods and reshapes them in some North American lingo. So we see people turning to astrology and horoscopes for guidance or Transcendental Meditation. Even post-modernism elevates personal spirituality above any objective God. So before we dismiss Moses’ concerns that God’s people not slide into pagan worship, we must seriously look at ourselves and our own culture.
Then look at Genesis 1 which flies in the face of all of today’s gods. This is a foundational chapter for the Christian worldview. It goes against worldviews that claim the universe just happened to exist or has always existed. It is contrary to a worldview that claims humans randomly came into being by some incredible chance of nature. It declares God as the creator and originator of life. It declares there is no other God.
(Next time – what about the length of creation days?)
What does Genesis 1 say about God?
Posted on May 23, 2011 by Pastor Tom
What does Genesis 1 say about God?
The One Triune God is the Creator of all that exists. Where do I get the word “One?” Where do I get “Triune?” By Triune I mean 3 in one: One God in essence composed by 3 persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Well, I certainly look back at this passage through a New Testament lens where the nature of our Triune God is fleshed out more clearly for us. But I think there are clues to the One Triune God’s essence nature in this chapter. I can see a glimpse of One and Triune or Trinity from verse 1. “In the beginning God created. The word God translates the Hebrew “Elohim” in plural form. Yet the verb is create is in singular form. So there is One God in being. But there is something more about this one God. The plural form of the name may refer to His majesty and using a plural form somehow expresses that this God is infinitely more majestic than some local pagan idol.
I also conclude that God is One by looking throughout this chapter. The same name of God appears and He is the One who creates the sun, moon, stars, water, earth and great creatures of the sea. The pagans believed that each one of those was an individual god. But Genesis 1 emphasizes that this One majestic God created all of these.
I conclude that we can say “the One Triune God created all that exists from verse 26. “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Now some argue that this means God speaks to the heavenly council of angels in this statement. But humans are not made in the image of angels. They are made in the image of God and the plural language may indicate God in three persons talking about creating man.
This One Triune God creates. This verb create is used only of God in the Old Testament. It points to His unique ability to bring into being something that wasn’t there before. Create “bara” is reserved for God. As one commentator puts it “The finite mortal, whose understanding of the cosmos and history is like a thimble of water before the ocean, has no right to challenge the Creator’s Sovereignty. God fashions the creation, including earthly mortals according to his wisdom and good pleasure, even as a potter fashions clay vessels.
But what is going on in verse 2? Did God create the heavens and the earth and then create something formless, empty and dark? Some have speculated that God started creating in verse 1. Then there was a big gap of time between verse 1 and 2. Then we’re invited to see creation up to that moment in verse 2. Then God brings order to that creation. But verse 2 implies chaos of some sort. The descriptions of verse 2 point to things not associated with God – formless, empty, darkness, chaos.
Another explanation sheds some light on this. It argues that Genesis 1:1 is really the title for the whole section. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth – the totality of the universe.” Then verse 2 talks about this chaotic, formless, dark place. Where did this chaos come from? We don’t know. We’re not told just as we are not told how the serpent could be in the garden in Genesis 3. The origin of this chaos and reason for its existence are not revealed. But what’s interesting is the pagans of that time believed that the sea was a god. They believed that there was a great struggle between the god of the sea and the gods of order over creation and the uncovering of dry land.
With that cultural background in mind, Genesis 1 unfolds as God’s triumph and supremacy over chaos, emptiness and darkness. The creation account becomes a redemptive account. It is the triumph of light over darkness and land and sky over water. The myth of a water god is exposed. There is no water god. Water must obey the One God.
Remember, the people of Israel, the people Moses wrote for were deeply steeped in pagan religion. They constantly slipped into pagan worship. Whenever things went bad, they turned to idols and supposed gods of nature. Even at the close of the book of Joshua after they have conquered the Promised Land, Joshua declares in chapter 24:14 “Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt.” The people of Israel were still dabbling in Egyptian myths and pagan practices. So this creation account deconstructs the pagan myths and so called gods.
One commentator writes “Each day of creation dismisses and additional cluster of deities. On the first day, the gods of light and darkness are dismissed. On the second day, the gods of sky and sea. On the third day, the earth gods and gods of vegetation. On the fourth day, the sun, moon and star gods. The fifth and sixth days take away any associations of divinity or god status from the animal kingdom. And finally human existence is emptied of divinity. So the pharaohs and kings and heroes are not gods. But all people are granted the image of the One God.”
(Next time – Do people today worship other gods?)
The Bible's Storyline 1 - Part 1
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Pastor Tom
This Spring and Summer, I will try to paint the picture of the Bible’s Overall Storyline. I know many of you will miss the weekend message because of vacations. So I will post pieces of the messages on this blog so you can follow along. We start in the beginning.
“David killed the giant Goliath. Daniel spent a night in the lion’s den. Adam and Eve did something questionable and ended up blaming others for this misstep. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Esther was a courageous queen. There was a flood and a crossing of a sea and Jesus walked on water. A guy named Paul came on the scene at some point. Mary and Joseph were in there somewhere. Was that the same Joseph with the coat of many colors? The Lord is my shepherd and He’s also the guy who got mad in the temple one day. Isaiah and Jeremiah are in there but I don’t think we can find the phrase “Jeremiah was a bullfrog” in there. There are lots of angels and there’s a devil. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy but God is a jealous God. In the end, God will somehow win.
What am I doing? Well, I just described scattered parts of the Bible in no particular order. It was kind of confusing. Yet if someone asked us to put the pieces of the Bible together in a storyline, we might come up with something like I just shared. I grew up in a family that regularly attended church. I went to Sunday School. I heard the stories and the messages when I was old enough. Yet if someone asked me at the age of 20 to tell them the Bible’s basic storyline, I would likely have come up with something similar to that first paragraph. That might be your experience or your knowledge as well. You know bits and pieces of the Bible. But how it all fits together is some kind of mystery.
If we’re confused about the basic storyline of the Bible then it’s quite possible we’re confused about God. We might not understand the character of God or how He has worked through history. We might believe that the God of the Old Testament is cruel and judgmental while the God of the New Testament is love. If we don’t understand the Bible’s storyline and God’s activity through it, we can even be confused about our own identity and place in this world.
So today we begin my attempt to paint the big picture of the Bible. My hope is that by the end of this summer, you will be have about 15 key markers from the Bible that proclaim God’s activity. These will enable us to place the David and Goliath story in a bigger context. They will help us see how the Old Testament and New Testament do not describe different gods but the same God who has been and continues to be at His work in history and in our lives. They will help us know our God more deeply and enable to answer some questions people around us have about God’s Word.
We have to start at the beginning. Genesis 1 – one of the most studied and controversial chapters in the Bible. But as we go through it, I would invite you to ask yourself “what is this chapter primarily saying about God?” Then we will ask “what does this mean for our lives?” And if I’m still living and really brave, I will venture into that question –how do we respond to Christians with different interpretations of Genesis 1 than ours? I conclude that Moses wrote Genesis and was well prepared to do so through his training and experience. I believe God’s Spirit carried him along to write these words.
Next time – What does Genesis 1 say about God?
How do you deal with the greener grass syndrome?
Posted on May 3, 2011 by Pastor Tom
“He has a way better working situation.” “Her husband is way more loving than mine.” “They have a much nicer house than ours.” “Their kids don’t give them any trouble.” “They always get the breaks.” “She always gets the guy’s attention.” “He always gets the girl.” Ever suffered from green grass syndrome? Check out this for some helpful perspective on contentment.