Fill It To The Rim Series

Fill it to the rim

The direction of our sermon time in this New Year is being guided by a mnemonic device…a simple memory aid, a word that I hope that we can all use to help us to listen for God as individuals and as a church.

The word is based on the idea that the prophets of God normally suggest that they have experienced a voice of God which called them to gave God’s message to His people.

The word we are using is VOICE and so far we have connected the V to remind us of vision and we were reminded how Jeremiah was sent to watch the potter at work.

The Ideas I shared was that in the visual example was that the potter had a vision for what the clay should become. The clay was simple material in the hands of the creator with no real input to the vision.

In the scripture the clay was marred…imperfections of some kind resisted the potter’s skill and he balled up the clay and made something different….The clay was not discarded however, but the usage of the materials was adapted.

I suggested that as believers we are on the potter’s wheel, we are the clay and whatever our failings, our choices God does not give up on us.

-- Last week we looked at the second letter, O and I related that to openness.

We scanned some snapshots/events from the Gospel of Mark and examined two groups and how open they were to what was happening in and around Jesus.

There were large crowds that were open for a variety of reasons.

Some based on their need.

Some seem to find hope in the message and some may have only been there for the dinner and the show.

Regardless of the basic reason, they were open to the amazing things that were centered on Jesus words and actions.

Then there was another group, religious leaders, Pharisees and Teachers that seem to have been in the crowd but instead of noticing God changing lives with healing and restoration, they were worried about the rules. The seemed to be closed to the amazing and focused on the breaking man centered rules as a sign of a false teacher.

The goal last week was that you would seek God’s help in being open to his movement and not be closed off to go stale or become bitter.

-- Today. I thought we needed to do a little review to get to direction we are looking toward this morning.

This week I am again being very focused on certain scriptures looking of a specific trait to help us to understand an overview of how God attempts to shape and guide us.

Chapter 3 verse 8 in Genesis. “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

This brief mention of God searching for Adam and Eve, after their eating of the forbidden fruit. The approach of God does not sound like a special occurrence. The don’t say what’s that noise?

They hide not because it is unusual but because of their sin. I am led to believe that this kind of visit from God may have been a daily event. It was a way that God chose to interact with creation in general and specifically with the human creatures.

This description hints to me that God took some kind of form with which to interact with them. While not precisely a definition of the word incarnation including conception and birth. I think it indicates that god took on a body or form that offered a tangible presence. I He seems to be predictable expected, and identifiable presence.

The method God used to interact with Adam and eve was disrupted when the creation exercised their ability to make choices independent of God’s vision and plans.

God has always desired an intimate and tangible relationship with his clay creations. An even in Genesis God does not just trash the creation and start over from scratch. He adapts the relationship.

Let’s look at another section of scripture, John chapter 1.

I don’t normally hop over sections of scripture but, to attempt to stay on target I am leaving out where the Gospel of John refers to John the Baptist and how Jesus was creator and how he was received by man.

I am reading, John 1:1,2,14. To focus pm a second description of incarnation:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.