In Jesus Holy Name May 1, 2016
Text: Genesis 1:1-2 Series: The Story Redeemer
“The Creation: The Beginning of Life”
Life is a story. Bring two people together and they will soon be telling stories. Two men in a fishing boat… well you know how that ends. Look at our fixation with the news. Every morning, every evening billions of people read a paper, turn into the news. Why? Because we human beings have this craving for meaning we want to know the “rest of the story”
“Tell me what happened”, we say to a friend. Tell me your story. I’ll try to help you make sense of it. Who am I? Why am I here? What does God want of me?
Neil Postman wrote: Science provides many answers. “but in the end science does not provide enough. They have unique answers to the origins of our universe, our evolving human body…. But somehow it is unsatisfactory. How did it all begin? Science will now answer: “probably by accident.” “The Big Bang” or “Intelligent Design” The Story is about the “Intelligent Designer”.
In 1996, astronomers focused the powerful Hubble Space Telescope on a small and utterly black patch in space right next to the “Big Dipper” constellation. They left the shutter open for ten days. Wow! 3000 more galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, planets & moons. In 2004 they did it again.
This time they focused on the constellation Orion and left the lens open for 11 days and discovered ten thousand more galaxies. And here we live on a small blue marble spinning in our own orbit around the Sun.
Walk into any large mall. On our trip to Germany we did just that. It was huge. There were shops for cheese, German sausages, clothes, shoes, balloons. Everything look familiar, but unless you could read German you were lost. So we found a map. All big malls have a map. On the may was a big red star. We knew that the star meant “you are here.” This is the big picture. This star is where you are in the big picture.
(hold up blue marble) Here we are on this blue marble, spinning in space. It wasn’t always that way.
God has a story. Genesis, is the first book that tells us about God’s interaction and plan for mankind. The real point of Genesis is that God wants to be with us.
In the beginning….. or Once upon a time…..
It is a wonderful phrase. Full of promise. An invitation. Once upon a time a beautiful maiden….
A long time ago in a galaxy far away….
All really good stories start that way.
Christianity tells us that there is an Author, A Creator, and He is good. He is the source of all things good. The Hebrew word for God is Elohim….. Elohim is plural for God…. Not the English word “gods” but God plural. The Trinity. God the Father.. God the Son.. God the Spirit… for the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters…
Before the world began there was darkness. Like the darkness of a cave in which you can not see your own hand inches from your face. Suddenly a voice shatters the darkness. A voice breaks the silence. There is light. Another word. The seas form. Another word and mangoes laden the branches of trees. Poppies fill the hills. Rain forests. Prairies in full bloom. All in an instant.
It doesn’t stop. God opens his hand and animals spring forth. Birds of every kind fill the skies with flight and song. Thundering across the plains. Buffalo, horses running like the wind. Elephants. Caterpillars. Snow. Peacocks.
Stop. Think of the complexity. Step outside this evening. Look at the universe, the blade of grass.
The perfect and beautiful world God created was good. Hummingbirds. Kangaroos. Tulips. Mangoes. The Serengeti. Morning mist.
God has a story. It’s a fairytale world ready for romance. Surely there is a place for lovers & honeymooners. They choose Yosemite, Hawaii or Tuscany. But whose idea was Yosemite, Hawaii or Tuscany? (read Psalm 8:3-5)
We have come to the dramatic words of the Creator. “Let us make mankind in our image.” Elohim the master potter scooped out of the ground a clump of clay, molded and made it into the first human, and then breathed into that human the breath of God. He began with a lump of clay. (read Genesis 1:26-27) When God breathed into the human body His breath added a “soul”.
We were created to be like God. What does that mean? Reason. The ability to create. To share intimacy. To know joy and laughter. And most of all. We have the ability to love. In love he gives freedom. Yes even the freedom to reject His love. Even before God created Eve he told Adam that there are 2 trees in the garden. The tree of life would sustain life forever. The other was the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told him that if he chose fruit from this second tree he would die.
He wants to be invited into your story. He wants to be involved in your personal history and mine.
One of the deepest human longings is the longing to belong. We are relational to the core. We want to be invited into “family”. We want to be accepted. This is the harmony and peace our soul longs for. All was well.
Once upon a time… all was well with Adam and Eve.
Once upon a time… all was well and the animals eat grass.
Once upon a time… there was no stress, no tears, no sadness.
That my friends is how God wanted it to be. God envisioned not just a good life four us, but a perfect one. A beautiful garden. An abundance of food. No disease. No sadness. He said….”This is very good.” Like any parent, he wants the absolute best for you. God never intended for human beings to suffer. But somedays we feel we are living in a nightmare.
Remember when God created Adam and Eve he gave them “freedom.” Rather than force them to love him in return they could choose to be with Him or go it alone. I’m afraid they listened to the voice of a ‘creature’ rather than their Creator.
John Eldrigh in his book “Epic” writes:
There is evil all around us. War. Famine. Betrayal. Murder. Surely we know there is evil in our world. Where does it come from?
I am staggered by the level of naiveté that most people live with regarding evil. They don’t take it seriously… or it will stay over there. They live as if the “Story”, their “story” has no villain. Every story has a villain. The Big Bad Wolf. Darth Vader. The Wicked Witch of the West.
We do not know how much time passed between God’s conversation with Adam, the creation of Eve but we know that in their freedom they listened to the voice of a creature rather than the Creator. Satan the fallen angel, told them that “they could be like God”… “God was holding out on them. I can imagine a conversation…. “If God really loved you wouldn’t he let you touch and eat?”
Haven’t you heard the same voice? If God really loved you wouldn’t he answer your prayer? If God really loved you why would he let your loved one suffer so much?
Satan gained power over Adam and Eve the same way he gains power over us. Satan creates Doubt. In Adam and Eve. In you and me.
The tree lived up to its name. Evil was deposited alongside truth in the DNA of Adam and Eve….and every human being. The core of this evil, which the Bible calls sin is selfishness.
Before that fateful day, God’s favorite thing to do was to walk in the garden. You can imagine the scene (Ge. 2:8) As the hymn writer wrote: “While the dew is still on the roses.” At our men’s retreat prayer is walking in the garden with God in the early morning, or in the cool of the evening.
Knowing they had done wrong. They try to hide. You know the conversation already….. It’s not my fault. They seek to avoid responsibility…. Sounds like us, doesn’t’ it. Let’s be honest… do you like to take responsibility when something you did wrong comes to light? No… so we are no different.
Their relationship with God is broken. Their relationship with each other is broken. Divorce shatters people. Divorce shatters children.
In the Bible we find the rest of the story. God wants them
back. He takes the steps to repair their love. He initiates redemption, but the price is high. Genesis 3:21 God gives hope. God offers forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22
Remember God tried everything. That’s part of the Story.
He warned Cain that sin was crouching at his door.
He chose not to listen.
God tried a flood.
God tried a covenant with Moses at Sinai.
God tried prophets.
God tried kings.
God even tried a temple.
Nothing worked. Finally God literally stepped into His own creation. His name was Jesus. The Apostle Paul calls him the 2nd Adam. His mission was to bring us back into harmony and peace with himself.
John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. He was in the world, even though the world was made by Him, the world did not recognize Him. The Word became flesh… We saw him. We walked with Him.
He healed the blind. He accepted those the Jewish culture considered “outcasts”. The leper. The lame. The Samaritan. He raised the Dead. Yes, we saw Him die on the cross. Wee saw them lay Him in a tomb. The tomb was sealed. Death could not hold Him. He rose from the death and grave and defeated the old evil foe, Satan, who held people in the grip and fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14)
Mary Magdalene was the first to see Him on that Easter morning, while the dew was still on the roses. Did she recognize Him? No. She thought he was the gardener…. How interesting. He was the original gardener.
Forgiveness is offered to Adam and Eve. To you and me. Holy blood was shed in the garden and on the cross. The Cross stands empty. The grave is empty. He offers you Himself in the Bread and Wine. He offers to walk with you in Your Story. But he will let you choose.
