“BETTER BEGINNINGS” by REV. BILL BOWDLE
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Retired United Methodist Pastor - Liberty Township, Ohio,
Delivered this message at a nearby UMC during it's pastor's vacation on 01/07/2018
Genesis 1:1, Proverbs 9:10; John 1:1-4,12
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INTRODUCTION
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Can you believe we have begun a new year already? We’re 7 days into January and I’ll bet some of you have ripped up new year’s resolutions already!
If you’re a resolutions warrior, who tries to keep your promises, you may love a comedian’s humorous excuse for giving up on your resolutions. He said, “Instead giving up CHOCOLATE for Lent this February just give up your RESOLUTIONS.” If resolutions are not your thing, it’s still healthy to consider directions you’ll go in 2018.
I remember a time as a child when choosing directions was fun. Our farm family enjoyed a few unique Sunday outings. Dad & Mom loaded our station wagon with most of us 8 brothers & sisters for a random ride into the countryside.. The children could choose a repeating pattern for which way to turn at each intersection. We might turn left, then right, two lefts, then right, repeating the pattern wherever it led us. The next trip we'd choose a different plan.
But I learned a very simple truth. The pattern you choose at the beginning determines the destination you reach at the end. I want to help us choose January beginnings ......that help us reach good destinations!!
I searched the Bible for Better Beginnings. Three of them grabbed my attention. They are found in ...Genesis 1, Proverbs 9, John 1. I’ll share the scriptures as we get to each Better Beginning.
The first one is completely familiar but is dramatically important....
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
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This beginning calls us to:
1. RECOGNIZE GOD AS CREATOR
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Recognizing God as Creator sets foundation for all that is to follow in the scripture. Accepting this truth builds our lives on a better beginning, a stronger foundation.
The question of creation came up 5 Sundays ago at our Sunday School, from a 2nd grade girl.
In children’s Sunday School, my wife and I directed a small Christmas drama about Christ's birth. I was the Bethlehem Innkeeper. I sent Mary & Joseph away to the stable where Jesus was born. A second grade girl raised her hand & asked a question about baby Jesus I've never heard before. She asked: "Did Jesus create Mary & Joseph?"
How would you answer that Question? In case she was a child prodigy theological genius, I said more than a simple “Yes.” I told her that Jesus was always with God in heaven as the Son of God ...... before Jesus was born to Mary on earth. The Bible tells us (e.g. John 1:3) Jesus did help create the world. He did so together with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, because Jesus is also divine. So yes, indirectly Jesus helped create Mary & Joseph.
Then this bright girl asked a second classic question. "Who made God?" The simple astounding answer: Nobody created God. God was always here. I told her; Some people may believe NATURE came first and later in time people invented the idea of God. I told her: Christians believe God was ALWAYS here. God created the natural universe, but nobody created God.
Christians believe that an eternal, intelligent all-knowing, all powerful God is the best explanation of beginnings. One critic ridiculed this doctrine of creation as a primitive myth by a gullible wandering Hebrew sheep herder.
But some of the finest minds in the world, even some who started as atheistic, have been driven to the conclusion God is the ultimate answer to the mysterious fact of the existence of the universe.
Now for any of you who are keenly interested in physics, the big bang, philosophy of origins, quantum theory, multiple universe theory, string theories, etc. & the fine tuning of planet earth making it habitable for life, I’m aware of those discussions. I’ve read about scientists with theories of how this universe lifted itself from empty non-existence and made itself exist from nothing as a prelude to the big bang. But every non-theological theory of origins I read still points back to some structure of reality or operational principle that it cannot explain that was here before our expanding universe.
The first verse in the Bible doesn’t dance around the issue. It answers the mystery. It announces God as the “forever factor” who created the universe of space, time and matter from nothing.
This is good news that means nature’s design has a designer. You are here on purpose. We are not alone. Heaven’s throne is not empty. It means God is who God is, and God is not a buffet salad bar God whom we can build to our own taste.
Some years ago a neat Catholic boy in Bethany attended a school class explaining the facts of life. His mom and dad, had never had THE CONVERSATION with him about the facts of life and love. When he came home, his Mom greeted him. She asked him how that class had gone.
He felt awkward. How do you begin discussing your new sexuality knowledge with a mom who’s never spoken to you about it? He had just learned of the parental intimacy and the maternal birth pain that brought him the gift of life. With an awed & serious look on his face, the boy went to his mother, gave here a huge hug, & said, “Mom, thanks for having me !!"
God calls us to “come of age,” and recognize Biblical facts of life. and tell God, “Thanks for creating us! Thanks for gift of human life.”
It’s not within the scope of today’s message to address the hot creation / evolution debate. I’ll simply say that when we reach heaven & fully understand the truth and beauty of Genesis as God intended it, and fully understand the magnificent handwriting of God He has written via creation into the DNA, biology, geology & astronomy of this universe, we’ll know better how both may be harmonized to reflect the full truth of God.
This much is clear to me: without God as a creator we are accidents with no intended purpose. Without our Creator we have no meaning, no accountability to a higher power, & no deep basis for ethical values and a poorer ability to explain the miracle of mental consciousness.
Your creation in God’s image, and God’s love for you gives you incredible significance. Genesis 1:1 is a gift that offers you the 1st Better Beginnings. This first Better Beginning invites us to Recognize God as Creator.
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The 2nd Better Beginning in Proverbs invites us to:
2. RESPECT GOD WITH REVERENCE
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Proverbs 9:10 says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (NIV)
Please hear me out, and please don’t turn off or tune out. I know our generation doesn’t feel the need to fear God. Do you associate fearing God with the crazy doom and gloom preachers who love to announce hell-fire and damnation? Even believers wonder: doesn’t the “fear of God” in Proverbs contradict 1 John which says: “There is no fear in love.” Didn’t angels say“Don’t be afraid.” 4 times in the Gospels when they appeared to Mary, Joseph, shepherds & Zechariah.
Which is it: fear God or Love God?
Most Bible teachers say that fearing God means showing respect and reverence.
Love is not contrary to respect. Love builds on respect. Now, which comes first. Many writers suggest respect is essential in relationships for love to grow.
If you see a couple where husband or wife or both constantly demean, disrespect, belittle & tear a partner down, a divorce is coming unless there is emergency repair.
Love builds on respect. It’s true in marriage. It’s true in relationship with God.
Our son married a lovely young Lexington woman. Sarah is not meek, mild or lacking for opinions. She’s a perfect mate for our strong-willed son. We truly love her. Sarah’s mother jokes that Sarah was born with her arms crossed and a cigar in her mouth! As a young child she announced to her parents and 3 older brother and sisters, “I’m the boss!” She turned out wonderfully but had some strong-willed beginnings.
Aren’t we being just as naive if we cast God aside as insignificant and act like “We’re the boss?”
In Proverbs Solomon teaches us respect & reverence for God.. Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...”
Anthony Flew was a very smart British philosopher and a hero of atheists for decades. He debated theologians and pastors in front of large crowds. He claimed everyone should be atheists, until they have proof God really exists. But Anthony Flew could not strap God down on a coroner’s mortuary slab. God began tugging at his intellect. The more Flew studied how this world came to exist the more his mind pushed him in a different direction.
He exhibited a new respect for God in his book with a fascinating title: "There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind." He did not embrace Christian theistic belief, but he found respect for God as a Deistic intelligent designer, who created this universe.
Chuck Colson commented on fearing God. He had no real respect for God when he served as special counsel to a US President. He was later convicted and imprisoned for Watergate crimes. He fell from power to prison. Behind bars, he saw first hand the high cost of godless living and was later converted to Christ. Chuck Colson says, “People who have no fear of God soon have no fear of man, and no respect for human laws and authority."
Here’s the Bible’s counsel for a better beginning of 2018 with wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Let’s show reverence and respect for God as a foundation for wisdom.... for wise living ... wise thinking.
Approach God humbly
Make God a priority.
Trust God’s word..
Express reverence for God in worship, praise and obedience.
DO YOU WANT BETTER BEGINNINGS?
1. Re: the Beginning of Creation
RECOGNIZE GOD AS CREATOR
2. Re: fearing the Lord as the Beginning of Wisdom -
RESPECT GOD WITH REVERENCE.
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What is the 3rd Better Beginning?
3. RECEIVE CHRIST FOR NEW BEGINNINGS
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For 40 years I served people in pastoral ministry from the Hocking Hills at Old Man’s Cave, to the county seat town of Jackson, Ohio, to the outerbelt Cincinnati area bedroom communities in Goshen, Bethany, Bethel, and in Cincinnati’s weathy innerbelt suburb of Indian Hill where I served Armstrong Chapel UMC.
In every parish, from modest rural homes, to the mansions of the wealthy, I met people hungering for a new beginning. You may be battle scarred from life’s trials, tragedies, temptations, & choices you’ve made.
Some of you may have heartaches and habits, secrets & shame and memories you can’t erase. Some of you live with shadowy ghosts of secret burdens you can’t shove aside & don’t share w. others. Something in you hungers for fresh starts, new beginnings.
A poem from Louisa Fletcher says:
I wish that there were some wonderful place
Called the "Land of Beginning Again,"
Where all our mistakes, and all our heartaches,
And all of our poor selfish grief
Could be dropped like a shabby old coat
at the door,
And never be put on again.
C.S. LEWIS: “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
JESUS CHRIST the divine Son of God, entered human history to give us a new beginning with God.
John 1:1 tells us more about the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is that WORD. John says Jesus was fully divine.
John 1:2 says “He was in the beginning with God.” From his eternity in heaven, the Son of God was permanently & miraculously joined to human nature in Mary’s womb.... fully divine, and fully human.
John 1:3 “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” One purpose of Christ in heaven was creation. His purpose on earth was salvation.
John 1:4 “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Christ’s birth was God’s “TO TELL THE TRUTH” moment. In a world of imposter gods God stood up in Christ, to show himself, to speak for himself, with humility, finality and authority.
The Last 35 seconds of today’s amazing choir anthem declared “From the God of all creation, comes the gift of living light, the Holy Child we greet ... is light.” (Frombach/Lantz III)
The good news gets even better in our last verse, John 1:12. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name....”
There it is ... believers are given a new family, receivers are given a new beginning ....adopted into God’s family as God’s children. I invite you to believe in Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, and our merciful Savior.
Do you need to renew that new beginning? I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Charles R. Swindoll reminds us in Great Days with the Great Lives “Regardless of what you have done, no one is beyond hope .... Even though your past is soiled, anyone can find a new beginning with God.... Remember, the hope we have in Christ means there's a brighter tomorrow....Sins are forgiven. Shame is cancelled out.”
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CONCLUSION
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In the year 2000 I drove to Madison, Wisconsin, for a UMC Jurisdictional Conference to elect Bishops. In one Thursday event, we celebrated retirements of 3 bishops from Ohio, Michigan and Iowa.
As each one was introduced, I was stunned. The moderator publicly asked them the question, "Bishop ______, how is it with your soul?" I had only expected a celebration giving gratitude and glory for their tireless service, decades of miles traveled, meetings attended, decisions made, leadership offered, pastors ordained, appointed and supervised.
But that first question rang out in the auditorium as each bishop stood before us. None of their accomplishments mattered as much as whether they ended their ministry right with God.
I extend this question for bishops .... to YOU. "How is it with your soul?"
Will you begin 2018 with Better Beginnings as you
Recognize God as Creator
Respect God with Reverence
Receive Christ for New Beginnings
BENEDICITON:
May God’s grace take you out of any shadows
into the lighted "Land of Beginning Again,"
in the name of God our creator
in the name of Christ who creates us anew
and in the name of the Spirit who lights up God’s life w/in us. Amen.
