Connecting with God Begins with Locating Ourselves
Series: Connecting with God
Brad Bailey – April 7, 2024
NOTE: The following notes were to long to be shared in full...but offer what can be well
read or edited for message.
Intro
Today we are going to begin a series entitled Connecting with God.
The purpose of this series is to expand our connection with God.
We are going to explore the different points where our nature and longings can
connect to the nature and goodness of God.
The Scriptures refer to what creation reveals... and many of us have had moments
when we are overwhelmed with a power and beauty that is transcendent. So we will
engage how we can experience connection with God through what God has created...
but also through our longings for justice... our longings for love... and ultimately
through the presence of His Spirit and Son.
But first... we are going to begin with locating ourselves
Have you ever entered a huge shopping mall...and wondered... how am I going to find
what I have come for?
If you’re near the entrance... you look and see a big map.
It allows you to find the location. But then you realize... what you need to know first...
which is where you are. And there it is: “You are here.”
> Only then can I see my position in relationship to what I am trying to connect
with. I can see that I may be on a different level.... What I will have to pass through.
In the same way... I think our process of connecting with God involves seeing
the bigger picture...and locating ourselves.
The Scriptures begin with a map that locates us.
We find this in the very first three chapters of Genesis...which is the first Book of the
Bible...the Book of Beginnings... and begins with a poetic summary that helps us
understand the position we are in.
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was
formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters.
“In the beginning”... this is how your existence began... no dating... no timing ... but it’s
the fundamental truth of our source and nature.
Then it speaks of God creating the stages of formation... and plant life... animals life...
and finally...
Genesis 1:26
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that
they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock
and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
The likeness is spiritual in nature... and involves our capacity to manage the various
parts of creation already created.
Genesis 2:7 (AMP)
Then the LORD God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a
living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].
Here we see a relationship between the Creator and the created. [1]
This Book of beginnings declares that everything emanates from a source... and is
given order.
What is initially formless is formed...and disorder is ordered. There is a source of
power and purpose in our existence.
It is this revelation of order that leads human life to assume there is order and
meaning.
It gives rise to observation of order and deduction.
But it also locates our position.
What is most profound... is that in it’s brevity... It tells us more about the
connection that matters most...than all the libraries of science... and humanities
combined.
It allows us to step back and see the ultimate position we are in... to locate
ourselves within the wider reality of our existence.
This helps us to understand the nature of connecting with God.
The first point is this...
1. My connection to God is that of a finite creature to the infinite Creator.
As Genesis describes...an infinite God created finite beings.
We are finite creatures... standing in a finite point in time... with finite abilities to
understand reality.
We have a limited perspective. [2]
All of the larger questions about life...origins...meaning... source...and if a source ...the
nature of that source... and why the evil that runs through us...and so much more. They
are all questions about that which transcends our finite nature. We must draw from the
limitation of our nature and perspective... and continually form our beliefs.
I recall that people once believed the world was flat... we might scoff at the idea...but
it reflected their limited perspective. After discovering that it was round we believed that
the sun rotated around the earth...until we discovered that in truth the earth rotated
around the sun. It seems that we should continually realize is that we should never
assume we really can grasp the larger reality from what is always a limited
perspective.
So when I hear people say “this is all there is”... even scoff at the belief in God... it
strikes me having become ignorant of the position one is in.
“The modern world has lost it’s sense of mystery...and become so enamored with
our knowledge and control...that we have lost our most basic sense of how finite we
are...of how little we know and control.”
I am sure that there has always been a pride among those who were privileged to be
among the more educated of their day. But throughout history... there was an
increasing sense that knowledge was exciting and humbling. There was a more
balanced sense that the very nature of discovery flowed from our profound nature of
being finite. Finding bits of order in the grand mystery that transcends us.
Those whose minds seems most acute... understood the limits of their knowledge most.
“The more you know, the more you know you don't know.” ? Aristotle
“The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.” - Albert Einstein
It was common to hear that truth stated even thirty years ago ...but I haven’t
heard those phrases much over the past ten years.
We do well to remember what God said to Job...
Job 38:4 (GW) - “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell
me if you have such insight.”
What does this mean for us...for connecting with God?
My connection is not one of equal understanding... but essential understanding.
The question is not “do I understand”... but does it align with what I see in me and
around me.
God says there is a beginning... that makes sense.
God says there is an order to the world.
God says that there is a spiritual dimension.
So the first point is understanding that we are in the position of the finite.
Also notice...
We are told that “the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” [3]
What is described is that God created the physical / material world...in which time
and space as we know them...exist. [4]
I exist as part of that which was created from outside of time and space.
(Whether that is something like a “big bang” or not...is secondary.)
And we are told how God took material and gave it life. He breathed life into the matter.
2. My connection to God is as a living being whose life is both physical and
spiritual. My existence is connected to God who is outside the time and space of the
created realm... in which what is spiritual in nature precedes and gives life to my
physical nature.
What should be clear...is that God is not bound within time and space... God is
Spirit.
Some prophets and poets speak of God using anthropomorphism... meaning they
speak of God metaphorically using bodily terms... such as the “hand of God”... or the
“eyes” of God looking upon us... but only because we have no other way of speaking of
acting and seeing. [5]
However, the Scriptures are clear that God in His eternal nature is Spirit...and not
physical.
The Apostle Paul wrote.
Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. - 1 Timothy 1:17
John 1:18
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is
in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
God is Spirit... has no body like ours.
Some may recall that Jesus engaged the Samaritan woman at the public well...and
she raises the issue of how Jews and Samaritans worship in temple holy places... and
Jesus responds...
John 4:24
God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
John 4:24 (MSG)
God is sheer being itself - Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their
very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
Sheer being...not less being...but pure being...absolute being.
I believe that it’s vital to let this challenge our ideas about reality.
We tend to believe that what is physical or material is more real than what is
spiritual.
We have come to presume that what is physical / material is the real real...and that
any potential spiritual dimension is sort of a sentimental idea... a way to enjoy the
idea of something transcendent.
But the Scriptures tell us that what we might refer to as the “spiritual” preceded
the “material.” [6]
> Science... human observation and deduction...tell us that the material world we
exist in...must have emanated from that which is outside of time and space as we
know it.
And it’s important to see clearly that what the Scriptures testify to...in Genesis
and throughout the Scriptures...is that of God uniting the spiritual and material.
This is very different from the way in which many have seen the material world as
inferior... immoral... or an illusion.
But here... we are told how God created and called it GOOD.
God breathes life into the material...creating life. [7]
Adam became alive when God joined his body and spirit together. Your body doesn’t
merely house you; in concert with your spirit, it is you.
Jesus redeems our whole person. [8]
And God even coming and uniting with this world through Jesus.
The Scriptures see an integration.
This means I connect to God not through some vain attempt to reject the physical
/ material world... but through a spiritual connection .....which is not less than physical.
This spiritual connection is not about rejecting our physical nature...but transcending it...
by being still....and allowing our spirit to connect with the Spirit of God.
The Scriptures say: “Be still and know that I am God.”
Such spiritual stillness... connects us to our essence.
Romans 8:16 (NLT)
For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
When I am most aware of God...and who I am before God... I am closer to
experiencing who I truly am...what it means to be human.
(Your iPhone may be a nice distraction...but it won’t help you know who you are.)
3. My connection to God is personal in nature ... as one who bears something of
the image of the Source... as a child to parent.
The account in Genesis makes a clear distinction... it speaks of each element of
what is created....and then pauses ... and a distinction is given that is very clear.
All the living creatures shares life... and all such life derives from God...but human life
is endowed with a connection to God unlike any other.
At the heart of a biblical notion of personhood is the belief that humans beings
are the imago dei, the image of God (Gen 1:26-27, James 3:9).
Just as the design is always a reflection of the designer...so we reflect something
of God.
There is some mystery as to the exact aspect or aspects of what reflects that
image...but there are several ways we are distinct... and share personal attributes
with God unlike any other known life: that includes self-awareness, relational
capacity, creativity, intellect, emotions, volition, moral agency.
God endowed human life to be co-managers... representatives... who help care
for creation.
At some level we are conscious of it. We sense a unique responsibility. [9]
At the core is the personal nature of God and human life.
My connection to God is not only personal....but more personal than any
relationship we will ever have with another person.
The Bible tells us that God is love... it is the essence of His nature. He created
people out of love for the purpose of sharing love.
People were created to love God and each other.
God speaks as a Father...
Jesus reveals that this is what we were meant to live our lives deeply in.
Jesus reveals that this is what we were meant to live in....and live out.
John 15:9
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ..
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love
them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Jesus did not reflect that we are not merely rooted in a biological survival of the
fittest...but we are rooted in an inherent value.
This leads to one further point....to the separation in this connection.
The narrative continues with the fore parents of humanity amid the plentiful
garden of Eden... told to eat and enjoy of everything... but not one tree which
represented the knowledge of good and of evil... a capacity they had no need of.
But a snake comes and convinces them not to trust God...that they can be like
God....
Genesis 3:4-5,7-10 (NIV)
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that
when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.”
They choose to eat ... to try to be like God...and the texts says...
Genesis 3:4-5,7-10 (NIV)
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were
naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 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. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are
you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was
naked; so I hid.”
In pride, we have claimed our independence from God.
When they chose to go out on their own... to claim their own right to rule... to be able to
know and choose good and evil... their spiritual DNA was changed.
Before the Fall, there was no pride in the spiritual DNA of Adam and Eve. All of their
value and security came from God.
In effect, they told God, “We can find all our value and security in ourselves. God, we
don’t need you anymore.” [10]
And now they find themselves naked... which is another way of saying...exposed.
In essence they tried to be more than human...and now find they have lost the
special position they were in.
They are hiding... in a place that becomes oppressive.
Brennen Manning writes [11]...
Adam and Eve hid, and we all, in one way or another, have used them as role models.
Why? Because we do not like what we see. It is uncomfortable intolerable-to confront
our true selves. Simon Tugwell, in his book The Beatitudes, explains:
And so, like runaway slaves, we either flee our own reality or manufacture a false
self which is mostly admirable, mildly prepossessing and superficially happy. We hide
what we know or feel ourselves to be (which we assume to be unacceptable and
unlovable) behind some kind of appearance which we hope will he more pleasing. We
hide behind pretty faces which we put on for the benefit of our public. And in time We
may even come to forget that we are hiding and think that our assumed pretty face is
what we really look like.
4. My connection to God is separated by pride ... “hiding” from my own defiant
independence ... from which I can only emerge with humility.
God’s presence comes with the question... “Where are you?”
That question, so simple and direct, continues to have enormous implications.
It may be the first question God asks anyone... if we will listen.
What is perhaps the most profound part of this picture... is that God comes seeking
them.
It’s a striking reversal of what we commonly may think about relating to God.
We may think that we are the one’s seeking God and he is the one hiding.
But the Scriptures declare that God has made Himself known and that we turned away
and worshipped the creation rather than the creator and SUPPRESSED the truth...not
simply did not understand it...but suppressed it. Our inward nature turned away...that
our hearts have become blind.
So perhaps the most important thing for us to recognize and hear... is that it’s we who
moved away from God. God never withdrew. His commitment to relationship never
was withdrawn. His desire for relationship has never changed. Whatever Adam and Eve
did, God still comes to pursue relationship.
He doesn’t say...”How dare you! That’s it. I’m through with you.”
He says... “Where are you?’
The question is not referring to coordinates but condition.
And I don’t believe he is asking so that he can locate them....but rather that they
can locate themselves.
As we consider the nature of connecting with God...we have to face our own
pride...our own shame...and our own desire to hide... to try and cover ourselves.
Connecting with God beckons for humility.
The good news is that humility can transform us.
We see this is the lives of so many who ultimately succeed: Moses, David, Petr, Paul.
And I see this in so many of the bright lives... great intellects who once rejected God but
would be changed.... They would identify humility as the point of change... as what
created a connection with God.
Connecting with God is not as much about our deduction as much as it is our
disposition.
We do well to recognize that connection is related to the heart....to what we want.
Do we want God?
If we’re honest... it’s often not a simple or single answer.
If we are honest...we fear what we would be faced with that we don’t want to give up.
CLOSING: Today a question stands before each of us... as we hear God ask: “Where
are you?”
Many of us know we have in various ways... been hiding in bushes... trying to
cover ourselves with fig leaves.
> How will we answer God?
We can try to be very quiet and hope he doesn’t notice us...but that just reflects how
distant from reality we are.
We can hear the call...to recognize that he has come for us...if we will come out.
There may be some bushes we have been hiding behind that we need to step out from.
We may have sown some fig leaves never really cover and restore our existence. God
is offering us to be clothed in Christ.
Jesus... comes in submission... the very manifestation of life as it should be. [12]
Christ has come... the one who lives in union with the Father... to take our sin and
shame and separation upon himself... and then says ...repent... turn from that
separation...receive me and you receive my union.
He entered humanity to live as we were meant to live...and offers that life to now be in
us.
CLOSING PRAYER
Notes:
1. On Genesis 2:7, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers notes (https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/2.htm):
And man became a living soul.--The word translated "soul" contains no idea of a spiritual
existence. For in Genesis 1:20, "creature that hath life," and in Genesis 1:24, "the living
creature," are literally, living soul. Really the word refers to the natural life of animals and men,
maintained by breathing, or in some way extracting oxygen from the atmospheric air. And
whatever superiority over other animals may be possessed by man comes from the manner in
which this living breath was bestowed upon him, and not from his being "a living soul;" for that is
common to all alike.
The whole of this second narrative is pre-eminently anthropomorphic. In the previous history
Elohim commands, and it is done. Here He forms, and builds, and plants, and breathes into His
work, and is the companion and friend of the creature He has made. It thus sets before us the
love and tenderness of Jehovah, who provides for man a home, fashions for him a wife to be his
partner and helpmate, rejoices in his intellect, and brings the lower world to him to see what he
will call them, and even after the fall provides the poor outcasts with clothing. It is a picture fitted
for the infancy of mankind, and speaking the language of primaeval simplicity. But its lesson is
for all times. For it proclaims the love of God to man, his special pre-eminence in the scale of
being, and that Elohim, the Almighty Creator, is Jehovah-Elohim, the friend and counsellor of the
creature whom He has endowed with reason and free-will.
2. C. S. Lewis expresses the need to value science and it’s limits.
“Science works by experiments. It watches how things behave. Every scientific statement in the
long run, however complicated it looks, really means something like, “I pointed the telescope to
such and such a part of the sky at 2:20 am on January 15th and saw so-and-so,” or, “I put some
of this stuff in a pot and heated it to such- and-such a temperature and it did so-and-so.” Do not
think I am saying anything against science: I am only saying what its job is.
And the more scientific a man is, the more (I believe) he would agree with me that this is the job
of science—and a very useful and necessary job it is too. But why anything comes to be there at
all, and whether there is anything behind the things science observes—something of a different
kind—this is not a scientific question. If there is “Something Behind,” then either it will have to
remain altogether unknown to men or else make itself known in some different way. The
statement that there is any such thing, and the statement that there is no such thing, are neither
of them statements that science can make. And real scientists do not usually make them. It is
usually the journalists and popular novelists who have picked up a few odds and ends of half-
baked science from textbooks who go in for them. After all, it really is a matter of common
sense. Supposing science ever became complete so that it knew every single thing in the whole
universe. Is it not plain that the questions, “Why is there a universe?” “Why does it go on as it
does?” “Has it any meaning?” would remain just as they were?” (Lewis, “Mere Christianity”, 22–
3)
3. The Pulpit Commentary notes:
As yet the whole was shrouded in the thick folds of Cimmerian gloom, giving not the slightest
promise of that fair world of light, order, and life into which it was about to be transformed. Only
one spark of hope might have been detected in the circumstance that the Spirit of God
moved (literally, brooding) upon the face of the waters. That the Ruach Elohim, or breath of
God, was not "a great wind," or "a wind of God," is determined by the non-existence of the air at
this particular stage in the earth's development. In accordance with Biblical usage generally, it
must be regarded as a designation not simply "of the Divine power, which, like the wind and the
breath, cannot be perceived" (Gesenius), but of the Holy Spirit, who is uniformly represented as
the source or formative cause of all life and order in the world, whether physical, intellectual, or
spiritual (cf. Job 26:13; Job 27:3; Psalm 33:6; Psalm 104:29; Psalm 143:10; Isaiah 34:16; Isaiah
61:1; Isaiah 63:11). As it were, the mention of the Ruach Elohim is the first out-blossoming of
the latent fullness of the Divine personality, the initial movement in that sublime revelation of the
nature of the Godhead, which, advancing slowly, and at the best but indistinctly, throughout Old
Testament times, culminated in the clear and ample disclosures of the gospel The special form
of this Divine agent's activity is described as that of" brooding" (merachepheth, from raehaph, to
be tremulous, as with love; hence, in Piel, to cherish young - Deuteronomy 32:11) or fluttering
over the liquid elements of the shapeless and tenantless globe, communicating to them,
doubtless, those formative powers of life and order which were to burst forth into operation in
answer to the six words of the six ensuing days.
4. The Scriptures declare how Jesus, in his eternal nature, serves in the process of creating all
that exists across all realms.
Colossians 1:16 (NIV)
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16 (NLT)
For through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the
things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and
authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.
Authority over all. A good commentary on this verse notes:
The Bible establishes that Jesus Christ is God: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a
human body” (Colossians 2:9, NLT; see also Hebrews 1:3). Because Jesus is God, He is also
Creator of the universe (Hebrews 1:2). Teaching on the preeminence or supremacy of Christ (https://www.gotquestions.org/supremacy-of-Christ.html) the apostle Paul writes, “For by Him
all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and
for Him” (Colossians 1:16, NKJV). Through His Son Jesus, God made everything we can see,
plus all the things we can’t see.
All things “that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible” is Paul’s expressive
way of saying Jesus made absolutely everything. There is nothing that Jesus did not create. The
apostle John put it like this: “All things were created through him, and apart from him not one
thing was created that has been created” (John 1:3, CSB). God the Father is the architect of
creation. He determined to bring all things into existence. But Jesus, His Son, is the agent who
brought God’s plans into living, breathing reality. “Through his creative imagination and power,
the created order exists” (Melick, R., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Vol. 32, 1991,
Broadman & Holman Pub., p. 217).
At the time of Paul’s writing, false teachers were inserting themselves into the church and
subverting the truth about the nature of Christ as God. Their beliefs likely included the worship
of angels and other unseen beings. In Colossians 1:16, Paul refers to these invisible entities as
“thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” The New Living Translation renders the
invisible “things we can’t see” as “thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen
world.”
A little later, Paul explains that Jesus Christ “disarmed the powers and authorities, [and] he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). The
apostle warns the Colossian Christians not to be persuaded by false teachers: “Do not let
anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person
also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by
their unspiritual mind” (Colossians 2:18). Paul questions why true believers would resort to
worshiping angels and invisible powers when Jesus Christ, who created them, reigns supreme
(see Hebrews 1:4). He continues, “Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of
this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules?”
(Colossians 2:20).
False teachers (https://www.gotquestions.org/false-teachers.html) were trying to minimize the
preeminence of Christ, lowering Him to the same level as invisible powers, angels, and rulers of
the unseen world. Paul counters this ridiculous, spiritually immature notion with the facts about
Jesus. As Creator of all things visible and invisible, Christ’s authority trumps every other earthy
creature and spiritual being. Only He is worthy of our worship (1 Timothy 1:17; John 5:23;
Revelation 5:12–13). Knowing who Christ is and maintaining that solid foundation is our very
best defense against false teachers and their deviations from the truth.
There is nothing beyond the scope of Christ’s sovereignty. Jesus is preeminent in relation to the
entire creation—both visible and invisible. The visible creation includes everything we can see
with our eyes. Plants, animals, humankind, sea life, the sun, moon, stars, and planets,
mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, lakes, oceans, and seas are all the handiwork of Jesus. The
invisible creation includes all that is impossible to see with our eyes—everything that exists in
the spiritual realm. Since all things—both visible and invisible, natural and supernatural—were
created by and through Jesus Christ, they are all subject to His authority. He is Master and
Commander over them all.
From Got Questions website: https://www.gotquestions.org/all-things-visible-and-invisible.html
5. For example, Isaiah 59:1 mentions God’s “hand” and “ear.” Second Chronicles 16:9 speaks of
God’s “eyes.” Matthew 4:4 puts words in God’s “mouth.” In Deuteronomy 33:27 God has “arms.”
All of these verses are examples of anthropomorphism—a way of describing God with
anatomical or emotional terms so that humans can better understand Him. The use of
anthropomorphism, a form of figurative language, does not imply that God has an actual body.
6. The Spiritual Was More Substantial Than the Material for the Ancients
by David Bentley Hart - https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-spiritual-was-more-
substantial-than-the-material-for-the-ancients/
7. CF. Job 33:4 - The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me
life.
8. Our Most Destructive Assumption About Heaven By Randy Alcorn -
https://www.epm.org/resources/2021/Oct/25/destructive-assumption-heaven/
Plato’s notion of a good spirit realm and an evil material world hijacked the church’s
understanding of heaven. From a Christoplatonic perspective, our souls occupy our bodies like
a hermit crab inhabits a seashell.
Plato’s statement Soma sema, “a body, a tomb,” reflected his belief that the spirit’s ideal state is
freedom from the body. The first-century Jewish philosopher Philo tried to integrate Plato’s view
with Judaism. In the second and third centuries, some church fathers—including Clement and
Origen—followed Philo and reinterpreted Scripture.
But the Bible contradicts Christoplatonism from beginning (Genesis 1, God created the heavens
and earth) to end (Revelation 21, God will remake the heavens and earth). The gospel itself
centers on the resurrected Jesus who, as part of His redemptive work, will resurrect His people
and the world He made for them.
9. Mere biological adaptation... would suggest that consciousness of any real meaning is an
illusion...it is difficult to reconcile that chemicals can explain the existence of a moral order, a
sense of right and wrong ingrained in human consciousness, is another facet of the argument
for God as a designer.
See: A Biblical Model of Personhood by Dr. Philip Irving Mitchell here: https://www.dbu.edu/mitchell/early-modern-resources/personho.html#:~:text=At%20the%20heart%20of%20a,imaging%20of%20God%20in%20humans
On the Earth, human beings have stewardship, a limited authority given by God, what Mary
Stewart Van Leeuwen calls an "accountable dominion." As such, it is characterized
by agape love and service. Interestingly, the Hebrew words for "to till" (amhad) and "to serve"
(ebed) are closely related.
God chose to create the universe by bringing order out of chaos. In essence, all human creative
activity mirrors this process. Designing a new building, arranging a room for beauty and comfort,
developing a medicine, writing a computer program, painting a picture – all of it involves
bringing structure and order to “chaotic” elements for human benefit and enjoyment.
Unlike God, humans don’t create ex nihilo, out of nothing. Instead, we use the knowledge and
talents he’s given us to rearrange the materials he’s provided. Nevertheless, the principle
remains the same: order from chaos.
10. From Pride -- The Default Condition of the Human Heart By John Van Wagoner here: https://www.jesusrestores.com/blog/pride-the-default-condition-of-the-human-heart
11. From Brennen Manning “Abba’s Child”,
12. Christ as the model of humility is captured in Philippians 2:5-11
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
“Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man as a creature by His life of perfect
humility. His humility became our salvation. His salvation became our humility . . . Without this
there can be no true abiding in God’s presence or experience of His favor and the power of His
Spirit; without this no abiding faith or love or joy or strength” (Murray, ‘Humility’, pg. 17).
