Chasing Life: For Goodness Sake

- Poster Board

What is life?

Artists usually start out with an empty slate and then create.

They have thoughts, plans, motives, design....a purpose for their creation. And this cold be anything from a painting to a meal to a building to car to floral arrangements to whatever.

There’s preparation for the process: gathering materials and ideas, testing, possible faults and restarts, possibly going back to the drawing board.

But…still…an artist, or inventor, or creator, comes up with a finished product. Something that matches or closely matches the original thoughts, plans, motives, and design.

There’s a purpose in the process of creation.

Kids…when you came in today there was a coloring packet for you…and inside of that coloring packet was a blank page. The packet had pages that will give you an idea of what some of the theme is for VBS this year…(volunteers)...

Now back to that blank sheet of paper…think about what you might create.... Some of you might be thinking…i could draw something.

Some of you might be thinking I could fold this into a paper airplane…or some other form or origami.

Some of you might be thinking…if i crumple this up tight enough, I bet I could make a ball out of it to throw at the person 4 pews up.

But no matter what you create out of it...

Who’s is it?

Its yours.

If I were to draw something up here on this blank board, or paint or whatever, who’s design is it?

It’s mine. Just like the picture you might draw…the picture is yours. It idea that you had to draw was yours. The purpose for making it …is yours…like a card or something for someone. But it is all yours. And that’s ok.

If someone took it, and did something different with it or used it in another way that you hadn’t designed it for, would that be cool?

No…Because, in a very real way…you are ruler over that creation. And that’s ok.

Now in a second we’re going to talk about one who is a master at creating things. He creates things unlike anyone ever. And He designed things in a very specific way…for incredible purposes.

But we’ll pause for a second here....

Last week we started a thought process that we’re going to allow to continue…we called it “Chasing Life.”

Sometimes we chase life and try to create for ourselves a life we think is best for us…only to find that the happiness or the joy or peace didn’t last like we thought it would.

We also talked briefly that in the world around us today, in culture, we see people in so many ways chasing life…through money or relationships or power or identity, all chasing this thing called life.

And we came to the conclusion that all the while…as we’re chasing life, God is waiting for us to come to a point of awareness…that He created life …and give it to us. Its when we pull away from His idea of life and purpose for it, that we start to live a life that is not full or abundant.

So …last week we briefly touched on the idea that if we are to really have life, lets go back to the beginning and look at a passage that shares with us the beginnings of everything.

Genesis 1:1–2:3 NIV

1 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. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day. 14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. 20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. 24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 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.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

All was good....but that last day …it is holy…set apart…a day to remember and look back at all the creating…all the goodness…to look back and see all of the enjoyment.

Whose creation is this? It’s God’s.

All of it is His.

As we read through this you get a sense of His will.

-and God said

-Let there be

-and God created

-and it was so

-and it was good

We have the creative mind of God...

We have His will being spoken

We have Him active in the creation of everything

We see that it was just as He willed it…no oops moments...

And then we see that all of it is very good...

And then we see completion. It was perfect...

Nothing will be changed…nothing will be added....God finished His work. His design. His will was accomplished....

So if this is all His…what about us?

It looks as though, just reading the text, that we were given the incredible job of caretakers, servants, of all of life. And not only that, but we were given His image too. We are free will agents. Creative as well. And we were not only called to tend....but to fill the earth too.

In this we have God’s will for relationships, children, families, society....all reflecting…the Master artists’ will and glory.

His Will....and His Glory....

Now I’m sure you can hear what hasn’t been said right?

There’s a big, However....in all of this right.

The Master Artist had completed His perfect work…and the full life created for us as well.

And then....

For Goodness Sake...

Now originally that phrase simply meant to express will....as in …do things for the sake of everything that is good.

We were called to continue in our lives for the sake of goodness…the goodness that God had created. For His goodness, His will, His intent, ....and then we would keep on having and enjoying the full and abundant life that He gave to us....

That now, on the other side of sin…we feel the need to chase.

Here’s how God wants us to see ourselves and our world according to scripture…according to truth.

I don’t own me…God does....the master creator.

I don’t own my mentality....God does…the one who uniquely created me.

I don’t own my physicality … God does…I was created with purpose…but His purpose.

I don’t own my will … God does…but it was a gift given from the creator so we could willingly serve Him and each other…and in reality…in truth…so we could choose to serve all of creation…not as a slave…but in freedom from our own pride…that would take us away from intended and full life.

Closing - God gave life. He created it just for you…for me...

He created the purpose for everything…and everything is His.

Do we walk through each day with that mindset....or do we allow personal ego…the thought that we can design our own life better than the master artist? I admit…I’ve chased life in my own ways…I’m sure you have to.

God just wants us to take a moment to stop chasing and creating life for ourselves…maybe a holy, separated moment…to reflect on His intent, His will, His full life that He’s given to us. We need to yield to our own pride and rest in His.

Jesus said, I came to give full and abundant life. The Thief wants to steal it from you.

Come to Jesus…He has the peace and the joy that you’ve been chasing.

He wants to give it to you....but you need to allow Him to be Lord.

If that’s your choice today....

NEXT WEEK OPENING

Here are some things I thought of that just seem really cool...

God owns everything but asks us to oversee …in our own uniqueness and creativity.

So when we are overseeing or living…who and what should we be asking about how to live and oversee?

If He’s the one who said…Let there be....

…then maybe we need to be asking, God, what do you want me to do, think…how do you want me to live…because I know that your ways will be the best...

Rather than saying, this all belongs to me. I decide what to do with my gifts, my will, my body, my intelligence, my choices....

That would be saying…I am lord over me...