Odering a Place of Flourishing

Introduction

A couple weeks ago, I had the honor, the priveledge, to take an opportunity to teach at the Calvary Chapel European Pastors and Leaders Conference that is held at Schloss Heroldeck Conference Center in Millstatt, Austria. If we are connected on social media, you may have seen some off the pictures I posted.

What a personal gift it was for me to be able to head back to Austria after many years. Save a trip my daughter and I took a year and half ago, it was 23 years since I had been back to that area.

There were some changes, but overall things looked very much the same.

I had the joy of reconnecting with some very significant people and finding that though many years had gone by, there was a deep friendship and love that was rekindled. It really is a testament to the work of God and what we have brothers in sisters in Christ. There is a unity that comes when the Spirit of God is involved. There is a true sense of koinonia.

Though we have all experienced significant things in the last 23 years… we had changed, but those changes didn’t disrupt the relationship, but in my opinion, made it more glorious.

We enter seasons of change, transition, some good and some not so good. But in all of those seasons we are shaped.

Moreover the times that have the most significant shaping and deep transformative work in our hearts is when we suffer. It is in suffering, that if done well, we find that we are most shaped and transformed.

Philippians 3:7–11 “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

Hebrews 5:8 “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered”

It’s in the suffering though, to make it through successfully, it is of upmost importance to remember who we are. What our identity is in Christ. To remember that Christ suffered, and therefore because we are in Christ, we too will be conformed to his image through suffering.

It’s in the identity, the process of change, that we see the good work of God come about. Where He looks at the span of our lives and “God saw that it was good.”

If you have your Bibles, or on your devices, turn with me to Genesis chapter 1. If you are able/willing, would you stand with me while I read God’s word this morning.

Genesis 1:9–13 “And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 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. 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. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.”

This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Amen. Please be seated.

The Power of a Name

Names have significance in the scriptures. It’s everywhere.

I want to remind us that in the ANE, things did not exist if they had no name, function, or purpose. We think of non-existing as having no material substance.

But here in the scriptures to name something or to give it purpose calls something into being.

Helpful time to remember that when we are looking at the Creation narrative of Genesis 1 and 2, the biblical authors are not answering the questions we have about modern cosmology

How was the world made (big bang, instantaneous creation, theistic evolution, etc.)

Young earth/old earth

Seven literal or figurative days/GAP theory

Helpful questions for sure, great questions to ask, but the Biblical account is not answering these questions. However, I will argue, if we learn to ask the right questions, the questions that Bible is answering will have a greater impact and significance than we could possibly imagine on the outset.

Because not only is the Bible answering the most significant and essential questions of our existence, it is also in its time, speaking to the cultural moment, as it does ours. As you pay attention to our series, it is our hope and desire to draw this out.

So again, the Bible is not answering our cosmological questions, but it’s inviting us to ask deeper and more significant questions that cut to the core of who we are.

On day one (vs5) we see that God calls the light ‘day’ and the darkness he calls ‘night’. He begins to order our days. The Jewish day begins at sundown. Ours starts at 12am in the middle of the night, but for the ANE Hebrew, it was roughly at 6pm in the evening that their day started (more on that later).

Day two (vs8) God calls the waters ‘רָקִ֖יעַ’ “sky”. Pastor Josh did so well helping us understand the significance that the early followers of YHWH would have thought and needed to understand when considering the second day. It’s a really complicated text and he masterfully brought us some helpful understanding around the text.

Day three (vs10) God calls the dry ground “land” and the gathered waters “seas”.

What is in a name? A name is what gives definition, understanding, and context to its purpose.

Cupboard- a board where you set your cups

Coffee Maker- an appliance that makes coffee

Washing Machine- a machine that washes dirty clothes

Computer- a machine that originally was invited to answer mathematical computations

We’ve lost some sense of that today in the way that as a culture we name our children. But there was a time (and still for some today) there is intentionality for naming our children the way we do…

Honoring those whom we love and are close to us

Blessing our children with attributes and character traits we desire for them

Wanting their names to be a reminder of something beautiful, inspirational, or hopeful

This is all throughout the Biblical narrative

Adam- Man, human

Jacob- deceiver, heel-catcher

Joshua/Jesus- God is my salvation

Peter- rock

John- beloved

Identity, purpose, and use are big in the Bible. This is what it means to exist. God looks at what he created, what he named, and it was good. Keep this in mind as we move to next week. A lot of what we’ll encounter in Genesis, we’ll need to hold onto because its all intertwined. There is meaning today, but there will be next week as well, and you’ll start seeing throughout scripture all the hyper links (Pastor Josh illustrated this again for us last week).

The Land Producing

Moses writes, Genesis 1:11–12 “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. 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.”

The land began to produce vegetation. It was this that then the land started to be able to sustain life.

The significance of what we see in these two verses is that God said it, and then it was so. He also brought order as each plant/tree produced a seed that then in turn produced a plant/tree, bearing fruit.

I love the language of invitation. It’s subtle, but again, we see that God’s words are that of allowance, invitation, and not command or domineering. I think this speaks to His character.

The nature of existence is a profound mystery that unfolds gradually, in its proper time. A name, an identity, comes first - this bestows a sense of being, of personhood. Yet a name alone is static. What brings a name fully to life is the passage of time and cycles of life and death.

Like a seed planted in darkness and stillness, mere potential at first, identity too needs the rhythms of days and nights to grow. It needs light and shadow, good times as well as difficult ones that test its mettle. Death too comes in time to all earthly identities. But after death and dissolution, the cycle continues - new identities emerge just as new plants grow from decomposed seeds to start the cycle anew.

There is a patience and goodness evident in this order of things. The full flowering of any identity or life, just like the beauty of each new day, comes only after a period of gestation and development. What may start small, uncertain, or in darkness has been imbued with the promise of growth over time. Faith in this promise sustains hope through periods of difficulty and waiting.

John 12:23–26 “Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

Jesus speaking here that He must suffer, die, and rising again he would give us His life, a new life, we being born again.

That this is the call to you and to me in following Jesus…

Luke 9:23 “Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Luke 14:27 “And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

It is in the pattern of nature that we find this larger metaphor for a life in Christ. Just as a seed goes into the ground, dies, becomes a tree bearing fruit, it’s seed falls to the ground and produces that same type of tree.

So too, Romans 6:4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

It Was Good

God saw what He had made and it was good.

The fullness of our being lies not just in the name we are given but in the story time weaves with that name over days and seasons without number. By both light and shadow we are shaped. In time, we blossom and bear fruit, passing back into the endless cycle so new lives can begin their journeys after we rest. And in all this there is goodness, purpose, and reason to trust the order underlying the mysteries of existence.

We are about halfway through the creation narrative. God is not done.

God takes His time. He patiently works and creates.

God is not done with you or with me. He graciously, patiently, and mercifully walks with us. He is not in a hurry. But in His perfect timing brings His will to pass.

Night and day was the third day.

God invites us to moments of rest and then join him in the work that he has begun.

There are things that we have no control over. There are things that happen to us and no one consulted us :)

In that there is a hidden gift of not being able to do anything about it… it’s out of our control. We can’t manage it to success and at the same time, we can’t fumble it to failure or disaster. It just is.

What we can do in that moment is lean in and trust God. We don’t have to be happy about it (or we can be ecstatic), but we press into what we do know… we know that God is good. We know that God deeply loves us. We know that we are more than what happens to us. We know that God is forming us in the midst of every circumstance, so we should pay attention to that.

God is at work.

May we remember and allow His process to have His way in our lives… It’s in the identity, the process of change, that we see the good work of God come about. Where He looks at the span of our lives and “God saw that it was good.”

Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

That’s the thing about a living sacrifice… it can get up off the alter when it gets hard, painful, or difficult.

Let us make every effort to allow the good, effectual work of God have it’s complete work in us… to the glory of God.

Conclusion

Would you stand with me

As we conclude, may we be encouraged that even when life feels chaotic or difficult, God is patiently working to create order and purpose, just as He did at the dawn of creation. He who made the seas and skies, mountains and stars, knows intimately the situations we face and names us as His beloved ones. When we feel lost or experience that “death” of dreams or identity, let us remember that grave seasons prepare us for rebirth just as a seed buries deep to bloom. Cling to your true name in Christ—the One who suffered unto glory that we too might find life by dying to self. Offer up your life in each season as a living sacrifice, trust in God’s providence, take shelter in His presence, and you will emerge transformed as His image is perfected in you day by endless day. The Lord who turns chaos into cosmos sees you, knows you, delights in you, and has goodness in store for your path. Fix your eyes on Him.

Maybe you’re here and you are going through hardship and don’t know why. It seems pointless, it seems cruel, and there’s not reason for it. I want to invite you to seek prayer with one of our deacons, elders, pastors, or staff. They are going to come down to the front. While the worship team leads us in song, please come down and pray with someone who is here. You can come up, stand in front of one of them, share however much you want to, and allow them to pray with you.

If you have yet to yield your life to Jesus, this might be His invitation to you to enter into a relationship with Him. Allow Him to take your sins upon Himself and for Him to give you His righteousness. Learn how to go about this life in the knowledge of Him who will instruct, guide, and come alongside you in this life. Find yourself hidden in Him that you would be born unto new life.