Not Just Where, But Who?
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Last week we ended with a question - Where are you?
Where Are You?
Where Are You?
It’s a question we asked of our selves in our relationship with God, and it is also a question we could easily ask of God in those times when we are struggling, overwhelmed, and/or just feeling lost. In those times we might cry out to God, “Where are you?”
As we read the Old Testament what we discover is that God is there, right there, all the time. Even in the midst of open rebellion, in those times when we might choose to go our own way in direct opposition of God, God is there. And God calls to us, “Where are you?” Not because he doesn’t know, but because God throughout the Old Testament is inviting us to be the people we were created to be.
Who is that?
Great question, and that is another question that the Scripture really helps us discover:
Who Are You?
Who Are You?
Who am I? It’s a question with which people have struggled perhaps since the Fall.
The musical A Chorus Line opens with the scene of an audition. The choreographer is barking out the combination as the dancers try and keep up. Periodically the music stops, everything goes dark save for one lowly spot light that shines on an individual dancer who sings,
“Who am I anyway? Am I my resumé, that paints a picture of a person I don’t know? What does he want from me? What should I try to be? So many people all around and here we go, I need this job, Oh God I need this show.”
The words are haunting, and for too many people strike at the heart of what they feel. Why? Because for too many of us we have lost the sense of who we are, of who we were created to be, and much of that is because we’ve lost sight of the One in whose image we were Created!
The Psalmist writes:
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Genesis reminds us:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
But it’s not just that we were created in God’s image, but for a specific purpose:
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Our purpose, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over it.” In other words this planet that we are blessed with is ours to care for, we are its stewards.
When we get to Genesis 2:16-17, we come to a verse that has particular significance in the Bible.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
We spent a good deal of time on this a while back, and it’s worth revisiting.
This command is given to Adam by God, and we need to understand several things about this.
God speaks
God speaks
We already know from the first chapter of Genesis that God spoke Creation into being, and that’s important.
God speaks directly to Adam!
God speaks directly to Adam!
Think about that. God - the creator of the stars in heavens, the closest one to us being the sun - 92 million miles away - speaks directly to Adam. The reason this is so important is because it emphasizes the whole context for which humanity was created. We were created to be in relationship with the living God, the Creator!
This is not a distant God that doesn’t want anything to do with us, this is God in dialogue with the created ones. This is the first thing we want to note of this command - God speaks with the created ones.
“Genesis records numerous divine-human conversations (Genesis 3:9-13; 4:6-15; 15:1-6; 18:17-33). God’s word to Adam is only the beginning of the divine-human relationship. God also converses with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealing his redemptive purpose for humanity, and he speaks to the people of Israel through the prophet Moses.”
Casket Empty, p. 12 - Kaminski
God’s people have a good reason to be in awe,
For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived?
As we continue to look at Ge 2:16-17
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
the second thing that we want to note is that the command marks the FIRST command in the Bible, and in so doing it anticipates God’s relationship with Israel at Mt. Sinai.
If you’re not sure what I mean by that, Mt. Sinai is where God calls Israel to be his people, and gives Moses the Ten Commandments. Just as Adam is called to obey this command, the Israelites are to obey the Ten Commandments, and as we’ll find out later, more.
As we journey through the Old Testament and learn about these commandments we must recognize that they are fundamentally about life. God’s commands are not meant to be the great kill-joy of our lives, but they are meant to lead us to life abundant, the life for which we were created.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans of the commands and how they bring life:
The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
The third reason this command given in Genesis 2:16-17 is so important
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
…it defines God’s relationship with human beings. The command itself causes us to recognize that we were not intended to be autonomous beings. We were created for that relationship with our Creator God, the God who speaks.
This is significantly different than the religion of idols - whether that idol be man made or something within creation (sun, moon, stars). When one worships an idol, “the worshiper speaks to the god and tells it what to do, but the god does not tell the worshiper what to do since it is unable to speak.” (Kaminski)
In stark contrast to this, the LORD God speaks to Adam and tells him how he is to live — it is not Adam who tells God what to do, but God tells Adam what to do! We will discover, however, that the worship of idols is attractive to human beings because it enables the worshiper to tell the god what to do, but the god (which cannot speak) is unable to tell the worshiper what to do. This kind of “religion” means that people can do as they please. It makes one wonder who really is god.
Who Are You?
Who Are You?
In regards to God -
But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice,
and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.
The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
In regards to you -
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.