Go West Young Man

Go West Man “ Two stories have haunted us from our beginning…We carry them along with us like invisible tails—the story of original sin and the story of Cain and Abel. And I don’t understand either of them. I don’t understand them at all, but I feel them.” --Samuel Hamilton in East of Eden The story of humanity as told in Scripture begins with a man named Mankind(Adam) and Life –Giver (Eve.) They transgressed God’s command….and as a result became like God “knowing good and evil.” The problem is that mankind is no good at being like God without God. Being able to choose between good and evil and choosing wisely are two different things. History has revealed the truth of man’s choices. Human history is a bloody tale. That is the story the Bible tells. The Bible does not present Jesus as only the savior of human individuals but also as the savior of human society—by which we mean people living together in some form of community. We become fully human only in a social context. Since the Enlightenment (the 18th century) Christians began reading the Bible in a very individualistic manner which is a misreading. Nearly every time you read “you” in the Pauline epistles, it is in the plural. We can’t see the forest for the trees. We can’t see the world for the individual. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son Gal.4:4 Within the Roman Empire everyone knew that Caesar claimed for himself the title, "Savior of the World." He boasted that he ruled the entire world; therefore he demanded that all acknowledge him as king and ruler. John stripped Caesar Augustus of that title and claimed it now belonged to Jesus Christ They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” Jn.4:42 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. I John 4:14 To understand how human individuals have gone wrong, we look at the story of Adam and Eve and their attempt to be like God apart from God. The results: accusation and blame To understand how human civilization has gone wrong, we look at another Genesis story—the story of Cain and Abel. The result: murder Gen.4:1-24 Cain was a farmer. Abel was a shepherd which provides the context of the murder Human society has moved far from Eden, but we still long to get back to the garden… we are stardust we are golden and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden Woodstock Joni Mitchell Historically hostility would often develop between settled agriculture communities and nomadic shepherd communities. Farmers did not want shepherds grazing their flocks in their fields Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” Gen.46:31-34 In Genesis, to move east is symbolic of moving away from God, away from good towards evil and destruction… After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life. Gen.3:24 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Gen.4:16 Tower of Bebel: As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. Gen.11:2 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near (east) Sodom. Gen. 13:12 Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. Gen.4:16-17 The first city in the Bible…the emergence of human civilization. We all live in the city that Cain built….Cain, the murderer. Human civilization is founded upon an axis of power established by murder and enforced by violence. In only five generations from Cain, humanity is picking up speed as it flies away from Eden Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain's revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.” Gen.4:23-24 The next generation brings the days of Noah… Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Gen.6:11-13 The lesson from Noah’s story…human civilization founded on murder (Cain) and obsessed with vengeance (Lamech) and saturated with violence (Noah) is doomed to destruction Ever heard or said this, “ The movie is rated R, but only for violence?” We overlook violence because it is the very foundation of the city that Cain built east of Eden. We fear that to take a stand against violence would undermine the very foundation of our civilization. The story of Romulus and Remus The Lord of the Rings…Smeagol and Deagol Why do we fight wars? “We do it to preserve our “precious”– our freedom, our rights, our race, our nation, our power, our position, our superiority, our economy. We overlay it with trappings of glory. And there is glory and beauty in it. – the glory of heroic sacrifice for hearth and home that we commemorate in statues, memorials, poems, and anthems. But is a glory and beauty that for all its heroism is too often a façade to hide the bodies of Abel,Remus and Deagol.” Brian Zahnd Go west old man By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Heb.11:8-10 Abraham left Ur for a different kind of city, a different kind of civilization, a different way of organizing society These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Heb.11:13-16 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Heb.11:39-40 Moses delivered a nation out of slavery, gave the Hebrew nation a new law and led them to the borders of a new homeland. David became a king, made Jerusalem his capital city and established a royal line of succession to sit upon his throne, but the city of God was still not built. Why not? Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12:1-2 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” Jn.8:56 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. Eph.2:13-17 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Eph.2:19-22 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12:1-2 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Col.2:15 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Heb.12:22-24 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. Heb.12:28-29 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Rev.21:1-4 Which Direction Church?