true confession #35

true confession: my name is kevin, and everytime the iPad commercial comes on (music by chily gonzales), I drop everything and dance.

falling from, and towards God

Continuing this week's series RE: Humanity and Sin, I wonder if the first sin (adam and eve) caused humanity to fall both from, and towards God.

In my last post, I wrote that in choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to the difference between good and evil. This created a break in the harmony in which they existed; which had been characterized by fellowship with God, community with each other, and living in accord with all other created things. Consequently, the first two of humanity introduced enmity that separates humankind from their Creator and from the rest of creation. Daniel Migliore defines this as evil, “which opposes the will of God and distorts the good creation.”

There could possibly be some spiritual-physiological aspect involved in the nature of human sin. Adam and Eve were created purely out of the power and creativity of God. Every human since then, has come about by an alternative experience. Without omitting God’s power in the process of reproduction, we all have been conceived and born out of the physiological substance of sinful humans. The first humans were derived only from God’s creativity and dust; since the fall, all others have come from cells. Though physiology may be only a theory, certainly, this break in community (sin) has culturally and spiritually been handed down since the fall. It has been taught by words and ideology, and by experiences, in such a way that we are essentially torn between the possibility of good and evil; and we continue to allow it to divide us. If God intended for us to exist in the unity of His image, the fall disfigured the human ability to live in such innocent harmony.

I supposed in the last post, that we are not punished by the actual event of Adam’s fall. Rather, his sin created the potential and inevitable future for us to imitate his sin; and we are punished for our participation in the break of God’s image. In this way, Adam’s fall represents all of humankind’s sin and guilt.

What is for sure is that “the ills we experience do not arise from divine carelessness or impotence, but from a free and sinful human act” (Aquinas). Stanley Grenz suggests the possibility that in their innocence Adam and Eve had not had the opportunity to choose good (and God) over evil, and so they “did not yet fully participate in the human destiny as designed by God.” In this manner of reason, their sin has a two-fold effect; in that they both opened the door to discord, and to the opportunity to choose live in the harmonic image of God.

adam and eve(n) me

I was once romanced by the concept of the symbolic fall account (that the Genesis 3 story was a myth to symbolize the sinful experience of humanity), but I still struggled to connect my own original experience with Adam’s. You see, his story began in an unspoiled paradise, while I was born into a world of sin. If the fall was merely symbolism of every human experience, then somehow I missed my opportunity to try out a sinless culture. I believe that the story of Adam and Eve's fall is both actual and symbolic”. The Garden of Eden and the fall should be taken as historical and literal, and as the symbol and enablement of a sinful human tradition.

Through choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to the difference between good and evil. This created a break in the harmony in which they existed; which had been characterized by: fellowship with God, community with each other, and living in accord with all other created things. As consequence, the first two of humanity introduced enmity that separates humankind from their Creator and from the rest of creation. This separation has culturally and spiritually been handed down since the fall. It has been taught by words and ideology, and by experiences, in such a way that we are essentially torn between the possibility of good and evil; and we continue to allow it to divide us. If God intended us to exist in the unity of His image, the fall disfigured the human ability to live in such innocent harmony.

Stanley Grenz suggests the possibility that in their innocence Adam and Eve had not had the opportunity to choose good (and God) over evil, and so they “did not yet fully participate in the human destiny as designed by God.” In this manner of reasoning, their sin has a two-fold effect; in that they both opened the door to discord, and to the opportunity to choose live in the harmonic image of God.

I do not believe that we are punished by the actual event of Adam’s fall. Rather, his sin created the potential and inevitable future for us to imitate his sin; and we are punished for our participation in the break of God’s image. In this way, Adam’s fall represents all of humankind’s sin and guilt.

My stab @ "If God is good, why all the bad?"

A pastor friend of mine was asked to write about the co-existence of evil and the good God who created all things. I thought I'd take a stab at it also. Since this can take us into several related conversation (about sin, about the image of God, etc.) I'll make this a series and post several times this week, with each post aiming at a different aspect of the original issue. First things first: If God is good, why all the bad?

The doctrine of a providential God has traditionally maintained that God creates, provides, takes care of, supervises, enables, all things. If it has been understood that God is wholly good, and that He claimed His creation to be good, there is then conflict with the evil activity that is present in the world. This sin is experienced in two forms: natural evil, and malice. Natural evil refers to injury, suffering caused by diseases, accidents, earthquakes, tornados, fires, and floods, etc. Earthquakes and tornado are not in themselves evil, but when a person and tornado share identical location harm will result. Malice refers to evils preformed out of intentional or desired evil that involve moral or ethical judgments. Moral evil is a possible result when humans exercise their free will. If a person does not choose good, they choose against God; they choose evil. Assuredly, there is a knowing and decided evil at work. Nevertheless, God reigns and evil is firmly under God’s control.

Traditional theology has approached this quandary by several methods. *Many even choose to not attempt to explain how God can remain sovereign and good while the world is filled with evil. These, rest in the incomprehensibility of God; that all is a part of His providential plan, and that we should simply trust that God is good. *Others have supposed that evil exist as the substance of divine punishment. This would include that both natural evil and malice are allowed, or even ordained by God, to punish the wickedness of mankind’s separation from the Creator. This concept would allow that humans today suffer both for the sins of Adam, as well as for their own individual sin.

The reality of evil is the result of the freedom with which God endowed men. By giving mankind the freedom to choose him, God gave mankind the freedom to not choose him. God has said he is “The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity” (Isaiah 45:7). It is still difficult for us to comprehend what is God’s place, and there may be many variations of explanation of how the Justice of God works out amidst the world’s sin. What is true is that through our struggle between good and evil, God is growing and shaping us to submit to Him more and trust Him more. In the Bible, Jacob found himself stuck between possible danger with his in-laws and possible dangerous revenge from his own family. In his place of desperation and anxiety, he wrestled with God, begging for blessing (Genesis 31:1-33:11). In this experience he was faced with the realities of good and evil, and he would settle for nothing less than the good blessing of God. The key to Jacob’s experience is to be faithful to God even when it might appear that God may not provide; and part of a faithful response to God is to protest evil. This requires on our part, a full engagement of our physical, emotional, logical selves to our spiritual selves as we trust God, grow closer to Him relationally, and conform to His image. In this way we can begin to reach our full potential in Christ.

The Bottom Line

In “Our quest for coherence, however, [we] must resist the temptation to build a system of ideas that pretends to know more than we do and thereby loses touch with both faith and lived reality. While we can have confidence in the truth of God revealed to us in Christ, our knowledge of God is not exhaustive” (Daniel Migliore). And so in some regard, I must simply trust that God is in control of all things, and that His goodness will be provided through the end of time. As well, I must engage myself in imitation and reflection of God’s good ways by being aware of evil and choosing to ask God for his provision of blessings, and by working against worldly evils as He give me strength. Through these efforts, I believe too, that God is working to conform me to His good image.

Creator

We are most comfortable celebrating Father God as Creator God; but in light of the fact that we accept that God is Trinity we should consider how and why the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were united in the work of Creation.

The Trinity’s Work of Creating
Creation comes as a gracious act of the triune God. The Trinity was from the beginning and it is the origin of all things as God emanates Himself through the three Trinitarian roles. Genesis 1:2 clearly describes the Spirit of God’s presence “hovering over the face of the waters”. And by the mysterious plurals used in verse 26 of Genesis 1, “God said, let us make man in our image”, we can find further precedence for the divine relationship working in union through creation. The Apostle Paul’s testimony expounds on the Father and the Son’s roles in his letter to the Corinthians: “there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live”. In John’s first epistle there is a sense in which titling Jesus, “the Word”, suggests an intimate connection between Christ “through whom” and the Word of God “by which” the universe was fashioned.

Holistically, the Trinity called all things into existence, laid purpose for all things, and is at work sustaining and leading creation to respond to the Creator. Faith in the completeness of a Trinitarian God who creates out of His own nature provides that there is purpose in an orderly creation, and that all creation is inherently good, as Paul wrote to Timothy: “for everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected”. He has put all things into proper order, and all things are created to express His glory. The “creative” nature of creating, also expresses God’s artistry and playfulness. The artist is creator of beautiful things. Picturing God in this manner could indicate that creation may be seen in different ways, but as is true with all artwork, its true meaning is only found within the intent of the Creator. In this sense we comprehend that the world is God’s and that His creation was purposed to present the beauty within His nature. He sought to share the holiness that is found within the Trinity, and so He created out of who He is.

The Point of God’s Creating
Stanley Grenz, wrote that “The world exists because out of the overflow of His own character, which is love, the eternal God establishes an external counterpart, creation. Just as it is created in accordance with the very essence of God –love—this counterpart exists to be both the recipient of and the mirror of the divine love”. What this means is that as God emanates His character through creative activity, He cares for and provides for the needs of His creation, coinciding with forming His creation for His glory.

As His love and abundance are the beginning (the purpose of) His creating; and the aim of all of God’s creative work is to express His glory. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.” The universe was made to show His glory, and we were made to respond by conforming to its ways. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. "

He is love, He is abundant, He is the beginning (with His work of creation) and He is the end (the receiver of creation’s response).

Communion with God

In this past Sunday's sermon, David Daniels talked about abiding/dwelling/remaining in Christ.

Throughout the scriptures, we are given many metaphors to describe the concept of union or communion with Christ. Some of the most memorable to me are of the sheep and the Shepherd in John 10, the body and its members in 1 Corinthians 12, and the bride and the bridegroom in Ephesians 5. The good shepherd leads and cares for his sheep, but the sheep must follow the shepherd in order to have protection and provision. An arm or leg severed from the body would die. The marriage establishes the union, but it takes love, respect, and commitment to maintain the communion.

Abiding in Christ
In John 15, we can find another image that illustrates the necessity of our communion with Christ. John uses the word, abide, eleven times in 15:1-11 as he describes the relationship of the branches (followers of Jesus) to the true vine (Jesus). The “true vine”, who is pictured here as steadfast and authentic, expects his followers to be truly fruitful in communicating the authentic message and life to the inauthentic and hostile world. In essence, He means that the branches should truly be an offshoot of their vine; and this happens when the branch abides (stays with) the way of its vine. A branch is not a self-contained entity, and neither is the Christian disciple. In that same theme, a branch that is cut off from its life-source cannot produce fruit, and neither can the Christian.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”

A true branch, united with the vine, will always produce fruit. And in this, we find the course that best glorifies God:

"My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.”

It is imperative that we recognize that Jesus’ statement from 15:8 doesn’t end after the words “bear much fruit”, as so to say that God is glorified through our good works; but Jesus explains that fruit should be seen as proof of an abiding relationship with Himself. It is because they abide in Jesus, the Vine, and are obedient to Him in the bearing of fruit that they bring glory to the Father.

This communion with Christ allows us to experience Him and His love in deeper ways, and in effect we can begin to reach our purpose and potential as His branches. This frees us to experience life as God intended it: that we would experience the greatest joy by being unified to Him, trusting Him in all things, following His commandments, and bearing the reflection of His image.

"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (by the way, this may have something to do with 'the newness of life' that we talked about in the previous post *Who's the Spirit?* - found below)

Area Pastors - Thinking Leadership

Area Pastors here. We're offsite, planning ways that we can better serve and equip you as leaders.

Thinking: Leadership from Pantego Bible Church on Vimeo.

Who's the Spirit?

I just finished preaching a 5-session series on the person and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christ-follower. I did this series because there is so much confusion concerning the mystical, elusive-seeming nature of the Holy Spirit. Many churches/pastors/bible teachers have abused the HS on two main fronts: 1) Attribution to the Spirit what He is not, and 2) Ignoring the Spirit out of fear and ignorance. You may be familiar with the traditional statement made at a person's baptism: “Buried in death with Christ, and raised to walk in the newness of life”. I think that MOST Christians pretty well understand the first part, but have no concept of what it is to “walk in the newness of life”. The HS’s main role is found through the newness of life.

Here's my person brief belief statement about the HS...

-On the Holy Spirit: "He is the Holy Spirit, the intercessor for God and humanity, the breath and power of God; the very spirit of Jesus Christ. He illuminates and transforms believers." (Matthew 28:19; John 14:16-17; John 15:26; John 16:5-15; Acts 1:8; Acts 2; Ephesians 1; Acts 10:36-48; Romans 8)

Quickly, I just wanted to share some series notes with you. Take a look at the passages in the outline below. Feel free to comment on this post to interact with one another and with me...or start a conversation with your accountability partner or Home Group!

5-Session-Series-Outline "The Person and Work of the HS":

Study #1 -Ephesians 1:17-23 (HS is God’s presence in the life of the Christ-follower) and we pray for better spiritual perception of who God is and what He’s doing in us.

Study #2 -Romans 8:25-27 (HS prays for us and helps us know the will of God) and we pray that God would bring about the decisions and circumstances that would most magnify Christ in our lives when we are at a loss as to what the specific will of God is.

Study #3 -Isaiah 43:28-44:5 (HS is engaged through study of God’s Word/the Spirit’s Word; here, we experience/recognize the filling of the HS which satisfies us) and we dedicate ourselves to knowing the HS and making God known by the study of the Bible.

Study #4 -Acts 10:36-48 (HS is about the magnification of Christ and is seen most clearly where Christ is exalted) and we pray that we would see Jesus more clearly, and savor who He is, that the Holy Spirit would transform our lives.

Study #5 -Romans 8:3-12 (HS gives you life as He sanctifies you) and we pray that we would trust in the work of the HS to transform us from death to abundant life.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: To walk in the newness of life is to be led by the Holy Spirit in obedience, being continually transformed into the likeness of Christ, during the messiness of life on earth. We cannot reach our potential in Christ without engaging with the HS's work in our life. Without this life transformation, Christ is not magnified and we never step out of "buried in death with Christ" into "the newness (or abundance) of life".