Stone IV - Fall: The Deception

As we set out to lay down our 12 Stones of the statues and testimonies of God, we do so in the context of the grand narrative of God; Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. We looked at the first movement, Creation, in three parts, Creator God, Creation Out-of-Nothing, and Creation in the Image of God.
This week we begin the ominous second movement of our grand story, The Fall. We will do so by focusing on the context and events leading up to the Fall. I believe this is the most compelling part of this story because its content is simple, yet profound.

I. The Garden
Let us look together toward the shores of the Persian Gulf, to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where God planted a garden in Eden. Out of that garden sprang up every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. In the middle of the garden was the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. God put the man, whom He had formed, in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

II. Two Sermons
God is a preacher. The world began with a sermon. God created the world through speaking.
Here in the Garden, we see that two sermons were preached. For the first time there is a message in opposition to the message of God. There is the Message of the Law given by God to Adam in Genesis 2 and the Message of the Lie given by Satan to Eve in Genesis 3, but only one message was believed.
A. The Law - Genesis 2:16-17 says, “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.’"
1. You may surely eat; God’s command generously permitted man to eat from every tree of the garden. Nothing God had made was withheld from Adam, even the Tree of Life seems to be in play here. Based on Genesis 3:22-23; the Tree of Life was a source of sustenance for eternal, physical life and a way to confirm a person in their moral condition.
Access to this tree was banned after the Fall. However, in the end, access to the fruit of this tree is granted to those who conquer in Christian spiritual warfare, as it says in Revelation 2:7, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
It reappears in the New Jerusalem, watered by the living water of God’s throne, to be a constant source of nourishment and healing to those whose names appear in the Lamb’s Book of Life. "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Rev. 22:1-2)
The Tree of Life, available to Adam and Eve in the Garden, stands here as a reminder of God’s complete and abundant provision for us and as a picture of eternal life in Scripture, from the second chapter to the very last.
2. You shall not eat; God’s command clearly prohibits them from eating the fruit of only one tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. If the Tree of Life represents eternal life, what does the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil represent?
It most likely represents moral experience. By either their obedience or disobedience, Adam and Eve would come to know good and evil by experience. Experience gained by the fear of the Lord is wisdom, according to Proverbs 1:7, while that gained by disobedience is slavery.
God’s law is never restrictive, but always protective. God was not trying to limit humanity in the garden. He was not holding back. He was trying to preserve what He had made and protect it.
As parents, our rules or authority should always seek to be protective, never restrictive.
A Yard fence is a protective boundary that keeps danger out and serves as a safe perimeter in which our children can play in freedom. It is not a restrictive boundary designed to keep them in, which would only provoke the desire to venture out of the fence. We are not to provoke rebellion in them.
Remember, God made us in His image, but He did not make us God. Therefore, we are perfectly made, but not made perfect. God knew that as soon as He created a being lesser than Himself, we had the potential to fall short of His glory, the potential for evil.
So, He placed the Tree of the Knowledge in the garden as a way for us to learn obedience and gain moral experience of good. So that we might not gain experience of evil and be separated from Him. That is what we should be striving for as parents, that our children learn obedience and gain moral experience of good.
3. You shall surely die; Now this is in essence, coupled with the instructions in 1:28-30, a covenant between God and Man. As with any covenant, there are blessings associated with keeping the covenant, and consequences associated with breaking the covenant. Here, the blessing is eternal life, the consequence is sure death.
This death is not punishment, but instructive or corrective. Just as God’s law is never restrictive, but always protective, His discipline is never punitive, but always corrective or instructive. How can death as a consequence not be punitive? Good question.
Primarily because consequences are not punitive. You are not being punished when you reap the consequences of your behavior or choices. When you choose an action, and you know there are consequences that come with that action, then the consequences are not punishment, they can only serve to deter you from the action or to prevent you from repeating the action.
That is what Death is here. God says, “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” This implies a fixed certainty, not an immediate absolute. God is saying that on the day that you eat of it, the consequences of death become sure for you.
As parents, our discipline should always seek to be corrective or instructive, never punitive. We must find ways to demonstrate the reality of life, that actions and behaviors have consequences. Good behavior has positive consequences and evil behavior has negative consequences. We create and use these consequences to instruct our children about what honors God and to correct them when they fall short. In that, we can show mercy, grace and forgiveness. That is motivated by love. Punitive discipline, or punishment, leaves no room for the character of God and is motivated by pride, a desire to hurt and a warped sense of justice.
So, while the death is sure, it is not necessarily immediate. We will look more at that in two weeks when look more closely at the consequences of sin. It is important now only because it allows us to see the consequence as part of a bigger picture that is instructive, “do not eat” and corrective “you will die.”
What kind of death does this promise, is it physical, spiritual or both? There is no clear indication in the language, so the only way to find out is to continue with the story.
B. The Lie - Genesis 3:1-5 says, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?'" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.""
We see that Satan the serpent showed up also to preach. Satan’s deception was in preaching a false gospel, twisting God’s word and even boldly declaring that God’s sermon was a lie. Our first parents had to choose which sermon they would believe.
Now the serpent is suddenly introduced without much detail or explanation. He is only said to be one of the beast of the field, but the initial introduction is full of ambiguity. Though he will alter be revealed as the enemy of God, here we are only given an indication of potential danger in that it is the craftiest of the beast. However, the Hebrew term, ‘arum does not carry the negative moral connotations that are communicated by the English words “crafty” or “cunning.”
So, to the original hearer and to Hebrew readers, the serpent’s initial question may have sounded quite innocent, but to the discerning ear who hears him deliberately misquote the command of God.
1. You shall not eat; The serpent does not make a declarative statement here, but as false teachers are apt to do, he only asked a question that brings the word of God into question. “Did God actually say?” If ever we hear this question asked our ears should perk to attention and we should rush back in our minds to that day in the garden.
Our serpentine preacher proceeds to twist the words of God. Does he simply misunderstand? The fact that he does not use the personal name Yahweh, or LORD, but only the generic 'elohiym, or God; may be a clue that he is motivated more by deception than misunderstanding.
Then, notice the subtlety of the lie. Instead of God’s generous permission to eat of every tree but one, including the Tree of Life, the serpent makes the protective law, restrictive, “you shall not eat of any tree in the garden.”
Eve’s response should have been a resounding “NO!” “God did not actually say that.”
Instead she tries to negotiate with the terrorist, win the deceiver, debate with the father of lies.
She tries to remain faithful to the instruction given, but it was second hand information to her and she fails to mention that the tree in the midst is clearly identified as the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil. Surely she does not want to be too technical with her confused friend or to offend him in any way. Yet, then she adds, for emphasis I suppose, “neither shall you touch it, lest you die.” Maybe that is the way Adam communicated the command to Eve.
Maybe it reflects that the woman views God’s instructions as open to human modification, Eve was a progressive woman!
2. You will not surely die; The serpent does not only directly contradict what God has said, but goes on to present what God has prohibited as something to be desired. This is exactly how God characterizes the worst kind of evil in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
“You will surely die,” the truth of God,
“Your eyes will be opened, you will be like God,” exchanged for a lie.
Romans 1, concludes this way, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.”
It may be said that the serpent was right when he said they will not surely die, because they do not die. But, remember, we have already said that this implies a fixed certainty, not an immediate absolute. God is saying that on the day that you eat of it, the consequences of death become sure for you. So, while the death is sure, it is not necessarily immediate. Adam lived to be 930 years old!
While Adam and Eve do not cease to exist physically, they are expelled from the garden to bear the mark of wage of sin, and are cut off from the source of life and the tree of life. Out of the sanctuary of Eden, they are in the realm of the dead. They are expelled from God’s presence. And even after 903 years Adam does die.
3. Your eyes will be open; There eyes were opened, as we will see in verse 7. There eyes were opened, but all they saw was that they were naked. Their eyes were opened only to shame. As a result, their sense of guilt makes them afraid of God and slaves to evil.
4. You will be like God; God acknowledges in verse 22 that “the man has become like us in knowing good and evil.” Unlike all the rest of creation, who knows only good or evil, Man now knows both by experience. The funny, but tragic, thing is that Adam and Eve, unlike the serpent, had been made in the image of God. They are already like Him in the most significant ways. They have been given authority over the beast of the field, yet they betray the trust God has placed in them by obeying the serpent. Again, we will look at this in detail in when look at the consequences of sin, but again note the subtlety of the lie. Instead of God’s loving, instructive and corrective consequences for sin, the serpent’s half-truths rightly portray a punishment that does not exist.

III. The Loss of the Image of God
Tragically, they believed the serpent’s sermon over that of their own creator, and sin, death and chaos have ensued ever since. Most importantly, the serpent has continued to preach. Sometimes his message is very subtle and other times widely publicized.
The exchange of the truth of God for a lie . . .
The image of God for an image of an image . . .
One might even wonder whether man could still be thought to be like God. W see as quickly as Genesis 9:6 where God tells Noah that, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image,” that even though people are sinful, there is still enough likeness of God in them that murder is still an attack on the part of creation that most resembles God and is likened to an attack on God Himself. The New Testament gives confirmation that Man is still in God’s image, when James 3:9 says that with the tongue, “we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.”
However, as a result of our sin we are not as fully like God as we were before. Our moral purity has been lost and our sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. Our will is in rebellion to the will of God. Our intellect is darkened by falsehood and misunderstanding, and our speech no longer glorifies God. Our emotions are corrupted by pride and our relationships governed by selfishness rather than love. Though man is still in the image of God, in every aspect some part of that image distorted or lost. After the Fall, we are still in God’s image - we are still like Him and represent Him - but the image is distorted by the imperfections of man that we have inherited from Adam, and we are less like Him than we were created to be. We fall short of His glory!
So, as our children walk in the image of our image, we must be sure that they walk in the image of God; that we have been restored by the work of Christ and are becoming more and more like Christ, progressively recovering more of the image of God so that what they see in us is the image of the living God, not some cheap, substitute image that is distorted and diluted and causes them to exchange the truth of God for a lie. We must believe the message of truth from God and reject the message of the lie from Satan. We must teach our children the message of truth and how to discern and reject the message of the lie.

Take These Stones Home
I. The Garden: Genesis 2:8-15
Look on a map with your children and help them find the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Based on the information in the passage, ask them to try and figure out exactly where the Garden of Eden may have been.
II. Two Sermons
Read the two passages (Genesis 2:16-17 & Genesis 3:1-5).
Talk with them about the difference between what God says and what the serpent says.
With older children you may ask them to compare and contrast the two statements.
Talk with your children about the Tree of Life and how it represents God abundant provision.
Ask them to draw a picture of the Tree of Life.
Talk with your children about how God's law is always protective and not restrictive.
Ask them to discuss some of your rules at home that they think are restrictive.
Try to either explain how those rules are protective, or ask for forgiveness.
Share with them how the consequences for their behavior are meant to instruct or correct them.
Talk with them about how every attitude, action and behavior has a positive or negative consequence.
Help them understand your discipline by explaining the difference between your motivation to instruct or correct and the motivation to punish.
Be ready for a surprising conversation.
III. The Loss of the Image of God
Talk to your children about their relationship with God.
Be sure they understand that while parents in the world want obedient, successful kids, your ultimate goal is for them to be captivated by Jesus.
Read this quote from ApParent Privilege with your children.
"In the efforts of providing for our children so that "they will have it better off than we did," have we asked what "better" is?
Is "better" a nicer car, entrance into a more prestigious university, a higher-paying job, more comfort, less suffering?
What if "better off" meant a better hunger and thirst for righteousness? What about a better prayer life that shows great dependency on the Creator of our children’s souls?
What about a child who better understands the biblical principles that guide our lives? What about a better compassion for a world that does not know Christ as Savior and Lord?
That is the kind of better I hope for." (pages 72-73).
Pray with them that your family might walk in the image of God, be restored by the work of Christ and become more like Christ.

On Adoption And Orphan Care

The acceptance of Dr. Russell Moore’s resolution by Southern Baptists points to a desire to be more faithful in caring for the fatherless. Reading better than many sermons, Dr. Moore’s resolution skillfully ties this effort to its gospel roots.
Here is the resolution as accepted:

June 2009
RESOLUTION NO. 2 ON ADOPTION AND ORPHAN CARE

WHEREAS, In the gospel we have received the "Spirit of adoption" whereby we are no longer spiritual orphans but are now beloved children of God and joint heirs with Christ (John 14:18; Romans 8:12-25; Galatians 3:27-4:9; Ephesians 1:5); and

WHEREAS, The God we now know as our Father reveals himself as a "father of the fatherless" (Psalm 68:5) who grants mercy to orphans (Deuteronomy 10:18; Hosea 14:3); and

WHEREAS, Our Lord Jesus welcomes the little ones (Luke 18:15-17), pleads for the lives of the innocent (Psalm 72:12-14), and shows us that we will be held accountable for our response to "the least of these brothers of mine" (Matthew 25:40); and

WHEREAS, The Scripture defines "pure and undefiled religion" as "to look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27); and

WHEREAS, The satanic powers and the ravages of sin have warred against infants and children from Pharaoh to Molech to Herod and, now, through the horrors of a divorce culture, an abortion industry, and the global plagues of disease, starvation, and warfare; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have articulated an unequivocal commitment to the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn; and

WHEREAS, Churches defined by the Great Commission must be concerned for the evangelism of children—including those who have no parents; and

WHEREAS, Upward of 150 million orphans now languish without families in orphanages, group homes, and placement systems in North America and around the world; and

WHEREAS, Our Father loves all of these children, and a great multitude of them will never otherwise hear the gospel of Jesus Christ; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, June 23-24, 2009, express our commitment to join our Father in seeking mercy for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call on each Southern Baptist family to pray for guidance as to whether God is calling them to adopt or foster a child or children; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage our pastors and church leaders to preach and teach on God's concern for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we commend churches and ministries that are equipping families to provide financial and other resources to those called to adopt, through grants, matching funds, or loans; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage local churches to champion the evangelism of and ministry to orphans around the world, and to seek out ways to energize Southern Baptists behind this mission; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage Southern Baptist churches to join with other evangelical Christians in setting aside a special Sunday each year to focus upon our adoption in Christ and our common burden for the orphans of the world; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we pray what God is doing in creating an adoption culture in so many churches and families can point us to a gospel oneness that is determined not by “the flesh,” or race, or economics, or cultural sameness, but by the Spirit, unity, and peace in Christ Jesus; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we pray for an outpouring of God's Spirit on Southern Baptist congregations so that our churches will proclaim and picture, in word and in deed, that “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”

Louisville, KY

http://www.sbc.net/resolutions/amResolution.asp?ID=1194
Copyright © 1999-2009, Southern Baptist Convention. All Rights Reserved.

Stone III - Creation: In His Image

In our journey through twelve stones of remembrance, we have talked about the nature of Creator God and of His creation Out of Nothing. In talking abut that, we have talked about His relationship to His creation and what that all means for us.
Today, we focus on the pinnacle of God’s creative activity, His creation of human beings, both male and female, to be more like Him than anything else in the universe. That God is to us as we ought to be to our children.

I. The Creation of Man
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
I want to start this morning by making just a few simple observations about the passage and then asking a couple of basic questions, before we look at what it means to be created in the image of God.
Then God said - after seven “and God said” statements in the creation narrative, here Scripture draws a conclusion by using the final “Then.” That is to say that this is the final movement, the crowing achievement.
Let us make - The text does not specify who the “us” might be. The court of God and angels can be eliminated because man is not made in the image of any of these.
Most Christians and some Jews have taken “us” as God speaking to Himself, since God alone does the making in verse 27. This would be the first hint of the Trinity in the Bible.
Man - Is it appropriate to use the word man to refer to the entire human race?
This is one of those places where the arrogant half-informed would make our children feel like they have not heard the truth by objecting to ever using man to refer to the human race in general. They would prefer that we use gender neutral terms such as humanity, humankind, or persons.
It is appropriate because there is divine warrant in Genesis 5:1-2; When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. Adam named all of the other animals, but God named humanity Man.
Some use the fact that we can use “man” to refer to the entire human race as proof to say that there was no literal Adam and Eve because the Hebrew word translated “man” is “adam.” They imply that Adam was simply a figurative symbol for all of mankind. However, the use of a direct article in Genesis 2:7-8, 20, clearly makes the universal man “Adam,” which literally means “The Man.”
"Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him."
Why did God create man?
As we saw a couple of weeks ago, God did not need to create man, yet he created us for His own glory. In our discussion of God’s independence, we saw that He speaks of His sons and daughters from the ends of the earth as those “whom I created for my glory,” in Isaiah 43:7. Therefore, we are to, “do all to the glory of God,” as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31.
This fact guarantees that our lives are significant. When we realized that God did not need to create us and does not need us for anything, we could have concluded that our lives have little importance.
However, we also saw that Scripture tells us that we were created to glorify God, indicating that we are important to God himself. That is the final definition of genuine significance in our lives: If we are truly important to God for all eternity, then what greater measure of significance could we want?
What is our purpose in life?
This is a big question, but the fact that God created us for His own glory determines the correct answer to the question. Our purpose must fulfill the reason that God created us; to glorify Himself.
That is enough when speaking with respect to God. However, when we think to our own interest and individual purpose, we make the wonderful discovery that we are to enjoy God and take delight in Him and in our relationship to Him. Jesus says in John 10:10 that, “I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” David tells God in Psalm 16:11, “in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.” He longs to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, “to behold the beauty of the Lord” in Psalm 27:4. Asaph cries out to God in Psalm 73, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
We are to be enjoying our relationship with God, not living as though it was a burden to bear. It is and inheritance to pass down to our children and grandchildren, not a debt that we try to leave them saddled with. The answer to the first question in the old Westminster Catechism “What is the chief end (purpose) of man?” is “Man’s chief end (purpose) is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever,” Directly from Psalm 86 and 16. Real joy is found in knowing God and delighting in the excellence of His character. To be in His presence, to enjoy fellowship with Him, is a greater blessing than anything that can be imagined.
Therefore, the normal heart attitude of a Christian is rejoicing in the Lord! As we glorify God and delight in Him, Scripture tells us that He rejoices in us. Isaiah 62:5 says, “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” Zephaniah prophesies that the Lord, “will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (3:17)
This understanding of the doctrine of creation of man has very practical results. When we realize that God created us for His glory and begin to act in ways that fulfill that purpose, then we begin to experience intense joy in the Lord like we have never known before. When we add to that the understanding that God himself is rejoicing in our fellowship with him, our joy becomes inexpressible praise filled with heavenly glory.
So, the more we know Him, the more we delight in Him, the more we delight in Him, the more He rejoices in us and reveals Himself to us. The more He reveals himself to us, the more we know Him, and more we know Him, the more we delight in Him, the more we delight in Him, the more He rejoices in us and reveals Himself to us. . .

II. Image of God
So, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Out of all of the creatures God made, only man is said to be made in the image of God. In the most basic sense it means that man is like God and represents God. There has been much theological discussion and debate about what exactly this might mean. It would be best for us to focus our attention primarily on the meanings of the key words in the passage, image and likeness.
A. Image; is best understood as a shadow, reflection or picture of some original subject.
Many point to a common near eastern idea of the king who was the visible representative of the deity; thus the king ruled on behalf of God. Verse 26 links the exercise of dominion over the earth with the image of God. So, one can see that humanity is endowed with authority to rule as God’s representatives.
Others point to the creation of man as male and female and conclude that humanity expresses God’s relational aspects. Since verse 28 ties the call to pro-creation to the image of God, one can see that humanity bears the image of God as it functions in community, both in marriage and wider society.
B. Likeness; is best understood as similitude, or being of similar character or imitating an original. Traditionally, the likeness has been seen as the capacities that set humans apart from other animals - ways in which humans resemble God, such as in the characteristics of personhood. What is a person? What makes God three persons? Each member of the Trinity has what we have in the likeness of God - personhood; will, intellect, and emotion.
1. Will; is the capacity to make moral or volitional choices. The faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions.
In the Old Testament it referred mostly to a person’s (or God’s) personal desires or wants. In the New Testament it denotes the sense of what one desires to happen as well as the act itself of desiring something to happen. The Thelema is most commonly used to refer to the will of God, and it manifest itself in believers in their being sanctified. It also occurs with respect to human will, especially in contrast to God’s will.
We often mistakenly talk about the will as being free. Our desire for something is always free by definition. What people mean, most often, by free will is that their choice is un-coerced, that they are free to choose. This, of course, is mostly the case. Rarely are we coerced at the level of choosing according to our desires.
What people often neglect is the idea that our will is just like God’s, except He has the power to actually make all of His desires happen. God can desire to do anything He wants, and He can in fact do whatever He desires. However, He will never do anything that is in opposition to His nature and character. He will not desire it, for that is not who He is.
The same thing is true for us, as much as we have the power to execute our will. When we are dead in our sin, we will desire sin and freely choose it. When we are made alive in Christ, we will freely choose life as much as we are able to overcome our flesh. And why would we ever want to desire something that God does not desire?
Now this is all very technical, I know. However, this stuff is the topic of conversation on every college campus I know of and among many High School kids, and it is the blind leading the blind out there because our churches have failed to speak on these issues with any clarity.
2. Intellect; is the ability to reason and think logically and learn. The power or faculty of the mind by which one knows or understands, as distinguished from that by which one feels and that by which one wills; the understanding; the faculty of thinking and acquiring knowledge.
This sets us apart from the animal world where instinct and trained behavior reigns. Animals can show amazing ability in solving mazes or working out physical problems, but they certainly do not engage in abstract reasoning. Animals are mostly not aware that they exist, but they certainly do not consider why they exist. There is no history of canine philosophy. No horse has ever composed an autobiography.
Our likeness is also seen in our use of complex, abstract language; our awareness of the distant future; and the entire spectrum of human creative activity that we talked about last week. Such aspects of human existence reveal that we differ absolutely from the rest of creation, and not just in degree. In the image of God, we have a unique ability to know and understand.
3. Emotion; is the ability to feel and be affected. An affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced just as God, and Christ in particular, has demonstrated each of these emotions, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.
The degree and complexity of human emotions indicate just how vast is the difference between humanity and the rest of creation. In addition to our being able to relate to God, there are other relational aspects of being in the image of God. The depth of personal harmony experienced in human marriage, in a human family when it functions according to God’s principles, and in a church when a community of believers is walking in fellowship with the Lord, and with one another, is far greater than anything else found in creation. In the image of God, we have a unique ability to be consciously affected by our circumstantial environment.
C. Dignity of our likeness
We should reflect on our being created in the image of God more often! It has been good for me. It is amazing to me that when the Creator of the universe wanted to create something in His image, something more like himself than all the rest of creation, He made us! This understanding gives us a profound sense of dignity and significance as we reflect on the excellence of all the rest of God’s creation. We are the culmination of God’s infinitely wise and skillful work of creation. Even though sin has greatly marred our likeness, we still reflect it, and all the more as we become more like Christ, as we become what God created and called us to be.
We must remember that as sinful as man can be, he still has the status as being in God’s image. Every human life, no matter how much the image is marred, must be treated with the dignity and respect that is due an image bearer of God. This has profound implications for our conduct toward others. People of every race and tribe deserve equal dignity and rights. Elderly people, those who are seriously ill, the mentally or physically handicapped, and unborn children deserve full protection and honor as human beings.
I believe abortion is murder and therefore is breaking the commandment to not commit murder. It is also a violation of the great commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. Most importantly, abortion is a violation of the very nature of God as the giver of life and the image of God in us as His crowning glory in creation. Therefore, I believe that abortion is not primarily a human rights issue, but a sanctity of life issue and that all believers ought to uphold the sanctity of life at every opportunity, not only in matters of abortion, but those of genocide, euthanasia, and other like atrocities.
When we deny our unique status in creation as God’s only image bearers, which some extreme environmental and animal rights people already do, we will soon begin to depreciate the value of human life, as much of our culture already does, and tend to see humans as merely a higher form of animal. The result is that our children and grandchildren have lost much of there sense of meaning in life.
D. Essential Nature of our Likeness
So, what is the essential nature of man? Everyone agrees that we have physical bodies. Most people sense that they also have an immaterial part - a soul that will live on after their bodies die. But that is where the agreement ends.
In the secular realm of thought, where the majority of our culture now resides, there is the prevailing idea that man can not exist at all apart from his physical body, and therefore there can be no separate existence of a soul after the body dies. This view that man is of only one element is called monism.
Among believers in Scripture, there are two views of the essence of man.
Trichotomy is the view that in addition to the body and soul, we also have a spirit. This has been a common view in popular evangelical teaching, and the key idea here is that will, intellect and emotion reside in the soul and the spirit is a higher faculty that only comes alive at conversion and is the part that directly interacts with God.
Dichotomy is a Christian view that teaches that the spirit is not a separate part of man, but simply another term for soul, and that both are used in Scripture interchangeably to talk about the immaterial part of the man; the part that interacts with God spiritually and lives on after we die.
The key biblical understanding is that there is a strong emphasis in Scripture on the overall unity of man, as created by God. We are to grow in holiness and love for God in every aspect of our lives. There is no real distinction between the material and immaterial. However, Scripture is clear that we do have both physical bodies and spiritual bodies. We are said to be both body and soul, and body and spirit; and we live in two worlds, the physical and spiritual. I tend to default to the picture of the Trinity as part of the image of God in us, that we are one person with three essential natures that experience absolute unity in one another.
All of these insights can be put together by observing that the resemblances allow mankind to represent God in ruling, and to establish worthy relationships with God, with one another, and with the rest of creation. Here, image clearly refers to our humanity, which we inherit from Adam.

III. Adam and Eve
The Bible portrays the human race as coming from one pair of human ancestors who were created in God’s image unlike all the animals, and that this image of God is passed on to all humans. So, just as we are all created in the image of God, our children and grandchildren are created in our image. Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Again in Genesis 5:1-3, “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man, when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image.” In other words, the magnificent image of God goes on from generation to generation.
But we know the church is not only generational, but it is also missional. Then Paul makes the sweeping statement in Acts 17:26, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.” In other words, Adam, who was created in God’s image, is the father of all human beings in all ethnic groups. Therefore every tribe and tongue and nation is dignified above the animals in this absolutely unique and glorious way: humans are crated in the image of God.
With all the beautiful, God-designed ethnic and cultural diversity in the world, that truth is paramount. That truth is decisive in setting priorities for how we respect and relate to each other, and how we approach presenting the gospel to the outside world.
Adam was the perfect man, but He was not God and therefore, by definition, not perfect. Though He walked and talked with God in perfect fellowship, he chose to sin against God. Why because He was not God. We inherit from Adam both the image of God and the imperfections of man. Therefore, as we will begin to see next week, we are both made in the image of God and inherently sinful.
Just as we are created in the image of God so that we might glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, God delights in us as the crowing glory of His creation when we do glorify Him and find our deepest joy in our relationship with Him. Therefore, we should be living all of life for His greatest glory and our greatest joy and teaching our children, the image of our image, to follow us as we follow Christ for their greatest glory and God’s greatest joy.


Take These Stones Home
I. The Creation of Man
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Talk with your children about why God chose to create us. Ask them to draw a picture of God creating them and talk to them about their purpose in life.
What do they think God has created them to do?
How can they bring joy to God?
II. Image of God (Imageo Dei)
A. Image; a shadow or picture that is like the original.
Take to the picture your children draw of God creating them and use it to discuss the fact that they are an image of God, just like the picture is an image of themselves. Ask them what differnces they see between the picture and themselves and explain how there are differances between God and His image in us.
B. Likeness; a similitude, or being of similar character.
Talk about how we are like God because we can make choices, understand things, and are affected by our feelings. Share with them stories about when you had to make a hard choice, when you understood something new for the first time or when you expereinced strong emotions. Talk about we can be a better image of God by making good decisions.
C. Dignity of our likeness
Share with your children how humans are the culmination of God's creation because we are most like Him. Talk with them about how every human is made in the image of God and ask them how they can treat other people with dignity and respect because they are image beareres.
D. Essential Nature of our Likeness
Talk with students about how we have both a physical and spiritual aspects to our nature. Discuss how we have to take care of both our physical part and our spiritual part. You can use ideas like diet and exercise in the physical to talk about Bible reading and praying in the spiritual.
III. Adam and Eve
Acts 17:26, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth.”
Talk to children about how we are all descendants of Adam and Eve and that we get our human nature from Adam. This is a good time to talk to your children and grandchildren about their genealogy. Show them pictures of their ancestors and talk with them as much as you can about their heritage. You may be surprised at how interested they are!

Stone II - Creation: Out of Nothing

As we continue to lay down our 12 Stones of the statues and testimonies of God, we do so in the context of the grand narrative of God; Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation.
Once again, I want us to define what we are talking about.
Doctrine of Creation: God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and He created it to glorify himself.
We are looking at creation in three parts, beginning last week with the idea of Creator God, and picking up this week with the idea of Creation: Out of Nothing.
Think of it. Out of nothing . . . something, everything!
How did God do it? Did he create each plant and animal directly, or did He use some kind of evolutionary process? How quickly did He do it? Was it 7 literal days, or was it something longer?

I. Biblical Evidence:
Read with me in Genesis Chapter 1:1-5
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. The Bible clearly requires us to believe that God created the universe out of nothing.
Psalm 33 tells us, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth . . . For He spoke and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood forth.”
In the New Testament we find a universal statement at the beginning of John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
The phrases “the heavens and the earth,” “the heavens,” and “all things” are all best taken to mean the entire universe. Paul is most explicit in Colossians 1 when he specifies “all things” as being both the “visible and invisible.” Hebrews 11:3 says, “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” This is to say that they were made of the spiritual, and though this is not a slam for creation out of nothing, the strange idea that creation was created out of something invisible is likely not the authors intent here.
Why is this important?
Because God created the universe out of nothing, no matter in the universe is eternal. All that we see - mountains, rivers, stars and oceans - all came into existence when God created them. This may seem elementary, but it reminds us that God rules over the entire universe and that nothing is to be worshiped instead of God or in addition to Him. Were we to deny creation out of nothing, we would have to say that some matter is eternal like God. This would be to challenge His independence, sovereignty, and the fact that worship is due to Him alone!
Positively, the fact that God created the universe out of nothing says that it has meaning and purpose. He created for something. We should try to understand and help our children understand that purpose and use creation in ways that fit that purpose, namely, to bring glory to Himself. When creation brings us joy, we should give thanks to God who made it!

II. Role of the Trinity
One of the coolest things we can learn and communicate from creation is the insight into the Trinity that it provides us.
A. Father - God was the primary agent in initiating the act of creation, and we often only think of God the Father creating the universe. However, God the Son and God the Spirit were also active.
B. Son - The Son is often described as the one through whom creation came about, as we saw in John 1:3. Paul says there is, “one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist” in 1 Corinthians 8:6, and that “all things were created through Him and for Him” in Colossians 1:16. What a consistent picture of Christ as the active agent carrying out the plans of the Father.
C. Spirit - God the Spirit was also at work in creation. He is generally pictured as completing, filling and giving life to God’s creation. In Genesis 1:2 it is the Spirit who is moving over the face of the deep, indicating a preserving and sustaining governance. Job says in 33:4, “The Spirit of God has made me and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
It is important here that the same Hebrew word (ruach) can mean spirit, breath or wind. However, in most cases, there is very little difference in the meaning. So, even if we use the terms breath of God or wind of God, it is just a figurative way of talking about the activity of the Holy Spirit in creation. So, the Father, Son and Spirit are to be praised for the work of creation!

III. Relationship with Science
At various times in history, Christians have found themselves dissenting from the accepted findings of contemporary science. In the vast majority of these cases, sincere Christian faith and strong trust in the Bible have led scientist to the discovery of new facts about God’s universe. These discoveries have changed scientific opinion for all of subsequent history.
The lives of great believing scientist like Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday, James C. Maxwell, and many others testify to this truth.
On the other hand, there have been times when accepted scientific opinion has been in conflict with people’s understanding of what the Bible says.
For example, when the Italian astronomer Galileo, who again was a believer, began to teach that the earth was not the center of the universe, but revolved around the Sun, he was criticized, and eventually condemned by the Catholic Church, because they had misunderstood what the Bible taught. However, after people began to look again at what Scripture said, they realized that all of the biblical language was from the perspective of the human observer and that from that perspective gave an accurate account that did not contradict the findings of Galileo at all.
The lesson is that we should not be afraid of science. It can not contradict what is true. Science is itself a search for truth using natural means. Sometimes we may have to re-examine science and sometimes we must re-examine Scripture. What wonderful adventures both explorations are to go on with our children and grandchildren.
In order that we all have a remedial understanding of what our culture might present to our children and grandchildren as options to the biblical explanation of the origin of the universe, I want to give 2 quick examples of views that seem clearly inconsistent with Scripture.
A. Secular Theory - For the sake of time, I want to just mention here that any purely secular theories of the origin of the universe would be unacceptable for those who believe in Scripture. By secular I just mean any theory that does not see an infinite-personal God as responsible for creating the universe by intelligent design.
Thus, the “Big Bang” theory (in an uncaused cause form where God is excluded), or any other theories that hold that matter always existed, would be out-of-hand inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture that God created the universe out-of-nothing, for His own glory.
B. Theistic Evolution - Ever since the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species in 1859, some Christians have proposed theories trying to reconcile the Bible to Darwin’s theory. This most often takes the form of living organisms coming about by the process of evolution presented by Darwin but that God guided that process so that the result was just what He wanted.
This view is called Theistic Evolution, because it advocates belief in God and in Darwinian Macro-evolution. Now, I would love to get into the technicalities with you, but for now, it must simply be clear that an examination of Scripture reveals that theistic evolution is at odds with the biblical account of creation.
Conflicts like God’s purpose, verses evolutionary randomness lie at the heart of a fundamental difference, as we see in Genesis 1:24-25, And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Theistic evolution also seems inconsistent with God’s creative word bringing immediate response, and God’s present active role in creating and forming every living thing.
Most importantly, the special creation of Adam and Eve is a strong reason to break with theistic evolution, as we will see more clearly next week.
C. Common Ground - Now I need to build some bridges here. Darwinian Macro-evolution is not the same thing as Micro-evolution, which teaches that small developments within species do occur over time in order for a species to adapt to different environments. There are innumerable examples of such micro-evolving, like mosquitoes becoming immune to insecticides, or human beings growing taller, and no one denies that exist. However, this is not the sense in which evolution is meant when discussing theories of creation and evolution, because they in no way prove either point!
I need to also say that there are some places where there is room for disagreement among those of us who believe in the absolute truthfulness of Scripture. Some of these are the possibility that God created a grown-up universe in which everything was old as Adam and Eve were created adults, the possibility of a break in time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 or between 1:2 and 1:3, or the possibility that the flood affected the geological data greatly.
The point is that in both our knowledge of the natural world and our understanding of Scripture, we are limited and imperfect. However, we can approach both with great confidence that when the facts are rightly understood, there is no final conflict.

IV. God’s Purpose in Creation
We learned last week that God did not need to create the universe. If He created it out of nothing, why did He do that, and why did he choose to do it the way He did?
We will see next week that it is clear that God created people for His own glory, for He speaks of His sons and daughters as those “whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” in Isaiah 43:7. But it is not just human beings that God created for this purpose.
A. His Glory - The entire creation is intended to show God’s glory.
Even the inanimate creation, the stars and sun and moon and sky, testify to God’s greatness. Psalm 19 says, "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."
The song of heavenly worship in Revelation 4 connects God’s creation of all things with the fact that He is worthy to receive glory from them, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

What does creation show about God?
Primarily that His great power and wisdom are far above anything that could be imagined by any creature. One glance at the sun or starts convinces us of God’s infinite power. Even a brief inspection of a single leaf, or the wonder of a human hand convinces us of God’s great wisdom.
Who could make all of this? Who could create it out of nothing? Who could sustain it day after day for endless years? When we meditate on it, we are to give glory to God.
The creation shows His great wisdom and power, and ultimately it shows all of His other attributes as well. It seems God created the universe to take delight in his creation, for as creation shows forth various aspects of God’s character, to that extent He does take delight in it.
B. His Delight - If God created the universe to show His glory, then we would expect the universe would fulfill that purpose.
In fact, when God finished His work of creation, He did take delight in it. At the end of each stage, God saw that what He had done was good. Then at the end of the six days of creation, Genesis 1:31 says, “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”
God delighted in it just as He had purposed to do!
C. Our Delight - This explains why we take spontaneous delight in all sorts of creative activities. People with artistic, musical or literary skill enjoy creating things and seeing, hearing, or pondering their creative work. God has so made us that we enjoy imitating, in a lesser way, His creative activity, and one of the amazing things about us that separate us from the rest of creation is our ability to create new things.
This also explains why we take delight in other kinds of creative activity: cooking, decorating, gardening, wood working, problem solving, invention and industrial production. Even children enjoy coloring pictures or building tall towers out of blocks.
In all of these activities, we reflect in small measure the creative activity of God, we should use them to teach about how God is creative and how it gave Him joy to create the universe out of nothing!
We should delight in it and give Him thanks!
D. Our Worship - The doctrine of creation has many applications for us.
It makes us realize that the material universe is good in itself, for God created it good and wants us to use it in ways pleasing to Him.
God intends that we partake of its fruit with thanksgiving, as the early Christians understood in Acts 2:46 when they “partook of food with glad and generous hearts.”
We should be teaching our children and grandchildren to give thanksgiving to God and trust in His provisions. God intends us to wholeheartedly enjoy creative activities (artistic, musical, athletic, domestic, literary, mechanical, etc.) with an attitude of thanksgiving that our creator enables us to imitate Him in our creativity. God intends that we have a healthy appreciation for creation that reminds us of its goodness and the blessings that come to us through it.
This should encourage young believers to do scientific and technological research to discover more of the goodness of God’s abundant creation, because God wants us all to understand that such research glorifies God, for it enables us to discover how incredibly wise, powerful and skillful God was in His work of creation, as Psalm 11 says, “Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who have pleasure in them.”
The doctrine of creation also reminds us that God is sovereign over the universe He created.
He made it all, and He is Lord of it. We owe all that we are and have to Him. We have great confidence that He will defeat all of His enemies and will be manifested as sovereign King to be worshiped forever.
In addition, the incredible size of the universe and the amazing complexity of every created thing will, if our hearts are right, draw us continually to worship and praise Him for His greatness!

Take these Stones Home

Doctrine of Creation: God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and He created it to glorify himself.
I. Biblical Evidence
Read Genesis 1:1-5 as a family and talk about the difference between creation out of nothing and making something out of stuff. Maybe bake a cake with your children and show them how we need ingredients to make things and God did not.
II. Role of the Trinity
Worship together by praising the Father, Son and Spirit for the different ways they participate in creation.
Maybe act out the roles of the Trinity in creation by having the Dads read the “And God Said” statements in Genesis 1, the Moms read the “And it was So” statements in Genesis 1 and have the children act out (like charades) what is happening.
III. Relationship with Science
Talk with your children and grandchildren about how science reveals who God is and how many great scientist were believers in God. Maybe read biographies with them of some great Christian Scientist.
Here are a few recommended titles:
Men of Science Men of God: Great Scientists of the Past Who Believed the Bible by Henry M. Morris
Children:
Isaac Newton, Sower Series By: John Hudson Tiner
Robert Boyle, Sower Series By: John Hudson Tiner
Johannes Kepler, Sower Series By: John H. Tiner
Along Came Galileo By: Jeanne Bendick
Teens:
Scientists Of Faith by Dan Graves
Scientists Who Believe: 21 Tell Their Own Stories by Eric C. Barrett
Galileo Galilei - Biography of the Father of Science
Isaac Newton: Giants of Science By: Kathleen Krull
Michael Faraday: Physics and Faith by Colin A. Russell
IV. God’s Purpose in Creation
Look at the moon and the stars (maybe through a telescope) and discuss how they display God’s glory, and how He delights in His creation.
Participate in some creative activity together and talk about how we are joining God in delighting in creation by being creative (try playing music, writing a story, cooking, decorating, gardening, wood working, coloring, or building a tall tower out of blocks).
At the end of any of these activities, take time to thank God for creation and worship Him!

Stone I - Creation: Creator God

As we set out to lay down our 12 Stones of the statues and testimonies of God, we do so in the context of the grand narrative of God; Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation. It is fitting then that we would begin at the beginning, the very beginning. First, I want us to define what we will be talking about over the next three weeks.
Doctrine of Creation: God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and He created it to glorify himself.
We are going to look at creation in three parts, beginning with the idea of Creator God.
We will look at this idea by analyzing this simple sentence found in Genesis 1:1
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
When? In the beginning
Who? God
What? Created
We want to look at what each statement says, what it teaches us about God, and why it is important for us to understand.

I. Eternity of God: Psalm 90
The Bible simply assumes that God exists. In the beginning. What does this mean, but that there was nothing before this. However, the Bible is clear that in the beginning God already was. In the beginning, He is present. The primary idea here is God’s eternity.
By this we mean that God has no beginning (He has always been),
no end (He will always be),
and no succession of moments in His own being, He is not bound by time and space (before the light and darkness were divided into day and night, He existed)
and He sees all time equally vividly, yet he sees and acts within time and space in order to interact with us, so that we might relate to Him.
A. Timeless in His own being - This idea of the eternity of God is sometimes referred to as God being infinite in regards to time. That is to say that He is unlimited in relation to it. Time does not limit God or change Him in any way.
The fact that God has no beginning or end is plainly seen in Psalms 90:1-2, "Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God."
God’s eternity is also suggested in passages that talk about the fact that God always is or always exist, as in Revelation 1:8, “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
The fact that God never began to exist can also be concluded from the fact that He created the universe out of nothing, as we will talk about next week.
These passages show that the facts, that God always existed even before there was time, combine to indicate that God’s own existence does not have any succession of moments or any progression from one state to another.
To God, all of His existence is always somehow present - though this blows our mind because it is so different than what we experience.
Why is all of this important? Because it shows us that God is not going away, that God is not dead and that He is in fact unchangeable. If we stop for a moment to imagine what it would be like if God could change, the importance of this doctrine would become most clear.
If God could change in His being, perfections, purposes or promises then any change would either be for the better or for the worse. But if God changed for the better, then He was not really the best possible being in the beginning, so how could we know that He was the best possible being now. He would not be perfect and therefore would by definition cease to be God.
If God could change for the worse, what kind of God might He become? If he became less holy or good He would not be perfect, and again by definition cease to be God.
B. Sees all time equally - Part of God not being limited by time is His ability to see all time equally. It does not pass by Him like dots on a number line. He stands above the graph and sees all points equally from eternity past to eternity present. Psalm 90:3-4 says, "You return man to dust and say, 'Return, O children of man!' For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night."
In the New Testament, Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3:8, "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
With these verses taken together, we can imagine how God sees time and why this is so important for us to know and to pass on to those who come behind us. He can remember all the events of a thousand years at least as well as we can remember yesterday. God does not forget. All of history is to Him as though it just happened!
On the other hand, one day from God’s perspective seems to last for a thousand years. It is as if it never ends, but is always being experienced. All of history is to Him present to His consciousness forever.
Together we see that the whole span of history is as vivid as if it were a brief moment that had just happened, but as if it is going on forever. No event ever fades! God sees and knows all - past present and future - with equal vividness! That is our sin and our tears, our rebellion and repentance, our worship and our idolatry.
This is why God is concerned about generational faithfulness and rebukes our generational arrogance! Because for Him it is all eternal, as Isaiah 46:8-11 says, Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.
C. Sees events and Acts within time - We must guard against misunderstanding by completing the definition of God’s eternity. Paul writes in Galatians 4, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
God observed clearly and knew what was happening within the events of history.
At the right time, he acted within time and space.
We should never think that God does not know the difference between the past and the present. It is evident within Scripture that He acts within time and that He acts differently at different points in time, always in accordance with His nature and character, but appropriate for the day. That is why the Psalmist says in 90:12, So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
We must affirm both that God has no succession of moments in His own being and sees all of history equally vividly, and that in His creation He sees the progress of events over time and acts differently at different points.
In short, He is the Lord who created time and who rules over it and uses it for His own purposes.

II. Independence of God
In the beginning, God. There was nothing else and God already was. That tells us that not only is God eternal but independent. By this we mean that God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation glorify Him and bring Him joy. This is sometimes called His self-existence. What it means for us is that God was alone at creation and perfect. He could have gone on forever without creating anything, but He chose to create just the same, and it gave Him joy to do so.
Paul proclaims this truth to the men of Athens when he said, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything." (Acts 17:24-25)
Some people have said that God created human beings because He was lonely and needed fellowship. This would disregard the complete unity and fellowship of the Trinity and make God dependant on creation, making it lord over Him instead of Him being Lord over it. In John 17:24 Jesus speaks to the Father of, "your love for me from before the foundation of the world.
Some say that God created us to show off His glory." However, in John 17:5 Jesus says, "And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."
He had all glory and shared it with Himself before we got here and He is not beholden to us for His own glory. We do Him no favors when we recognize His glory, He has done us a favor by revealing it to us and making us instruments of it. It is not just that God did not need creation for anything, it is that He could not need creation for anything. The difference between the creator and the creation is immensely and fundamentally different.
We are not lesser versions of the same kind. We are of a totally different kind, made to look like Him. It is not just that we exist and God has always existed. God necessarily exists in perfection. We do not necessarily exist, but only by God’s desire and then we exist as fundamentally imperfect.
The balancing consideration (and there is always a balancing consideration) is the fact that we and the rest of creation do in fact glorify God and bring Him joy. So, we must guard against the false idea that we are meaningless (as we will see in patheistic Buddhism). God determined to create us and determined that we would be meaningful to Him. That is where our meaning lies and where our value comes from. We will look more at that idea in a couple of weeks when we talk abut the Image of God.

III. God’s Relationship with Creation
How does this all work together? This is what we need to make sure that our children and grandchildren understand. The teaching of Scripture about the relationship between God and creation is unique among the religions of the world.
A. Transcendence - The Bible teaches that God is distinct from His creation. He is not part of it, for He has made it and rules over it. The term that we use to talk about God being much greater than creation is transcendence. Now I get a hard time about using all of these big words. However, it is important that when our children get to college they are not convinced that they are ignorant because they do not even know what they believe. Very simply, transcendence means that God is far above creation in the sense that He is greater than creation and independent of it (as we have already talked about).
B. Immanence - The Bible also teaches that God is very much involved in creation, for it is continually dependent on Him for existence and functioning. The term that we use to talk about God being intimately involved in creation is immanence. It literally means “remaining in.” The God of the Bible is no abstract deity that is removed and uninterested. The Bible is again the story of God’s involvement with His creation. It is the statues and testimonies that He wants His creation to remember. In His hands is the life of every living thing (Job12) and He gives all men life and breath and everything (Acts 17) and holds all things together (Col. 1) and upholding the universe by His word of power (Heb. 1).
Both God’s transcendence and immanence are affirmed in a single verse when Paul speaks of one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all, in Ephesians 4:6.
C. Four Opposing Worldviews - In order that we do not appear ignorant, and so that we are ready to give a defense for the great hope that we have in Christ, I want to briefly look at how the biblical view of Creator God is in direct opposition to the four prevailing views about God.
1. Materialism; This is the most common philosophy of unbelievers today. It clearly denies the existence of God altogether. Materialism would say that the material (physical) universe is all there is. This is the heart of the Naturalistic Meta-Narrative that we talked about last week that stands in direct opposition to the biblical assertion that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Christians today who focus almost the entire effort of their lives on earning more money and acquiring more possessions are teaching practical materialism to their children and grandchildren, since their lives would not be much different if they did not believe in God at all.
2. Pantheism; This philosophy is derived from the Greek idea that everything, the whole universe is God or part of God. This recognizes the essential existence of God but denies several essential aspects of His character. If the whole universe is God, then God has no distinct personality, He is no longer unchanging, or holy. Ultimately, most pantheistic systems, such as Buddhism, end up denying the importance of individual human personalities.
When we teach that God exist, but do not exhibit any real personal relationship with Him, we pass down a heritage of practical pantheism to those who come behind us.
3. Dualism; This is the idea that both God and the material universe have eternally existed side by side. They are the two ultimate forces in the universe. The problem with this is that it indicates a false eternal conflict between God and His creation, between the spiritual and the physical. So, we can not be sure that God will triumph over the evil physical universe because it denies His lordship over creation and the fact that creation came about because of God’s will that it be used solely for His purposes and for His glory.
When we talk about God as though He was one side of a Star Wars like Force caught in an epic battle against the Dark Side, we teach a practical dualism. More importantly, when most non-Christians (including our children and grandchildren) begin to be aware of the spiritual aspect of the universe, they often merely acknowledge that there are both good and evil aspects to the spiritual realm. This is spiritual, but not belief in God or Christianity.
Most New Age spirituality is dualistic and most of the young people growing up in our churches hold more of a dualistic worldview than a biblical one. Of course Satan is delighted to have our homes and churches full of people who think there is an evil force in the universe that is perhaps equal to God.
4. Deism; This is the view that God exists but is not now directly involved in creation. Deism holds that God created the universe and that His is far greater than creation (He is transcendent). Some deists also agree that God has moral standards and will ultimately hold people accountable on a day of judgment. However, they deny His present involvement in the world, excluding His immanence. He is the divine clockmaker who wound the clock and left it to run on its own. While this does affirm many attributes of God, it denies the entire meta-narrative of the Bible.
Many “lukewarm’ or nominal Christians today are, in effect, practical deists. They live lives almost totally devoid of genuine prayer, worship, fear of God, or moment-by-moment trust in God to care for our needs. It is heartbreaking how many of our children are growing up believing God is out there because they never saw from us that He is in us!

Take these Stones Home

Doctrine of Creation: God created the entire universe out of nothing; it was originally very good; and He created it to glorify himself.
Psalms 90:1-4, Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Time does not limit God or change Him in any way.
Talk to your children about how God gave us time so that we could measure our days but that He is timeless.
God does not forget.
Talk to your children about how God does not forget by showing them how they remember today better than last week and explaining that every day is like today for God.
God’s timing is perfect.
Talk to your children about how God always does everything at the right time by explaining how there is a time for everything, like dinner time, bed time, family worship time.
God did not need to create.
Talk to your children about how God is perfect and that he does not need any thing.
Ask them, Why did God create the world?
God chose to create.
Talk with your children about how God chose to create and to make us. Explain to them that our value is grounded in the fact that God chose to make us valuable to Him.
God is distinct from His creation.
Talk with your children about how God is different from creation. Ask them to share what they think makes Him different. Share what you think makes God different.
God is very much involved in His creation.
Talk with your children about how God is involved in creation. Ask them to share things they are thankful to God for and share with them how those things show that God is involved in their lives. Share what you are thankful for and how that shows that God is involved in your life.

Spiritual Vision Conference

As most of you are aware, we are spending a lot of time this summer implementing family ministry elements at Bush Memorial. Our goal is to be able to take these elements and be able to share them with other churches that are making a transition to a family equipping ministry model.

Part of that entire approach to the summer is a fourteen week series I am preaching at Bush on the 12 Memorial Stones that represent the statutes and testimonies that we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren. The series is based on Deuteronomy 6 and the narrative of Israel’s entrance into the promised land found in Deuteronomy 27 and the book of Joshua.

Central to this theme is the idea that the people remember and obey when generational faithfulness happens, and they do not know the Lord and do what is evil in His sight when generational faithfulness is not practiced (Judges 2:6-11). The notes from these messages will be posted here each week, and audio and video of the first two weeks are available through the Legacy office.

The first Family Ministry event of the summer took place on May 31st. We kicked off the entire summer with a Spiritual Vision Conference. Kara Stephens, the Director of Children’s Ministries at Bush put the conference together and has led several churches through this material. It was a wonderful start that laid the groundwork for the entire summer plan. I would like to share with you some of the key principles presented in the conference in hopes that they will spark ideas for others and encourage those who are leading transition.

Kara started the conference with three basic points upon which we must all agree in order for the other principles to have real meaning.
We want our children to be Godly—to love God alone and serve God alone.
We are willing to let our children suffer in order to follow Jesus, and let God build them up in due time.
We will measure success by God’s standards, not our own.

After agreeing on these core values, parents and grandparents were led to examine the last year of spiritual development in each child’s life by asking 25 questions like, “Have you facilitated your child’s daily worship?”

The next element in the conference is to develop a vision for the next year of spiritual growth in each child’s life by asking 25 questions like, “What specific steps can you take to help your child learn God’s word?”

Each family then worked to develop a plan to turn that vision into a reality by weekly working on these six spiritual disciplines: Worship, Bible Study, Scripture Memorization, Prayer, Giving, and Church Attendance.

I am thankful for your prayers and financial support that make this kind of generational, life-changing ministry possible for all of our partner churches. You are having an impact in the lives of young people though Legacy.

For more information on having a Spiritual Vision Conference at your church, please contact us.

The Narrative of God: Building an Altar of Remembrance in the Family of God Judges 2:6-11

We talked last week about how God wanted Israel to pass down the testimonies and statues of God from one generation to another, so that there would always be a people in Israel who remembered what God had done and remembered His commandments. God gave Israel an object lesson using 12 Stones through which they could tell the story of what God had done, and Israel was obedient to everything that God commanded them to through Moses.
What is the result?

I. The people did remember and obey:
Judges 2:6-9, When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
However, let us not rejoice too long and rest on our laurels, because it takes just one generation that fails to pass down the inheritance which they have received.

II. What happens when we do not practice generational faithfulness?
The Bible is clear that when the generation who’s parents entered the promised land with Joshua died their testimony and obedience died with them.
Judges 2:10-11, And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
What will be said of us here? Are we a generation that remembers and obeys or are we a generation that forgets and worships idols? What about the next generations? It is a compelling question, and the answer depends on our response. So, We must lay down our own stones!

III. Laying down our own 12 Stones:
God told Israel to use 12 stones to remember the meta-narrative of truth.
Joshua laid the 12 stones so the people would not forget.
But in one generation of self-obsorbtion and self-indulgence the people defiled the altar and forgot. God wants us to remember and pass on to the next generation the grand story of the 12 Stones. If we do not tell our children and grandchildren, who will?
For Israel the story of the stones was one of God’s people, called from slavery to deliverance into a Promised Land. Our story is the same, but it is much more grand than a specific place and time and people. Our story is one of God creating for Himself a people and calling them from the slavery of sin to redemption by grace through faith in Christ alone that we might enter into the presence of God for all eternity. We must remember that we proclaim is not just a little story, and not just a series of little stories. It is the big picture. We are accountable to the big story of God’s work as it is narrated in Scripture.
It is not enough for us to have a deep repository of biblical facts and stories, and yet know nothing about how any of it fits together. That is why we do things like Truth Project and Walk-Thru the Bible. The Bible is not just a compendium of good short stories or moralistic fables, but a grand, life-encompassing meta-narrative of God’s work of redemption in the world, that should transform our lives!
So, we will bring 12 Stones, one for each tribe of the nation of Israel. Just as Israel set up camp in four sections while wondering through the wilderness, we will bring our 12 stones in four sections that outline the grand story that we want to remember and pass on throughout our generations, so that there never will arise a generation at Bush Memorial that does not know the Lord or the work that He had done for us. As a framework for thinking about how individual biblical texts fit into Scripture’s big story, the Bible’s story line consists of at least four great movements that are absolutely necessary: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation.

A. Creation: The Standard of Judah
Numbers 2:1-9
The Story’s first movement is creation. Every worldview, every meta-narrative, has a beginning. If we are to say anything meaningful about the world and where it is going, we must first know how it all started. Today, two stark alternatives seek to explain how this all came to be and the implications of these two worldviews are all-encompassing.
Naturalistic Meta-narrative; This is a materialistic, evolutionary assertion that everything that exists is simply and merely an accident.
Biblical Meta-narrative; This is a supernatural, creationist assertion which declares “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The divergence between those two assertions is enormous. For, if we believe that God created the world and human beings as the theater of His glory, then we will approach all of life in a manner completely different than if we believe that all of this is merely an accident, that matter and time and energy produced all of this by chance.
The most important divergence between these two worldviews is the place of human beings.
Are we merely some kind of biological accident in the midst of a cosmological accident?
Or, are we the only creatures made in the image of God, and therefore the only ones with the ability to know God and have a sense of accountability to Him?
How you answer that questions will affect everything else you do in your life and everything your children and grandchildren will believe and do in their lives - from sexuality to the sanctity of life to the purpose of labor to the meaning of life itself.
This is literally the most basic and fundamental question: Are we made for a purpose, or are we the by-product of a chaotic universe?
That is why we will look at creation in three parts:
1. Creator God (Transcendence); Here we will be focusing on who God is in relation to creation, that He is distinct from and independent of creation, that he existed before creation and has no beginning, end or succession of moments in His being, that God is infinite and unchangeable.
2. Out of Nothing (Ex-nihilo); Here we will focus on the clear biblical teaching that God created the universe out of nothing. This means that before God began to create the universe, nothing else existed except God himself. 3. The Image of God (Imageo Dei); Here we will focus on the ideas that God’s creation was originally very good, and that He created it to glorify himself. In this, the uniqueness of man as being created in the image of God, meaning that man is like God and represents God, will be central.

B. Fall: The Standard of Rueben
Numbers 2:10-16
The first movement of the story can not explain everything we experience, so we must continue to the story’s second movement, The Fall, because we cannot understand anything about ourselves in our present condition without immediate reference to this.
It is, in fact, the fall into sin that explains all of the suffering and strife, pain and conflict in the world. Without a clear understanding of the fall and its effects, we can not understand our lives or the world around us.
We can not rightly understand the fallenness of human society, nor the groaning of creation, nor most importantly our deep need for salvation.
Sure, we know about Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit. However, what we may not understand, and what our children must understand, is the importance, the catastrophic significance, of that sin.
The fall changed everything. The earth itself became hostile towards man, childbirth would become painful, and as they were expelled from paradise, what God had made for them and for us was lost. We are blocked from seeing it, prevented from experiencing it, prohibited from eating from the Tree of Life. Where we once walked and talked with God in the cool the day in the garden and cultivated it for our joy, we are now aliens in a hostile land.
Rather than worshiping God in the perfection of Eden, naked and unashamed, we are now reduced to weaving fig leaves and hiding under a bush to cover ourselves.
That is really the only way we can make sense out of ourselves. If we think that we are essentially good - or even morally neutral - we delude ourselves!
The fall explains why we are spiritually dead apart from Christ, and why we deserve to be. For condemnation and eternal judgment is the only just response of a holy God to the reality of who we are and what we have done. That is why we will look at the Fall in three basic parts:
1. The Deception (Satan’s False Gospel); Here we will be focusing on the context and events leading up to the fall, particularly that two sermons were preached, but only one believed and Satan’s deception in preaching a false gospel in Genesis 3.
2. The Action (Unbelief: Original Sin); Here we will talk about the origin of sin and how sin entered the human race through Adam’s choice to exchanged the truth of God for a lie: chose to be like a god instead of in the image of God.
3. The Consequence (Separation, Falling Short, Death); Here we will focus on the clear biblical teaching that sin is falling short of the glory of God, that it results in physical death for the entire human race and spiritual death for those whose sins go unforgiven, and that spiritual death is characterized primarily as eternal separation from the presence of God.

C. Redemption: The Standard of Ephraim
Numbers 2:18-24
If we left the fall as the end of our story, total destruction would be the only appropriate conclusion. But there is a third movement to the story, redemption. What we could not do for ourselves, God did. In order to bring all glory to himself, God acted to save us from our own sin.
Every great storyline needs a scandal, and this is it; that a righteous and holy God would die to pay the sin debt of a totally rebellious people, so that both His justice and mercy could be satisfied and we could be made right before Him, by Him.
We must now recognize that this story is much bigger than we could have at first thought. By redeeming sinners, God glorifies Himself and declares His holiness in a way that we would never have known if we simply knew Him as creator, as Adam did. He is now for us not just creator; He is our creator and our Redeemer!
So, we will look at redemption in three parts:
1. Grace (Propitiation); Here we will talk about the work Christ did in His life and death to earn our salvation, particularly His penal substitutionary atonement, or that He took our place in bearing the just wrath of God to pay the penalty for our sin.
2. Faith (Imputation); Here we will focus on our justification by faith by talking about how our sin was accounted to Christ and how Christ righteousness was accounted to us in order to overcome the sin of Adam that was accounted to us and our past and present sin.
3. Christ (Sanctification); Here we will talk about our growth in likeness to Christ by pointing out the difference between justification and sanctification, by looking at three stages of sanctification, seeing how we cooperate with God in sanctification, and rejoicing in the effects of sanctification.
Salvation by Grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone!

D. Consummation: The Standard of Dan
Numbers 2:25
We fail to really teach the gospel to our children and grandchildren in its awesome massiveness unless we point to the fact that God is about not only redeeming sinners but also creating a new heaven and a new earth.
He is not merely restoring the world to the paradise of Eden. For Eden was only a foreshadowing of the new earth. God is creating something far greater than the garden ever was!
Consummation is not just a return to where we began, but an arrival at what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man ever imagined. The vision of consummation held out at the end of Revelation is greater than Genesis ever knew. It will be greater than what God called “very good.” How could the new creation be better than the original? Because Eden was never what God ultimately intended. He intended the Kingdom of Christ from before the beginning. The mind of God conceived of a world where His glory would be more magnificently demonstrated! In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve certainly knew many songs they could sing of God’s glory as Creator, but they did not know to sing “In Christ Alone!” We are more privileged than they were. We get to sing “My Savior, My God!”
That is why we will look at the consummation of the Kingdom of Christ in three parts:
1. Kingdom (authority of Christ); Here we will talk about Christ’s authority as Lord, both in this life and the life to come, by looking at the tension between the “already” inaugurated Kingdom of Christ and the “not yet” consummated Kingdom and how we ought to respond to that authority.
2. Resurrection (fullness of Christ); Here we will talk about what happens when we die by focusing on the significance of Christ’s resurrection for us and the significance of our own resurrection in terms of our own bodies and the Kingdom of God.
3. Heaven (presence of Christ); Here we will talk about heaven as both a place and as the reality of the presence of God, by looking at both the physical and spiritual aspects and what gives them value.

Many of our people are dying of spiritual starvation because they do not know the Bible’s whole story. We are on the verge of loosing an entire generation who grew up in our churches because we have not been faithful to tell the story of what God has done. So, they do not find themselves in the story. They know the moral fables and the facts about the little stories, but a little bit of knowledge is not a big picture.
We will help them know the beginning, the middle and the end; creation, fall, redemption, consummation.
In doing this, we will help them know who they are (who we are) and where they are going. We may even find where we are going in the process. We will all be able to incorporate our little stories into God’s grand meta-narrative, and press on with burning hearts toward maturity and completeness in Christ.
But it starts with a personal commitment to the whole truth of God’s word and to intentionally passing it down to those who come behind us. Anything else is idolatry and sin. It starts with having a personal story of faithfulness of your own to tell.
Where are you today?
Where do you find yourself in the meta-narrative of God?
Some are stuck in creation and see themselves as very good.
Some are stuck in the fall and see themselves beyond hope.
Some are in redemption and see the need for the ongoing sanctification into Christlikeness.
Some others are already in consummation and think they already have what has not yet come.
Whatever God has called you to today, humility, forgiveness, grace or conviction, won’t you put your own small story aside and enter into the grand epic of God?