The Image of God (Genesis 1.26-2.3)

Introduction

An architect, a surgeon and an economist are discussing Creation. The surgeon says: “Look, we surgeons are most important. God’s a surgeon because the first thing he did was to extract Eve from Adam’s rib.” The architect says: “No, wait a minute, architects must be more important because they came before. God must be an architect, because before he had made Adam and Eve, he made the world in seven days out of chaos.” So the economist just smiles: “And who made the chaos?”

Interpreting Genesis 1-3 is challenging but these opening chapters of the Bible lay a vital theological foundation. They teach a worldview of God’s eternal sovereignty, man and woman’s created complementarity, humankind’s inevitable sinfulness and God’s holy resolve to judge and punish sin. All this is under fierce attack in our day by radical atheists, the gay lobby and secular humanists. That’s why we are focusing on these chapters – we are contending for the faith.

Who do you think you are? Sigmund Freud, the psychoanalyst, says you are a complex being, and the reason you do what you do is because you are motivated by repressed desires, most of which would be too embarrassing to voice publicly. Karl Marx, the political philosopher, says you are a social animal, inseparable from society, and you find meaning in your struggle against the oppression of capitalism and the opiate of religious belief.

Freud says that your basic, fundamental urge is your sex drive, your libido. Marx says it’s your aggression. So two of the three most influential thinkers of the last century (the other being Einstein) thought that our most primary impulses were for sex and aggression, and that defines what we are.

Marx’s thinking gave birth to communism, which was, and is, an atheistic ideology. Communists (if there are still any left in the world) don’t believe in Adam and Eve. They laugh at readings like the one we had this morning. But paradoxically, Adam and Eve could have been the first Communists. They had no house, no clothes, no car; they worked for nothing and thought they were in Paradise!

But, seriously, who do you think you are? You’ve probably read those things which break us down to our assorted component parts; the average human body comprises enough fat to make seven bars of soap, enough iron to make a medium sized nail, enough potassium to explode a toy cannon, enough lime to whitewash a chicken coop, enough sugar to fill a jam jar, and enough sulphur to rid a dog of fleas.

Your body is amazing. (Preachers can only say that when carefully avoiding eye contact with the good-looking women in the congregation!) But it’s true for all of us. Every day your mouth produces about one litre of saliva, your heart pumps about 30,000 litres of blood and each foot exudes half a pint of sweat. You have approximately 4,000 wax glands in each ear and if it weren’t for the mucous that lines the walls of your gut, your stomach would probably digest itself. Your body is truly amazing.

What about God? Who does he think we are? What has he got to say about the human condition? Quite a lot. And the short passage we read just now is a particularly rich seam.

1) Part of the Created World

First of all, coming straight after the description of God’s creating and ordering of the natural world, and written in the same vein, these verses tell us that we are part of the created universe. Just like the rest of the natural world, we are fashioned by God and we owe our existence to his autonomous, sovereign decision to bring us into being. It’s an obvious point really, you’d expect the Bible to say exactly that. You and I are here by intelligent design, not by random accident. We are part of the created world, but not just part of the created world.

2) Distinct from the rest of Creation

Genesis 1 states that have a place of honour in God’s grand design. We are special, indeed unique. We are the last species God makes, bringing a kind of closure to his creative work. Genesis 1 tells us that we are, in some ways, quite unlike anything else in creation. Up to now, God has majestically called things into existence; earth, sky, oceans, stars, planets, plants, fish, birds, beasts. God speaks from his royal throne and it happens. But when it comes to making us, God fashions each of us, like a potter shapes a lump of clay, into an only-one-of-its-kind masterpiece. Tellingly, when God creates men and women he doesn’t say “let there be human beings”, like he has done for everything else he has made. He doesn’t say “let there be” at all this time, in v26, he says, “let us make…” And accordingly, instead of assessing what he made as ‘good’ as he has for every other created work, God seems to place a higher value on making us, describing our coming into existence as “very good.”

Having made man and woman, God congratulates himself and rejoices at having made something exceptionally admirable and innovative. God, the great artist, looks at what he has in his hand with a particular pride. He smiles with satisfaction because Adam, Eve and all their descendants reflect back the beauty, the imagination, the subtlety, the genius of their Creator in a way that nothing else does. God wants you to know from these Scriptures that he takes unusual delight in those who are fashioned in his image and likeness - you and I. All the pleasure that God has in the rest of his works; open seas, vast mountain ranges, majestic savannas, pulsating tropical forests, wild beasts that walk, fly and swim, stars – all that is just plain to him compared with the place in his heart he keeps for you. God loves you. A lot. When he made you he held you in his hand, nodded approvingly and said to himself, “That’s… that’s very good.”

In this Darwin bicentenary we have all heard, I’m sure, that the genetic maps for humans and chimpanzees are 98% identical - and though I’m no geneticist, I’m sure that is true. But, “So what? Yeah and…?” Coal and diamonds are 100% atomically identical, and we know that diamonds are forever and coal is for burning. That 2% difference between us and even the most developed, most intelligent, most man-like species in the animal world is similarly enormous.

This week, I tried listing some of the differences I see between human beings and all other animals. This is what I came up with; only humans wear clothes. Animals don’t. OK, except this dog. But apart from him, animals don’t wear boots. We use tools; animals don’t. We find meaning in rites of passage; we name our children, marry, bury our dead, hold coming-of-age and remembrance ceremonies. Only humans cry tears when emotional. Only humans laugh, smile or have a sense of humour (okay, not everyone)... Only humans create and invent. We come up with things like the wheel, the printing press, the mobile phone... Only humans have a sense of beauty and transcendence; unlike animals we celebrate, stimulate and provoke in fine art, in making music, in poetry, dance and drama. Only humans have an existential awareness. It occurs to us to ask, “Who am I?” “Where am I from?” No other creature frowns and asks, “What is the meaning of my life?”

Contrary to the logic of the survival of the fittest, we humans look after our weak, our old and our sick, for long periods of time if necessary. We are capable of amazing philanthropy; no animal does good for its own sake. Dogs may be loyal but we are unique in creation as beings capable of expressing and receiving the love in which we find happiness and fulfillment. Human beings ‘make love;’ animals mate. About three months before our cat had kittens I saw her getting it together with the alley cat down the road, and there was nothing… how can I say this in church? They just… made kittens and then went home for tea. In our species, sex has a higher and greater purpose than just producing offspring, it is primarily about expressing desire, commitment, love.

And the last distinction; only humans are on a quest for God and ultimate reality. But as Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Church of England, has said this week, in a critique of Darwin, “Despite our vastly expanding technical knowledge, even a fairly cursory review of human history undermines any idea of constant moral progress.” That’s right; only human beings sin.

3) Appointed over the Rest of Creation

Thirdly, we are not only distinct from; we are also appointed over the rest of creation. In v28 God gave our species a permanent mission to accomplish - to spread throughout the world and rule it, to multiply and govern. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…” We’re back to Freud and Marx; sex and aggression – they were right in a way, but here the mandate is God-centred and not man-centred, and it brings fulfilment, not frustration. “Rule over the fish, the birds and over every living creature,” says God. So the whole awe-inspiring variety of our natural habitat, with its flora and fauna is entrusted to our care. We belong to our environment, yes; but we are also custodians over it.

In fact, this is the beginning of work. The work we do is part of God’s plan. Your ambition, your drive, your natural inclination to seek career promotion and want responsibility, the sense of pride you take in developing a project well, all that ultimately comes from God.

Remembering tomorrow morning that work is good and it is part of what makes us human in God’s image. Ants work to make nests, bees work to make honey, beavers work to build dams; many species “do work.” But none has a charge and responsibility to care for other species or for its natural environment like we do. We’re in charge. We’ve got the job of controlling livestocks; we’re responsible for the management of natural resources, for maintaining air quality and for the state of the water in lakes and seas. God put us in charge, said in effect, “You look after that.”

So we’ve sent thousands of species to oblivion, sometimes innocently, sometimes by greed, sometimes by carelessness. We’ve created acid rain, toxic seas, and North Atlantic cod, once so abundant you could hardly sail a ship though the water, we’ve fished almost to extinction. The rate of acceleration in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now so high; some scientists say that freak weather is here to stay. Overall, our track record is not good and it’s not just fringe politicians, new age dropouts in baggy jumpers who say we’ve got to do something about the environment; God started the debate centuries ago, here in v28-30.

4) Spiritual Beings

The fourth thing is this: unlike anything else in creation, however beautiful or splendid or awe-inspiring it is, only we have been made in the image and likeness of God. It means that every human being, however unexceptional, however limited in our eyes, is massively significant. Being made in the image of God means we alone in creation are spiritual beings, we alone can have a relationship with God and indeed we never feel fully human until we discover that.

We are restless, until we find our rest in God, as Saint Augustin put it. That’s because God has designed us that way. Unlike any other created beast, we alone have a God-shaped hole. I love telling the story about the little four-year old girl who grew up in an atheist household. One day she asked her dad, “Daddy, where did I come from?” And dad gave her some really helpful stuff about amino acids, meteorites, primeval matter, DNA, randomness, chance, and so on. Then, just for balance, he added, “Oh, and there are some people who say that all this comes from a very powerful being and they call him God.” The little girl got up and started dancing around the room with joy. “I knew what you told me wasn’t true. It’s him! It’s him!” Somehow, we just sense there is someone out there, especially when we’re young; it’s inbuilt. We just repress it as we get older.

5) Male and Female

The last thing is at the end of v27, a theme that is amplified in chapter 2. God made human beings in his own image; male and female, he created them. In fact, every living creature he had called into existence before Homo sapiens was male and female too, but it just says that God made them “according to their different kinds.” But male and female is specifically mentioned here because I think there’s something about the nuances and subtleties of human maleness and femaleness that reflects God’s character in a distinctive way. Bono sang about the “mysterious distance between a man and a woman” – and there definitely is one. Of our 70,000 human genes, only 78 (those found in the Y chromosome) separate men from women. But what a difference! The fact that we differ from each other at a molecular level means we are distinct from one another in every cell of our bodies.

Here’s a little story that illustrates that. There was once a perfect man who met a perfect woman who fell perfectly in love. After a perfect period of engagement they had a perfect wedding and embarked on a perfect marriage. Everything was just perfect. Then one snowy Christmas Eve, in foul, foul weather, the perfect couple was driving in their perfect car when they saw someone in distress in the street. Being perfect citizens, they stopped right away.

It was Father Christmas with his sack of toys. Not wishing to upset all those kids the next morning, they invited Father Christmas into their car to help him on his way. But the snow storm got worse and worse and the perfect couple and Father Christmas had a road accident. Only one survived. Question: who was it? Answer: the perfect woman. How come? Because everybody knows the perfect man and Father Christmas don’t exist. So, if the perfect man and Father Christmas don’t exist it must have been the woman at the wheel. Which explains why there was a car crash in the first place! Oh dear…

In the 70s and 80s people emphasised the equality of the sexes and, of course, it was mostly a healthy corrective. “Anything you can do, I can do too” as the song went, and quite right too. But maybe we got a bit confused. By imposing a cultural moratorium on talking about our inequalities we lost sight of our unique differences as men and women. Since the mid 90’s, with books like ‘Men Are From Mars…’ people have been less shy about admitting what makes us distinct from each other.

Scientists and anthropologists now think that one of the most significant differences between us sits between the ears. It would appear that men’s brains and women’s brains are not the same – which explains a lot. Women’s brains - get ready for this - are smaller (about 5% on average) but they have more connections, and therefore more interaction, between the left and right hemispheres. This is why, in general, women are more competent verbally than men; they have a bigger space for memorising words which is why they are able to recount conversations they’ve had in great detail to their friends over coffee. It also explains why they are often more intuitive. They tend to be good judges of personality. It’s why women tend to multitask much more readily and efficiently than men.

Men, on the other hand, tend much more to use only one side of their brain at a time. That’s why many of them want to be engineers and work with computers. They often excel in logic and geometry and tend to cope well with abstract concepts. It’s why Kathie sometimes gets out of the car and lets me back it into a small parking space. And it’s why I, in total awe of her multitasking abilities, let her do the ironing, answer the phone, supervise the kids’ homework, feed the cat and mow the lawn while I check the sports reports on the Internet. Only joking…

Ending

So the end of Genesis 1 gives us some amazing answers to the question ‘who are you?’ You are the crown of creation, the spine-tingling crescendo of God’s opus. You have been put in charge of managing God’s estate, given authority over other species. You have been put in charge of oceans, mountains, natural resources, and conservation… You have been lovingly and carefully crafted, shaped in God’s very likeness, mysteriously resembling him, especially in the delightful complementarities that exist between the sexes.

Finally, “Let us make,” says God in v26. ‘In our image’. God seems to be having a conversation with himself. One God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: creator, redeemer, and life-giver. And these three are in an eternal relationship of adoring affection. The Father loves the Son, the Spirit loves the Father, the Son loves the Spirit... Right in the heart of God is a celebration of infinite perfection, a festival of holy joy and endless, unfathomable, unbreakable love. God is love.

This is the God in whose image you are fearfully and wonderfully made!


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 22nd February 2009

Living by Faith: Calling (Genesis 12.1-9 and John 8.34-42)

Introduction

We’re starting a series of talks tonight on how to live by faith. And in order to learn how to live by faith 2,000 years after Christ, we’re going to be looking at the life of a man who lived 2,000 years before Christ. You might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t see how that’s going to be relevant,” but even if Abraham’s world is very different to ours, the God we worship is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – and he doesn’t change.

It’s really important we understand that because otherwise the Bible is just another history book. Some people think that the day of miracles is past. In reality, there has never been a ‘day of miracles,’ there's only a God of miracles and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

In asking the question, “How can I live by faith?” I want to say straight away that the way we hear the word “faith” used in our day is misleading. Here are a few examples: the media talks about “faith schools” which are often centres of educational excellence that are usually popular with parents. There’s a programme on TV at the moment called “Round the World in Eighty Faiths,” in which context the word “faith” means one path among many to spiritual enlightenment. We hear about “faith leaders” which usually means men of ambassadorial status who are basically members of the establishment. “Faith” in much modern-day English usage is just another word for “respectable religion of any variety you like.”

But the Bible never talks about faith in that way. If faith, in our culture, is like a game of croquet with Auntie, in the Bible, faith is more like bungee jumping with Mad Max and Crazy Kev. It’s precarious. It’s an adventure where you stake everything on God’s promises. John Wimber always said we need to spell “faith” r.i.s.k. You see, faith, for so many of our fellow citizens, means knowing where you’re heading but Hebrews 11.8 says quite openly that Abraham, having been introduced as a model of faith, “did not know where he was going.” And being a man, he probably didn’t ask anyone for directions either... So faith is not about self-assurance or self-confidence - and certainly not self-reliance.

In Romans 4, it says that Abraham is the father of all who believe. Hebrews 11 says five times that he lived by faith. In our gospel reading tonight, Jesus says, “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did.” Which basically means “if you were people who had faith, you’d be living on the edge.” We’re going to be exploring together over the next seven weeks how Abraham lived by faith and what can we learn from it.

Background

All right. We pick up the story tonight in Genesis 12. Abraham at that time is called Abram and he is 75 years old. In fact, the story actually begins a little earlier and it would be remiss of me to skate over the background.

Chapter 12 begins by saying, “The Lord had said to Abram…” The grammar of that sentence tells you that God’s call had come some time before and that a period of time must have elapsed between God speaking and Abram responding. The end of chapter 11, in fact, explains that Abram and his family had already set out from their home in Ur, to go to Canaan, but when they had got as far as Harran, mysteriously they stopped and settled there. I’ll come back to that later, it’s important. It also says, in v30, that his wife Sarai had no children. In fact, it says it twice in one sentence just to rub it in.

I want you to notice this: God’s call on Abram’s life came at precisely the point of his own powerlessness. God’s call often does. Moses had a speech impediment and a criminal record. Jeremiah was inarticulate and inexperienced. Gideon was small and unimpressive. David was young and disregarded. Mary was a nobody from a nothing town. Paul was violent and anti-Christian. God didn’t wait until they were sorted before he called them. He called them at their point of greatest powerlessness and when they were most unsuitable. For Abram the problem was twofold. 1) He was getting on a bit and 2) his wife was childless and now beyond childbearing age. That’s a bit of a bad start when God tells you to go off and become the father of a great nation, more numerous than the stars in the sky and grains of sand on the shore.

Never dismiss God calling you to do something great on account of you being not yet ready. Some of you here are young. You’re not too young for God to use you mightily. Some of you here are older. You’re not too old for God to call you into new forms of service.

So tonight we’re going to start looking at what it means to live by faith and, in particular, how God calls and how he expects us to respond. Probably the biggest questions we would have tonight are “how do I know God is calling me?” and “how and when should I respond to that call?”

Well, I think Genesis 12 sets out four tests. Here they are: 1) Can I trust the promises of God? 2) Am I determined to keep going? 3) Am I able to work with others? And 4) Am I ready to step out of my comfort zone?

1) Can You Trust the Promises of God?

First test, can I trust the promises of God? We know from other parts of the Bible that Abram believed that the land of Canaan would be given to him (though it was inhabited by Canaanites) and that an heir would be born to him (though his wife was well past the menopause). And it seems that his confidence was founded on God’s promise to him in the opening verses of Genesis 12 where God sets out his manifesto; this is what I am going to do. “I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you; I will make your name great, I will bless, I will curse.”

God’s call on Abram’s life, and God’s call on your life starts with what he is going to do; not with what you are going to do. God says, “I will do it.”

About ten years ago, Kathie and I were trying to sell a house. We placed it in a number of agencies and put an advert in a seller-to-buyer property magazine. Lots of interest, many visits, no offers. So, of course, I started to wonder about whether we had set the too high, and then worry if anyone would want to buy our horrible house and whether we were going to be stuck with this millstone forever. Plus the stress of having to keep the place impeccable for visits which, with four children, is a challenge. Months passed - and nothing was happening.

And then I was reminded of these promises from God: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness - then all these other things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6.33). And this one: “Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4.6-7).

I made an intentional decision not to fret about the house. It’s not important, it’s just a pile of bricks and my heavenly Father will sort it out. Within one week, two people made firm offers. So the sale became something of an auction and, in the end, we agreed to sell it for more than it was actually worth. God is faithful and he honours his promises.

However, it is much easier to listen to feelings of uncertainty and insecurity than it is to stake everything on some words on a page. Yes, God says, “I will never abandon or forsake you.” Yes, the Bible says, “God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. Instead, along with the temptation he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to endure it.” Yes, God says, “Those who honour me I will honour.” Yes, Jesus says, “Surely I will be with you until the end of the age.” But that’s not always what it feels like, is it?

A friend of mine, who is a former RAF pilot, told me that when aircraft pilots fly upside-down they sometimes have the feeling of being right-way up. The sensation is caused by fluid in the ear. If you tilt your head to one side the hairs in the fluid-filled part of the ear tell the brain that the head is tilted and the signal is reinforced by what the eyes are telling the brain - and you adjust your balance accordingly. However, this sense of balance can be confused by other sensations - especially during acceleration after take-off where the fluid may send a signal to the brain that does not match what is actually happening. The signal can also be even more confusing if a pilot is flying with blocked ears (a head cold for example) and it’s made much worse when flying in cloud with no visual references. So, the bottom line is this: pilots are taught to always rely on their instruments and never on their feelings.

A pilot’s life and those of his crew and passengers, may depend on him not listening to his senses, choosing instead to follow his instruments. It’s exactly the same with God’s promises. It is deadly to trust your feelings and ignore God’s promises. Abram must have felt, “Wait a minute; I am old and I am getting older. Sarai in a maternity ward - it’s not going to happen. Come on, Abram, wake up and smell the bagels.” But despite all that, v4 says this; “So Abram left as the Lord had told him…” Can you trust the promises of God?

2) Are You Determined to Keep Going?

Test 2: Are you determined to keep going? Abram kept moving. God promised him an heir at the age of 75. But it didn’t happen overnight or even nine months later. He had to wait. And hang on. And keep going.

Did you notice how he just keeps going in this passage? In v1 God says, “Go.” In v4 he sets off. In v5 he arrives in Canaan. In v6 he travels a bit further, as far as Shechem. In v8, he heads off again; this time to the hills east of Bethel. In v9 he’s on the move yet again, this time to the Negev in the south.

Some years ago, the was a piece in the papers about hee pot-holers who had gone missing. Search and rescue teams found them in the end but they got there too late and they were already dead. Tragically, they were just a few hundred metres short of daylight but they had become disorientated, cold, and had stopped for several hours which proved fatal. The coroner’s inquest into their deaths concluded by saying, “If only they had kept moving.”

Are you still moving forward as a Christian? Are you reading? Are you learning? Are you going to conferences? Abram kept going.Are you growing? Are you taking action to nourish your faith? Compare this with Abram’s father. At the end of chapter 11, they had all set out from Ur to go to Canaan but Abram’s dad Terah got stuck in Harran, which is only about half way there. I feel this might be a word for some here tonight. Your parents may have settled for half measures with God – but you don’t have to. You can go further. Are you determined to keep going?

Summing up Abraham’s life in one paragraph, we can say this: he left his comfortable home to live in a tent. When he finally arrived in the Promised Land, as we’ll see next week, there was a famine - so he had to move on again straight away to Egypt. When he got to Egypt he treated his wife dishonourably which had embarrassing consequences. So he had to get of there too. He headed back to Canaan, where a military coalition was waiting to declare war against him. Eleven years down the line, having spent the whole time wandering round the Middle-East like a nomad, getting into trouble with everyone he met, he still had no heir. Sarah talked him into having a child through her servant girl, (which was normal practice). God had to remind him that he had clearly said that his wife Sarah was to be the mother of the child to be born. But a full thirteen years after that episode passed - and there was still no natural heir. Finally, God said twenty-five years after the adventure started, that the promised child would be born a year hence. Twelve months later, Isaac was born. But though all that trouble and frustration he kept going…

The New Zealand Christian author Mike Riddell wrote about an experience he once had of driving in the dark in the dead of winter. He reached down to switch the heater on, just as he was approaching a narrow bridge, but he hit the wrong switch and he turned his headlights off by mistake. Suddenly the lights went out as he drove towards the bridge and there was no time to reach down and fiddle about to locate the light switch. He just had to keep going forward with nothing but the mental picture of the bridge he had had just before it all went dark.

If you’re finding it hard to see your way ahead spiritually, call to mind your cherished memories of God’s goodness when it was clearer for you. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

3) Are You Able to Work with Others?

Test 3. Are you able to work with others? This might seem like I’m stretching things a bit, but I don’t think so. When Abram was called, v4 says he took Lot with him. When Moses was called, he took Aaron with him. When Paul was called he took Silas and Timothy.

Listen; lone rangers, like Samson and Saul, who want all the glory for themselves, who refuse correction, who do their own thing, who avoid accountability and who are on an ego trip go nowhere. God is not going to bless that. Each of us needs to be able to include others into the call of God on our lives. So Abram took Lot and all his family with him. They were part of the adventure as well.

I remember Pat Harris talking once about a time when he was busy with some frightfully important sermon preparation and his wife popped her head round the door and said, “You’ll need to look after David today.” David is their son who has quite severe learning difficulties. Well, this was an inconvenient and busy time so Pat said, “No. What about my preparation for my ministry?” And she said, “This is your preparation for your ministry!” Can you take others into God’s call on your life?

 4) Are You Ready to Leave Your Comfort Zone?

Last test: Are you ready to leave your comfort zone? God says, (v1) “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” So a God tells Abram, ten years into a comfortable retirement, to emigrate to a foreign land, learn a new language, leave behind his home, his culture and his friends probably to never see them again.

I hardly need to say that that is a tough call. About a century ago, Archaeologists dug up Abraham’s former city, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. When they reached the layer of soil which corresponds to Abraham’s day, they discovered amazing things; a temple 23 metres high, canals, smart villas with cavity walls and central heating, advanced piped sanitation systems and decorative fountains. Abram left all that at the age of seventy-five to walk around in a sweaty and dusty old tent, made of camel skins, somewhere in the Arabian desert, miles from anywhere.

Abram accepted that life, forgoing a comfortable little villa by the sea, to live in tents in a desert, at a ripe old age, convinced, says Hebrews 11, that there was a city somewhere, but not knowing where it was, or how to get there, and therefore having not the first idea where he was going. Goodbye Comfort Zone, it was nice knowing you!

Someone once said “Ships are never safer than when they are in a harbour – but ships were made for the open seas.” Have you become a bit comfortable? Is it time to step out and live by faith?

 Conclusion

I’m going to stop there. How are you doing on the “Living by Faith” test? Are you trusting in God’s promises or are you believing your feelings? Are you still keeping going or have you slowed down - or stopped altogether? Are you bringing others into your calling or are you a ministry loner? Are you ready to leave your comfort zone or are you content with telling your grandchildren you spent your life watching repeats of Top Gear on Dave?

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th February 2009

The Father’s Family (1 John 2.3-17 )

Introduction

The author William Feather once said; “Life begins at 40, and so do lumbago, faulty eyesight and the tendency to tell a story to the same person three or four times.” I’m well in my 40s now, but I don’t think I repeat myself all that much. It’s true isn’t it? People over a certain age become “repetitive” or “garrulous.” But I don’t think I repeat myself all that much...

At the time John’s first letter was written, he was an old man, probably in his 80’s or 90’s and so it’s not surprising that he repeats himself quite a lot in this letter. Or rather, he kind of goes round in circles, coming back to the same point over and over, but each time looking at it from a slightly different angle.

The apostle John was quite a character. When he met Jesus, he was a very young man with a hot temper. Jesus nicknamed him (and his brother James) sons of thunder. In the gospels, you see why. He once asked Jesus to call down fire from heaven on Samaritans because they didn’t believe in him. He was, in short, a loose cannon, a hot headed, tempestuous, vengeful man. But Jesus chose him to be one of the twelve. That’s because when Jesus looks at you, he doesn’t just see what you are, he looks deeper and sees what you can become, by grace, through faith, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

By the time John wrote this letter, probably six decades after meeting Jesus, he had become a mild-mannered, benign and kindly old gentleman who was always going on about love, and calling his fellow believers “dear children,” or “dear friends”. That’s what a lifetime of knowing Jesus does for you. It’s a bit like dogs resembling their owners. You become like the people you love and serve.

So let me say this straight away. God takes you as you come. You couldn’t do anything at all to make him love you more fondly or accept you more readily. But by the time he’s finished with you, you might look very different - you probably will. But it will be his work. Being a Christian is not self-help. God takes us just the way we are. That’s grace. But his goal is to change us into what we should be. That’s mercy.

This Is for You

So, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, old John writes this rambling letter. He writes it to three sorts of Christians; new believers, committed Christians and mature disciples. He calls them, in v12-14, “little children, young men and fathers.” Which group would you say you belonged to? New believers, committed Christians, mature disciples.

First of all, new believers. What does he say to them? Two things: he says that they know their sins are forgiven (v12) and they’ve discovered God as their Father (end of v13). That’s a good start. Those of you who are young in the faith really don’t need to go any further until you’ve understood those two things. Let’s take them in turn; first, forgiveness.

When we ask God to forgive us, he totally wipes out the stain of sin in our lives. He completely cleans the slate. You haven’t got to go on confessing the same thing, cringing and begging and hoping that God might just decide to give you a break! Our God freely pardons. I’ve spoken to people from other faiths and this is the big thing that makes Christians different from Muslims, Hindus, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Buddhists: we can be totally assured of full forgiveness.

Dr Karl Menninger, an American psychiatrist and not a Christian, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that they were forgiven, 75% of them would walk out the next day. I don’t know how true that is, but I have met many people in pastoral ministry whose growth as a Christian is horribly stunted because they never learned this basic thing.

But let me say this too. (And this is fundamental but there are many older Christians who haven’t learned this yet); God will totally forgive you and bring blessing and renewal into your life to the same measure that you are freely forgiving and blessing others who have wronged you. “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.” This is hard isn’t it?

You may have been profoundly wronged. You may have been offended as an innocent party. Someone has been unfair to you, you’ve been ill-treated, let down, betrayed. I’ve been through that too and it took me a long time to get to a place where I could genuinely wish the best for the person who harmed me and speak well of them. But I know now that it’s one of the keys to blessing and new life. Forgiveness brings healing to the restless soul and restores peace with God.

These young believers have understood that and they have also started off in their walk with God by relating to him as Father. They know they are children of God, loved and accepted by him. God is everything you long for in a Father with none of the downsides we associate with our own fallen, imperfect dads. He is devoted, he cares, he protects, he corrects, he provides - and you want to be like him. That’s the Father heart of God and these new Christians have discovered how good he is. Is your soul alive to the glad affection your Father lavishes on you in Christ?

John’s writing to older Christians too. They’re not “little children” any more so John addresses them as “young men.” (Or as the latest revision of the NIV translates it, “young people.” John was not only writing to male Christians here). As they’ve gone on further, he says (in v14), they’ve become strong. Where does that vigour come from? John says, “You’re strong because the word of God lives in you.” They’ve been reading and soaking in the Bible and it’s built up their spiritual muscle.

And you know what God strengthens people for don’t you? It tells you, twice, (in the middle of v13 and the end of v14). It’s so that when the devil attacks you can prevail and not give in. They’ve had some victories already; “you have overcome the evil one,” he says. They’re resisting temptation. They’re standing firm against Satan’s accusations. They’re prevailing against his constant attempts to grind them down. They’ve begun to be discerning. They can tell when the father of lies is talking. They’re seeing strongholds come down through prayer. They’ve strengthened themselves in the word of God and they’re winning.

Listen; we cannot take ground from Satan if Satan has ground in us. You win the battle and you win it decisively, says 1 John 2.14, if you are fortified by the Word of God. And if you aren’t doing that, then spiritually it can get ugly out there.

There’s a story about a man who wanted to sell his house. He found a buyer but he was poor, so he couldn’t afford the full price. So they started bargaining and after much discussion, the owner agreed to sell the house half price on one condition: He would retain ownership of one small nail hanging over the front door. After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the smell was so disgusting, the house became uninhabitable, and the man was forced to sell the house back to the owner of the nail. If I leave the Devil even one small peg in my life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.

So how are you doing against the powers of evil? Are you winning? Does the Devil still have a little nail hanging over your front door? It could be unforgiveness, it could be unbelief. It could be an improper relationship, or a wrong attitude. It could be a compulsive habit or a spiritual compromise. The only way is to take that nail off and fix it to Christ’s cross. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” says Galatians 5.24.

Young believers and committed Christians; John is also writing to mature and experienced disciples; models that others in the church look up to. He calls them “fathers” in v13, probably because they knew what it was to lead people to Christ and have spiritual children. “I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning,” a sentence he repeats in the following verse.

What’s your goal as a Christian? Think about that... The distinguishing feature of mature disciples, according to v14 is to really know God. Even the apostle Paul, who had been caught up to paradise, who had seen the Lord’s glory on the road to Damascus, who spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians, who had ecstatic celestial encounters in the 3rd heaven, we’re told - so amazing he didn’t even know whether it was an out of the body experience or not - Paul, twenty years after his conversion wrote about having one single future aspiration: “I just want to know Christ...” That’s all I need.

There is no greater thing than knowing Jesus. If you’re going to attain maturity, being parents in God as it were to younger believers, then make knowing Christ your highest ambition. Are you hungry to know God more?

John could have been writing to us at All Saints.’ New believers, older Christians and wise, mature disciples. Each of us is at a different stage in our walk with God. The question is, “Are you advancing?”

The theme this morning is “the Father’s family.” What does it mean to be a part of God’s family? Looking at this passage, I put it to you that it means three things; loving God, loving each other and loathing the world.

1) Loving God

Firstly, being in the Father’s family is about a loving relationship with God; it all starts there. How would you define love? It’s not easy... A psychology textbook once defined it as, “the cognitive affective state characterised by intrusive and obsessive fantasising concerning reciprocity of amorant feeling by the object of the amorance.” If you want a definition that is a little more accessible, the Bible defines love for God as obeying his commands. That’s what it says in v5. “If anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them.”

There’s a story about a woman who was suffering from marital unhappiness, so her concerned husband took her to see a specialist. He listens to the couple talk about their relationship, and then says, “The treatment I prescribe is really quite simple.” He goes over to the man’s wife, gathers her up in his arms, and gives her a big kiss. He then steps back and looks at the woman’s glowing face and broad smile. So he turns to the woman’s husband and says, “See! That’s basically all she needs, twice a week.” So the man replies, “OK Doctor, I’ll bring her in on Tuesdays and Fridays.”

Loving God is more than dutifully turning up on Wednesdays and Sundays. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being very weak and 10 being very strong, how great is your love for God, measured in obeying his commands from the heart?

2) Loving Each Other

The next thing is loving each other. In John’s Gospel and letters, life is very black and white, with no shades of grey. In all his writings there are sharp contrasts, you might have noticed it. You are either one thing or the opposite. So he says, for example, you have gone;

· from darkness to light
· from hate to love
· from lies to truth
· from not knowing God to knowing Him
· from lawlessness to righteousness
· from being children of the devil to being children of God

In v9 John says that you can’t claim you love God if you hate your fellow believer. There’s something not quite right about sending someone a card with “Jesus loves you” written on it, if it says inside, “But I think you’re a creep!”

Loving God through obedience to him is one thing. But loving others, how are we going to do this? There are an awful lot of annoying people in the world and some of them come to church! How are we going to love people we’d frankly rather avoid? The answer lies in one little word. John keeps addressing his readers as “children.” He does it in verse 1 and verse 18, for example. He deliberately uses the word “child” and not the word “son”, which Paul uses in Romans 8 and Ephesians 1. In those days, only the sons inherited the Father’s blessings, so Paul was basically saying, “In Christ, everything comes to us.”

But John is not really talking about inheritance here. He is making a different point, and equally wonderful. It’s not just that we receive from God all good things. John’s point here is that, as his children, we actually become like he is. There is a family likeness.

F.F. Bruce says, “The words used denote relationship to God and carry with them also the connotation of likeness to God; the two ideas are inseparable, for likeness is the proof of relationship.” Likeness is the proof of relationship.

Our four children all happen to resemble me very closely. This is a disadvantage for them. But it is also a relief for me, particularly in Joseph’s case. When the pregnancy was diagnosed, they calculated the expected date of delivery. I wouldn’t normally have a problem with that. But according to their maths I was actually 200 miles away from Kathie at the estimated time of conception. Now my wife is gifted, but not that gifted! But Joe is my son and everybody knows it because, I’m told, he looks like me.

“Likeness is the proof of relationship.” Joe is my son and everybody knows it. Same thing with God. We know we are God’s because we are like him - not physically, but in terms of our character. There is more of it in our lives than there was before, if we are walking with God and the more we become like him the more we can love the unlovable.

3) Loathing the World

So love for God and love for others. Pursue both with all your energy. But there’s another love here and it’s a love you should repudiate as strongly as you pursue the other two; John calls it love for the world and he strongly warns against it. He’s not saying, “Don’t love the people in the world.” He is saying, “Don’t be attracted to life without God. Hate all that is under Satan’s rule. Throw off your attachment to, and affection for, the glitz and glamour and passing pleasure of life without God.

What does John say? Verses 15-17. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

I think one of the devil’s biggest lies is that Christians miss out because they don’t buy into the world’s appeal. Somehow, because we’re Christians, we get a raw deal.

There’s a story of an old priest and trainee priest in a Confessional. It was the trainee’s turn to hear confession. It lasted a little while and the penance was suitably quite long at the end. “How did I do?” said the novice to the old pro. “It was a start,” he replied, “but you must learn moderation. When hearing a confession of excesses of the flesh, you should solemnly say, “I see, my child.” Don’t say, “Wow!”

There’s nothing “wow!” about the world. Let’s get this silly idea out of our minds once and for all that Satan gives you a good time. He doesn’t. He gives you Hell. Worldliness simply creates in us a dependence, a thirst for more, which eventually all goes sour.

Listen to the words of Lord Byron, one of England’s libertine poets: “Drank every cup of joy, heard every trump of fame; drank early; drank deeply; drank draughts which common millions might have drunk. Then died of thirst, because there was no more to drink.”

“Don’t love the world”, says John, “or anything in it. All that stuff, the cravings, the appetites, the boasting about what we’ve got, comes not from the Father, but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

Ending

So that’s the Father’s family – new, growing believers; solid, committed Christians; wise, mature disciples; lovers of God, lovers of others and loathers of sin. Like every family it has its moments but no other family has a Father like this one. Aren’t you glad you’re in?


Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 8th February 2009