To best understand how God has built us and what He has built us for, we must understand that the question itself is a vitally important one. Christ said this in Luke 14:25-27:
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
What does christ mean by this? We’re supposed to hate those around us? No, Christ is using hyperbole here to make an extreme and very important point. If we want to truly follow God, then we must work toward prioritizing God as the first priority in our life. The relationship with Christ must be the most important, therefore the place we spend our time, energy and focus. All else must come behind it. Yes, even the god things like family, country, and even the priority of our own life.
He also says this: “whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Even unto death are we to follow if we are to be called a true follower of God. Many of us say we are Christian, but do we follow with the devotion that God desires us to?
So in order to answer the question What Does it Mean to Be Built By God?, we have to understand three important truths:
We first must understand WHO built us.
Once we understand who built us, then we must understand WHY we were built.
If we understand who built us and why, then it is time to tackle the specific nature of our place in God’s universe.
If we believe we are a cosmic accident, there is no reason to continue. So first, how de we know that we aren’t a cosmic accident?
THE HUMAN PERCEPTION
Science believes that the universe began as a tiny, contained point of energy that suddenly expanded, in mere seconds, into the universe as we know it. This, of course, is known as the Big Bang Theory. Although scientists consider this the likely beginning of the universe, scientists can’t account for the tiny, contained point of energy that started it all.
From this sudden burst of matter came life. Science believes after the earth cooled down and organic molecules formed under a blanket of hydrogen. The linking of different molecules formed RNA, a building block of life. This inherited RNA became DNA. All living creatures inherited DNA from a common ancestor 3.5 billion years ago.
It may surprise you to know that these theories are relatively young. The RNA world view theory evolved in the1980s. The Big Bang Theory is slightly older, originating in the 1930s while Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the oldest of all three, came into existence in 1859. At this writing, the oldest theory of how we evolved into the complex humans of today is only 163 years old.
All of this sounds plausible, but can science be wrong? Can there be another explanation?
Does science have a track record of being wrong? Let’s look at a few theories that didn’t get it right:
The earth-centered universe theory was a staple of science for 1100 years.
The theory of four humors (the human body is composed of four “sections” -black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm- and dependent on the blood drawn from parts of the body, healing would occur. This theory about how the body worked was in practice as high-science for 2000 years.
The four elements- earth, wind, fire and water - were thought to be the only elemental forces in the world for 1400 years.
The Miasma Theory- The theory that the air itself carried disease was a widespread theory for 2000 years.
Science is a way for us to empirically measure the things around us to draw a truth from. Scientific definition is this: the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. This is a long-winded way of saying that through experiment and observation, we can make certain inferences about the world around us.
Science is a valuable tool to understand the natural world around us. In no way should it be discounted or denied. Science has brought us many valuable conveniences in our life. It helps us to live longer and better. But we must remember three things about science:
It is a way to measure the physical world only, not the spiritual world.
It is an evolving medium. When more is discovered, scientific opinion changes.
It is always to be ordered, in priority, to our relationship with Jesus.
Science is a human (temporal) way to explain our world.
CAN THERE BE ANOTHER EXPLANATION?
To understand the spiritual explanation, we must go to a number of different biblical books to get a picture of creation and who God is. Here we will conduct our own little experiment about bible authenticity.
Ppart 1: THE CREATOR
Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
So according to scripture, God created the heavens and the earth. He created it all. But can we trust the word? Who even wrote Genesis?
Genesis was written by Moses. But is Moses reliable? He obviously wasn’t there, so we are getting what the bible would call an “inspired” word, or writing. So how do we check Moses’ reliability?
Exodus 33:7-11
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses and God had a special, intimate relationship. It began shortly after Moses was born, when we saw the way God provided for him through the Egyptian palace. We see it more profoundly at the burning bush where God recruits a reluctant Moses, helps him by bringing Aaron to his side, and prepares him in Midian for forty years. By the time Moses is 80 he’s ready to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God prepared Moses for his leading.
Throughout the time in the desert, God and Moses have a deep relationship. There are arguments and pleading and repentance and judgment. And through it all, this close relationship, a face-to-face relationship, is maintained. But if we are to look a little deeper, we can ask a very serious question: who wrote Exodus. Well, it was Moses. Moses penned the first five books of the bible in that hot and conflicting desert where he met with God regularly.
In true scientific tradition, we can say that there is evidence that Moses can be trusted, but we can’t verify it through his own word so we must forge on to Matthew 17:3:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
In Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration (also recorded in Mark and Luke), Moses joins Jesus and Elijah in the spot where Jesus reveals His divinity. This gives us a verification that is stronger than Moses’ own inspired word. Moses has a part in Jesus’ divinity.
But is Matthew a reliable source? Well, we can verify it through John 20: 19-25:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John reports that the risen Jesus appeared to the apostles. Matthew, an apostle is in the group that Jesus has come to. How do we know that? Because the only one missing is Thomas. John, an apostle who wrote his own gospel, plus three other books that bear his name and the Book of Revelation, is a very trusted source.
But we can also note something that helps us to verify outside the bible regarding Matthew. His death is recorded in extra-biblical texts as happening in Ethiopia. He preached the gospel there and called the king of Ethiopia out on his behavior, which led to his martyrdom. This is important, because after Jesus appeared to the disciples, it spurred each one of them onto spreading the word with passion, knowing it would end in their gruesome deaths. This isn’t the mark of a man who cannot entrusted with the word of God.
So we can say that Moses’ word, inspired by God, is trustworthy. Genesis 1:26-31 says this:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
So God creates man with several objective:
To Multiply
To rule humanity
To rule animal life
It isn’t a bad gig. Adam and Eve’s objectives are to procreate and rule over all, subdue the world, call it their own.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Next, we see that God gave man a job to do. His job was to tend to the garden. To care for it. For all the good things God gave them, there is one caveat: they can’t eat from the tree in the center.
God gave them a boundary/ A boundary is a line that should not be crossed. Crossing that boundary will result in sin, which is rebellion against God. The question becomes this: is God not fair any more?
Out freedoms always come with boundaries. To illustrate this, think of when you drive somewhere. Although this can be a very freeing experience, it is also marked with many boundaries: stop signs, rules of the road, speed limits, etc. The freedom of driving is good, but it still has its limits.
In the context of God’s law, we struggle with understanding that God’s boundaries are not in relation to God being mean, but is in relation to God’s mercy. We sometimes ask the question, if God is merciful and just, then why am I not getting what I want?
To answer this question, we need to understand who God is.
Acts 17:31
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
God is Just
Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
God is Loving
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
God is Truthful
1 John 1:5
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all
God is Holy
Romans 9:15
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
God is Merciful
Psalm 5:5
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
God is a Judge
Psalm 130:4
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
God Forgives
These bible verses tell us about God’s character. If you examine this non-comprehensive list, you’ll see that God’s character is not marked by anger or punishment. But God is a judge.
One of the elements of God’s character is that He is a fair judge. If God judges fairly, the he will judge on our motives, not necessarily our actions. If we steal a bottle of shampoo from a store and are caught and go in front of a judge, the judge will look at the crime committed, weigh the punishment and finally, our level of regret. This produces a judgment commiserate with the crime. We won’t get life in prison for the stolen shampoo. This is the way a fair judge sees a case.
2 Peter 2:9 says this:
if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
After a long dissertation on how God has saved Israel countless times, Peter reminds us that God knows how to judge the righteous and unrighteous. God knows what He is doing, and although we can’t always see it, we have to have the faith to know that He knows how to both take care of us and address the unrighteous at the time of their judgment.
You see, God’s boundaries help us to understand God’s heart. They help us to understand what God values. When we cross a boundary and God allows adversity into our life because of it, it isn’t a moment to run away from God but to connect with Him. The boundaries help us to learn how to navigate in this world, but they also help us to connect to God once we have crashed through one. Our fight is always a fight against our own selfishness. When we become selfish and self-absorbed, it’s like opening a door to satan’s further influence.
Genesis 3:1-9
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God created a paradise of communion for humanity. But Satan shows up, willing to counteract God’s word. When Adam and Eve stepped over the boundary, they were ripe for punishment. This resulted in Original Sin for us all, but it is also to story of rebellion sewn into our hearts.
Genesis wasn’t only written for us but for the Israelites. Remember, Moses wrote this book while in the desert, before a death that would not allow him into the Promised Land. One of the purposes of Genesis is to build a simplified narrative to the Israelites about the story of creation, sin and restoration. The Israelites, when rescued, had been under Egyptian rule for 400 years, longer than America has been in existence! They were surrounded by the Egyptian gods and their customs for many generations. They didn’t understand who the real God was. So they needed a way to understand God as they trained both physically and spiritually in the desert. They had to understand the sin that was built in them and the free will choice they carried.
FREE WILL is the opportunity for us to connect with God or reject Him. Because the motive for choosing God is more important than blindly following. If God didn’t allow the choice for us to follow, then how could we love Him? The great denominator is love.
1 John 4:16-20
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
This is a relationship; the eternal mindset.
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
If we understand God’s heart, then we follow His heart. The relationship squashes our fear of punishment.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
We cannot have a hypocritical approach to the relationship; it must be pure
Part 2: THE CREATION
Our selfishness gets in the way of relationship. Because for most of our life we have assumed charge of our life. We have constructed a life that has built strongholds against God. These strongholds become habits and lifestyle.
Romans 1:21-25
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Paul lays out this very concept in Romans. When we desire to sin despite knowing that God exists and that he has put boundaries in place to direct us back to him, we “exchange” God for things of this world.
Because of this free will choice, God gives us over to these desires. Does that mean God doesn’t care? No, it means that God wants us to experience the futility of life without him. When we come to the conclusion that life (or the things we chase in life) don’t bring us to lasting peace, then we have another choice to follow God. This is an act of mercy by God. He gives us this opportunity so we can turn back to Him willingly, having “come to our senses.”
Romans 1:28-32
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
If we allow our selfishness (sin) to rule our life long enough, we become deaf to God’s voice. God will allow us to live this life util it is time to come back, an intervention, that brings us back
into a clear understanding that we have made a wrong choice in our life. But just as the was free will to go the wrong way, there is also free will to return.
Luke 15:13-16
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
This is the story of the Lost (Prodigal) son. It is the same story that Paul is relaying, but in a more concise and easily to understand package. In it, a son takes his inheritance early and runs away from home, spending it on a lavish lifestyle. But when the money runs out a famine hits, creates a real problem for him. He, a Jewish man, must take a job feeding pigs. He gets to such a low point that he is wishing for the food that the pigs eat. The young man in this story turns away from he father and indulges in life. The father allows him to go. The life of freedom he imagined has no future. In fact, it bankrupts him. This is one way God shows mercy to us: by showing us the boundaries are there for our good, but letting us live in our indignity, and giving us a choice to return.
Luke 15:17-19
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
He returns home. He makes the choice for God. But not only that, there is repentance in this passage. He doesn’t want to return to his father as a son but as a servant. He has learned his lesson. This is the choice we are afforded through God’s mercy, to come back humbly, ready to return to relationship.
Luke 15:20
20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
You’ll note that the father is not angry. Instead, he is delighted that his son returns to him. In the following verses, the father fits the son with a ring and sandals and robe and prepares a feast, announcing that “he was once lost but now is found.” The father (God) doesn’t accept his son with disdain but with love and acceptance. The son (us) is treated with a celebration. God wants us back, despite the detour we took with our free will choices.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Ephesians 4:20-24
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
This is the reality when we choose Christ, when we come back through repentance and humility. We are forgiven, we are celebrated and made new. There is a line drawn between our old life and new. The old life is history. The new life is how we can live into the present and future. It is time to change your life, your priorities, your goals. It is time to make submission a goal.
Why is it so difficult to follow God?
The strongholds you constructed most of your life are large; it takes time, prayer and effort to weaken the foundations. If you are struggling, then you are fighting.
Understanding the Creator and the Creation is a spiritual (eternal) way to explain our life.
Part 3: The Purpose
We are built in 3 general ways:
Social creature (Genesis 2:18-25)
We are given work to do (Genesis 2:15)
We are to have fellowship with God (Genesis 3:8)
If we are to remove any one of these, the creation can’t stand. If we take the social aspect out of life, then we suffer, even if we have work to do and have fellowship with God. If we don’t have work, then we generally break down, because we need something passionate to forge forward with. If we have social and work but no fellowship with God, life seems empty. We are built with these three components because this is how we live a fulfilled life in Christ. This is how God built us.
Genesis 1:26 says this:
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
We were made in God’s image. This means we were made with God’s attributes, buried deep down in our soul, to reflect what God cares about. Our selfish nature tries to eradicate that over time. It amounts to the Flesh vs. Spirit struggle, which we will talk more about in part 2.
You see, When we make a practice of not standing up for God, When we make a practice of not stepping into the opportunities
God give us when we make practice of not standing up to sin, we repeat the sin of Adam, that very sin that got he and Eve into trouble at the beginning: it is the choice of being selfish and selecting something other than God to fulfill us.
Psalm 139:13-15
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
David says it best: we were fearfully and wonderfully made, by God for purpose. That purpose is His, but it is also the thing we’ve been looking for, the thing we can only find through relationship. You are not a mistake. God has a plan for you. Our purpose is to get closer to God.
Questions:
1. Are you in relationship with God?
2. If so, what does the relationship look like?
3. Do you realize, as a new creation, you can put away your past and move toward a new beginning?
4. Are you willing to submit everything to God?
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
What does christ mean by this? We’re supposed to hate those around us? No, Christ is using hyperbole here to make an extreme and very important point. If we want to truly follow God, then we must work toward prioritizing God as the first priority in our life. The relationship with Christ must be the most important, therefore the place we spend our time, energy and focus. All else must come behind it. Yes, even the god things like family, country, and even the priority of our own life.
He also says this: “whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Even unto death are we to follow if we are to be called a true follower of God. Many of us say we are Christian, but do we follow with the devotion that God desires us to?
So in order to answer the question What Does it Mean to Be Built By God?, we have to understand three important truths:
We first must understand WHO built us.
Once we understand who built us, then we must understand WHY we were built.
If we understand who built us and why, then it is time to tackle the specific nature of our place in God’s universe.
If we believe we are a cosmic accident, there is no reason to continue. So first, how de we know that we aren’t a cosmic accident?
THE HUMAN PERCEPTION
Science believes that the universe began as a tiny, contained point of energy that suddenly expanded, in mere seconds, into the universe as we know it. This, of course, is known as the Big Bang Theory. Although scientists consider this the likely beginning of the universe, scientists can’t account for the tiny, contained point of energy that started it all.
From this sudden burst of matter came life. Science believes after the earth cooled down and organic molecules formed under a blanket of hydrogen. The linking of different molecules formed RNA, a building block of life. This inherited RNA became DNA. All living creatures inherited DNA from a common ancestor 3.5 billion years ago.
It may surprise you to know that these theories are relatively young. The RNA world view theory evolved in the1980s. The Big Bang Theory is slightly older, originating in the 1930s while Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, the oldest of all three, came into existence in 1859. At this writing, the oldest theory of how we evolved into the complex humans of today is only 163 years old.
All of this sounds plausible, but can science be wrong? Can there be another explanation?
Does science have a track record of being wrong? Let’s look at a few theories that didn’t get it right:
The earth-centered universe theory was a staple of science for 1100 years.
The theory of four humors (the human body is composed of four “sections” -black bile, yellow bile, blood and phlegm- and dependent on the blood drawn from parts of the body, healing would occur. This theory about how the body worked was in practice as high-science for 2000 years.
The four elements- earth, wind, fire and water - were thought to be the only elemental forces in the world for 1400 years.
The Miasma Theory- The theory that the air itself carried disease was a widespread theory for 2000 years.
Science is a way for us to empirically measure the things around us to draw a truth from. Scientific definition is this: the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. This is a long-winded way of saying that through experiment and observation, we can make certain inferences about the world around us.
Science is a valuable tool to understand the natural world around us. In no way should it be discounted or denied. Science has brought us many valuable conveniences in our life. It helps us to live longer and better. But we must remember three things about science:
It is a way to measure the physical world only, not the spiritual world.
It is an evolving medium. When more is discovered, scientific opinion changes.
It is always to be ordered, in priority, to our relationship with Jesus.
Science is a human (temporal) way to explain our world.
CAN THERE BE ANOTHER EXPLANATION?
To understand the spiritual explanation, we must go to a number of different biblical books to get a picture of creation and who God is. Here we will conduct our own little experiment about bible authenticity.
Ppart 1: THE CREATOR
Genesis 1:1-2
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
So according to scripture, God created the heavens and the earth. He created it all. But can we trust the word? Who even wrote Genesis?
Genesis was written by Moses. But is Moses reliable? He obviously wasn’t there, so we are getting what the bible would call an “inspired” word, or writing. So how do we check Moses’ reliability?
Exodus 33:7-11
7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses and God had a special, intimate relationship. It began shortly after Moses was born, when we saw the way God provided for him through the Egyptian palace. We see it more profoundly at the burning bush where God recruits a reluctant Moses, helps him by bringing Aaron to his side, and prepares him in Midian for forty years. By the time Moses is 80 he’s ready to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God prepared Moses for his leading.
Throughout the time in the desert, God and Moses have a deep relationship. There are arguments and pleading and repentance and judgment. And through it all, this close relationship, a face-to-face relationship, is maintained. But if we are to look a little deeper, we can ask a very serious question: who wrote Exodus. Well, it was Moses. Moses penned the first five books of the bible in that hot and conflicting desert where he met with God regularly.
In true scientific tradition, we can say that there is evidence that Moses can be trusted, but we can’t verify it through his own word so we must forge on to Matthew 17:3:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
In Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration (also recorded in Mark and Luke), Moses joins Jesus and Elijah in the spot where Jesus reveals His divinity. This gives us a verification that is stronger than Moses’ own inspired word. Moses has a part in Jesus’ divinity.
But is Matthew a reliable source? Well, we can verify it through John 20: 19-25:
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
John reports that the risen Jesus appeared to the apostles. Matthew, an apostle is in the group that Jesus has come to. How do we know that? Because the only one missing is Thomas. John, an apostle who wrote his own gospel, plus three other books that bear his name and the Book of Revelation, is a very trusted source.
But we can also note something that helps us to verify outside the bible regarding Matthew. His death is recorded in extra-biblical texts as happening in Ethiopia. He preached the gospel there and called the king of Ethiopia out on his behavior, which led to his martyrdom. This is important, because after Jesus appeared to the disciples, it spurred each one of them onto spreading the word with passion, knowing it would end in their gruesome deaths. This isn’t the mark of a man who cannot entrusted with the word of God.
So we can say that Moses’ word, inspired by God, is trustworthy. Genesis 1:26-31 says this:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
So God creates man with several objective:
To Multiply
To rule humanity
To rule animal life
It isn’t a bad gig. Adam and Eve’s objectives are to procreate and rule over all, subdue the world, call it their own.
Genesis 2:15-17
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Next, we see that God gave man a job to do. His job was to tend to the garden. To care for it. For all the good things God gave them, there is one caveat: they can’t eat from the tree in the center.
God gave them a boundary/ A boundary is a line that should not be crossed. Crossing that boundary will result in sin, which is rebellion against God. The question becomes this: is God not fair any more?
Out freedoms always come with boundaries. To illustrate this, think of when you drive somewhere. Although this can be a very freeing experience, it is also marked with many boundaries: stop signs, rules of the road, speed limits, etc. The freedom of driving is good, but it still has its limits.
In the context of God’s law, we struggle with understanding that God’s boundaries are not in relation to God being mean, but is in relation to God’s mercy. We sometimes ask the question, if God is merciful and just, then why am I not getting what I want?
To answer this question, we need to understand who God is.
Acts 17:31
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
God is Just
Ephesians 2:4-5
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
God is Loving
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
God is Truthful
1 John 1:5
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all
God is Holy
Romans 9:15
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
God is Merciful
Psalm 5:5
The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;
God is a Judge
Psalm 130:4
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
God Forgives
These bible verses tell us about God’s character. If you examine this non-comprehensive list, you’ll see that God’s character is not marked by anger or punishment. But God is a judge.
One of the elements of God’s character is that He is a fair judge. If God judges fairly, the he will judge on our motives, not necessarily our actions. If we steal a bottle of shampoo from a store and are caught and go in front of a judge, the judge will look at the crime committed, weigh the punishment and finally, our level of regret. This produces a judgment commiserate with the crime. We won’t get life in prison for the stolen shampoo. This is the way a fair judge sees a case.
2 Peter 2:9 says this:
if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
After a long dissertation on how God has saved Israel countless times, Peter reminds us that God knows how to judge the righteous and unrighteous. God knows what He is doing, and although we can’t always see it, we have to have the faith to know that He knows how to both take care of us and address the unrighteous at the time of their judgment.
You see, God’s boundaries help us to understand God’s heart. They help us to understand what God values. When we cross a boundary and God allows adversity into our life because of it, it isn’t a moment to run away from God but to connect with Him. The boundaries help us to learn how to navigate in this world, but they also help us to connect to God once we have crashed through one. Our fight is always a fight against our own selfishness. When we become selfish and self-absorbed, it’s like opening a door to satan’s further influence.
Genesis 3:1-9
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
God created a paradise of communion for humanity. But Satan shows up, willing to counteract God’s word. When Adam and Eve stepped over the boundary, they were ripe for punishment. This resulted in Original Sin for us all, but it is also to story of rebellion sewn into our hearts.
Genesis wasn’t only written for us but for the Israelites. Remember, Moses wrote this book while in the desert, before a death that would not allow him into the Promised Land. One of the purposes of Genesis is to build a simplified narrative to the Israelites about the story of creation, sin and restoration. The Israelites, when rescued, had been under Egyptian rule for 400 years, longer than America has been in existence! They were surrounded by the Egyptian gods and their customs for many generations. They didn’t understand who the real God was. So they needed a way to understand God as they trained both physically and spiritually in the desert. They had to understand the sin that was built in them and the free will choice they carried.
FREE WILL is the opportunity for us to connect with God or reject Him. Because the motive for choosing God is more important than blindly following. If God didn’t allow the choice for us to follow, then how could we love Him? The great denominator is love.
1 John 4:16-20
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
This is a relationship; the eternal mindset.
17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
If we understand God’s heart, then we follow His heart. The relationship squashes our fear of punishment.
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
We cannot have a hypocritical approach to the relationship; it must be pure
Part 2: THE CREATION
Our selfishness gets in the way of relationship. Because for most of our life we have assumed charge of our life. We have constructed a life that has built strongholds against God. These strongholds become habits and lifestyle.
Romans 1:21-25
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Paul lays out this very concept in Romans. When we desire to sin despite knowing that God exists and that he has put boundaries in place to direct us back to him, we “exchange” God for things of this world.
Because of this free will choice, God gives us over to these desires. Does that mean God doesn’t care? No, it means that God wants us to experience the futility of life without him. When we come to the conclusion that life (or the things we chase in life) don’t bring us to lasting peace, then we have another choice to follow God. This is an act of mercy by God. He gives us this opportunity so we can turn back to Him willingly, having “come to our senses.”
Romans 1:28-32
Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
If we allow our selfishness (sin) to rule our life long enough, we become deaf to God’s voice. God will allow us to live this life util it is time to come back, an intervention, that brings us back
into a clear understanding that we have made a wrong choice in our life. But just as the was free will to go the wrong way, there is also free will to return.
Luke 15:13-16
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
This is the story of the Lost (Prodigal) son. It is the same story that Paul is relaying, but in a more concise and easily to understand package. In it, a son takes his inheritance early and runs away from home, spending it on a lavish lifestyle. But when the money runs out a famine hits, creates a real problem for him. He, a Jewish man, must take a job feeding pigs. He gets to such a low point that he is wishing for the food that the pigs eat. The young man in this story turns away from he father and indulges in life. The father allows him to go. The life of freedom he imagined has no future. In fact, it bankrupts him. This is one way God shows mercy to us: by showing us the boundaries are there for our good, but letting us live in our indignity, and giving us a choice to return.
Luke 15:17-19
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
He returns home. He makes the choice for God. But not only that, there is repentance in this passage. He doesn’t want to return to his father as a son but as a servant. He has learned his lesson. This is the choice we are afforded through God’s mercy, to come back humbly, ready to return to relationship.
Luke 15:20
20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
You’ll note that the father is not angry. Instead, he is delighted that his son returns to him. In the following verses, the father fits the son with a ring and sandals and robe and prepares a feast, announcing that “he was once lost but now is found.” The father (God) doesn’t accept his son with disdain but with love and acceptance. The son (us) is treated with a celebration. God wants us back, despite the detour we took with our free will choices.
2 Corinthians 5:16-17
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Ephesians 4:20-24
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
This is the reality when we choose Christ, when we come back through repentance and humility. We are forgiven, we are celebrated and made new. There is a line drawn between our old life and new. The old life is history. The new life is how we can live into the present and future. It is time to change your life, your priorities, your goals. It is time to make submission a goal.
Why is it so difficult to follow God?
The strongholds you constructed most of your life are large; it takes time, prayer and effort to weaken the foundations. If you are struggling, then you are fighting.
Understanding the Creator and the Creation is a spiritual (eternal) way to explain our life.
Part 3: The Purpose
We are built in 3 general ways:
Social creature (Genesis 2:18-25)
We are given work to do (Genesis 2:15)
We are to have fellowship with God (Genesis 3:8)
If we are to remove any one of these, the creation can’t stand. If we take the social aspect out of life, then we suffer, even if we have work to do and have fellowship with God. If we don’t have work, then we generally break down, because we need something passionate to forge forward with. If we have social and work but no fellowship with God, life seems empty. We are built with these three components because this is how we live a fulfilled life in Christ. This is how God built us.
Genesis 1:26 says this:
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
We were made in God’s image. This means we were made with God’s attributes, buried deep down in our soul, to reflect what God cares about. Our selfish nature tries to eradicate that over time. It amounts to the Flesh vs. Spirit struggle, which we will talk more about in part 2.
You see, When we make a practice of not standing up for God, When we make a practice of not stepping into the opportunities
God give us when we make practice of not standing up to sin, we repeat the sin of Adam, that very sin that got he and Eve into trouble at the beginning: it is the choice of being selfish and selecting something other than God to fulfill us.
Psalm 139:13-15
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
David says it best: we were fearfully and wonderfully made, by God for purpose. That purpose is His, but it is also the thing we’ve been looking for, the thing we can only find through relationship. You are not a mistake. God has a plan for you. Our purpose is to get closer to God.
Questions:
1. Are you in relationship with God?
2. If so, what does the relationship look like?
3. Do you realize, as a new creation, you can put away your past and move toward a new beginning?
4. Are you willing to submit everything to God?