Introduction

         Beginning on September 28^, we are going to have a five-week evangelistic series where we will attempt to give a clear presentation of the Gospel along with a supporting adult Sunday school class, some testimonies and drama, and opportunities for those ready to make a commitment to Christ to talk and pray with people. So these first three weeks of September will focus on renewal in our lives, of coming to fresh experience with God and listening to his invitation for us to join him in his work.

In the Bible, we begin to hear about God and his work and his relationship to people in the first chapters of Genesis and also in the prologue to the Gospel of John. God, who is our Creator, invites us into his work and provides light and life for us through Christ our Savior.

From a translation by Everett Fox in The Schocken Bible of Genesis 2:5 and 15:

"No bush of the field was yet on the earth, no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD, God, had not yet made it rain upon earth, and there was no human/adam to till the soil/adama."

"The LORD, God, took the human and set him in the Garden of Eden, to work it and to watch it."

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         "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." -- John 1:1-3

         "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." -- John 1:11-13

 

What do Christians believe about the origin of life and the role of God as Creator? N.T. Wright summarizes it this way, in his book "Simply Christian:"

"For the ancient Israelite and the early Christian, the creation of the world was the free outpouring of God's powerful love. The one true God made a world that was other than himself, because that is what love delights to do. And, having made such a world, he has remained in a close, dynamic and intimate relationship with it . . . To speak of God's action in the world . . . is to speak of the loving Creator acting within creation which has never lacked the signs of his presence."

         What we believe about creation then is that God acted in love. This is never completely evident to us simply by studying nature. But Wright says there are signs of his presence in the creation. We should open our minds and hearts to the evidence of God's love in the world.

         We believe that God remains in relationship with his creation. This means that it is possible to know and to love God. This love relationship comes at His initiative. We should welcome God.

         We believe our lives have meaning and purpose. We are not left alone on this earth, or set out on our own. Rather, it is possible to talk about God's faithful provision, about his grace, about his call into our lives, and about the hope of life eternal. We should live in a purposeful and obedient way.

         We begin today by moving into a relationship with God the creator, using Genesis 2 as our guide. What we notice first of all is that the Creation account in Genesis is very brief, and leaves us with many questions. The account moves quickly past the subject of origins to the subjects of relationship and purpose.

         In his commentary on Genesis, Victor Hamilton provides a few insights into this text. He points out that the opening scene in chapter 2 is that of a barren desert. There is no shrub or plant on earth. God is not sending rain, and there is no one to till the soil. He writes, "If life is to grow in this garden, it will take a joint operation of man and God."

         So God, pictured here as a potter, an artist, forms humans from the dust. Some myths in the ancient world said that humans were formed out of the blood of the gods, or that humans were gods -- or at least some of them were, usually the kings. But here in Genesis we see that human life is formed and raised from the dust and placed into a garden. We are not gods, we are God's creation, the work of his hands.

The garden is not described as a blissful paradise, but rather as a place of work. Hamilton says, "There is no magic in Eden. Gardens cannot look after themselves. The man is not placed there to be served, but to serve, to 'keep' the garden." That is, the garden requires someone to work in it, and someone to watch or guard it, to protect it.

         What we see then in Genesis 2 is that God invites people to work with him, to have responsibility, to be called into vocation. The reality is that throughout history we see a pattern of people abandoning their calling. We are called by God to "till" the land, that is, to work it so that its productivity is sustained. Jim Sundholm, director of Covenant World Relief, said at the Annual Meeting that the current and coming world food crisis is caused primarily by loss of agricultural land in the world. Some land has been encroached upon by the sea, and other land by desert. Some has been poisoned, no longer able to sustain crops. Because the land God gave us has not been cared for, we are facing a significant shortage of food in the world.

         Recently there has been a great deal of attention to farming in a way that sustains productivity and a movement of people who are seeking to produce food in a way that cares for the land and even restores land that had been lost. That is in some way a return to the first calling in Genesis to "till" the land.

         The other part of the instruction from God is to "watch" the land, or "guard" it. The NIV has "take care of it." We see a history of the guard falling asleep at the post, or wandering off or even spoiling the land.

         Now there are those returning to the post, taking up their calling as protectors. Let me give you a non-farming example. Atonement Covenant Church in Chicago is located on the corner of a residential block. It almost looks like the watch tower, placed there to protect and up build the community. But as the neighborhood declined, the church itself shrunk and the building became dilapidated. Then the people of the church began to get a vision of what it meant for them to wake up and return to their posts. They first fixed their own building. Then they began to renew all the houses on the block. For them renewal is both paint and spirit: it is fixing up buildings, beginning recovery groups for addicted residents, it is also feeding the neighborhood children at noon, and it is preaching the Gospel. They are "watching" the land of their neighborhood.

         God, in love, calls us to join him in his work, a work that brings life. To join God in his work, we must first wake up, and not be found sleeping at our post. We must return to our calling, to the work given to us by God. But, most of all, we need to have a desire to be with God; that is, to walk with God, to have our hearts turned towards him.

         That brings us to the Gospel of John. Again, John begins his Gospel with creation.

"In the beginning was the Word."

"Through him all things were made."

"In him was life and that life was the light of all people."

See how quickly John moves from Creation to relationship, to salvation.

         Leon Morris helped guide me through these verses. He says we really do not know exactly what this word Logos or "Word" meant. That made me feel a little better. I have always struggled to understand these verses.

         But there are some things that can be said about the Logos, the Word, even if we do not fully understand the depth of its meaning.

         The Word was not created, it was in the beginning.

         The Word is God revealing himself; it is his very thoughts uttered so we can understand God, and so we can know God.

         The Word is creative, it brings life and light.

         The Word is Jesus Christ.

         It is the Word, Jesus Christ, who brings life to us.

         John 10:10: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

         John 3:16: ". . .whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

         John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth and the life."

         Jesus is the light of the world.

         John 8:12: "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

         So the invitation was given to all people to know and love Christ who is light and life. But they did not receive him. They rejected him and did not know him. They did not recognize him or come to love him.

         Yet some did respond. Some received him in faith, and were given the right or authority to become God's children. Here again is the invitation to draw close to God, to be born again into the heavenly family. This is to know God as father.

         So God invites us to know him and to join him. He calls us away from our waywardness and our rejection of him. He gives light and life to us so that we might return to our posts, to be once more co-laborers with God, to be children of the Heavenly Father.

         Today let us open our hearts that we might experience God.

         Let us pray with David, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

         Amen.