A New Resource

Many of the resources which we have developed over the past years have hitherto unavailable, but now, through the magic of the internet, they are available!  The first resource we would like to highlight is a Bible Study for anyone wanting to know what it means to have confidence in Christ and how that translates into the confident life that the believer is meant to live, by the power of Jesus Christ:

Very Good

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 

Genesis 1:31-2:2

Six times God surveyed what He had created and found it good.  Yet now, having completed this universe and created man in His own image to manage that creation the verdict changes.  Upon completion God sees that the whole system is very good.  God was pleased by the finished work of His hands.  As any artist or craftsman knows; that pleasure comes from the fact that His perfect artwork reflected His character – His power, His love, His artistry and His love.  It was “very good” now because it reflected the Creator more clearly now than it had at any given point.  When Sin entered this world the mirror of Creation became a less effective tool to see the character of God.  Death and decay did not destroy all the beauty of the earth, but it did make it harsh, dangerous, and even cruel.  No longer can we look at the created world around us and see a perfect illustration of the Creator.  God’s love was too great to allow His beloved children to die, alienated from Him.  He revealed Himself through His Son Jesus Christ – “the visible expression of the invisible God”.  He revealed himself through His word – The Bible.  He reveals Himself through the amazing power of His Holy Spirit at work on the heart of every living being – convicting the unbeliever and indwelling the believer.  Though many of the things that were created to make Him known have been fractured His purpose has not been thwarted.  At the end of all things Christ Jesus will stand upon the redeemed earth – victorious!  By His provision at the Cross – we who humbly accept His grace will stand with Him.  Not because of the works which we have done, but because of His amazing Grace.

The Command to Care

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 

Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and everything that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
Genesis 1:28-30 NASB

I remember when my parents gave me my first guitar.  I had wanted one for some time, I had invested time learning to play on my dad’s guitar.  When my parents gave me my own guitar it came with a solemn charge.  This was a gift, but it was expected that this gift would be taken care of.  It was a way to show appreciation.  I was not just being given a gift, but I was being given a gift that needed to be maintained and was meant to be used for a specific purpose.  God created mankind to fill, care for, and enjoy His amazing creation of planet earth.  This charge was repeated to Noah and his descendants after the great flood (Genesis 9:1-4).  This planet is a special charge for humanity.  To discover what God has made and how to best support it as it supports us by God’s provision.  Just as my parents’ charge to me to care for my first guitar was really for my greatest good, so caring for this amazing planet is an important part of the charge of every believer.  We were never meant to abdicate our management of this domain either in the sense of abusing it, or in the sense of worshipping it and thinking that the earth would be better off without us.  We are meant to interact responsibly with our physical environment, appreciating and enjoying the great gift that it is to us from our loving Heavenly Father.  And yes, I still have my first guitar, and it still gets played, enjoyed and maintained.  

The Image of God

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27

God had created a beautiful and wonderful paradise.  Truly, we cannot even imagine what the earth looked like, and how it functioned at this point.  Before sin’s stain had entered the world there was no death, nor was there catastrophe, nor destruction.  The plans and the animals of both land and sea worked together in a perfect and harmonious system.  A person’s faculties could reach their end simply seeking to imagine this wonderful world.  Yet, God’s creation still awaited its pinnacle.  God intended this new and beautiful creation to be ruled by a type of creature who bore His own image.  Upon examining the wonders of the natural world it is expected that we will be awestruck and impressed.  Yet the greater miracle is the place of humanity in that marvelous creation. 

Humanity was designed to represent God in this Creation, caring for it and looking after it through moment by moment reliance upon Him.  Humanity was created and given this amazing domain.  Humanity alone was impressed with the very image of God – a finite reflection of His infinite power, will and majesty.  Humanity failed to fulfill God’s desire and plan, but in His grace God provided a provision for all of our failures.  This original mandate will finally be fulfilled when Jesus Christ sets foot again upon this earth and rules and regulates it, at long last, with all of the wisdom and power that is needed.  God gave a command for mankind’s mission upon this earth, and then provided for that mission to be completed.  All to His glory, all in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Turning on the Lights

Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and season and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.  Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.  He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and  to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.  So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.  Genesis 1:14-19

It is mind blowing to think that God created light before creating the light makers.  I remember being haunted as a child by the atheist eschatology. Sitting in class and being told that our star would one day burn down and die, long before that taking all life off of the planet earth without so much as a sound.  I found the very thought appalling that some future generation of people would be slowly burned, or frozen to death while all human existence fizzled off no more meaningless than a candle that had run our of wick.  Upon noticing that I was trouble the teacher asked me what was wrong.  I replied that I was sad that everyone would die.  She tried to assure me with the words, "You'll already be long dead by then.  So don't worry about it!"  So that is what it is to live in spiritual darkness.  The world understands their dependence upon the "light givers" but would rather resign themselves to absolute meaninglessness and loss than risk seeing the light Creator! It is amazing for us to look up at the stars.  The beautiful pictures of the stars that are so far beyond our ability to see with the natural eye is beyond breathtaking.  The Hubble Telescope shows some of the amazing and beautiful formations that have been tucked away since God created the world.  When He formed those beautiful structures and formations was He thinking of us?  Did He think how amazed and mystified we would be as we saw the distant star formations that are invisible to the naked eye?  Or were we not even apart of the thought, did He just make them because they reflect something of the beauty, creativity and order that flow forth from His being?  I don't know, but what I do know is this: all of that beauty and wonder merited a single statement in Scripture: "He made the stars also."  God then proceeded to reveal pages and pages about Himself and His love for mankind.  It is amazing to think that the angels of heaven could see those "star structures" up close, but they marvel at what God is doing in every person who has trusted Jesus Christ.

Is that the way Daddy wants it?

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:

Ephesians 4:15

Today I was honored to get into a deep (albeit unoriginal and boring) theological debate with a brother. I am tempted here, of course, to reveal the topic of the debate and turn my brother in the Lord into a perfect "straw man" which I can set up and knock down easily to show that I was right then, I am right now, and here are all of the people who agree with me. But what good would that do? I am convinced that until Jesus comes back we will (as his Body here on earth) have disagreements about His word. I have had this specific debate hundreds of times with many different people and as would be expected we trod the old path realizing that our core disagreements and assumptions would not be reconciled in the space of 15 minutes, if ever. The "I said, he said" part is immaterial to the purposes of this article. The main thing that had me perplexed was that as the discussion continued and my brother in the Lord (who is at least 15 years my senior) got increasingly agitated, and frustrated to find that his "ex cathedra" arguments were not given any weight he became angry, raised his voice, and began to use crude insults.

Of course it would be a logical fallacy for me to claim that because he was losing the argument and became emotional that I have more reason to believe his argument false and his intentions bad, but the question that faces me is this: How must our Father in Heaven feel when He sees us willing to slash each other to the ground and nearly go to blows over something that we can only get the most basic understanding of from His word? It must be comical on one hand to see two little specks of earth filled with the divine breath arguing about something way out of their depth and ability. Almost like two bugs arguing passionately over whether humans have different color eyes or not (when they themselves can't even see in color). I don't know if bugs see color or not, but it makes a better analogy if they don't. We argue and only achieve displaying our own silliness to ourselves (if we are honest enough to see it).

On the other hand it must be all the more tragic for the Father who wants us to be united in sharing Christs love with one another. What a plague it is to have to be right all the time! These realizations in my life made the discussion somewhat unemotional for me. However, I was struck by angry and sad this fellow became as his paper mache arguments that he had repeated over and over to himself (and now to me) fell apart before him as crumbling messes of presupposition and pomp. I was disturbed by his insults and angry words, and especially disturbed by the fact that I often am reduced to the same emotional state when fighting for something that I want to be right about. He felt that he was defending the truth, but he could not speak it in love. I think the best thing to do, when we find that we are no longer speaking the truth IN LOVE is to stop speaking. (Exegetical note - "speaking the truth in love" here is a tough one to translate because in Greek "truth" has a verb form. Literally the verse would be "truthing in love" meaning more than our words but how every aspect of our lives is conducted. Cool stuff.) I pray for my brother in the Lord. He is hurting a great many feelings and then wonders why he is isolated and why he can't find any fellowship at out church. His "backpack" full of anger, hurt, resentment, bitterness, pride and so forth keep him from experiencing and enjoying the love of the saints, and presumably the love of God as well. Certainly a keen reminder to me when I feel like I am not experiencing those things. What blessing am I missing because of a full "backpack"?