It's been amazing working through the first scene of our 'The God of our City' series. I've found it hard and exciting preparing the talks. Our grasped on God has been stretched. Our understanding of life in our city has been sharpened. I've loved getting questions and comments on the feedback cards. But one feedback card from Sunday night really intrigued me. I wanted to chat with the person more about but there was no name on the card. So I'm sharing it here. They expressed surprise and disappointment that we were strongly emphasising social issues from Genesis. What did they mean?
If they meant that churches don't engage with social issues well, I agree completely. We've allowed ourselves to withdraw more and more into our little communities just running programs for ourselves. 'The God of our City' series is driving at helping us do this better as we grapple with God and our city.
If they meant we shouldn't be talking about social issues at 645, then I don't understand. We know that God created the universe and speaks into every part of our lives. So it's a great joy for us to explore what that looks like. We're actually being human when we wrestle with social issues together.
If they meant we shouldn't be getting our understanding of social issues from Genesis then, I still don't understand. Fundamental to our world view and understanding of social issues is our beginnings. If there is no God and therefore no external referent point on our lives then social issues are just personal private things - do whatever you think best, do what you think you can get away with etc. But Genesis teaches us that God is creator he creates our reality and he shapes how we live. So as we saw on Sunday we care about and treasure all human life because God has made every human in his image.
This is why the 645 questions have been so exciting as we continue to wrestle with worshipping Jesus in this city. Some questions from the cards on Sunday.
1. What's the difference between Genesis 1:27 'male and female he created them' and Genesis 2:22 where woman is created? How is there female before the woman? I love this question. It comes from a 645er reading and thinking carefully about the Bible. It's important to emphasise that Genesis is not saying that there was female before there was woman or that there was male before there was man. Genesis is teaching that male = man, female = woman, humanity = male and female. The difference between Genesis 1 and 2 is that they give us different angles on the same reality. So Genesis 1 gives us the broad sweep of the creation of the universe. Genesis 2 zooms in to examine the heart of that creation - man and woman. We see it as Genesis 2:1-2 announces the end of the creating work. 'Thus the heavens and earth were completed in all their vast array' then God rested. But then we arrive at Genesis 2:4 'This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created'. Hang on didn't we just finish that account? As we read on we see we now get to the heartbeat of God's creative work - humans. It's not merely repetition but helping us understand the focus of God's creation. This reflects a different way of explaining reality in narrative. We're used to just a straight line of story telling, i.e. beginning middle end. Genesis 1-2 goes from beginning to middle to beginning to middle. It's a bit like how movies like Pulp Fiction, 6th Sense and the Matrix move around in a web of scenes.
The question also got me thinking about what it would mean if there was male and female before man and woman. It would be a bit like how the Ancient Greek philosopher Plato saw the world. He believed that there was somewhere in the universe the blueprint or basic form of everything. So there was a blueprint of a horse from which all horses derived their horseness. I know it sounds hilarious but it partly reflects a belief that our material existence was not the true reality but only a shadow of reality. Your day to day life is not the core of life but only a faint scent of the true spiritual reality. So salvation became the escape of the spirit from the body. This is not reality. The Bible says that male = man, female = woman, human = male and female. We are not a shadow or a faint memory of humanity and God's image. We are truly fully human and in God's image. Our humanity is distorted by sin but we're human. So this means our salvation is not escape from this world but we await the return of Jesus to this world to redeem this world and transform us to be like him (see Romans 8:18-25, Philippians 3:20-21).
2. If you work best with imagery is there a particular image that could explain the Trinity? Or is it too complex for that?
This is another interesting question because it touches upon our desire to know God better and more deeply. So people have come up with all sorts of illustrations to picture the Trinity. There's the 3 leaf clover or 3 interlocking circles. There's the egg (God is one with 3 = shell, white, yolk). There's water (God is one and 3 in different states = liquid, steam, ice). At first glance they seem helpful but they mislead us about God. They suggest that the Father, Son and Spirit are 3 separate gods or 1/3 god or 3 different modes of God. This is not how God reveals himself in the Bible. Perhaps the closest image is marriage. So in a marriage husband and wife have one home, one bank account, one vision etc. But marriages are never perfect and so the imagery breaks down. Matthew 11:27 says that no one can know God unless he reveals himself to us. God is revealed to us in the Son, Jesus. It's a closed circle of knowing that we invited into. So our knowledge of God is a gift from God. This means that we need to avoid bringing our human experience onto God. So we learn more about being human by understanding Jesus not we learn more about God by looking at ourselves. So we need to wrestle with the beauty and complexity of God - One God, 3 persons Father, Son and Spirit, all equally and fully God, in perfect relationship of love and unity from all eternity.
3. How can we talk to our friends about sex and teenage pregnancy without just giving abstract morals?
Another good question - wrestling with how we bring our grasp on God and what it is to be human to our city. It's a complicated issue that needs refining in the particular relational situation but here's some thoughts.
(a) keep talking to yourself about Jesus. By nature we have a tendency to pride and religious moralism. We are tempted to look down on people. We are tempted to condemn their sin but justify our own. But when we keep preaching (reminding ourselves) Jesus to ourselves we remember we're saved entirely by God's grace to us in Jesus. We contribute nothing and bring nothing. This keeps us humble. This enables us to love others and share Jesus with them not self righteous morality.
(b) Share a positive view of sex not anti sex moralism. The Bible teaches that God created everything. He created sex as a wonderful thing between a man and woman. Sex is a good gift in a loving marriage of a man and woman. Our culture actually thinks sex is bad because they keep on cheapening it as something to be shared with anyone at anytime.
(c) Keep on speaking and displaying Jesus' forgiveness. Our friends tend to assume that following Jesus is religion (be good, follow the rules, earn God's love etc). So we need to keep on showing them God's kindness by sharing the Bible with them. A great example is the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector (Luke 18:9-14). It's such a sharp explanation of the different between religion and Jesus. Religion is the Pharisees bragging about how good and religious he is. The tax collector knows his sin and simply cries to God for mercy. Jesus says he is the one who is justified and right before God. I remember sharing this with a friend of the family who'd asked how good do I have to be to go to heaven. He was blown away with how amazing and free God's forgiveness is. So you can display that forgiveness by being their friend when others abandon them or condemn them. You share that forgiveness by explaining to them God's free love and forgiveness in Jesus.
There's more that could be said but it's a start in sharing loving community with them.
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