|
||
|
Text: Hebrews 1:1 “First, God. God is the subject of life. God is foundational for living. If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last: God, God, God”. Eugene Peterson [Message: Intro to Genesis] ● We wake up every day and find ourselves in the middle of a story that’s been going on for a long, long time (Eugene Peterson’s intro to Matthew). It’s an ‘epic’ story with enormous implications. Repeatedly through the letter to the Hebrews, they are challenged to ‘listen carefully to the truth they have heard’ (2:1) and provided with a stern warning not to ignore what they are hearing. ● But, we also wake up to find that we live in a world that’s telling ‘different stories’. Admittedly, the appeal is potent; it’s easy to adopt those other stories as our own. If the story being told to us has not/does not capture our hearts, our propensity will be to tell our own story. We’ll look elsewhere for fulfillment (i.e. position, power, relationship, wealth, success, etc.) The story must be more than just ‘reasonable’, it must be ‘compelling’ [worth giving ourselves to]. Why? Because it truly becomes ‘our’ story and prevents us from risking that which is most precious to us- ‘control’ (rule; reign). It deceives us into thinking that we can ‘go it alone’; live ‘independently’. Result? The corruption of all that makes for ‘shalom’. [i.e. God- indifference; others- matter only to the degree that they contribute to ‘my’ story; creation- simply used/abused for our own pleasure] ● Because there is no ‘grand story’ (no defining story that allows us to make sense of our story), we’re left to ‘improvise’; make it up as we go! (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?” : good question) And while that seems ‘appealing’, at some level, it leaves us directionless; leaves us only with the next thing that comes to mind! ● Some centuries ago, humanity diverted from the notion of a grand story (with God as author and the main character) and determined that man was somehow limited by that story; it didn’t seem to utilize man’s full potential. We concluded that, if given time and freed from the constraints of the ‘God story’, humanity could truly progress. ● But, once you dismiss the author, you lose the story itself. And, having lost the story, you’re left to fend for yourself; to determine reality for yourself (which is the worst possible position to be in). That’s, really, at the center of our continued brokenness. We have exchanged this broad, expansive story- with God at center, for our own stories- with us at center. ● But, it hasn’t worked, and it never will; it can’t work! In fact, centuries of ‘freedom from the God-story’ have simply made matters worse; it’s left us with all these random stories and no context… nothing to help us make sense of them. It never actually lets us ‘be ourselves’ (honest; broken; without all the answers- but ‘loved’). ● It is most widely accepted that the story is originally being addressed to a people gathered at the base of Mt. Sinai. A people ecstatic over this dramatic deliverance from their bondage in Egypt. This story is the ‘prime narrative’ for the Jewish people. It’s a story which is reflected (metaphorically) in much of Jesus’ life and teaching. It’s all about helping to establish her unique sense of “identity”, which would allow her to live in faithful relationship to her God, in his world. ● They had just been rescued from Egypt, a polytheistic culture and were venturing toward Palestine, not surprisingly, another many-godded culture! [many gods… many stories… many interpretations of life]. ● To hear the story Moses is telling is to hear it against this backdrop. God wanted this newly freed group of people to be confident that there was only one ‘real’ God, and he was him/it?! He was not to be understood as the real God amongst many competing deities, but the one true God amongst mere idols; and, that his actions toward his creation would reveal his character. “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery. You must not have any other god but me” (Exodus 20:2-3). ● In Christianity, the question, “Who’s responsible?”, is answered in the story by depicting… God as Creator- The universe was believed to be in a constant struggle between ‘chaos’ and ‘order’. If the god’s were appeased, one could expect relative normalcy; but, it all depends on how they are getting along! Isaiah 40:28 “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth.” Isaiah 42:5 “God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone who walks the earth”. Isaiah 45:18 “For the Lord is God, and he created the heavens and earth and put everything in place. He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. ‘I am the Lord’, he says, and there is not other’”. ● In contrast to the prevailing cultural stories, the story being told (we tell) declares that creation was the thoughtful, intentional action of a good and loving Creator; that our God was not only ‘powerful’, but he is ‘good’. We were not the undesired consequence of some cosmic sexual union, but that in some fascinating way, we are actually a reflection of this God. ● He’s not merely a god that ‘tolerates’ us, but cares for us like a shepherd his sheep,… (Isaiah 40:11) “He will carry his flock like a shepherd. He will carry his lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart”; or, like a mother hen with her chicks (Matthew 23:27); or, like a mother caring for her child (Isaiah 66:13). ● In ancient mythology, humans were created for the sole purpose of working to supply food for the lazy gods. In contrast, our story says, God provides for humanity! We as creation are dependent upon the Creator. But, because he is depicted as good, we need not fear that he is either distant or disinterested, but that he gladly and willingly makes available to us all that is his in order to sustain us. God as personal- When we say that God is personal, we are most often trying to use language which allows us to best understand him- to ‘relate’ to him. Meaning, God has seemingly revealed himself as a being capable of thought, reason, will, emotions and relationship. ● It’s why, in order to help us understand him, God gives himself names (“You can call me…”) Names are not mere labels; they are much larger. They represent an identity; a personality. The most important of which was “Yahweh”- our English renders it “Jehovah”, meaning something like “I am who I am”: self-defining. I can’t be defined in relation to anyone else; I’m my own category! ● Giving us his name was not only God’s way of revealing himself, but of entrusting himself to us. God as sovereign- It means that he is a God who brings order out of chaos; not order in terms of predictability, but order as it relates to putting things and people in proper relationship to each other; therefore, life is not to be understood as a series of random, meaningless circumstances. Sovereignty was a concept not meant to evoke terror/dread, but to instill comfort and rest. ● God’s sovereignty means that despite some pretty conflicting evidence, the world is not a chaotic mass, spiraling out of control, but moving toward a purposed-end: we’ll come to discover through the story that the anticipated end is ‘shalom’ [peace; wholeness; nothing broken; everything functioning properly]. If you think about it, that’s even more remarkable than if God had chosen to just utilize some form of ‘mechanical guidance’ in order to fulfill his dream of shalom. At the core of who we are is the desire to be in proper relationship with God, with each other and with the rest of creation. God as rescuer/deliverer- At Stevens Pass, there are guidelines for those who want to come and enjoy the mountain; boundaries which determine where it is safest to ski. But, for many, “safe” means routine; predictable; boring. They know that ‘out-of-bounds’ provides the deep powder and the thrill of unpredictable conditions, but they also know that it’s ‘risky’; there is the potential for avalanche and numerous obstacles to be avoided: it can produce serious injuries as well as fatalities. ● It’s almost as if Stevens anticipated that people would ‘ignore’ the warnings! Even in your ignorance, Mountain Safety will initiate a rescue, because at the moment of crisis (trapped in a tree-well), what becomes priority is rescue- assisting you in your helpless condition. ● As the one true, Creator-God, he understands that our hearts and loyalties are too easily compromised; we’re too easily distracted; prone to being deceived; convinced that we’re ‘safe’. ● Although the story continuously establishes the primacy of God, you can’t help but notice the great deal of attention given to his creation- especially humanity. He is always being depicted as the “pursuer”, and we are always being portrayed as the desire of his heart. ● God’s rescue of his people from Egypt was not just a demonstration of power, but a demonstration of love! It was not unusual for people to ‘own’ a god and be able to say, “This is my god”, but it was unusual to have a god say, “These are my people”. ● Rescue answers the question resident in all of our hearts: “Do you think I’m worth it? Do I matter?” ● Knowing this about God would be essential for a people who would try and reconcile this view of God with a series of often questionable life-events they would encounter. They would need to know that their God was personal and involved, that he had not left them to fend for themselves; that he could be counted on. They would need to be confident that even though circumstances seemed to indicate that life was random and chaotic, their God was working, even through the chaos, toward a meaningful and purposed end… “shalom”. They would need to understand that their God was a rescuer; that his dream for them was freedom. They would need to know that their God was not fickle and easily coerced into action, but that his heart could be moved. They would need to be convinced that even when the consequences were ‘self-inflicted’, their God was compassionate and forgiving- he believed in them, even when they proved less than faithful. They would need to know that since their Creator-God had invested something of himself in them, they could go to him to find the truth about themselves: who they were, where they were, why they were here. ► Revealing himself as “Creator” suggests that we are the intentional result of a thoughtful God; one whose designs are an expression of his heart. ►Revealing himself as “Personal” speaks to relationship as central to creation. He is a God whose desire is to ‘know’ and ‘be known’ (“… as you are in me, Father, and I am in you; may they be in us…” John 17:21) ►Revealing himself as “Sovereign” speaks to ‘rest’. That ‘shalom’ is never at risk, even in the context of human volition. I need not expend all my energies on ‘making life work’; everything need not be ‘predictable’, only secure.
►Revealing himself as
“Rescuer” means he thinks we’re worth it. Our comfort is not just in that he
‘came to our rescue’, but that he is sufficient to save us and reverse the
damaging effects. |
