Friday, April 09, 2010

"It All Starts With God" (Genesis 1:1-3,26-31) Purpose Driven Series Sermon One

The Questions We Ask

We would surely be caused to think from time to time – why am I here – what is the purpose of life? Now we may start to answer these questions simply from the standpoint of our own lives. And this in itself would reveal a problem, whereby we would never really come up with a satisfying or suitable or correct answer to our question. This is because we would in so doing be setting ourselves up personally as the centre of the universe … everything revolves around me! All of life’s happenings and all of the actions of others are judged purely on how they affect me. It is my needs – and whether they are met or not – that determines how I feel about life. These are the thought processes of those that see themselves as centre of the universe.

This way of thinking tends to lead to the desire of accumulating possessions and power, and having every little urge appeased, often to the detriment of other people. This way of thinking tends to lead toward seeking success as the world defines it ahead of anything else. Yet, we know, with the fickleness and uncertainty of the world, this would also be a self-defeating pursuit. So we seek to understand our purpose from the limited perspective of one life, and thus miss it all together. Of course we are not the centre of the universe, none of us are! We just often act, me included, as if we are!!

Sometimes we draw boundary lines around our immediate family and declare this unit to be the centre of the universe, but that’s not right either. Sometimes nations draw boundaries around themselves and see their own interests as the central concern in the universe, and seek to keep others out, and that too is not right. If relatively wealthy countries judge their ability to give aid to poor countries on the basis of whether they can afford it (or on what they would have to give up), then this is a sign of being far too parochial and self-centred.

The purpose of our individual and collective lives is of course found beyond us – it all starts with God! For those of us who have responded to God’s gift in Jesus, and are active members of God’s kingdom on earth, then we need to understand that our purpose for everyday life is indeed found in God. Otherwise those who are yet to make this step of accepting God through Jesus will not have any helpful reference points through which to make such a decision.

Let me put this simply – God is the centre of the universe! Everything we believe and do should therefore be referenced to God. In this way we will truly find out why we specifically are here; or at least, how we can make a positive contribution to the human community and all of God’s creation. For, according to Genesis chapter 1, the first responsibility given to human beings was to take responsibility for all of what God created. This is God’s world, be we are the appointed managers. When things go wrong, we should know where to look (to see where the problem lies)!

We have read an account from Genesis that describes how life originated. Out of the creative and loving mind of God came everything that is good. God carefully created the whole context in which human life would be lived. God’s Spirit swept over the face of the waters and brought everything on earth into being. This would be the same creative Holy Spirit that sweeps into our lives when we accept Jesus. The “light” that came to shine through the darkness reminds us of the light of Jesus that should shine through us. And then subsequently God gave human beings the responsibility for caring for all of the creativity described in the rest of this passage.

We know that God also gave each of us freewill as to whether we would take up this responsibility properly or not (whether we serve the cause of light or darkness); and the perpetual abuse of this freewill has meant that the world is often in a perilous state racked with greed and violence. Yet the charge of Genesis 1:26, concerning taking responsibility for the broader environment in which we live, has never changed or been amended. This is a charge to consider the big picture of life, God as centre, God’s creation as the context of life, and the valuable part we have to play!

I love jigsaw puzzles – the whole challenge of putting them together; of considering the colours and patterns and objects that allow hundreds or thousands of pieces to be brought together into a single unity. We could see God’s big picture ideal for planet earth like a giant jigsaw puzzle. The full picture doesn’t appear at once, it is revealed over time. Yet when all the pieces do start to come together, it all looks rather good. But sometimes pieces go missing, and there is only frustration and disappointment. Sometimes certain parts of the jigsaw prove to be more challenging or very difficult, and some might give up at this point.

Rather than seeing our individual lives as a separate entity, we might be better to understand our lives as being one piece of God’s big picture jigsaw puzzle – a unique piece, no other piece like it, with certain qualities that really add to the beauty of the picture; and of course an indispensable piece, for if our piece goes missing – the picture will never be complete. Our lives, like the jigsaw puzzle, are interconnected – people rely on us for certain sections of the picture to come together. And the picture itself originates in the mind of God.

We do have the capacity to fulfil our role, because we have been created ourselves in God’s likeness, thus having the capacity for great good. We were not made sinners deserving death – upon our creation we were deemed “very good”, and therefore up to the task. And so once we access the forgiveness gifted to us at the first Easter, we again have the capacity to cooperate with God in restoring God’s creation.

Yet, as humans in a very complex world, we tend to easily get tied up in knots or overwhelmed with the affairs of life. Also our own particular desires about what we want to get out of life become a very persuasive distraction. And then the personal agendas that we can bring into our family and church life can make corporate decision-making very tricky. So let’s try to simplify all this!

God is really the centre of the universe, and our life will only work out properly if we acknowledge this and adopt this as our very framework for living. Easily said and nodded at, but harder to put into action. I recall hearing on tape an impacting sermon by John Smith of God Squad fame, when on making a moving and passionate plea for a response, the congregation started clapping – probably reacting to this preacher’s great oratory. But Smith was caused to remark … that it was a lot easier to clap than take the action he was recommending.

We have to make a clear and absolute decision that God is in the centre as far as we are concerned! We then pray as if God is in the centre. We then go to our jobs and places of study acknowledging that God is in the centre. We talk to our neighbours or interact at the shopping centre believing that God is in the centre – and we are a crucial part of God’s big jigsaw type picture.

We gain a tremendous of feeling of peace and hope when we know that God is in the centre, and we sense that we are chosen vessels of blessing for one another. Thus, participating in a church community is not a duty to be endured, but rather the most natural and beautiful outcome of our God-centredness. Witnessing to our faith and trust in God is no longer the most fearsome thing imaginable, but rather the most natural output of our relationship and friendship with Jesus.

I’m sure that it wasn’t easy for our musicians to play and sing at the front entrance of the community centre at last week’s Point Cook Market … but they did it, and did it wonderfully, and received very warm comments from those who heard. This very sort of activity should be the most natural consequence of God being in the centre of our lives.

Answering the Questions

So we return to our original questions about why we are here. The meaning of life is found in these statements of truth:
· God created everything, including the human community, and deemed it all “very good”
· God desired that we would choose for ourselves to love him, so God gave us freewill, and the opportunity to voluntarily associate with him
· God called us to take responsibility for all this creation, to be good stewards of all God’s good gifts, to manage God’s resources well
· When the challenge became too great, and failure occurred, God provided Jesus to offer a path of forgiveness and salvation
· God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us live out the life of Jesus every day.

It all starts with God; not only that … it all continues with God, and will end with God.

What is the purpose of our life? This is what we will continue to wrestle with, not just in theory, but also within the cut and trust of daily life … for we do not have the luxury of putting our life on hold while we perfect the answers to this. The answers will be discovered as we trust in God to give us understanding of our daily challenges and what they mean for each one of us.

But here are some starting points to get us thinking:

· Getting to know God through Jesus
· Understanding God’s mission in the world
· Cooperating with God and participating in community
· Fulfilling our piece of God’s huge jigsaw puzzle
· Loving our neighbour (being a summation of everything)
· Touching the lives of others in the name of God (with redemptive intent)
. Realizing our potential