Can It Get Any Worse? (Cain and Abel)

You really should read Genesis 4.  The story of Cain and Abel is that of tragedy and heart ache.  We saw how Adam and Eve rebelled.  The next three stories are examples of rebellion.  In this story we find ‘rage.’  Rage is anger out of control.  Being angry is not a sin (even Jesus got angry) but anger is a sin when it is misdirected and mishandled.  Are we mad at the right person?  Are we showing our anger in the right way?  Rage is violence.  Cain is the firstborn and should be a man of promise.  We find he fails.  God accepts the offering of his brother the herdsman Abel but not Cain the farmer’s.  I don’t think it is meat vs veggies.  I believe Cain did not give his best and he was rebelling.  His anger shows he has major issues within and God confronts him about this and lets him know he has evil knocking at his door.  He is warned to get control of it or it will control him.  Cain doesn’t listen and kills his brother and shows no real remorse only for his situation and not his brother’s death.  And so Cain leaves as a nomad.  He winds up founding a city (the first city founder is a murderer which is an interesting comment).  Cain has a descendant who follows suit and becomes a murderer.

Two notes of hope in this sad sad story.

First the mark of Cain shows God loves us even when we do not want love.  The mark is not a punishment but a sign to protect Cain.  God clothed Adam and Eve even though they sinned.  God cares for his children just like the dad in the prodigal son who waits for his son to come home.

Second there is a move to God by people.  At the end of chapter 4 we find people beginning to call upon God.  This will be short lived when we get to the next story but it shows that some turned to God.

What does this say for us today?  Violence is such a way of life.  Yet God is good and greater than the violence of our day.  May we learn from this story of bloodshed and seek to bring peace.

Blessings,

Derik

It All Falls Apart- Genesis 3

After God created humanity then it all fell apart in Genesis 3. In this story (commonly called “the fall” and used in discussions with “original sin”) Adam and Eve find themselves in the garden. They are told to not eat from the Tree of All Knowledge (Good and Evil) in chapter 2. That chapter ends with them being declared naked and innocent. In chapter 3 the serpent shows up. In early commentaries of the text Jewish writers saw the serpent as a serpent and later Christians would see this as Satan (see Revelation as the ‘ancient serpent’). The serpent is ‘crafty’ (a Hebrew word also similar to the one used for naked in chapter 2 showing a Hebrew word play). The serpent tells half truths to deceive Eve and she and Adam buy into it and break God’s rule. They commit their sin and they ‘fall’ from grace. In this story they try and hide their guilt but of course God knows what has happened, confronts them, and they face the music. The four relationships found in chapters 1-2 (nature, animal, one another, and God) are now broken. I do not believe destroyed but damaged. Yet we find hope! God provides for the couple by giving them clothing of fur (instead of the silly fig leaves) and even though they must leave the garden God loves them and longs to restore them. There is a hint to many Christians that the seed of the women will crush the seed of the serpent (Jesus/God vs Satan/evil). Some do not interpret it this way but many have historically.

What a story! The word that defines this story is REBELLION. Chapter 1 and 2 shows us RELATIONSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY. When we do not live up to our responsibilities we hurt/damage/destroy our relationships. That’s what happens in 3 when they REBEL.

In theological discussions this centers around ‘the fall’ and original sin. Are we all guilty? Are we born guilty? Theologians in the west theologians center on the fact that sin passes through generations and we are ‘born sinners.’ In the east the focus was that we live with the results of sin and the world is impacted by this first sin but we aren’t responsible for it literally but we are fallen and sinners because now we live in the results (this is a poor attempt at summing up the differences but you get the drift- much opinion exists on how sin works). The truth is the world is a ‘fallen place.’ And the truth is that universal sin is a more pressing issue. We universally sin. Sin is destructive and damages all of our relationships.

A word on male/female divisions found in Genesis 3. It is clear that part of this broken world is that all human relationships are flawed. Eve and Adam are divided and long to control one another. This is not God’s wish for any of us but a natural result of sin. People divide, fight, and fuss. Christians throughout history have blamed Eve for sin and said women are weak and more prone to sin. This is ridiculous and simply not true.

So what does this stay for us today? Sin is destructive. Rebellion is what sin is. Sin is selfish desire. It is my way not God’s. It is having one’s way no matter the costs. That’s rebellion. Rebellion is knowing there are limits (limits exist to help us have a better life and not a worse) but defying those and giving in to selfish temptations.

As we continue this weekly discussion we will see sin having an impact in the stories to follow. As we study Cain/Abel, Noah’s ark, and the Tower of Babel we will see examples/results of rebellion.

The church needs to do better. We live in a fractured and damaged world. We need to embrace the way of Christ and work to begin defying the world order and going against the sinful nature of our lives. Rebellion costs. Let’s embrace the way of the cross. Let’s deny ourselves and take up the cross and follow Christ!  If I get a chance I’ll comment more on this chapter this week.  I’m currently preparing my sermon for this Sunday on Cain and Abel but there is much still we could say about this particular chapter.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Peace,

Derik

Political Jokes from the Pulpit??

(I’m writing about Genesis weekly and dealing with themes from an ongoing sermon series.  From time to time I’ll also add articles relevant to issues of the day.  This is one of those.)

I am a pod cast listening guy.  I download and listen to churches and speakers of all stripes and affiliations.  I’m enjoying some pod casts from Mosaic and from some churches that are not “famous” but have some exciting things going on.  As a pastor I try and keep up with what is going on in pulpits.  I was scanning area churches and noticed Bailey Smith was going to be at Thomas Road Baptist Church here in Lynchburg, VA (the late Jerry Falwell’s church now pastored by his son Jonathan).  Now to many of you Bailey Smith may not resonate with you but growing up Southern Baptist I remember Rev Smith.  He was one of those leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention who took over the convention and tore the SBC into pieces.  Smith is also known as the leader of the SBC who in a convention meeting announced, “God doesn’t hear the prayer of a Jew.”  I wanted to see what in the world Bailey Smith was up to these days.  Granted I’m not a fan but I was curious.

So I listened and in the first five minutes was struck by how political things are getting in churches.  I’m not naive.  I know churches are being political but it was still amazing to actually hear the political comments in a worship service.

TRBC has a huge prop on stage from the Sunday morning service.  From what I can tell it is a sixteen foot pair of jeans or giant man or something. I’m listening to audio so that’s what I figured they were saying.  This was a Sunday night.  Jonathan teased Smith about preaching with this on stage.  Smith gave his greetings then said, “It’s the first time I’ve ever preached in front of a 16 foot democrat (Laughter from the church).  No brain (even more laughter and some applause).   No heart and no guts (Much much laughter and applause).   I’m trying to see if anyone is walking out..No that’s good.  No they wouldn’t come on a Sunday night anyway, Amen.  I will tell you this about Jerry Falwell.  If he were alive nobody with a middle name of Hussein would be elected President of the United State of America (applause).”

What’s wrong with this picture?  I’m not taking on Bailey Smith or the church he preached in but I am offended.  For many many reasons.

*It’s a partisan comment.  He doesn’t say vote for so and so but it’s pretty blatant.”

*It’s mean.  He implies that no one in the church would be a democrat and that democrats are dumb, uncaring, and cowards.  His comments about Obama are also not about issues but about his name!!!!!

Would I be offended if he was making jokes about McCain?  You bet!  Many Americans were mad when Jeremiah Wright said things in the other way and this to me is also not right.  Where is the pastoral care?  Where is the love of Christ?  When Christians make political comments it is sad and when we mock or make jokes it is even worse.

I’m sure there are those who will disagree with me upon reading this.  Rest assured I’m not defending or supporting Obama or anyone else in this blog article.  I’m not worried about whether you are voting for McCain or Obama but I am worried about the tone we in the church set as a witness to our community.

If you are like many of your fellow Americans you are tired of mud slinging and nasty politics.  May the church rise above this!

Blessings,

Derik

Not How, But Why- Creation (Genesis 1-2)

It’s been almost a month since I’ve posted a new article! Life has been busy and I have not been able to sit down and write. I’ve covered many issues and have been thinking about what direction to take this blog next. For awhile I plan on writing weekly blog articles on the topics relating to the sermon I just preached. I will deal with the same issue and if you miss the sermon (you can go on our church web site-www.randolphalive.org and listen on our sermon player) you will find the articles fine to follow and discuss. This way those who come to our church can have something to think about after the sermon and others can join in on topics that are on my mind. I’ll also throw in articles each week unrelated to the sermon but related to happenings in the world.

I just preached a sermon today that kicks off a new sermon series on Genesis. The overall theme is “Messy Beginnings, Messy Relationships” and I’ll be looking at the earlier Genesis stories to help us with our own lives.

Genesis 1-11 is called ‘pre-history.’ These chapters contain the creation, fall (Adam and Eve stories), Cain and Abel, Noah, and tower of Babel. I plan on preaching five sermons dealing with these stories. My sixth and final sermon will be on chapter 12- Abraham. I’m looking at chaos-order to chaos to order. God took chaos and made order then sin brought chaos and with Abraham God is about brining order again.

Genesis 1-2 is very interesting. Many people when faced with Genesis want to talk faith and science. My sermon today was to say that it is more important to know why we are here and what we are here for than how God did it. This doesn’t mean it isn’t important to look at the how but the main point of the story is why. We are created by God for a reason and we have a purpose. God desires to be in relationship with us. And this relationship is amazing but we will find that it also comes with responsibility and this is where we get into trouble. God made Adam and Eve and they are relationship with one another, animals, nature, and God. We’ll see next time in chapter 3 that we blow it and the relationships fall apart.

As I reflect upon the creation story I do know many of you reading this still want to talk about the faith/science issue. I understand this and for blog purposes don’t mind dealing with it a little more. So many people want to talk about faith vs science. I hate that idea. We are not at war with science. So many think there is one Christian view of creation and if they don’t buy that then they aren’t ‘Christian’ in their thinking. How many young Christians leave their churches, go to college, and struggle as they read their biology text books. In reality there are many Christian views of creation and not one. Some believe in a young earth and that the world is only 6000 years old. I personally have a big problem with this. How we can argue such a thing with the information we know have boggles my mind. I believe this will lead to some real problems for Christians today. The Creation museum in Northern Kentucky and other places/organizations are pushing this view and I really find it hard to buy. Some old earth creationists position various alternatives. There is a gap theory (time passes between 1:1 and 1:2 to explain the age) or that the days in chapter 1 are time periods. If you take this literally though then there is a long period of time without various essential pieces of nature. Read Genesis 1 and try and make that fit a realistic time frame doesn’t work. You have one day where there is light, then another with plants, and eventually you get to the fourth day and you get the Sun and moon. So did we have a million years/thousand year/billion where there was light and plants and no sun? There are some young earth creationists who believe that God made the earth to appear old. There are other Christians who feel that earth is billions of years old and have no problem with accepting scientific understandings of the world. Intelligent Design is a new movement that attacks evolution and points to the gaps in science and this points to a designer. They might see some of the early stories as metaphors/allegories or even literal but they would argue that the details are not necessary but that God did create the world working within the natural laws of science that God made! Some might accept part or the whole of evolutionary thought (calling themselves Theistic Evolutionists). Others might accept much of science but disagree with evolutionary claims involving humans and apes coming from common ancestors, etc. Francis Collins, a Christian who worked on the human genome project has a best selling book called “The Language of God” and sees science as the language of God. He coins the term ‘biologos” (biology and logos- Greek word for Word- Jesus in the NT).

Some try and fit Genesis 1 and 2 into a scientific frame work and others don’t worry about it. The truth is Genesis is not a science book and the ancient writers who recorded these stories (from oral to written) did not have a scientific understanding of the world. They knew God made it and as the story unfolds it is a book of theology that speaks to us today.

What is Genesis telling us? That God is the creator of all things (a universal Christian view) and however God did it he did it. And that upon creating the world he created humans. He loves us and wants a relationship with us. God gave us free will. God made the world a network of relationships (God, humans, nature, and animals). Humans have a unique relationship and responsibility to care for creation and to serve God. Humans fell into sin because free will means we don’t always listen to God. Yet before this happens (Genesis 3) we need to pay attention to this unique story of relationships with God. God gave Eve to Adam because humans are not to be alone. We are to be in community with other humans. God gave us the blessing to create new life and continue creating new relationships. Eve is not beneath Adam. She is a helper. This Hebrew word is often used to describe God and how God gives us what we lack. Eve fulfilled what Adam needed. She ‘completed’ him. In fact she came from his ’side’ (rib is actually side). They form a family.

What a beautiful picture of God and his love for us. Rather than argue about the parts we can’t understand why not encourage ourselves by what we can understand.

I’d love your comments and thoughts. I personally love Genesis and what it teaches us about life today. As the story unfolds we’ll learn more about ourselves and humanity.

Blessings,

Derik