Creation and Redemption

Sunday Sermons

Mark Dunagan
11/18/07 - Sunday Morning

Maybe you have picked up the Bible and found yourself convicted as a sinner (Romans 3:23; Galatians 5:19-21; Colossians 3:5ff), yet before you close the Bible and walk away offended, what you need to realize is that sin is only tragic if you have great value. “The Bible does not begin with the Fall (Genesis 3) but with Creation (Genesis 1). Our value and dignity are rooted in the fact that we are created in the image of God, with the high calling of being His representatives on earth. In fact, it is only because humans have such high value that sin is so tragic. If we were worthless to begin with, then the Fall would be a trivial event. When a cheap trinket is broken, we toss it aside with a shrug. But when a priceless masterpiece is defaced, we are horrified. It is because humans are the masterpiece of God’s creation that the destructiveness of sin produces such horror and sorrow. Far from expressing a low view of human nature, the Bible actually gives a far higher view than the dominant secular view today….We need to begin our message where the Bible begins, with the dignity and high calling of all human beings because they are created in the image of God.” (Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey pp. 87-88).

So when you are convicted as being a sinner, that does not mean that you are worthless – rather, you are valuable, and how you live and the choices you make do matter to God – and they are so important that they will matter forever (Romans 2:6-11).

Human not Super-Human

I think some people have been convinced that what the Bible requires of men is the impossible and that no one can truly live the Christian life. Yet notice how Jesus replied to the Jewish leaders when they asked him about divorce. “He who created them from the beginning made them male and female” (Matthew 19:4). “In other words, the creation order that God established ‘from the beginning’ remains normative through human history. It is not an inferior order to be overcome or destroyed by Redemption. Genesis reveals what God intended for humanity from the start, and what it still means to live a fully human life today.” (Total Truth p. 92). Likewise, in serving God, He does not expect us to live beyond the capabilities of our humanity, but rather to simply live as humans were meant to live. To argue that we cannot live up to the expectations of honesty, service, love, patience, goodness, or self-control is to lower our dignity. “In Redemption, God does not call us to become something other than human but rather to recover our true humanity.” (Total Truth p. 92). This means that when we are sinning, we are living far below our human potential. We see this when Peter spoke of certain false teachers asunreasoning animals (2 Peter 2:12).

What We Must Abandon

If you are under the impression that the Bible brings a repressive lifestyle then you have sadly misunderstood its teachings. Scripture says, “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4; Genesis 1:31). Yes, the Bible does call upon us to forsake certain attitudes and behaviors (Galatians 5:19-21), but only because such things are corruptions or perversions of God’s creation. “For example, music is good, but popular songs can be used to glorify moral perversion. Art is a good gift from God, but books and movies can be used to convey nonbiblical worldviews and encourage moral decadence. Science is a vocation from God, but it can be used to undermine belief in a Creator. Sexuality was God’s idea in the first place, but it can be distorted and twisted to serve selfish, hedonistic purposes (Hebrews 13:4). The state is ordained by God to establish justice, but it can be perverted into tyranny and injustice. Work is a calling from God, but in American corporate structure it is often an addiction—a frenzied scramble for a higher rung on the corporate ladder, a bigger salary, a more impressive resume. In every area of life, we need to distinguish between the way God originally created the world, and the way it has been deformed and defaced by sin.” (Total Truth p. 85).

Help for Real Life

Not only have many of God’s good gifts been corrupted, but Christianity has been corrupted as well (Galatians 1:6-9; 1 Timothy 4:1-4; 2 Timothy 4:2-4). “Matter is not some preexisting stuff with its own independent properties, capable of resisting God’s power. God created it and thus has absolute power over it. The Bible presents the world as originally good (Genesis 1:31). The Bible does not identify evil with matter or with any other part of creation, but with sin, which twists and distorts God’s originally good creation. For example, Scripture does not treat the body as inherently sinful or less valuable. The sheer monumental fact that God Himself took on human form (John 1:14) speaks decisively of the dignity of the body.” (Total Truth p. 76). Unfortunately, following the days of the apostles, the church was influenced by Gnostic thinking (matter is evil, and man’s problem is metaphysical). Thus “manual labor was regarded as less valuable than prayer and meditation, marriage was rejected in favor of celibacy, ordinary social life was on a lower plane than life in hermitages and monasteries. Does this sound familiar? It describes much of the spirituality of the church fathers and the Middle Ages. The really committed Christian was the one who rejected ordinary work and family life, withdrawing to a monastery to live a life of prayer and contemplation.” (p. 76). “Monasticism recognized that marriage is part of the creation order; nevertheless it rejected marriage as inferior. Similarly, monasticism recognized that owning property is a natural right, rooted in creation and protected by the eighth commandment; nevertheless, but abandoning all property, monks and nuns sought to rise above the natural order to a higher state. Monasticism recognized a natural right to protect oneself, and for a nation to protect itself; yet it claimed for itself a higher calling of pacifism. And so on.” (Total Truth p. 91). The good news is that real Christianity will not impose upon one an unworkable lifestyle, rather the Bible gives clear directions for how to make a marriage and family work (Ephesians 5:22-6:4) and how to be a good manager or employee (Ephesians 6:5ff). God does not want us withdrawing from society or the world, for this makes Christianity look weak and Christians unable to resist temptation. Rather, God, and the lifestyle that God gives, enables God’s people to be rugged, strong, and able to remain pure, even while interacting with the world (James 1:26; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 10:13).

A Worldview that Fits

When I was younger I thought that a commitment to religion demanded that I split my life into two realms. One was a fact realm of real life, and the other would be a faith realm for God and religious things. Many people continue to view religion in this way, yet the problem with this point of view is that “it is like trying to stuff a person into a garbage can, an arm or leg will always stick out” (Total Truth p. 110). Even when people try to live an entirely “secular life” they inherently speak like a Christian now and then when they appeal to right, wrong, ought and should. The good news about the gospel is that our entire lives can fit into this worldview with no arms or legs sticking out. Christianity addresses every aspect of our lives (2 Peter 1:3; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) and is not a life divided between facts and faith, but rather a worldview where faith is supported by facts (Hebrews 11:1; Luke 1:1-4). In addition, this means there is a biblical way to look at work (1 Timothy 5:8), politics, education, art, music, recreation, and every other realm that we encounter in this life. “We may do a great job of arguing that Christianity is total truth, but others will not find our message persuasive unless we give a visible demonstration of that truth in action. Outsiders must be able to see for themselves in the day-to-day pattern of our lives, that we do not treat Christianity as just a private retreat, a comfort blanket, a castle of fairy-tale beliefs that merely make us feel better” (Total Truth p. 354).

Waiting for an Emotional Response?

Like many unbelievers, before I became a Christian, I was under the impression that people who had become Christians had undergone some sort of supernatural or mystical experience and that conversion was a purely emotional experience. I had really never considered that someone might become a Christian because what the Bible said was “true”. “I had once accosted another student, demanding that he explain why he converted to Christianity. A pale, thin young man with a strong South African accent, he responded simply, ‘They shot down all my arguments’. I continued gazing at him somewhat quizzically, expecting something more, well, dramatic. ‘It’s not always a big emotional experience, you know’, he said with an apologetic smile. ‘I just came to see that a better case could be made for Christianity than for any of the other ideas I came here with’.” (Total Truth p. 54). God does not have to overpower anyone’s will because the Bible is filled with overpowering reasons why we should honor and serve Him (1 Peter 3:15).

True Liberation

The Bible does speak of repentance as a crucifixion, a dying to self (Romans 6:6; Galatians 6:14; 2:20). The good news is that on the other side of this dying is new life (Romans 6:4). Not only does God offer us liberation from various sins, but He equally offers us liberation from worldly values and freedom from barriers that come between us and Him and us and others. “It means dying inwardly to whatever has control over us. And the thing that really controls us may not be what we want; it may be what we fear. Fear can dominate our lives just as strongly as desire. It may be anger. Or pride. Or even futile wishes—a person disappointed in life may simply keep wishing that things had been different. Whatever it is that controls you, that is what you must place on the altar to be slain. Only then will we be released from our inner compulsions and be able to discover the freedom in which nothing but ‘the love of Christ controls us’ (2 Corinthians 5:14).” (Total Truth p. 360).

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017