From Sampler to Sower

Weekend Teaching Series: You Decide

Text(s): Genesis 4, Romans 5

Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 7 of 10, Difficulty is up, just because there was so much different this week.  None of it was especially hard, in particular because of the great services available from polleverywhere.com (more on that tomorrow), but this week was far from typical.

Message Summary: Many of our typical subject lines (sermon title, message in a sentence, even text) don’t really apply to this series.  As I told our students last week, we’re trying something new.  With a series called You Decide we’re giving our students the opportunity to determine which way we go in our teaching.  We’ve challenged them to ask questions.  If there’s something they always wondered about the Bible, ask.  If there’s an issue they are facing for which they’d like a Biblical perspective, then ask.  If there’s something that their friends are going through and they want to know how they can help, just ask.

To facilitate asking, we’re using the services of polleverywhere.com.  Students can text in their questions to a cell phone short code.  They can send an @reply to twitter with their question.  (Though why would you tweet, when you can just txt in your question?)  Or they can go online to our website and not only submit their own question, but also see what other people are asking.  And we’re taking those questions and trying our best to answer them.

This week we tackled several questions.  Some were simply goofy questions some jokers thought we’d just ignore like “where do babies come from?”  (For the record, our answer: “From mommies.  And if you need more details, I suggest you ask yours.”)  Others reflected curiosity about the Bible, like “In the beginning, was there another family besides Adam and Eve?”  And I think one was helping out an enterprising Christian school student with homework for Bible class, “What are the personal applications of God’s attributes?”  Obviously, the bulk of our time was spent on these last two.

So, was there another family in the beginning?  Did God create more people than just Adam and Eve, or did all humankind descend biologically from these two first parents?  Our answer: really, we don’t know.  The Bible never says that God created anyone other than Adam and Eve in the beginning.  Then again, it never says he didn’t.  Either way we’re trying to make a logical interpretation based on what the Bible does say, and interpretations can always be wrong.

We do know there were other people than just the five named members of the first family.  We know Cain and Seth both had wives. And we know that Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters who were not named (Genesis 5:4).  Did the two boys marry their sisters, or were there other people created by God?  I suppose since the Bible doesn’t say either way, either answer could be possible.

There are a couple of statements in Genesis 4 that also raise questions.  In Genesis 4 we read about the first murder.  Cain murders Abel and is confronted by God for his fratricide.  His punishment is banishment – sent away from home and family and condemned to wander the the Land of Nod, or literally the land of wandering, east of Eden (thereby doing his part in providing the title for one of the greatest books of all time.)

When Cain learns of his punishment, he complains that he is essentially being given a death sentence.  “Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:13-14, NIV).  Now, who are these other people and why is Cain afraid of them?  Is he frightened that they will kill him because he is an unwelcome outsider who will always be met with mistrust among strangers?  Is that why God marks him so he will be recognized by them?  If that’s the case, wouldn’t that suggest these others are not siblings, because surely siblings would recognize their brother?  Or is it because no matter where he goes, Cain will meet siblings of Abel who are looking for blood vengeance?

Then there’s the line in verse 17, “Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.”  Who’s moving into this new city?  His own offspring, or others people?  Again, no answers, just questions.

Another passage that causes questions is Romans 5.  This passage deals with original sin, the separation from God into which all human beings are born after Adam and Eve.  Paul says in Romans 5 that this separation is one of the effects of Adam’s sin:

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14, NIV)

We know that Adam and Eve were created in perfect fellowship with God.  But Adam and Eve sinned.  The fellowship was broken and they were cast out of the garden.  Ever since, every human being starts out estranged from God.  We call this estrangement original sin.

The question is how is this original sin passed on from generation to generation?  If it is passed on biologically, obviously every human being must be a descendant of Adam and Eve, and thus everyone in that second generation must be Adam and Eve’s child.  However, since original sin is a relational reality, rather than a biological one, there’s no reason to assume it must be passed along biologically.  Again, more questions, no answers.

But here’s what we do know for sure: Every single one of us is born separated from God.  And our choices only exacerbate this separation.  Original sin is followed by actual sins and our situation only becomes more dire.  That’s the Biblical fact we know for certain.  The other Biblical fact we know for certain is that God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live alongside of us and do die along with us in order to overcome that separation.  Our separation from God may be factual, but because of Jesus Christ it doesn’t have to be final.

It’s here I should probably point out one of the main features of the You Decide series.  Teaching should always be able to answer the question “So what?“  Maybe (and only maybe) that’s an overstatement.  Always is a pretty strong word and I suppose I have to admit the logical possibility that maybe it would be worth teaching simply to convey knowledge.  But the purpose of teaching is not just knowledge transfer, it is application.  What we teach should apply to student’s lives.  So when I’m answering questions in this You Decide series, I’m always looking to see how the question comes back and applies to our lives.  I’m looking to answer the “So What?” question. And if I can’t, it’s a question we probably won’t address in teaching time.

The second question we tackled was “What are the personal applictions of God’s attributes?”

Here I warned students we were going to go deep for a little bit.  I told them that if they were the kinds of students who liked thinking about the deep stuff, they’d enjoy this part.  If they were the kinds of students who really liked the practical, I encouraged them to hold on, because we’d get back to the practical.

We then started a theology lecture on epistemology and theology.  Literally.  I just taught through a section of one of my lectures in the Wesleyan theology class in our district’s School of Ministry.

We talked about the different ways to talk about God.  There are those who believe we can make true, affirmative statements about God.  (They call this the via affirmativa or cataphatic theology.)  We can say that God is love, for example, and this is a true statement.

Others argue that we can only make true statements about God when we acknowledge what God is not.  (They call this the via negativa or apophatic theology.)  We can’t fully know what God is, but we can know what he isn’t.  For example, he isn’t subject to the same limitations in space, knowledge and power as human beings are.  And so when we say things like God is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent (all-present, all-knowing, all powerful) what we are really saying is that God is not limited like we are.

Still others argue that the truth is somewhere between the two.  What we say about God is only partially true.  (They call this the via eminentie.)   In other words, it is somewhat true to say that God is love, provided we immediately clarify the ways in which the word love falls short of the reality of God.

Finally, related to the via eminentie but taking it a step farther is the way of analogy, or the via analogia.  This acknowledges that yes, God is far more than any of our words can comprehend.  But we can still speak meaningfully of God when we do so carefully because there is an analogous relationship between what we say and the reality of God.  It’s kind of like similar polygons in geometry.  In Geometry, similar doesn’t mean “sort of the same.” It means that the two shapes have the same angles, but the sides are either larger or smaller according to a specific ratio.  The smaller is a scale model of the larger.  The relationship of the parts in the scale model is the same as the relationship of the parts of the original, they’re just smaller.  That’s why a scale model reflects reality more accurately than say, a toy.

When we talk about God, our best efforts are at best a scale model.  There is an essential, analogous relationship between our descriptions and the divine reality.  God really is love.  But what we mean by love is at best a scale model of the reality of who God is.

So as long as we understand that we are at best talking about scale models of God, what can we say about God.  What is God like?

These descriptions of God are called his attributes.  And his attributes fall into two categories.

First there are the natural attributes of God, those things that God, by definition as a god, is. In other words if God was looking through the help wanted ads at listings for a position as a god, if he didn’t possess these natural attributes, he wouldn’t even be allowed to apply for the job.  Among these:

God is Spirit.  He is not confined to a phyiscial body like we are.   He is Spirit.

God is infinite. If he wasn’t Spirit, he couldn’t be infinite.  He’d be limited to a body. But because God is spirit he’s not limited to a body.  Not limited to a particular place, not limited to particular knowledge, not limited in power.  Omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent.

God is eternal. Not only is God not limited in space, he’s also not limited to time.  He’s eternal in the Hebrew sense of the word – he is of everlasting duration.  There was never a time when God was not.  He’s also eternal in the Greek sense of the word – he stands outside of time, and is not constrained by it’s constructs.

Second are God’s moral attributes.  These are those things that reflect God’s character because they are the things he chooses to be.  It’s possible to imagine a god who doesn’t possess these qualities (in fact, all you have to do is look at the mythologies of the ancient world to see plenty of imaginary gods who fall short of God’s character).  But not our God.

God is just. That doesn’t mean he treats everyone in exactly the same way.  That’s not justice.  Justice means treating everyone according to the same standard.  God considers each person individually, and treats them accordingly.

God is holy. He does not wrestle with competing motives, nor is he corrupted by any desire other than love.

God is love. He genuinely puts the needs of others ahead of himself and acts in the best interest of others.

God is wise. He not only has the knowledge, he knows how to work in a way that reflects his character.  He doesn’t just do what is right, he does what is best, and he does it in the best way.

So what?

God desires that we reflect him.  Not in the same way (because remember, God is so much more) but in an analogous way, just as I am delighted when people see a family resemblance in my kids, I believe God takes delight when his children reflect his image.  (I think that’s why he repeatedly commands “Be holy because I am holy (Leviticus 11:44, NIV).” “Be perfect as I am perfect (Matthew 5:48, NIV).”)

But you and I will never reflect God’s natural attributes.  No one is ever going to walk up to you and say “Hey, you know, your omniscience really reminds me of God.”  We’ll never be eternal.  We’ll never be infinite.  And contrary to misconceptions about heaven, God’s plan isn’t for us to be spirit.  The resurrection is of the body.  None of these attributes are in God’s plan for us.

But he does want us to reflect his moral attributes.  We are called to reflect God’s character.  He wants us to be people of justice – who see each person as just that, a person, and treats them accordingly.  He wants us to be a people of holiness – to be a people who don’t have to struggle with competing motives, but who singlemindedly love.  He wants us to be a people of love – who really do put the needs of others ahead of our our preferences and comfort.  And he wants us to be a people of wisdom – who transcend just doing what is right, and do what is best in the best way.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Like I said in the review of our Junior High service, our volunteer staff was stronger that it has been in a long time, and students were involved across the board.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We really tried to go with an informal environment that facilitated response from students.  We not only set up a polleverywhere.com poll to solicit questions, we also set up a feedback poll so students could ask questions or make comments while I was teaching.  A computer up front let me see their questions and comments live while I was teaching that way students could ask questions without interrupting the flow of the service.  That said, teens didn’t really use the poll to respond to the teaching, most of the interaction was verbal, and I enjoyed the give and take of the less formal setting.

Worship Set: We opened with God You Reign and In Christ Alone and then responded to the message about God’s attributes with Holy is the Lord and How He Loves

Favorite Moment: Explaining our Senior Pastor’s disdain for apricots (one of the goofy questions that was asked in response to one of his sermon illustrations from Sunday.)  Sorry, inside joke, I know.  But it was my favorite part of Tuesday.