The Divine Story of Jesus and You: God's Story

© South Bay Community Church
Sermon Reflections: The Divine Story of Jesus and You: God's Story
Date: 16 June 2024
Speaker: Pastor Emeritus Stan Long
Sermon Text: Genesis 1:1, 26-27; Genesis 3:6-10, 14-15
Sermon Quick Summary
            What would we learn if we could interview God? Through God’s self-revelation, someone had already done that and some of what they discovered is in today’s scripture text. We need to revisit the scriptures that captured the essence of God’s story. We will rethink many of the myths and misconceptions we have about God and weigh them against what God has actually revealed about Himself. Our myths and misconceptions about God include that God is unreasonable, unreliable, unconcerned, and unpleasable. Such ideas about God are wrong arising from no relationship or an estranged relationship with God.
            The essential components of God’s story include the following: (1) God’s self-revelation is necessary for us to get to know God. As God declares “I am the I am.” (2) Reconciliation is indispensable. God invites us to join God on the mission. (3) Restoration is exhilarating. God is making things over again, as God invites us to yield to God restoring us. As we celebrate Father’s Day, out of God’s love for us, let us consider our Heavenly Father’s attributes. God is a caring Father. God is a consistent Father. God is a close Father. God is a competent Father.

Interviews, like interviewing God through the scriptures, can be extremely informative
            Pastor Stan Long shared this story:  “A professor at Swarthmore College called.  She wanted to interview me about images of black people in Christian publications during the 60’s. While I didn’t feel like I had much to offer, I was intrigued by her use of interview questions which she used to get more information out of me than I thought I had. Interviews are not only popular, but they can be extremely informative. They have the capacity to be powerful pathways to knowing and understanding an individual. In fact, the interview process was so intriguing that I started to question what would we learn if we could interview God. Then I realized that someone had already done that and some of what they discovered is in today’s text.”

The interviewer of God in these verses of scripture captured the essence of God’s story
Genesis 1:
1:1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 26 Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 3:
3:6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ 10 He answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.’”
            Scripture leads us to rethink many myths and misconceptions about God that go against what God has actually revealed about God.

Some people wrongly think that God is unreasonable
            They think God puts unreasonable demands on your life that you could never possibly live up to. All God wants to do is make life tough, give me rules and regulations and restrictions. God wants to remove all the fun, enjoyment, and happiness from life. God is some kind of cosmic kill-joy, and God is very unreasonable.

Other people wrongly think that God is unreliable
            They have been hurt. It’s an interesting characteristic of human behavior when somebody hurts us, we not only blame that person, but we also blame God. If you’ve been attacked or put down or abused, we not only get mad at our attacker, but we also get mad at God. We say, “God, why did You allow it?” A lot of people never get close to God because they haven’t dealt with resentment. They blame God for bad things that happened to them.
 
Some people wrongly think that God is unconcerned
            They think God is just too busy to bother with me. How could God be possibly interested in me? God’s got big things to worry about, like universes to create. How could God be concerned about my job, my kids, my family, my career, my schooling, my education, my boyfriend?” Those things seem petty, so you think God is unconcerned. If you think He’s unconcerned, you’re not going to try to get to know Him.
There are those people who wrongly think that God is unpleasable
            They erroneously think that no matter how hard you try, you are never good enough in God’s eyes. For example, if you get C’s on your report card, God wants B’s. If you get B’s, God wants A’s.

From wrong ideas about God to components of a healthy relationship with God
            All of us live at the mercy of our ideas and nowhere is this more important than our ideas about God. Many of our ideas about God are just wrong enough to be detrimental and disheartening to our relationship with God. God’s story includes three major components about us and our relationship with God.  (1) The Necessity of Revelation–I am the I am – get to know Me. (2) The Indispensability of Reconciliation – I am on a mission - join Me. (3) The Exhilaration of Restoration- I am making things over – yield to Me.

God’s self-revelation is necessary
            The Bible primarily tells the story of God’s actions to create a human family. In the context of a perfect creation God meticulously put together for Adam, Eve, and God to enjoy each other as partners. God created the human family in the image of God. The only way the created can know the Creator is by the Creator’s self-revelation. We know what we know about God because God is revealing to us.
Let’s view this video, “So Will I,” about creation as we focus on the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2U7ffUM5Ec
            God started His self-revelation with the first human. We have no idea how long it took for God and Adam to reach the communication level it took to enjoy those evening strolls they had together. God continued  self-revelation to God’s chosen people of Israel, from Abraham to the silent years (approximately 400 years before God is revealed in the flesh) before the New Testament. God kept inviting God’s people to “know me”. Eventually God’s self-revelation became flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus.
            God wants us to know Him. God’s self-revelation is always available to those who want to know God. Revelation is not just to the super spiritual. It is God’s desire that we have ongoing conversations with God so that God can reveal who God is. For example, God’s visits to Adam and Eve in the garden; Enoch’s walks with God; the face-to-face conversations between Moses and Jehovah are not meant to be exceptional at all. They are examples of the normal human life God intended for us. Revelation is a Necessity.

Reconciliation is indispensable
            God’s story takes an unusual twist when the image bearers (See Genesis 1:27), Adam and Eve, chose not to obey despite a perfect environment. Their choice places God in a “restore them back” posture. Their choice plunges the entire creation into a different relationship with its creator.
            God is now on a mission to reconcile the world unto Himself. God’s love won’t let it go. God’s love won’t let you go.
            You think you choose God; the truth is God has been pursuing you ever since you came into this world.
And it wasn’t so you could go to heaven when you die. It was so God could heal the brokenness of your life, so God could partner in life with you. Reconciliation is so God could walk with you, talk with you, and reveal God’s love for you. You bear God’s image inside of you, and when God comes into your life, God awakens that image. You then know life as God created you to enjoy.
            Reconciliation is not just for the future, it is for now. Nowhere in the bible does Jesus ever say come to me so you can go to heaven when you die.

Restoration is exhilarating
God is making things over again. As God invites us to yield to God, God restores us. It is the invitation for us to be reconciled image bearers to partner with God on mission. Let’s view this video, “Hold Up the Light,” as we focus on the word lyrics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH93vb39s_s
            God is making things over. God invites us to yield and be the light of the world in darkness. Like the Father that God is, God is busy working in each of us restoring what Adam & Eve caused us to lose.
            Jesus taught us to call God Father. One hundred and sixty-seven times in the Bible, Jesus called God Father. Do you think that’s by happenstance? No. God is Father to us excitingly making us over from the inside out.

What kind of Father is God?
God is a Caring Father 
            God is compassionate, loving, and gracious. God cares about you. In fact, God loves you more than you will ever know. God loves you more than you will be able to experience. You can’t even understand how much God loves you because your brain isn’t big enough to handle it.
            Compassion is God’s number one characteristic and attribute. The Bible tells us in Psalms 104 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who honor Him.”
           God is caring. God is compassionate. God’s care and compassion is one of the most profound questions in human existence. Does God care about my problems? Does God care about my hurts and the things I’m going through, the stress I’m feeling, and the worries I’m experiencing? Does God really care about what happens to me? Yes, God cares. God’s heart is touched with my grief.
 
God is a Consistent Father
            While everything around us might be changing, there is one thing that you can absolutely count on. God always acts the same way towards you. God always acts in love. God always acts with forgiveness. God always acts with grace. God always offers you God’s power. God doesn’t change. God is always caring and God is always consistent.
 
God is a Close Father
Many of us grew up with absentee earthly fathers. Perhaps, our father was never around. Maybe he was never home. Maybe he was always off on some important trip. Maybe he was always off on a business deal. Maybe he was just hanging out with the guys. Perhaps he was never around when we were growing up. Maybe when he was at home, he was distant and aloof, hiding behind a newspaper. For some of us your father was a non-entity. He just did not make that big of an impact.
           God is never too busy for you. Your human parents may be too busy for you. God is present with you every single day. When you pray, God does not say, “Not now. I’ll see you later.” No, God is never too busy for you. God never turns away.

God is a Competent Father
God can handle any problem you give Him. Nothing is beyond God’s ability. Nothing is beyond God’s resources. We have an epidemic of incompetent fathers today who are good at a lot of other thing but pretty lousy as fathers. But your heavenly Father really can do anything. Nothing is impossible with God. Ephesians 3:20 says “God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers or desires or thoughts or hopes.”        

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS INCLUDING FAMILY GROUPS
Sermon Quick Summary
-What are the differences, if any, between interviews among those who have a close interrelationship as compared to adversarial interviews?
Interviews, like interviewing God through the scriptures, can be extremely informative
-Why is studying a scriptural biblical text similar to the opportunity to interview God?
The interviewer of God in these verses of scripture captured the essence of God’s story
-What scriptural text from Genesis 1 or Genesis 3 was a highlight for you on essentials of God’s story? Why?
-As you are able to interview God through studying biblical scriptural texts, what myths or misconceptions of God have you had to rethink?
Some people wrongly think that God is unreasonable
-What activity in studying biblical scripture or the life of Jesus has led you to rethink the wrong idea that God is unreasonable, taking away the joy in life for a set of rules, regulations, and restrictions?
Other people wrongly think that God is unreliable
-When hurt, why do we blame not just the other person hurting us. but also we blame God?
Some people wrongly think that God is unconcerned
-What activity in studying biblical scripture or the life of Jesus has led you to rethink the wrong idea that God is not concerned with every aspect of your life?
There are those people who wrongly think that God is unpleasable
-Right relationship with God is based on trusting in Christ. Why is the idea of God never being pleased, no matter how hard you try, wrong thinking?
God’s revelation about self is necessary
-What was a highlight for you in the lyrics of the video (“So Will I”) about similar responses to divinity of created nature in our environment and created humanity? As an example, if the oceans proclaim the greatness of God, so will I as a created human. What other examples were highlights for you?
Reconciliation is indispensable
-What is the primary purpose of God’s mission to reconcile humanity and God? Is the primary purpose so that you go to heaven when you die? Or is the primary purpose to heal the brokenness of your life, so God could do life with you? Why?
Restoration is exhilarating
-What is the restoration and transformation that is taking place inside of us? What was a highlight for you from the video (“Hold Up Lights”) focused on the lyrics of the song?
God is a Caring Father
-Why do you know that God loves you and cares for you with compassion more than you will ever experience?
God is a Consistent Father
-Describe various aspects of the consistency of God. Why is God always consistent in same way towards you?
God is a Close Father
-Unlike some of our earthly fathers, God is always close and present. Why is it so important that God is always close and present with us?
God is a Competent Father
-Unlike some of our earthy fathers, God can handle any problem you turn over to God. Why is Ephesians 3:20 so important that God can do anything in God’s Will, even “beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hope?”

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