Mark 12:13-44 Give to God what is his

Mark 12:13-44

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What do you owe God?

It’s a funny question isn’t it? What do I owe God?

We often think about what God owes us. We get angry because life doesn’t go our way. We lash out at God when we suffer. Why me, Lord. We say.

But the truth is that God doesn’t owe us anything. And we owe him everything.

He made us. He owns us. His imprint is on us. That is, we are made in His image. He is the original, the first, the source. He is the Emperor on the coin. He is Supreme. And we are derivative, secondary, the created. Our life is dependent on him. Every breath we take is a gift from Him. Without Him, we cease to exist. We are utterly dependent.

How then should we live?

How then should we think about God our Father? How should we approach His Word, the Bible? If we are God’s image-bearers, if his mark is on us, what should we do? Give to God what belongs to God.

1. We belong to God

2. We must listen to God’s word

3. Listening to God’s Word is not enough!

4. Give everything (because Jesus has given everything)

1. We belong to God

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. is how the old translation puts v17.

And it’s a brilliant answer to a tricky question.

You see, Jesus has just publicly taken on the leaders of Israel, and called them out for ignoring God’s Word. They’re busy pretending to be servants of God, but they are only serving themselves.

This whole event started when Jesus entered the Temple and started flipping tables and chasing everyone away. “How dare you turn my Father’s house, a house of prayer, into a den of thieves” he shouted. The leaders marched in all in a huff “How dare you do this!” they say “what right have you?”.

“No, how dare YOU” responds Jesus. “How dare you ignore the words of God.” They are acting as if Israel belongs to them, and that they do not have to give an account to God. They are the evil tenant farmers who try to steal the vineyard in the story Jesus tells in 12:1-12. There is no fruit of obedience to God, no love for the Lord. The fig tree, Israel, has no fruit. And will be cursed. For the LORD, Yahweh, God himself, has come to his Temple in fulfilment of prophecy in Malachi 3, and has found… what? Corruption and evil. What will the owner do? Asked Jesus. Mk 12:9 “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.

When God appears and asks “what have you done” what can you answer? We’re all in deep trouble! All we can do is say “I’m sorry”.

But the leaders, oh they don’t repent, they don’t say sorry. Even though v12 they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. They still don’t repent. No. Instead they wanted to arrest Jesus (v12) and want to kill him (11:18).

What should they do? Recognise their sin! “Oh, I ran my life as if it were mine. I forgot I had to give an account to you, O Lord. I am so ashamed at what I have done, how I have ignored you. Please forgive me because of your mercy.”
That is what they should have done, that is what we must do. Otherwise we will find that we are locked in a war against God for all eternity, a war that we cannot win. We will be killed for all eternity for we belong to God.

This is serious business. We belong to God!

And this is the point of Jesus’ response to them in v17. It is a clear warning to repent. They, of course are trying to trap him. They are afraid of the people – so they try and turn the people against Jesus. That’s what they fear! They don’t fear God! But Jesus, he is not afraid.
So just listen to their slithering snake-like, oily, disgusting, question. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favourites. You teach the way of God truthfully. They are being obsequious, sucking up, flattering to deceive. But what they say, ironically, is true. He is everything they should be, but aren’t! They, by contrast v12 are afraid of the crowd.

So they spring their trap: Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”

Hehehe. We’ve got him! If he says “don’t pay Caesar” then we can get him arrested by the Romans. If he says “pay Caesar” then all the people will hate him. Haha!

Then Jesus says “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

Oh drat! You can imagine their hearts sinking as this brilliant trap totally backfires. Jesus is not afraid of the people. He’s not afraid of them. He fears no-one but his Father.
Imagine if we could stop being afraid of people – imagine what we could do! As we’ve been reading in Proverbs – the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD.

“Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

We bear the imprint of our Creator, just like a coin bears the imprint of the emperor. We belong to God.

And that’s what the leaders had forgotten. They had forgotten God! We see this pattern again and again in religious leaders, where the organisation becomes the goal, maintaining power and status is the aim, where serving God gets pushed aside and serving self becomes the thing. And then the church becomes a political organisation, throwing out the difficult and inconvenient truths in God’s Word and replacing them with our own. But our church belongs to God, not to us. We belong to God, not to us. These religious leaders were reminded that they, and Israel, the vineyard, belong to God!

Oh Lord help us to remember that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price. Let us never presume that just because we go to church, or even serve in the church, or are leaders in the church, that we are Someone Important. You are the only great God! And we belong to you. May you be our highest goal, our great vision. May we live only for you! Save us from our foolish sin, putting ourselves at the centre. When we see you face to face, let us be filled with joy, not horror and hatred because it’s not us sitting on the throne.

You (and I) belong to God. So give to God what is his. All of you. All of me. We belong to God. So

2. We must listen to God’s word

24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

Revealing words. Aimed at a group called the Sadducees. They were basically secular Jews, like most of Israel today. They were concerned with life now, and how to use God to secure blessing. As v18 points out, they did not believe in the resurrection. So they were focussed on material blessings. The American Dream group. A bit like the prosperity gospel. God is the great vending machine in the sky, and if you can figure out the right combination of words and actions then he has to bless you. And they come to put Jesus in his place.

“Ah-ha, Jesus, now listen here to this foolish example we’ve just made up about one poor woman being married multiple times.” Their proposal is simple: resurrection is foolish because if you’ve been married, then widowed, then marry again – at the resurrection, who are you married to? All of them?! How foolish to think that we will be resurrected! It’s illogical. We are right. You are dumb.

But, of course, they take this question to the extreme, milking it for all its worth. You can imagine them telling this story to the crowd, people laughing as the seeecond husband dies, then the thiiiiird. They were probably rolling their eyes in scorn as they bring home the argument “whose wife will she be”, to the enjoyment of the crowd.

All eyes are then on Jesus. What will he do? What will he say?

His answer is brutally honest: 24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

Wow. The Sadducees were a rich and powerful group. And Jesus is totally unafraid. You don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

How often is that us? How often are we wrong because we do not know the Scriptures, and do not know the power of God.

Just as Jesus exposed the Pharisees and Herodians - they would not give to God what is his – Jesus now exposes the Sadducees: they don’t even know God! For them the Scriptures are a means to an end – their end. The Bible gave them power, respectability, moral authority – but it was beneath them, a tool to be used, not over them, words to be listened to and obeyed. They have read the words but they do not KNOW them. And because they reject God’s Word, they do not know God. They do not know his power.

The way of the Sadducee lies very, very close. It is so easy. What of God’s Word do you refuse to believe?
In our society I can tell you what we find difficult to believe: 1. That God is sovereign over all things. “No, I have free will!” we bleat, as we are manipulated by every advertisement and jingle and shiny new gadget our eyes fall on.
2. That God will judge.
3. That we are sinners.

These are all linked. We like to think of ourselves as good people, moral people – maybe with a couple of failings, but if we try a bit we can sort them out and then God will like us. But the truth is we are “depraved”. That means sinful through and through. Like poison in a glass of water, the poison of sin runs through all of us. Not all of the water is poison – but all the water is poisoned.

Because if we could be just a little bit better and then be acceptable to God, why would Jesus have had to come and die?
No it is because we are helpless in our sin, facing eternal judgment, and because he is sovereign over all things, that he, in his great mercy, decides to do something about that, and save people who don’t deserve to be saved and who don’t want to be saved.

Guard your heart when you read the Bible, or hear it preached, and your heart says “I don’t believe that” and you gloss over it, skip over it, push it aside. You do not want to hear Jesus say to you “Do you not know the Scriptures”. We belong to God. He is God. He decides what is true and what is not. Let us humble ourselves before him!

We must listen to God.

But

3. Listening to God’s Word is not enough! (Understanding the Law (Scriptures) can get us close)

Now, after the failures of the power-hungry religious leaders, and the running-after-money Sadducees, enter the teacher of religious law. This is a “good” man. He is one of the best of us. He has understanding and insight. He sees the spirit of the Law. Listen again to his brilliant answer to Jesus: 32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbour as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

He gets it! The Law is about love, not about rules. The Law says put God first. Love God. Love your neighbour.

But Jesus’ response deflates us. Ruins us. No-one asked him any more questions. Everyone fell silent in dismay. 34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

Not far? Not faaaar?
But, but, who then can be saved? This man knows the path of salvation! How can he be “not far”? Why not “in”?

Because who loves God like he should? This man understood the law – but he lacked the power to actually do it. And that is what he did not see. And that is what Jesus points out. “Dear friend, you have not done what you know you should.”

Just think about the second commandment. Love your neighbour as yourself. Have any of us done that like we should? How often does a careless word slip out? An angry glare? Harsh words. Or we just don’t do something we should have done.

And that’s the second. We break it all the time. What about the first. Love God with all out heart, soul, and mind. We’re doomed.

Because how far can the law take you, even properly understood? “Not far” from the Kingdom.

But it cannot take you in. Only the King of the Kingdom, only Jesus, can grant you access.
This man has understood the Law in part. He knows that it’s not external that’s important, but the heart. The heart that must love God.
And that’s the problem. He’s outside. Because he’s not understood that HIS heart too does not love God. That he too is a sinner. This is the difficult doctrine. A difficult truth. We are all sinners.
He had certainly read the Scriptures – but probably also glossed over, did not think they applied to him. Like Genesis 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

He does not yet believe that the only way to love God and love his fellow men properly is if Jesus has first loved him, and transformed him from the inside out. He needs a Messiah, a saviour. He needs the Lord. Just knowing Scripture is not enough. That just shows us that we’re in trouble, like a man on a dark night, who in a flash of lightning suddenly sees that he’s on the thin edge of a cliff face, with a mud slide bearing down on him – but the other side is too far to jump, and the chasm is deep.
We need to be saved. We need someone from the other side to swing across and pull us to safety!

35 Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honour at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ 37 Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with great delight.

What Jesus is pointing out is why the Messiah, the Promised Rescuer, is the thing that matters. He is the key to understanding the law. He is the door to the Kingdom of God. The law tells us there is a gap, a chasm, a huge pit, between us and God. It tells us our sin has cut us off. And no amount of being good or moral will ever be enough to bridge the gap. The most we can hope for is to be “not far”.

But the Messiah. He can bridge the gap. Why? Because he is a man AND he is God.

Jesus is the Messiah. A man, born of Mary, descended in a long line from King David. Jesus is David’s son.

But, Jesus points out, David himself calls the Messiah, his son, “Lord”. The Lord who is honoured by the LORD, Yahweh, the personal name of God, Israel’s God, the Promise Keeper. David looks and sees the Messiah, the great coming King of Israel, seated at the right hand of God Almighty. The Son of God, seated on the throne. Jesus, the Son of God, shown in power time and time again to be God Almighty, raising the dead, healing the sick, with power over Creation. Who is this man?

The bridge.

The arrogant leaders miss it. They could not conceive of the Almighty God making himself as nothing, as a human being. The incarnation (God becoming man) is mind-blowing. That he should walk on earth, limited and frail. That he should be a baby, dependant on his mother and father. Incredible. What love the King has!

But those hungry for power could never imagine giving up that power for any reason, even those they love, never mind their enemies. But God does that. For us.

They are too busy walking around in flowing robes and sitting at the heads of tables, pretending to be pious but serving themselves. They will be severely punished says Jesus!

Even the best of them is too proud of his own morality, and so is “not far”.

Listening to God’s Word is not enough. We must throw ourselves on his mercy. We must give up everything, in order to gain him, and in Him, gain everything.

4. Give everything (because Jesus has given everything)

41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

It is not enough to pretend to serve God. It is not enough to give to God some of what we have. It is not enough to understand the Bible. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to be sexually pure, or to give our money away to gospel work, or to serve tirelessly in the church, or whatever you think will really impress God.

Oh yes, it is all good stuff – but it is not enough. We must give it all. Everything we have. We must give ourselves. There’s a mime of a man singing at church and the collection plate comes around. He gives some money. It comes around again. Annoyed he gives some more. Carry’s on singing and praising, but with a slight frown. Then the plate comes again. Now he’s angry! But the demand is unavoidable. He throws his wallet in. Sings. And it comes again. Now he’s really angry! Empty’s out his pockets. LOOK! I have nothing. The demand comes again. Then suddenly he understands.
And he climbs onto the offering plate.

Think this is unreasonable? It’s nothing less than what Jesus himself did. The great King of Israel, descendant of David, God Almighty, Ruler of Heaven and earth – shrinks himself down to become a human, one of us. And a servant. A poor preacher from a poor oppressed people. Suffering hunger and cold and want and rejection. The Suffering servant. And finally death. Why? Why does he give everything?

To be the bridge. Arms outstretched on the cross, bridging heaven and earth. Cross over! But to cross over we too must die. Die to ourselves. Be crucified. And then live for Christ!

I began with asking us the question “What do I owe God?”

What do I owe God?

Everything.

Colossians 1:15-24 Christ is supreme

Colossians 1:15-24

Colossians. What a book! Christ is supreme. What a joy to be focussed on him, our Creator, our head, our saviour, our joy, our life.

So far in chapter 1 we’ve been reminded that the gospel is a GIFT from God, and our lives are lived in gratitude. 6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’s wonderful grace.

Our lives change as we hear and understand the truth. V9 and 10 make the same point: We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honour and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.

So, you want live a life pleasing to God, producing good fruit? You need to KNOW and UNDERSTAND the truth. If this is new to you, grab the MP3 of the sermon online!

Last week we saw how Paul launches into his hymn of praise about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God… 18… He is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

We were reminded of the truths that Christ is our all in all, because he is God; and Christ is our all in all, because he is human.

Jesus is the visible image of God, and indeed the fullness of God.
And therefore we need nothing else. In Christ we become who we are born to be. He is the image of God, like we are meant to be – and in Him we too can reflect the glory of God.

Christ is our all in all, because he is God; and Christ is our all in all, because he is human. Again, if you missed last week – well, you missed out! Download the talk, listen to it, and spend time as we did in adoration and admiration of our Saviour!

Now on to this week. More fuel for our adoration! We’ll spend some time thinking about how Christ is our Creator (v15-16), Christ is our destiny (we are made to glorify Christ) (v16-17), Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19), Christ has made peace (v20-22), and, finally, our response is to not be moved from Christ (v23).

1. Christ is our Creator (V15-16)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.

Christ is God, and part of being God is being the Creator.

Christ is not part of creation. God did not create him first, then everything else. v15 says “he existed before anything as created” and v17 says again, for those who are a bit slow: He existed before anything else. If he is pre-existent then he must be God for only God existed before anything else was created.

Everything is created through him, including angels, demons and all other things in the heavens and upon the earth. Many false teachers claim Jesus is just an angel – another spiritual being. Even the Pharisees in their desperation accused Jesus of being the devil. But what does the Bible say? 16 He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Christ is as superior to the spirit world of angels and demons as a painter is to his painting. That is why 2:18–19 says Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body.

Why worship angels instead of the one who made the angels? That’s like trying to talking to this book instead of my Dad. The book is far inferior to knowing the author! Why would you worship what is made (the book) rather than the Maker (my Dad)?

What does this mean for us? Only Christ is worthy of our worship. All other things are idols – mere things made by God. Even great things, powerful things, even angels – these are made by Christ, and he is therefore superior to them. Do not be tempted to worship them, to follow them. Fallen angels, demons, the Devil: they may promise easy power, or a form of religion where you are in control, or a more tame “God” to worship, or a pick-your-own morality. Don’t fall for the lie. Next to Christ they are nothing, a clanging gong, an empty ringing bell, without rhyme or reason. He is the symphony of our soul, the rumbling glorious song of praise throughout the universe.

He is our Creator.

He is our Creator, and he made us for his good pleasure.

2. Christ is our destiny (I am here to glorify Christ)

Ever ask the question “why am I here?” “What is my purpose in life?” “Why was I born?”

My sister did. She asked my Dad: “Daddy, why am I me?”
“Ummm. Well, you see, um, when a man loves a woman, um. Er.... ”
“Daddy, if I wasn’t me, would I be somebody else?”
“Errr. Well, um. You see”
Now he always ends this story by saying “go and ask your mother” – but I think that’s for laughs rather than what he said!
But it’s a good question, isn’t it? “Why am I me?”

And the answer is at the end of v16. See it there? Everything was created through him and...for him.

You were made for Christ. You were made for his good pleasure. You were made to be part of his body, the church over which he is head. You were made to be blameless and holy, without fault, standing in his own presence without a single fault. 2:7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. In fact, in chapter 3 Paul goes so far as to say that Christ is our life. Look at 3:2-4  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

We were made for him. We are his body. Our lives are built on him. Indeed he is our real life. We live for Christ, and him alone.

And he is the one who holds all things together. Look at v17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Every breath we take is a gift from him. We are totally dependent on him. We remind ourselves of that every time we pray. That’s why prayer is so important – it is a declaration of dependence on Him who holds all things together. We are his.

How often do we forget that? We pursue our own goals, our own desires, our own pleasures, without ever stopping to think: is this what Christ wants? We need to live intentionally – that is, live thinking about how we are living. We do not just let life happen to us, but we challenge ourselves, bringing our lives under the lordship of Christ. How am I serving Christ in my work? How am I serving Christ with my wife? With my kids? How am I serving Christ in my free time, in my holidays, with my friends, in my church?

A little example from my work: why did I think that a job as a Chartered Accountant was more or less secure than, say, starting a church? Why am I tempted to trust in my own abilities rather than the grace of God? As if he does not know what I need, and is unable to provide it. He provides each breath, and I worry and fret about my salary? Foolish boy!

Why am I me? I am me to give glory to Christ.

We were made for him. And one of the ways we show this, is through church. How we care for each other, relate to each other, and reach the lost, reveals what we truly think about Christ. For

3. Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19)

Look at v18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. He is the head of the church. He is supreme over all who rise from the dead – that’s us by the way! Those who rise from the dead. We have been called to life by Christ.

The word translated supreme is the word “firstborn”. This both means first (as in supreme) but also has the idea of the firstborn son in mind: the one who will inherit the family fortune. Christ is not only supreme in the church, but also the inheritor, the owner, of all those raised to life. We belong to him.

He is our Head, our Leader, our Master.

Church is, therefore, not primarily about us, about meeting our needs (even our spiritual needs). Church is about Christ. We are here to honour him, to praise him, to obey him – together.

He is our head, and we are his body. We are joined to each other. There are not many heads, but one head, and every Christian is joined together in one worldwide, universal body. And we here are a reflection of that. We are joined together, united, one body, under one head: Christ. And we are incomplete without each other. Just like a hand cannot be by itself – it must be joined to the rest of the body – so we cannot survive without our Christian brothers and sisters. The church is our lifeline, our connection to each other and to our head.

Further, because we are his body, we are the way Christ works in the world. He works through the church.

It’s not surprising then that the next verse then says: For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him reconcile everything to himself. That is our job as his body: to reveal the fullness of God that is found in Christ, and to proclaim to the world the reconciliation achieved by Christ. As it says in 3:16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Let this rich message about Christ fill our lives, so whatever we do, we do it as representatives of Christ. That is our job, that is who we are.

Because he, Christ, is our head. We are twice his: we are his because he created us, and we are his because he has called us to new life. Creation and salvation. We are his.

How foolish we are when we talk about “my life” “my job” “my family” “my house” “my car” – all that am is Christ’s. All that I have he has given me. How does that change the way that I live?
I need to see all things, all relationships, as coming from his hands.

We will live forever. This life will be gone in a moment. He is our head. He is our Creator. He is our destiny (we are made for him). Let us live like it.

4. Christ has made peace (v20-22)

Now by this stage some of us might be getting frustrated. It’s been very much about “theology” and about attitudes and ways of thinking. Where’s the “ten steps to a better life” or “How to get God to do what you want” sorry, I mean “5 Power-packed principles to unleash God’s blessing”.
But seriously, these verses are frustrating, though, aren’t they? They are Christ-focussed almost to the exclusion of everything else. They are not about us, but about him. The glory goes to him, not to us. Him, him him. First in everything. First in creation. First in the church.

And we think: but what about me?

Ugh. What an ego we have. What delusions of grandeur that we should share the stage with He who called light into being in the darkness, He who placed the stars in the sky, He who says to the waves “no further” – He who rules all things, sustains all things. And we want to push ourselves forward in front of Him and say “me, meeee, meeeeeeee!”.

20 through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

Evil thoughts and actions. Selfishness. Self-obsession. Wanting our own glory. My life. My decisions. All that. Because theology IS important. It uncovers our motivations, uncovers our heart. Why do we do the things we do? It’s quite possible to go to church, be a nice person, even lead people to Christ – without knowing Christ. All done to our praise and glory.

Oh, how I hate that part of me! The self-obsessed ego, purring over his own performance, influence, power. It infects everything, from my relationship with my wife and children, to my view of God. Festering, rotten, self-obsession. Praise God, then, for v22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault

Oh, what relief! He knows my ego. He knows my hatred of him. He knows that I am far from him with my evil thoughts and actions. He knows I want to take his place, take the glory that it is. He knows I keep forgetting that my life belongs to him. And yet he does not simply wipe me out with a word. Instead, He has reconciled me to himself. This is his action, not mine. He has declared me holy, blameless, without a single fault. And if you are his, He has declared you holy, blameless, without a single fault.

Christ has made peace. Praise him!

5. Do not move from Christ (v23)

This then is what we must do. This is our performance, our response: 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.

Grasp hold of Christ like a drowning man on to the lifeguard and DON’T LET GO! Only a fool dives off the rescue boat to get some trinket – but that’s what we are like when we are tempted to abandon Christ for ANYTHING ELSE, however shiny and attractive it may seem.

Christ is our Creator (v15-16), Christ is our destiny (we are made for him, to glorify him) (v16-17), Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19) – and if after that we are filled with shame because our lives do not ring out “I belong to Christ!” in every moment – praise him, for Christ has made peace (v20-22), and our response is to grasp hold of that peace, our Saviour’s outstretched hand, and hang on for dear live. Brothers, sisters, do not be moved from Christ (v23).

Genesis 1:1-2:4 The God who is there

Genesis 1:1-2:4

“In the beginning, God.” These four words are some of the most significant, most important, most vital words ever written in the history of mankind. In the beginning, GOD.

In the beginning: there was a start, there will be an end.
In the beginning, God: He is before time and space, before all that is and was and ever will be. He is above all, before all, the supreme First, the Origin of all things. He is not bound by matter. He is not bound by laws of physics or chemistry, not subject to the laws of time. He is beyond. He is Other. He is Holy.
He is not even bound by moral laws: what he says is good, is good. He is the standard of what is good and bad: his character determines it. Who he is is infused throughout the universe because it is He who is the creator. In the beginning God created everything – including you and me.
We are not God. He is God.
I am not God. He is God.
I am not the Creator or ruler of my life. He is.
God is God, and I am not.

Today we begin our 10-week series in Genesis. We’re going to spend our first three weeks in chapter 1. Next week we’ll look at “The God who speaks”, thinking about how God reveals himself through speech – we know him because he speaks; the power of his Word in creating order out of chaos, life out of death – a work he continues today; and then looking at the Word Incarnate, God’s supreme revelation of himself: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The week after that we’ll spend some time looking at “The God who rests”, thinking about His perfect relationship with himself in the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit in perfect unity, perfect love; how he created us, this whole universe, to share in that love relationship, bringing glory to him, and how all of creation is moving toward that seventh day rest with God. That is our destiny, to be united with God in perfect harmony. But to do that our sin and rebellion have to be dealt with first – and that is only possible through Christ. Christ is God’s rest, our rest – and outside of him there is no rest.

Today however, we turn our focus to who this God is. Today’s sermon is called “The God who is there”. Just two points today: the first, rather long point: God is the creator – we are his creatures.
And the second: God is the only Creator, supreme - above all other “gods”. There is none like Him.

1. God is the Creator (we are his creatures)

Now there’s been lots of arguments about Genesis 1 because we don’t like the idea that there is a God, and that I am not him! (First step to becoming a Christian: 1. There is a God. 2. I am not him.)

On the one hand, there’s those who claim that evolution has killed God. God is not necessary. Life just…happened. Everything is an accident, so create your own meaning in life (as long as that meaning doesn’t involve God- that you’re not allowed).

On the other hand there’s those who claim that God created the world in 6 days, and anyone who believes anything else is, well, basically not a Christian. It becomes the standard for whether you’re a real Christian or not.

So we’ve got these two groups bellowing for our attention, yelling at each other - and what’s missed is the actual point of Genesis 1: God is the Creator. So, before we get there, let’s do some damage control and try to turn down the volume…

First, Evolution. Some famous scientists like to pretend that they are also philosophers and theologians and make grand statements about evolution and the Big Bang doing away with the need for God.
For example, Richard Dawkins is a professor of Biology. He’s an expert in biology. Existence of God? Not so much.
Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s geniuses – in physics. But when he says that the Big Bang proves that God doesn’t exist he’s not talking as Stephen Hawking, physicist, but Stephen Hawking, ordinary man in the street.

The funny thing is that Science has as one of its fundamental assumptions that we live in a closed system. That is, we assume that something from the “outside” can’t interfere with the normal workings of the world. We HAVE to assume that if we are to set up experiments. Otherwise it would be like trying to set up a house of cards with your little brother in the room – at any moment he could knock it over. So, to avoid that, you lock him out of the room. And then you can do your experiment, building the house of cards. But only a fool would then say “little brother does not exist”. You’ve just closed the door.

Science is the same. It assumes God does not interfere with the normal workings (or more correctly assumes that God maintains the normal laws of physics). But that does not mean that he therefore does not exist! What Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins and others are doing is this: 1. Assume God does not exist. 2. Some other points. 3. Therefore, God does not exist (forgetting we assumed him away in point 1!).

The message of the Bible, however, is that God exists. And it proves his existence by recording his dealings with his people, recording how he has opened up the closed system to show us what lies beyond. It shows us supremely in the person of Jesus Christ that God exists, who he is, what he has done, and what he will do. And as we’ve just seen in Ephesians, all of creation has, since the beginning, been moving towards one goal: he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Eph 1:10

Jesus Christ knocks Hawking and Dawkins for six. He is the very evidence for God that is unmistakable. Unmistakable power. Unmistakeable love. He is the supreme revelation of the God who is there.

And that is the God whom we meet in Genesis 1. Now the writer of Genesis, probably Moses, had only the promise of Christ – he did not know the gospel fully like we do. But he did know God. He knew God when he was called out of the burning bush. He knew God when he rescued his people the Israelites with a great show of his Mighty power. He knew God when he lead them across the Red Sea, through the desert, to Mt Sinai, when he spoke to them and made them his people and gave them laws to give by. This is the God he says “created the heavens and the earth”. “Elohim” (God) is “Yahweh”, Israel’s God (in fact, his name is used in 2:4 “LORD (small caps= Yahweh) God (Elohim)).

You see, science answers the “how” questions: how things work. But it cannot answer the “why” questions: why were things made, why do they work like this. “Science” has become a bit of a religion - people claiming science can answer all our questions. Well, it’s only been able to explain a small portion of the “how” (quantum physics opened a whole other world to science – a strange and mysterious world) and it, by definition, can never answer the “why”.

Genesis answers the “why”. In the beginning, God.
He is the Prime source, the First Mover, the Reason behind all that is.
God. Not us.
We do not create our own meaning for the universe. It has already been given a meaning and a purpose: to glorify God.

Now the second group yelling in our ears about Genesis 1 is the group of Christians who insist that the world was made in 6 days (because it says so – right there!) and that the earth is only 6000 years old, and that anyone who believes otherwise isn’t really a true Christian. They, too, set up Science vs. Christianity and say that you cannot believe in both. You cannot be an evolutionary biologist and a Christian. And if you are a Christian you must reject all forms of evolution. Dawkins and company try to make Science answer the why question. The mistake these guys make is trying to make Genesis 1 answer the “how” question, instead of the “why” question.

Now, I know some of you may now be offended. You may be Young Earthers and start thinking that I have compromised my faith, I’ve given in to the big bad world.
To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t really care less. It makes no difference to me whether the earth was created in 6 days, 6 minutes, or six billion years. What matters is who created it, and that by his grace I can know him. Be careful of people who are always on about something other than the gospel – because soon it comes to replace the gospel. Good things are the most dangerous enemy of the best thing: the gospel of Christ. Food kitchens, orphanages, home schooling, politics or 6-day earth may be good things. 6-day earth may be correct – but 6 –day earth has no power to save, only Jesus does. And if I’m in Christ, I’m saved whether I believe in 6-day earth or not.

So having said that, I have no agenda here except this: I want us simply to look at the passage itself. Read what God has written. And make our own conclusions as to what the author is trying to tell us.

As we read through it, did you note the stylised structure and language that is used. Did you see? Each day begins “And God said”
“And that is what happened”
“God called”
“And God saw that it was good”
“And evening passed and morning came, marking the x day”

It is a carefully structured, poetic way of writing. And if we read it as literal history, as narrative (like the rest of the book), rather than poetry, leads to all sorts of problems. When we read the Bible we must pay attention to the genre (that is, type) of literature it is. You don’t read comics and news reports the same way. So don’t read historical narrative and stylised poetry the same way! Engage your mind when you read, particularly the Old Testament which was written into a very different culture and time than ours. The biggest difference is that it was written before Christ was revealed, so it won’t mention “Jesus” or “Christ” even though his person and his salvation work are seen all over the place. Even here in creation Jesus is present – the New Testament tells us again and again. For example Col 1: 15-17 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth...Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Bible commentaries can also be helpful (or study bibles) when they tell you things about the culture you would not know. For example my Bible Background commentary tells me that Gen 1 is written in the style of Middle Eastern Creation myths popular at the time we believe Genesis was written. You see, Moses was a good evangelist. He wrote it in a way people could understand! So they could hear the big message: God, our God, is the Creator of the Universe.

Today we could write it maybe something like this: In the beginning the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ created the universe, through his Son, by his Spirit, to the praise of his glory.
He held a tiny particle in his hand, the whole Universe compressed into an infinitesimally small dot of immensely powerful energies. And God said “Explode” and the Universe did explode. God called the explosion “the Big Bang”. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the second age.

God said to the matter flying apart: “come together!” And the matter came together: stars, then planets, moons, asteroids. And God saw the universe, and it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the third age: the age of life.

God chose a planet and called it earth. And he said “Live!” and life did form. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the fourth age: the age of evolution.

And God saw small single-celled creatures and said to them “Evolve!” and caused them to jump huge evolutionary barriers. He created complex systems from nothing, creatures appeared who were unrelated to anything that came before. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the fifth age: the age of man.

And God looked at his world teeming with impossible life, and said “Mankind, live!” – and out of nothing OR a sudden gigantic evolutionary leap (which can’t be explained), people appeared. And God breathed his Spirit into them. And he saw that it was good.

What’s the point of the story? Not HOW God created, but THAT God created. Getting into arguments about 6 day creation vs. evolution is pointless. Setting up science vs. Christianity is not only wrong, it’s to miss the big picture. Don’t miss the big point: In the beginning, God created everything.

God is the Creator. We are his creatures. Everything around us is spoken into existence through him.

God is the Creator.

One short little point to end with: he is the only Creator.

2. God is the only Creator: One God above all other “gods”

There’s a nice little touch in v14–18, the account of the fourth day, when God makes the sun and moon. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Why “lights” instead of sun and moon? Well, many people in those days worshipped the sun and moon. Abraham himself was probably a moon-worshipper before God called him. In fact in Deuteronomy (fifth book of Moses) 4:19 And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced (tempted) into worshiping them.

Genesis knocks that right on its head – there’s nothing special about the sun or the moon. There’s no spiritual mystery. They did not help God make the world. They do not rule. There are no other rulers. They are just lights. BIG lights. But just lights. There is no God but God.

‘The great sea creatures’ were regarded as divine in some ancient myths. V21 God created the great sea creatures. No divinity. They’re just creatures. God has no equal. He is supreme.

And notice who helps him. Where’s the army of workers, digging the foundation of the world? Where’s the great hoard of gods, fighting to control the great energies of Creation? Where’s the great tree bringing life through the universe? Add your creation myth here.

He stands alone. Above all. Beyond all.
He speaks, and it is.

There is no-one like him. He is unique. He is supreme.

Our vision of God is too small. We think of Him as a big version of us. You know, still sort of bound by time and space. Limited in what he can do. Subject, even, to the laws of the universe, to the laws of morality.

Genesis 1 demands that we expand our minds to grasp who this God is. For he is not just bigger than us, he is BIGGGGGER than us. He is beyond our comprehension. We cannot understand him.

He is not bound by time or space. He stands outside the universe, and all of time and space is as transparent to him as a window is to us. He sees, he knows, he plans everything. He holds the universe, all of it, in his hands, his gaze piercing through time and space. He is beyond.

There is no physical law that limits him – he is the law. He is not even subject to moral laws – he is the definition of morality. What he is and what he does defines what love is, what grace is, what compassion is, what justice is. He is the law.

This is the God whom we worship.

This is the God who is unknowable, unapproachable, beyond us.

And this is the God who reveals himself to us. Who reaches down from beyond the universe and says “come with me, and I will show you what you were made for.”

He is our Creator, our God the only God, and we were made for his glory. That is our purpose, our joy, our destiny.

Rejoice, for our God is awesome!