biblical worldview

June 30, 2014

A Confident Goodbye

Genesis 23

“Where are you from?” A simple, seemingly harmless question on the surface. But it can have huge implications…where you’re from may explain your accent or use of vocabulary, but more than that where you’re from explains your perspective or worldview…how you see the world and process information. It can foster great pride…nothing like FIFA fever to bring out a strong sense of nationalism, and in this country, 9/11 stirred a deep and powerful sense of patriotism…and ultimately I would argue, it can become, if it isn’t already, the place where our earthly kingdoms are built.

Abraham still saw himself as a stranger and a sojourner in the land even though he had been traveling there for 62 years. And as a stranger and sojourner, he is a type of all saints whose home is the heavenly city. Folks throughout church history have described themselves “strangers and sojourners” on an earthly pilgrimage toward the city of God. They saw themselves like Abraham…living in tents (Heb. 11:9)…think about how temporary that is…looking forward to their promised heavenly home, “the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

To see yourself as a stranger and a sojourner requires a heavenly perspective…it doesn’t mean that the earthy isn’t important…they really were looking for a piece of real estate…but it means that you don’t stop at the earthy. They were pursuing something much bigger than just a physical piece of property. They were pursuing a lasting inheritance. The land seen only from an earthy perspective, was only land. But seen from the heavenly, it was the land of promise. It represented a return to paradise. We too are looking for a lasting inheritance. And while temporary inheritances like family, jobs, friends, freedoms, etc. are important, they in themselves, fall far short of the hope that we have as heirs of the King of the universe. We are pursuing a lasting inheritance, a return to paradise. New heavens and new earth. New Jerusalem.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham and his clan and the saints of old died, not receiving the promises; yet they died in faith…their hope was not extinguished (Heb. 11:39–40). They did not realize the fullness of the promises…at this time Abraham owns only a cave and a field in the land of promise, far less than what God had promised. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, far less than the nations he was to father. It would be centuries later before the Head-crushing Seed of the woman would appear on the scene, Jesus of Nazareth. And even though Jesus has come, the fullness of the promise is still yet future. A Sabbath-rest yet remains…a return to paradise; yet those who believe enter into it even now and will fully realize it in the future (Heb. 4:8–10). God’s promises to His people are not exhausted in this life. As Abraham in hope bought a burial plot in the land, so believers today have a hope beyond this life. God’s promises demand resurrection!

What about you? Where are you from? Can it be said of you, “You’re not from around here” because of your walk with Creator God? Could people tell that you have an eternal hope by the way you live your life? Maybe you don’t have that hope today. If not, today could be the day. You too could join the ranks of those who are sojourning through this life, strangers and sojourners… ambassadors in a war torn country, living as citizens of a heavenly kingdom that’s making an earthy impact. I would love to talk to you about that.

My prayer for us is just that…that we would live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom making an earthy impact.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

June 23, 2014

After a Father’s Heart

Genesis 22

What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? Relationship? Financial? Career? Future? Why was it so risky? Stakes involved? Lack of information? Uncertain outcome?

In our story today, Abraham makes what seems to be the riskiest decision of his life…going all in with God. The promises/commitments made by both the LORD and Abraham are tested to their limits. With the perplexing command that Abraham sacrifice Isaac, how could God possibly fulfill His covenant with Abraham to make him into a great nation through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed? Called upon to make such a costly sacrifice, how will Abraham remain obedient to his covenant commitment? This story presents the radical nature of faith: tremendous demands and incredible blessings.

And in our story, we have insider information, we know what Abraham doesn’t…God is testing him. As I reflected on the story of Abraham’s life and particularly on this episode, I had to ask myself the question: Could I have trusted God in that moment? Would I be able to trust God’s character, who I know Him to be, who He’s revealed Himself to be, more than my circumstances?

Abraham is what Soren Kirkegaard calls the knight of faith. Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed the absurd, that he knew that God could bring Isaac back even from the dead…Abraham had no doubt that he would bring Isaac back down the mountain with him. Abraham had the courage to obey, no matter the cost, trusting God fully that He would provide and that He would keep His promise.

What about you? Where are you in your faith journey? Are you in one of those testing times? Have you come to place where you know that God can be trusted…no matter the circumstances? Or are you still somewhere along the way? Are you able to believe the absurd, that radical obedience doesn’t mean the surrender of your joy, but the opposite, the realization of joy unimaginable? In fact, forgiveness of sins cannot make us happy if it is not accompanied by the radical renovation of our natures. For you dads out there, are you passing on your faith to your children? Can they discern the greatest of your faith by your actions?

This story is a glimpse at what God will ultimately do in order to redeem mankind and provide the way back to Himself. Isaac is a picture of the Genesis 3.15, but he’s not the One. One day God will send the One…His own Son. He will live a perfect life…He will be innocent…but He will willing sacrifice Himself in order to crush the head of the serpent and provide the way back to paradise. God the Father will provide for Himself the Lamb, so that we might, through faith in Him, have a way back to the Father. Jesus became the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world.

My prayer for us is that we will believe the absurd and trust God for great things, having the courage to follow Him no matter what the cost.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

June 9, 2014

Big God – Promise Keeper

Genesis 21

Ever messed up…I mean really messed up. Messed up so bad that you didn’t think you could recover? Maybe a betrayed confidence? Maybe a serious lapse in judgment? Maybe a broken trust? It’s the mistake that makes you cringe. The mistake that Satan uses most in your life to accuse you and make you feel worthless. What’s on the other side?

Abraham found something on the other side of absolute failure…God’s grace. And His faithfulness to His promises. Moses seems to tell the story to let Israel know how important they are. That I AM brought life from death and that I AM protected and delivered the son of promise because I AM chose them to be His people. Abe is God’s instrument in bringing about His plan for a people and His redemptive plan for all of us. The amazing thing is… God’s grace in using people who mess up to accomplish His amazing redemptive plan.

The Abraham-side of the story… his faith journey to this point has had a few painful and faith-challenging detours and shortcuts…in Galatians 4, Paul, using Ishmael and Isaac, picks up on the contrast between the good as God has revealed it, and the “good” that we define for ourselves. We could call it faith vs. works, flesh vs. spirit, physical vs. spiritual. The point is the same. When Abraham and Sarah, when we, do what’s right in our own eyes, we’re being our own gods, running our universe, writing the Creator God out of the script. That never ends well. And leads to bondage and ultimately to death…as a believer, taking that shortcut is a definite bad move.

What about you? Are you plagued by memories of past mistakes, paralyzed and unable to move forward? Be encouraged. God is bigger than Your mistakes…where sin abounds, grace superabounds. He delights to bring life from death, to redeem the broken, to lift up those who are bowed down, to use us…Again Abraham is our example…after total failure, once again we find him running to God. Though he stumbles and even falls, yet he never stops pursuing. What an amazing lesson for us. That when we blow it…and we will, we too should run back to God, and we too, will find Him waiting for us, to restore us and continue the redemptive, sanctifying work he started in us. Just as Abe and all his baggage were part of the redemptive plan for Israel and us, you and all your baggage can be part of God’s redemptive plan for someone else (8-15).

My prayer for us this week is that we would have the clarity and the courage to let go of past mistakes and trust more fully in a big God who wants to do amazing things through us.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

June 2, 2014

Egypt…Take Two

Genesis 20

Ever experienced deja vu? Ever felt like maybe you’ve been down this path before? Much to Abraham’s embarrassment and shame he has to answer in the affirmative. Abraham, the prime example of faith in both the Old and New Testaments, still struggled with his faith? How could that be? Twenty-five years of seeing God work since that first fateful, “Go…”

Why does Moses include the account of this episode in the life of Abraham? He hasn’t told us everything about his life…there are long stretches where nothing is said. But now we have several vignettes in a row. We’ve already seen Abraham make this mistake before, so why repeat it? I think Moses includes this story to show the Israelites (and us) that ultimately the failure of Abraham’s faith God’s promises will not stop God from fulfilling those promises. Though Abraham’s faith may fail, but God remains faithful…His promises will not fail.

I don’t know about you, but I find that somewhat comforting in a weird way. If Abraham struggled, it shouldn’t surprise me my struggles. It doesn’t excuse them, but I know that I’m not alone in that struggle. Just as Abraham was a work in progress, learning more and more what it meant to follow this amazing God and still stumbling along the way, so we are works in progress learning what it means to follow this amazing God and to be His image bearers.

All the while this amazing God’s faithfulness continues to shine forth. He will deliver, He will protect, He will redeem, He will save…ultimately He will crush the head of the serpent. And if you don’t know this amazing God today…this patient, loving, benevolent, creative, faithful, powerful God today. You can. It’s as easy as believing that Jesus, the One we had been looking for came and lived the life you were supposed to live, died the death you were supposed to die and was raised again so that just as He conquered sin and death, you too might conquer sin and death and experience life…life today in His kingdom. Today is the day.

My prayer for us this week that instead of hiding, justifying, blaming, or downplaying our sin, we would simply acknowledge it, confess it and turn it over to Jesus.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

May 26, 2014

A Biblical Guide to Blowing Up Your Life

Genesis 19

How far would you go to fit in? Where do you draw the line? When does “being in” the world become “being of” the world? Wherever that line is for you, Lot certainly crossed it himself.

Starting with the allusion to the garden and “seeing”, Lot pitches his tent toward Sodom and then by degrees moves into the city and becomes a leader among its citizens. Lot, a believer…yeah, hard to believe from the Genesis account because he never seems to make a wise decision, but 2 Peter 2 tells us he is a righteous man; his righteousness is clearly not based on anything he did, but on the fact that he believed Genesis 3.15 and the promise of a coming Redeemer…, is an influencer in the city…he sits in the gate. But instead of influencing Sodom for good, he is heavily influenced and even conformed to it. He is infected by it. Lot has failed to impact his city, to image Creator God to the inhabitants of Sodom. And his failure to impact the city has led to its destruction. Now that sounds like a lot to put on Lot, but isn’t that God’s strategy for reaching the lost and expanding His kingdom? Isn’t through His people? And when we fail to make an impact for Him, there is an impact, but not a positive one. Your 8-15 are being and will be influenced by you…what will that influence look like?

Sodom is a prime example of what happens when folks deny the existence of God…it leads to a downward spiral where doing what’s right in our own eyes is taken to a ridiculous extreme. Folks are controlled by their urges…their most banal instincts. Nothing is off limits. No right and wrong outside of the individual. We are our own gods. Romans 1 describes this downward spiral of unrighteousness that starts with denying God’s existence and ends with being a cheerleader for wickedness.

When I thought about my own life there were seasons where, like Lot, I was not only influenced by the culture, I was a part of it. Throughout my high school, college and early career days I embraced the same lifestyle my unbelieving friends had adopted. I may not have gone to the same excesses, but my conduct didn’t look noticeably different from theirs. And I knew better. I was a believer. 2 Peter describes it well when it says that Lot was tormented daily by their lawless deeds. I was miserable. I wasn’t living the life that Jesus had saved me for, and I couldn’t enjoy my sin. I lived way too long in that shadow land.

What about you? Where are you today? Does Lot’s story sound all too familiar? It doesn’t have to. Why didn’t Lot want to go back and live with Abraham? He would have been welcomed back like a prince. Why are we so slow to return to our heavenly Father? He’s waiting for us. He wants to restore us to fellowship. He wants us to start experiencing the life He saved us for. But we have to be willing to come back, to cry out to him. Today is the day. For me it was the realization that the life I was living felt like death. And I confessed it to God and asked for His help.

But for some of you, maybe your story is more like that of Lot’s daughters. They are products of Sodom, victims of their culture. What seems so obviously wrong to us, doesn’t seem to have impacted them at all. Yet God still showed mercy to them. He rescued them along with Lot. And He wants to rescue you too. If you have not yet come to the place in your spiritual journey where you would say that you have a relationship with God…you can have that today. It’s as easy as believing that Jesus came and lived the life you were supposed to live, died the death you were supposed to die and was raised again so that just as He conquered sin and death, you too might conquer sin and death and experience life…life today in His kingdom. Today is the day.

The judgment on Sodom foreshadows the judgment at the end when the whole world will be destroyed in a fiery conflagration…Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was joking, little suspecting that they would be swept away hours later. Don’t wait. Today is the day.

The mercy of God who rewrites stories…both of Lot’s daughters will have a role to play in the search for the Head-crushing Seed of the woman. Ruth, the Moabitess, is the great-grandmother of David. Naamah, the Ammonitess, is the wife of King Solomon and mother of King Rehoboam.

My prayer for us this week is that we would be culture changers, not culture conformers.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

May 19, 2014

Good News…Bad News

Genesis 18

Good news or bad news…which do you prefer to hear first? This episode in the life of Abraham highlights two essential aspects to God’s character represented by the two pronouncements…a message of hope and life to Abraham and Sarah and of judgment and death to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the first scene, Abraham dwelling in Mamre, the place of worship. The LORD announces a miraculous birth, is the Giver of life, shows grace to the chosen couple, is faithful to His promises…Seed of the woman, Genesis 3:15, He’s the Doer of the impossible. Immanent. Mercy.

In the second scene, Sodom is described as exceedingly wicked. The LORD pronounces  judgment, is the Taker of life, judges the seriousness of sin… seed of the serpent, Abraham is faithful to intercede for, the LORD’s the Just Judge. Transcendent. Justice.

God is both merciful and just. Merciful to those who cry out to Him. A Just Judge to those who reject Him. But notice even in His judgment the mercy He extends toward the wicked for the sake of the righteous. His desire is not to destroy, but that all will come to know Him. And to that end, Abraham intercedes for Sodom. Praying for the good of the city because of the potential impact that the righteous can and should have.

We have a similar opportunity to intercede…to pray for those who are far from God. To stand in the gap for our 8-15. Like Abraham, we too, are called to be a source of blessing to the families of the earth, all of us who have believed are a part of the people of God who are to faithfully bear His image to the rest of His creation. So if you are a believer, pray…pray for your 8-15. Pray for the city.

If you have not yet come to the place in your spiritual journey where you would say that you have a relationship with God…you can have that today. It’s as easy as believing that Jesus came and lived the life you were supposed to live, died the death you were supposed to die and was raised again so that just as He conquered sin and death, you too might conquer sin and death and experience life…life today in His kingdom.

And if you’re like Sarah, maybe you’ve crossed the line from death to life but are still struggling with trusting God in the day to day. Maybe you are worn out with waiting for God to “show up” in your situation. Maybe you’re not sure that He is able to help. Or maybe He can, but will He (or why would He?)? Remember the LORD showed up for Sarah…to strengthen and affirm her faith so that in Hebrews we’re told, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” The LORD wants us to trust Him in the day-to-day, and not just for a secured future.

My prayer for us this week is that we would be a praying people…interceding for those who don’t know our Rescuer. And for those of us who are Sarah’s, that He would show Himself real in our day-to-day.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 21, 2014

God’s Story

Genesis 15 – Resurrection Sunday

Easter. What’s in it for you? What is your hope today? A good job. A loving marriage. Well-behaved kids. Cool parents. Bright future. New romance. All good things. Maybe you have begin to think about your own mortality and your hope is in a legacy, leaving a mark on planet earth so that 100 years from now, folks know that you were here? But it’s clear…if your hope is based on earthy things, they are all destined to fail. Everything ends up in either the graveyard or the junkyard. The things of this world will pass away.

Abram’s hope is clear…the promises that God had made to him. Land. Seed, aka Jesus. Blessing. Blesser of the nations. Abram believes God, and He reckons it to him as righteousness. Abram’s faith made him righteous before God…not his obedience or lack thereof. His faith. Period. Hebrews tells us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. What was Abram believing…Genesis 3.15. That God would provide the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, aka Jesus, to rescue and provide the way back to paradise, to restore the relationship with Creator God and life in His kingdom, that through Him all the families of the earth would be blessed. And ultimately Abram’s hope is resurrection. The promises that God had made…descendants, land, blessing to the nations were not realized in Abram’s life. He would only fully realize them in resurrection. Hebrews tells us he was looking for a better country, a heavenly city. Abram looked forward to Jesus.

The Son of Promise has come. The Genesis 3:15 Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, our Rescuer, Jesus rent the veil between heaven and earth, between time and eternity and stepped onto the world stage. Jesus, who came to do what we could not do….provide the way back to God. To conquer sin and death. To restore the image so that we might return to Paradise, to provide the promise of life. That by faith in Jesus, who lived the life that we were supposed to live, totally obedient and dependent on God, who died the death we deserved…the death that has been ours by birthright since the garden. The death that was surely required for our rebellion, that through faith in Him we could participate in the most absurd gift exchange in the universe…His righteousness for our sin…so that we can have life…a different kind of life, real life, eternal life with Father God in His kingdom. I don’t understand it, but am amazed by it. That is our promise, that just as Jesus conquered sin through His death and death through His resurrection, so sin and death for us are over and done with if we believe. Abram was promised a kingdom and a legacy for His faith. So are we. When God Himself, in smoke and fire walked between those bloody animals, He made that walk for you as much as He made it for Abram. He is preparing that kingdom even now, and has set another a day in the eternal calendar to return once more to this earth and set up a kingdom that will have no end. We have been called to set out on a journey, to a place He will show us, in an act of faith. Faith because we have no power at all to make that promise happen. We have no way in and of ourselves to go to that kingdom or to reign there. But that promise has been made to us.

Do you know the amazing love of God today? Do you want to?

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 14, 2014

The Grass Isn’t Always Greener

Genesis 13-14

Have you ever made a ‘grass is always greener’ decision? You know, looked at what you had and thought you deserved better? Better job? Better house? Better friend? Better…?

At the crux of this story is a decision….a decision to trust God or trust self, to believe what God has revealed as good or define good for self. Two characters represent these two paths. Abram chooses to trust to God…and He comes through in amazing ways. Lot chooses to trust in self…and it ends in disaster. Abram sees the world through God’s eyes. He has a heavenly or spiritual perspective. Lot can only see what’s in front of him. He has a very earthy perspective. The kicker is…both are believers.

We also can’t miss that the decision is about stuff. The abundance of stuff forces them to part. The desire for more and better stuff drives Lot’s decision to go to Sodom. Lot’s captured as the Eastern Alliance collects stuff, the spoils of war. Abram rescues Lot and his stuff. And the king of Sodom offers Abram stuff. And one other thing…Melchizedek blesses both Abram and God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth. In other words, the God who owns all the stuff. Abram knew that. Lot didn’t. And what happens when life becomes about stuff…it captures and enslaves us. It becomes a hard taskmaster because there is never enough. Much better to trust God…”Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Don’t make life about stuff…make it about pursuing God. BTW Abram’s cure for stuff? He gave a tithe, recognizing that God owns all the stuff.

So what about you? Where do you find yourself in this story? Are you like Abram, trusting that God will come through on His promises, that He sees you and knows you and has good in store for you…not good as defined by you, but His good? Do your actions show that you are trusting Him…that you know that it all belongs to Him? Do you know He’s faithful? Realize that even though Lot had to face the consequences of his decision, God was still faithful to deliver him through Abram.

Or are you like Lot, believing that you have to look out for number one, that maybe God knows and sees me, but I don’t know that He cares about my circumstances? I know what’s best for me. But sin has consequences. For Lot, it meant being taken captive, and Uncle Abe has to come bail him out. In 19, we will see that it will cost him everything…home, possessions, position, etc., Living for this present world falls far short of the reason that God saved you. In the same way, when we live in sin as a believer we reap the consequences of the sin we have sown. We are not immune to broken relationships and the fallout from bad choices.

The truth is, most all of us have our tents pitched too close to Sodom…it’s easier to build to towers than altars, to look out for ourselves than wait for God to provide, to image “me” rather than imaging God. But the amazing thing is…God still pursues. He still calls us back. He still invites us into the indescribable adventure of following Him.

My prayer for us is that we would pitch our tents a little closer to Hebron and further from Sodom.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

April 7, 2014

A History-Making Decision

Genesis 11.27-13.1

“What is the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? What made the decision so difficult?” Was it the cost…comfort, convenience? Was it fear of the unknown? Was it the stakes?

God gives Abram a simple (not easy) command…”Go.” Abram was to leave everything he knew – country, relatives and family – to go to an as yet undisclosed location. The blessings that follow are contingent on his going…on his obedience. But his obedience is predicated on faith. So what faith are we talking about? Genesis 3.15. But how does Abram know about Genesis 3.15. Don’t forget that Abram is a direct descendant of Adam through the line of Seth, and of Noah through the line of Shem. He comes from those with a spiritual heritage of calling on the name of the LORD, of walking with God, of believing the Seed promise of 3.15. Much like Noah who was described as righteous and blameless…not because he obeyed, but because he found favor in the eyes of the LORD…he believed the promise of 3.15…so he obeyed, now Abram will be called on to obey because he too has found favor, is righteous through faith. That’s important for us to keep in mind. There can be no obedience without faith.

The call of Abram in Genesis 12.1-3 is a key event in the biblical story. It ranks up there with Genesis 3.15 in the OT. It ties together both creation and redemption…it echoes the creation mandate and carries forward the plan of redemption, the search for the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman. It showcases God’s grace and reveals His heart for His creation. And it’s fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus’ charge to His early followers to “make disciples of all the nations” is a reflection of “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” It would be hard to overstate the importance of this passage.

But God’s call required a response. To experience what God had in store for Abram, he had to step out in obedience. He had to go. He had to be a blessing. For the Israelites to experience the blessings of the covenant at Sinai, they too would have to walk in obedience. That would cost them their comfort and convenience…they too would have to leave what they knew. They would have to embrace the unknown. They would have to risk everything. They would have to give up their definition of good…of doing what was right in their own eyes and trust that what God was calling them to really was good…that it was life. They had to believe that God truly loved them and wanted their good. And they would have to love Him in return.

What would have happened to Abram if he would have refused God’s call? Would he have lost his salvation? Not at all…but he would have lost his destiny. He wouldn’t have experienced the good that God had for him. The trip to Egypt illustrates this truth…Abram was to be a source of blessing to the nations, but he ends up being a source of cursing to Pharaoh. Thankfully not the last word when it comes to Abram.

I appreciate the honesty of a friend of mine who said, “God calls us away from our life and to His life. Something twinges when you say ‘leave comfort and convenience’ I don’t know what it is in me yet, but I need to. I know that fear, jealousy, pride – will keep me living my life. I’m tired of the cliché ‘comfort zone’, but it’s accurate. I need comfort. I need predictability. The life I am drawn to meets my expectations and has very few surprises. Does this sound like the life God calls people to? Noah, Moses, the judges, the prophets, the disciples? God called people to be kings and slaves, warriors and shepherds. But He called them away from themselves. I am convicted that I am, for the most part, living my life, proceeding with my plans, doing what seems right in my own eyes. I don’t want to go blindly after whatever seems to be the opposite direction. I do want to obey. I do want to move in faith to the life God is calling me to. I have set out on journey of faith, but what do I keep dragging around with me. What tethers me to peace? Is is faith or is it my inability to let go completely? Am I creating my own peace and not trusting God’s?”

But what about you? As important as Abram’s call was to the working out of God’s plan in salvation history, Jesus, the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman, calls us all to “Go” or better yet to “Follow”.  And that call is every bit as important on a micro-level as Abram’s call on a macro-level. Jesus calls us to leave our comfort and convenience, to leave what we know, our old life, and follow Him. A simple command, but not an easy one. It means that we have to embrace the unknown. We have to risk everything…but only in this sense: we have to die to defining good in our own eyes and trust in what He has revealed as good. Maybe that’s a new job…maybe building a relationship…maybe making a kingdom investment that financially doesn’t seem to make sense…maybe it’s a call into ministry… Whatever it is, experiencing the good that God wants for you requires obedience. It means taking the risk.

And like Abram…and the Israelites…you will fail. But God is still faithful, and He is patient. Proverbs 24.16: “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.” Churchill said “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

My prayer for us is that we would the courage, like Abram to take the risk, and enter into the wild adventure of a life spent with Jesus in His kingdom.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster

March 24, 2014

Confused

Genesis 10-11

Why are we so fascinated with making a name for ourselves? As I thought about this passage, I wondered why Moses included this story about the tower. Is it simply to explain where the different languages and people groups come from? Surely there is a bigger purpose. He wants to teach the ancient Israelites something about God. So what is Moses trying to teach them and us from this account?

When we try and make a name for ourselves…it is rooted in pride…and what is pride but giving ourselves the worship that God deserves, it’s worshiping ourselves as god. It’s rooted in pride, is often expressed in rebellion and leads to confusion. It confirms our own sinfulness…the truth that every intent of the heart of man is only evil continually. The first recorded group project does not turn out so well…it is a monumental act of rebellion with far reaching consequences. It echoes the sin in the Garden, and the promise that you can be “like God”. The sin of Babel is both pride and rebellion, the making for ourselves a name so that we might be famous. It’s the throwing off of the yoke of obedience and even dependence to declare ourselves sinfully independent. And it’s a refusal to obey God…defining good for ourselves apart from what God has revealed…”Let’s build a tower and a city so that we are not dispersed over the face of the earth.” The effects of the fall from Genesis 3 continue. The root cause of sin was not dealt with in the judgment of the flood, only its effects on people and creation at that time. In addition to Noah and his family and the animals, sin hitched a ride on the boat and continued its reign over mankind and all of creation through Noah and his descendants.

No doubt God judges sin. But even in His judgment we still see His mercy, His amazing, undeserved love. In the shadow of the flood of Genesis 6–8, God could have chosen a much more severe punishment for their sin. Instead He puts a halt to it. Man’s rebellion does not thwart God’s purposes. God acts in sovereign ways to accomplish what He wills. God’s plan for man after the flood was that they multiply and fill the earth. Now they will fill the earth. 

Babel once again highlights the consequences of man’s attempts, through sinful independence, to be his own god.

The cycle continues. God’s faithfulness…our rebellion. The image-bearers failing to image Him, to reflect our perfect, benevolent, beautiful Creator God to His creation. Yet God continues to pursue…the Seed of the Woman. Genesis 3.15.

But what about you? Where do you find yourself building towers, looking for fame, rebelling against God, making a name for yourself? The desire for selfish independence and for god-status is still alive and well. We’re still building towers. But God hasn’t given up on us. Moses reminds us once again that the Seed of the Woman is coming…that He has come in the Person of Jesus, the Son of God, to do what we could not do…provide the way back to God. To conquer sin and death. To restore the image so that we might return to Paradise. That by faith in Jesus, who lived the life that we were supposed to live, totally obedient and dependent on God, who died the death we deserved to die, that through faith in Him we could participate in the most absurd gift exchange in the universe…His righteousness for our sin…so that we can have life…a different kind of life, real life, eternal life with Father God in His kingdom. I don’t understand it, but am amazed by it. I can’t explain it except for God’s incredible, amazing love.

My prayer for us this week is that we recognize our own tower-building tendencies and turn them over to Jesus, the Head-crushing Seed of the Woman.

Until next time…stay salty.

This post is based on our Genesis series. Listen online at:http://www.centralchristian.org, or follow us on twitter: @ccclancaster