Faith and Works – Battle or No Battle

In the Reformation, leaders like Martin Luther and John Calvin saw how the Medieval church often used pious, sacramental works to control people and missed the entire message of justification by faith and God’s grace. They insisted on Faith alone as the basis of salvation. Faith and Works (good deeds) stood in opposition, based on Paul. James was “straw” (Luther).

Different meanings for “Works.” (1) Works of law as group boundaries for a pure community (circumcision, food laws). (2) Works as actions of generosity, service, and reconciliation embodying God’s self-giving love. Paul reflects on both as he builds communities of both Jews and non-Jews. “Works of law” – protective, defining markers for Jewish communities. But they excluded non-Jews. Debates about circumcision were about including all nations. Paul always insists on (2): Life transformed by Christ’s love, actively serving others.

Faith Works to Define Life, Shape Life, Give Life

James says nothing about (1) but reflects only on (2) as the “royal law” of King Jesus who taught the Great Commands: Loving the One God and Loving your neighbor as yourself.

2:1-9 – Loving neighbor excludes the entire class/wealth hierarchy so deeply embedded in society’s “masks of status.” Create a community that exalts the impoverished and humbles the rich/powerful. The values of the world always push in. Wealth/power continually empowers abuse. Holding the Faith of Jesus means acting with love so both poor and rich live new life.

2:14-26 – Belief in one God means all are brothers and sisters. More than welcoming the poor, it means sharing needs for life (Mt 25:34-36). Otherwise the faith hasn’t delivered real life. But more: We link Faith with Abraham: tested with Isaac, counted righteous, God’s friend. But that power is just as real in a Gentile pagan prostitute named Rahab. Both society hierarchies and religious hierarchy are overthrown by Faith working through Love. Action that embodies God’s Love is the vital Spirit that gives life to the great body of Faith.

Practice Working Faith: Worship, Pray, Study: Go deep! Community of Hope; Teach children; Mentor youth; THEA; Giver of Dreams; Divorce Care; Ministry of Love; Camp Shiloh; Faith, Race and Justice; Diverse Community; Political involvement. Be a family for each other.

Kyle Swann preaches.

Larry Mudd teaches on being clay in the Potter's hand.

Fifth lesson in the series covering the beginning of Genesis.

Sin Attacks - Family and Religion; Ignorance and Anger

Gen 1-11: Parabolic stories. Twists to make us think. How did we get in alienation and exile?. 1: Creation of Cosmos. 2: Creation of Human. 3: Knowing good and evil and exile from life.

Gen 4: Sin emerges: Family/brothers. Religion. Cain and Abel bring offerings. God’s two views! Most striking is what we don’t know! Why does God favor Abel? Justified? Arbitrary? No explanation given. Humans, like Job, want to know "Why?" We must deal with not knowing.

Cain burns in anger. Unfair to me. God comes but doesn’t explain. "Go forward. Do the good you can do." Anger at God/Abel is the opening for sin to attack. You must rule over it. But rage empowers sin, breaks relationship of brothers. Murder. Uncaring. The ground exiles Cain, people threaten him, but God is still gracious and protects him even in wandering.

Paul also personifies sin using a good command to kill. Jesus: don’t react to evil and be drawn in.

Floods Don’t Work to Turn Hearts from Evil

How does God deal with sin? 10 long generations ... evil and violence. God regrets creation! Wipe sin off the earth. Start new with Noah. The Flood is an interim story (like making animals), not the great narrative (Abraham...). Fascinating details about ark, flood, birds.

But what God sees after the flood is that it didn’t work. We learn a Human heart universally inclines to evil. Weakness, meanness show even in Noah. The earth is good but suffers under human rule. The failure points to why God chooses such a long road to deal with sin: Abram, Israel, Moses, David ... Messiah, all the world. God stays with broken people.

Let’s Talk About God ...

Jesus tells his disciples about saving their life or losing it (Mk 8:35). The issue goes back to the beginning. We’ve heard the story. Strange, amazing. No mention in Gn 3 of a "Fall," of sin, Satan. The Snake: clever: Different reality. The woman and man seem still united: Before they eat, they act as one. Yahweh, creator, is absent as creatures discuss him.

Snake asks an innocent, knowing, probing question. Woman defends God. Only one tree. "God said not to eat or touch it." Warned us of death. Woman shows humans have reflected on God’s command. Good intent, cautious. They’ve expanded the forbidden sphere. They attribute that to God. They’ve learned good and evil, and control how to obey. Snake shows he knows more: Responds to lie. Suggests alternate reason for God’s command, not so benevolent, blocking something wonderful God has: insight, wisdom.

The woman sees, eyes open! They don’t seek to be God. She sees food, beauty, wisdom, all good things. God may not intend warning but hindrance. They’ve already chosen to control their obedience. They take and eat. The snake was right. They see more: that they are naked and vulnerable. They cover themselves - from each other, from God? Now they both know and experience good and evil. Fear, hiding, avoiding God. Lost self.

Brokenness Begins: Life that Mixes the Worst with the Best.

The fruit doesn’t poison. God doesn’t kill. But human life becomes mixed - our present. Snake: mystery symbol. Woman, bearer of life, in pain. In conflict with Human, oppressed. Human, producer of food, with thorns, pain. Clarity about their limit, made of dust: death.

But life continues. "Human" (Adam) and "Life" (Eve) wear skins (?). She’ll begin all life.

Exile Begins: The Real Death and Finding the Way to Life.

Humans have fallen and risen - "like us," God says. They share fully in moral choice. Also in vulnerability, fear, deception. God exiles them from the garden of delight into our world.

How much will fear and delusion grip them? How can humans learn the way to true life?

The beginning: Yahweh god first makes the human-formed from Dust and Gdos' breath. Yeahweh plants a great garden of delight and in the middle trees of life and knowledge. Four rivers from one source flow from the garden, marking out vast portions of the earth. God assigns responsibility to the human with freedom to eat all except one deadly fruit. The human is alone. God makes animal life, and the human names them. But is still alone. Looking at the creation again humans and relationships. The human in God's garden of wonder, work, and worry. Finding an ally for the journey, responsibility, and delight.

Learning God, Humanity, and the World for the Great Story

The Bible is the great narrative of human greatness and brokenness, sin. But especially the actions of the God of the universe to give real freedom to these creatures and then to bringthemintosharingGod’sownlife. TheMessiahcomeswithinalonghistory.

The main story begins with Abraham, then Patriarchs, Moses-Exodus-Tabernacle, Promised Land, Disorder, David, Disorder, Destruction of Israel, Disorder in Judah, Exile in Babylon. How did we get here? Ancient traditions become written scripture focused on Israel’s failures in faithfulness interwoven with God’s faithfulness to his promises.

Who is this astonishing God? How does Israel’s story fit within the fundamental problems of all humanity? How do God’s promises to Abraham and Israel affect all humanity?

Genesis 1-11 introduces the great unfolding narrative and sets the stage within which the call of Abraham and all that follows unfolds. Yahweh is Creator, One God of all!

The Parable of the Human Situation

Gen 1-11 is not a science book or a history book. Neither would be useful. It is not God revealing secrets of physics: no mention of earth as a planet. It’s not an old myth. The text sets itself apart: Long lives, two narratives of creation, cosmic catastrophes.

It’s more a prophetic parable - from the time of Isaiah of the Exile. No references to Adam in the OT. It’s complex with many parts. But like Jesus’ parables, the parts use recognizable elements of human experience. Gen 1 uses the way the world looks to an ordinary person seeing it day and night. It weaves the elements into a narrative with twists that make you puzzle and recognize new things you hadn’t seen before, especially about God and the profound brokenness and hope of the human situation.

To harmonize it with science or history is to miss it - like saying Jesus’ parables aren’t facts.

The Unfolding Starts From God’s Very Good World.

There’s going to be a lot about broken trust, sin, suffering, violence. But Gen 1 sets the contrast that clarifies the evil. From Gen 1 there is no hint of evil.

It starts from God. All else is created. The fundamental divide. God is complex and deep but self-existent. God is. Before and outside creation but pervading all. Heavens and earth are formless potential moved by God’s Word and Spirit. God has no opposition. No battles. No dualism. This story is not just Israel’s story but the whole world’s story.

God turns potential into ordered goodness. There are boundaries and distinctions but not dividing good and bad. One interconnected order. Ordered time, days. A Vault, "Firmament." Dry earth, seas. All are united in creation. God’s Spirit is a Wind. Heavens and Waters on both sides of the vault. The sequence is stylized not logical. Day, night, plants, before sun. The Sun and moon are not gods, but only called lamps in the vault. No astrology. No mention of movement. They are lights and markers of time.

The Human is especially created with God’s image, to represent God’s care for his creation. No hierarchy between male and female. No bloodshed. Very good. Rest.

Kyle Swann brings the message on the power of the Prodigal Son.

Walking with a God of Wild Surprise

My first sermon, 55 yrs ago, was on Mic 6:6-8. I loved its poetry, call to simple, powerful transformation: Justice, Hesed, a humble walk with God. Challenging. The wild card, explosion is in that phrase "walk with God." God surprises! A surprise may be announced in advance, but is of such character that no one can believe it’s really coming.

Pentecost is the great surprise. When leaders of Israel and Gentiles combined to destroy God’s Messiah - who embodies Israel, humanity, God - what’s the last thing God would do? Pour out God’s own self - Spirit - life on these people. Claim their evil deed as his own. Help them to change their thinking (repent) and be plunged into the one they crucified. Forgive them! Make them into a new inclusive - all humanity - community of Grace.

Pentecost implements God’s identity defined in the event of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection.

Pentecost - Pouring out the Resurrection Life of the Spirit

Peter unfolds the event of Pentecost as continuing Jesus - his death and resurrection. It’s the exalted human Jesus who pours out God’s promised Spirit. God raises and glorifies Jesus’ human body/self from the agony of human death, from the dry bones of Israel’s death, by giving God’s life to transform the definition of life: creature united with creator in a life stronger than death, more beautiful and creative, more filled with self-giving love.

Who receives first? Lawless murderers and Pagan Gentiles. All of us. Women, men, young, old, slaves, freed, far, near. In Jesus’ resurrection, God’s kingdom has broken in. Surprise!

Life Empowered by God’s Spirit

In Rom 8 Paul describes the effect. Ordinary humans freed from enslavement to self-centered life, little gods. Our mortal bodies - centers of human drama of flesh, spirit, soul, mind, heart, love, desire, sin, holiness - not thrown away but given life as only the creator can.

We’re transforming now - body, mind, spirit - for justice, hesed, walking with God. Surprise!