July 7, 2019 NOTES NOT EDITED
3 Circles: God’s Design
3 Circles: God’s Design
Genesis 1-2 (esp.
1:31)
SIS: God designed us to delight in Him and His
perfect creation.
But, there is also sad news to
report--in fact, there is ALWAYS sad news to report. Fred is no longer with us.
Fred was a beautiful Red Rooster who lived in the palms behind my son's house,
and spent the mornings--every morning at 4--crowing from the top of the roof.
When a cool breeze was blowing and the front door was open, Fred would strut
into the living room to say "Hello."
Last week, Fred seemed to be "under the weather" (whatever
that means for a rooster). He just wasn't himself. Later in the day, four
mongooses (or is it mongeese) attacked Fred--and yes, ate him. My son devotedly scooped up the pile of
feathers left behind and buried them in the palms where Fred had made his home.
This sad story is but one of
millions of stories--just last week-- that show the "Brokenness" of
the world in which we live in. We live in "dog eat dog world" (or
mongoose eat rooster), where tragedy abounds. Death, despair, discord, and
decay abound in our world. However, God never intended our lives be filled with
what the quartet on Hee Haw used to sing about: "Gloom, despair, and
agony on me. Deep dark depression, excessive misery. If it weren't for bad
luck, I'd have no luck at all *slobbering lip sound* Gloom, despair, and
agony on me!"
[VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAAKPJEq1Ew]
[VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAAKPJEq1Ew]
We will examine
several aspects of God’s Design in our lives.
We will anchor our study with God’s conclusion of His creation, with the
crowning jewel of that creation being man.
READ Gen. 1:28-31.
1. First and
foremost, God designed us to bring delight TO Him.
Let us go all the way back to the very beginning, actually we can glimpse philosophically beyond the beginning when there was only God. Your life will continue to be broken, chaotic, and meaningless until you realize one overriding principle in the Bible: “It is NOT about you!” Peace, harmony, and wholeness is “all about God.” Let’s go all the way back to the beginning to see this principle at work. Genesis 1:1 says,
“In the beginning God . . . “ In fact, it literally says, “In beginning, God.” The lack of the article could be incidental. Sometimes, the text just assumes the reader will supply the definite idea to the noun—especially when the Hebrews only accepted One God leaving no need to always supply the article. But, it could also be a means to highlight the Person, or Who of creation, rather than a specific time, when before God created it, there was no time in the first place. I believe the focus in Genesis 1:1 is the Person of creation, not the time. God is eternal. Without Him, and without creating time, the idea of a beginning is a moot point. Here’s my conclusion: from the very first verse of the Bible, God is the central figure. All creation points back to Him, and by His design all our praise is to bring glory to Him. In one of the most beautiful passages in the Word, Ephesians 1, Paul uses the phrase, “to the praise of His [that is, God’s] glory,” three times (vv. 6,12,14). Beginning in verse 4 we read:
3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. 4 For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. h In love 5 He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.
Again in 11-12, 11 We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, 12 so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory. And yet one more time in verse 14, He [God, the Holy Spirit] is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.
Above all, God’s
design for our lives is to “give Him praise and glory.” We call that, “worship.” Worship, in the most fundamental sense, is
recognizing there IS a God—and it is not you!
God designed us for His pleasure and we never find fulfillment until we
find it through worship. Augustine, a
great Christian thinker said long ago, “My soul is restless until it finds its
rest in Thee.” That is how God designed
us. That is how we are supposed to
function.
Worship is more than what we do: that is, more than singing songs, voicing prayers, listening to sermons, or taking up offerings. Worship means to totally immerse ourselves in God’s Presence to give Him glory with our praise. Glory carries the idea of “weightiness.” Praise gives the picture of “shining forth.” Worship means we feel the full weight of God’s Being in our everyday life and we shine forth His Light in our world.
When we are living in such a way that our very existence is “worship” to God, we experience sublime, existential ecstasy as we bask in the glow of God’s glory. When we are worshipping God, according to His design, we have perfect peace and harmony in fellowship with Almighty Yahweh. Adam and Eve surrendered this peaceful and harmonious fellowship with God when they sinned. Sin entered the world, and with it came disharmony, destruction, and death. God designed us to radiantly praise Him through worship, and when we depart from that aspect of His design, we experience brokenness. We will experience this aspect of brokenness, and others next week, Lord willing. God designed us to bring delight to Him through our praise and worship, and as a result God.
Years ago a man got lost hiking trails in the mountain. He came upon some men along a trail and told them where he was trying to go. The men replied matter of factly, “Sir, you can’t get there from here. You have to start on the other side of the mountain.” This is true also for our happiness and fulfillment. We have to start on the “right side of the mountain.” The right side of the mountain means we “start with God.” We are designed to give delight TO Him.
2. We are also, Designed us to experience delight FROM Him.
Worship is more than what we do: that is, more than singing songs, voicing prayers, listening to sermons, or taking up offerings. Worship means to totally immerse ourselves in God’s Presence to give Him glory with our praise. Glory carries the idea of “weightiness.” Praise gives the picture of “shining forth.” Worship means we feel the full weight of God’s Being in our everyday life and we shine forth His Light in our world.
When we are living in such a way that our very existence is “worship” to God, we experience sublime, existential ecstasy as we bask in the glow of God’s glory. When we are worshipping God, according to His design, we have perfect peace and harmony in fellowship with Almighty Yahweh. Adam and Eve surrendered this peaceful and harmonious fellowship with God when they sinned. Sin entered the world, and with it came disharmony, destruction, and death. God designed us to radiantly praise Him through worship, and when we depart from that aspect of His design, we experience brokenness. We will experience this aspect of brokenness, and others next week, Lord willing. God designed us to bring delight to Him through our praise and worship, and as a result God.
Years ago a man got lost hiking trails in the mountain. He came upon some men along a trail and told them where he was trying to go. The men replied matter of factly, “Sir, you can’t get there from here. You have to start on the other side of the mountain.” This is true also for our happiness and fulfillment. We have to start on the “right side of the mountain.” The right side of the mountain means we “start with God.” We are designed to give delight TO Him.
2. We are also, Designed us to experience delight FROM Him.
One of the great
mysteries man has attempted to unlock, for well over 2600 years now, is “Why is
there something rather than nothing?” If
there ever were a time there was nothing, there could never be something, for
something never comes from nothing. Even
the laws of science establish this, “matter cannot be created nor destroyed,
This Law of the Conservation of Matter was discovered in 1785 by Antoine
Lavoisier. The Law of the Conservation
of Energy came along in 1842 (Julius Mayer).
Einstein combined these two laws into the Law of the Conservation of
Mass-Energy with his famous equation, E=mc2. This great discovery has led to many
other great discoveries, but it has never unlocked the mystery: “why is there something rather than
nothing.” That logically demands that
one believe in the existence of God—however one wants to define that concept. The concept can be discussed and debated, but
the existence of God cannot be denied—at least not scientifically or logically
But, that leads to an even deeper mystery for Christians. “Why” did God create anything—or anybody? God designed us, not only that we would bring delight TO Him, but that we would receive delight FROM Him. The Bible teaches that God created us to love us as His children. Today’s English Version (Good News Bible), makes God’s purpose for creating us very clear (Eph. 1:5):
Because of his love 5God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his sons and daughters—this was his pleasure and purpose.
But, that leads to an even deeper mystery for Christians. “Why” did God create anything—or anybody? God designed us, not only that we would bring delight TO Him, but that we would receive delight FROM Him. The Bible teaches that God created us to love us as His children. Today’s English Version (Good News Bible), makes God’s purpose for creating us very clear (Eph. 1:5):
Because of his love 5God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his sons and daughters—this was his pleasure and purpose.
God designed us to
give Him “praise and glory,” but beyond that, he designed the entire
creation in such a way to give us infinite reasons and motivations to give Him
praise. He designed all of creation to
so we would receive delight FROM Him.
The Psalmist declares that God delights in giving us delight (Ps. 37:4).
Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s
desires
God loves to love
us! God IS love! (1Jn. 4:8). Everything
that exists—the entire universe—was designed by God to bring His children
delight!
God never intended Fred to be eaten by four mongooses. In fact, God never intended that anything would die for any reason, ever! Death is a consequence of sin, not God’s design. God wants you to be holy—worshipfully devoted to Him—and as a result of being “holy” God has designed that we be happy.
God designed every aspect of our lives to maximize our capacity for enjoying Him and His creation. God fine-tuned us, in the same way that He “fine-tuned” the universe for us. God fine-tuned the Earth to support man’s life and prosperity, and then God fine-tuned man to enjoy the earth and all that was in it. God made a perfect Paradise, on a perfect planet in a perfect universe and designed us to enjoy it perfectly!
A. The Fine-tuning of the universe
According to the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England: In terms of the number of solar systems present in the universe, there are something like 300 billion stars in the Milky Way, so if 10 per cent of them have planets there are around 30 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and there are over 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe for a total of something in the order of 10^21 (that's 1 then 21 zeros) planets in the observable Universe.
For centuries man has searched for another planet that would support life like this Blue Dot we call Earth. So far, nada! With 30 billiong planets in our galaxy and another 100 billion galaxies, only Earth is perfectly suited to support life. One scientist said it this way, The more they study earth and our solar system, the more they realize that earth is uniquely suited for life. We don’t live on a random chunk of rock—we live on a privileged planet with just the right characteristics for life to survive and thrive. God “fine-tuned our universe, and especially our planet, to give us life—to bring us delight. But then God did something else marvelous. That is
God never intended Fred to be eaten by four mongooses. In fact, God never intended that anything would die for any reason, ever! Death is a consequence of sin, not God’s design. God wants you to be holy—worshipfully devoted to Him—and as a result of being “holy” God has designed that we be happy.
God designed every aspect of our lives to maximize our capacity for enjoying Him and His creation. God fine-tuned us, in the same way that He “fine-tuned” the universe for us. God fine-tuned the Earth to support man’s life and prosperity, and then God fine-tuned man to enjoy the earth and all that was in it. God made a perfect Paradise, on a perfect planet in a perfect universe and designed us to enjoy it perfectly!
A. The Fine-tuning of the universe
According to the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England: In terms of the number of solar systems present in the universe, there are something like 300 billion stars in the Milky Way, so if 10 per cent of them have planets there are around 30 billion planets in our galaxy alone, and there are over 100 billion galaxies in the observable Universe for a total of something in the order of 10^21 (that's 1 then 21 zeros) planets in the observable Universe.
For centuries man has searched for another planet that would support life like this Blue Dot we call Earth. So far, nada! With 30 billiong planets in our galaxy and another 100 billion galaxies, only Earth is perfectly suited to support life. One scientist said it this way, The more they study earth and our solar system, the more they realize that earth is uniquely suited for life. We don’t live on a random chunk of rock—we live on a privileged planet with just the right characteristics for life to survive and thrive. God “fine-tuned our universe, and especially our planet, to give us life—to bring us delight. But then God did something else marvelous. That is
B. The Fine-Tuning of Man
Man is perfectly designed to experience delightful bliss from God. Every aspect of our individual and collective identities as God’s creations, was designed to maximize our potential to experience delight from God.
1. Our gender identity (Genesis 1:27 - created us male and female)
2. Our family
life (Gen. 1:28 - be fruitful and multiply)
3. Our work
life (Gen. 1:28-30; 2:15-17 - work the garden)
4. Our recreational
life (Gen. 2:1-3 - He rested on the seventh day)
5. Our marriages
(Gen. 2:24 - leave and cleave)
Absolutely every aspect of our lives from where we are born to who we marry, to the very day that we will die is part of God’s design. Psalm 139:16 says,
Absolutely every aspect of our lives from where we are born to who we marry, to the very day that we will die is part of God’s design. Psalm 139:16 says,
Your eyes saw me when I was
formless; all my days were written in Your book and planned before a single one
of them began.
Why is it that all
the talk of “multiple genders, gender dysphoria, transsexualism, and same-sex
marriage is so wrong-headed and so destructive to personal happiness and
cultural harmony? It is because, we were
not designed to have multiple genders or same-sex partners. Our sin and rebellion distorts the Imagao Dei, Image of God, in us and
destroys our ability to have peace and prosperity. The Bible preaches against sin because sin
works against our blessing.
Why is it that all the
talk of “multiple genders, gender dysphoria, transsexualism, and same-sex
marriage, abortion, and a dozen other socially sanctioned immoral behaviors is
so wrong-headed? Why is such immorality
so destructive to personal happiness and cultural harmony. He knows what works best for us, because He
created us and designed us for maximum potential. We were not designed for such immoral
behavior. God did not design us to have
multiple genders or same-sex partners.
It goes against God’s “fine-tuning” of our lives to maximize our
potential for health and happiness. Such
behavior turns the bliss of Eden into the curse of Sodom. Nobody knows better than God what gender you
should be or what partner in life you should have, or what vocation you should
choose. He knows what works best for us,
because He created us and designed us for maximum potential. Who knows better how to maximize the
performance of a machine, for instance, than the person that engineered it?
Every aspect of creation, and every aspect of man’s design was crafted by God for maximum delight. God’s rules are not to restrict us, but to protect us. God’s rules are not to limit our bliss but maximize it. God designed us to Delight IN His Creation.
3. God designed us to share Heaven’s delight WITH others.
An interesting part of the creation story for me is in Gen. 2:15 when God gave Adam a job: The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
Adam’s job was to “care for what God had created.” That job has not changed since it was first assigned to Adam. It is still the assigned vocation of God’s children to care for creation—but with a very significant change.
Adam’s assignment covered the “physical” creation. In the New Testament, we are introduced to a “New Adam” with a “New Assignment” (Rom. 5:18-19):
So then, as through one trespass [Old Adam] there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act [New Adam] there is life-giving justification x for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
Every aspect of creation, and every aspect of man’s design was crafted by God for maximum delight. God’s rules are not to restrict us, but to protect us. God’s rules are not to limit our bliss but maximize it. God designed us to Delight IN His Creation.
3. God designed us to share Heaven’s delight WITH others.
An interesting part of the creation story for me is in Gen. 2:15 when God gave Adam a job: The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it.
Adam’s job was to “care for what God had created.” That job has not changed since it was first assigned to Adam. It is still the assigned vocation of God’s children to care for creation—but with a very significant change.
Adam’s assignment covered the “physical” creation. In the New Testament, we are introduced to a “New Adam” with a “New Assignment” (Rom. 5:18-19):
So then, as through one trespass [Old Adam] there is condemnation for everyone, so also through one righteous act [New Adam] there is life-giving justification x for everyone. 19 For just as through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so also through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
The first Adam had the assignment of caring for the physical world. Those who are disciples of Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, have an expanded assignment to care for the spiritual world:
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
In another passage Jesus summed up our new job assignment
more directly. As followers of the Lord
we must, “seek and
save that which is lost” (Lk. 19:10).
God
designed us to share Heaven’s delight
WITH others. We bring delight TO God most
significantly, and we experience delight FROM God most fully, when we share the
delight of God’s salvation WITH others passionately and continuously. That is our “job.” That is our “assignment.” That is our purpose.
A young salesman returned to the job after visiting a new client to try to win a rather large account. The young salesman’s face indicated that he had not been successful. Sadly he said to his mentor, an older salesman, “I guess it just goes to prove that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Not allowing the young salesman to hide behind a cliché, the older man said, “Son, it is not your job to make the horse drink, it is your job to make him thirsty!”
God has given us a job, a holy, eternal assignment, “Make people thirsty for the grand delight of God’s saving grace!
A young salesman returned to the job after visiting a new client to try to win a rather large account. The young salesman’s face indicated that he had not been successful. Sadly he said to his mentor, an older salesman, “I guess it just goes to prove that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Not allowing the young salesman to hide behind a cliché, the older man said, “Son, it is not your job to make the horse drink, it is your job to make him thirsty!”
God has given us a job, a holy, eternal assignment, “Make people thirsty for the grand delight of God’s saving grace!
Next week, Lord
willing, we will study the second circle of the Three Circles of Life, which is
called, “Brokenness.” We live in a very
broken world. We will have more to say
about this “Brokenness” next week, but for now, I’d ask you to simply
acknowledge that we do, indeed live in a broken world. Adam was given the assignment to care for a
“perfect physical world.” As followers
of the Second Adam we are called to care for a world that is not only broken
physically and emotionally, but is broken spiritually. Rom. 8:22 says:
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now
It is not enough to care for the “environment.” Christ followers must care for souls that are destined for “eternal” damnation because they have abandoned God’s Design for His creation.
We are learning the “3 Circles of Evangelism”: God’s Design, Brokenness, and the Gospel. What is the ultimate objective of the 3 Circles? As we learn from our diagram, the Gospel—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—allows us to “recover God’s Design and Pursue His purposes.” The objective of the Gospel is not merely to get us “saved and secure a place in heaven.” Ultimately, the Gospel allows us to pursue God’s purpose. God’s purpose is to “reengage with God’s creation by sharing the Good News (Gospel) with others so they, too can recover and likewise pursue God’s design.”
God’s work in our lives is not finished when we are “saved,” but it started. Eph. 2:10 reminds us: For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Heaven is too grand a blessing to keep to ourselves. God’s design includes that each of His “saved ones” would engage with broken people in the world and share the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God gave Adam a “job” in the garden—Adam had a purpose. The “New Adam,” Jesus Christ, gives His “saved ones” and even grander purpose—to tend to the broken, weed-infested souls of the world. Ironically, Jesus did not die to get us into heaven as much as he died so we could carry on His mission and get others into heaven. Heaven is a by-product of salvation, not the end-all. If the only purpose of the gospel was to get people into heaven—God would snatch us up the moment we were saved. He doesn’t do that, because, like Adam, we have a job to do. Our job is to share Heaven’s Delight with others.
The Garden of Eden was (is) God’s Design for humanity. The “Tent Cities” of Skid Row is the result of man rebelling against that Design—a rebellion we call, sin. Sin took a Blissful Garden and Turned it into a Broken World. God never intended for mongooses to eat Fred. God put man in a beautiful, perfect garden. That is God’s Design. Man longs to get back to that Idyllic Garden. Mission specialist refer to this as “eternity in the heart.” Unless a person has become so reprobate that his conscience has been completely seared, all men and women long for the beauty, harmony, peace, and prosperity of God’s Design.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now
It is not enough to care for the “environment.” Christ followers must care for souls that are destined for “eternal” damnation because they have abandoned God’s Design for His creation.
We are learning the “3 Circles of Evangelism”: God’s Design, Brokenness, and the Gospel. What is the ultimate objective of the 3 Circles? As we learn from our diagram, the Gospel—the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—allows us to “recover God’s Design and Pursue His purposes.” The objective of the Gospel is not merely to get us “saved and secure a place in heaven.” Ultimately, the Gospel allows us to pursue God’s purpose. God’s purpose is to “reengage with God’s creation by sharing the Good News (Gospel) with others so they, too can recover and likewise pursue God’s design.”
God’s work in our lives is not finished when we are “saved,” but it started. Eph. 2:10 reminds us: For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Heaven is too grand a blessing to keep to ourselves. God’s design includes that each of His “saved ones” would engage with broken people in the world and share the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God gave Adam a “job” in the garden—Adam had a purpose. The “New Adam,” Jesus Christ, gives His “saved ones” and even grander purpose—to tend to the broken, weed-infested souls of the world. Ironically, Jesus did not die to get us into heaven as much as he died so we could carry on His mission and get others into heaven. Heaven is a by-product of salvation, not the end-all. If the only purpose of the gospel was to get people into heaven—God would snatch us up the moment we were saved. He doesn’t do that, because, like Adam, we have a job to do. Our job is to share Heaven’s Delight with others.
The Garden of Eden was (is) God’s Design for humanity. The “Tent Cities” of Skid Row is the result of man rebelling against that Design—a rebellion we call, sin. Sin took a Blissful Garden and Turned it into a Broken World. God never intended for mongooses to eat Fred. God put man in a beautiful, perfect garden. That is God’s Design. Man longs to get back to that Idyllic Garden. Mission specialist refer to this as “eternity in the heart.” Unless a person has become so reprobate that his conscience has been completely seared, all men and women long for the beauty, harmony, peace, and prosperity of God’s Design.
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