Sermon Tone Analysis
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Last week we ended with a question - Where are you?
Where Are You?
It’s a question we asked of our selves in our relationship with God, and it is also a question we could easily ask of God in those times when we are struggling, overwhelmed, and/or just feeling lost.
In those times we might cry out to God, “Where are you?”
As we read the Old Testament what we discover is that God is there, right there, all the time.
Even in the midst of open rebellion, in those times when we might choose to go our own way in direct opposition of God, God is there.
And God calls to us, “Where are you?”
Not because he doesn’t know, but because God throughout the Old Testament is inviting us to be the people we were created to be.
Who is that?
Great question, and that is another question that the Scripture really helps us discover:
Who Are You?
Who am I? It’s a question with which people have struggled perhaps since the Fall.
The musical A Chorus Line opens with the scene of an audition.
The choreographer is barking out the combination as the dancers try and keep up.
Periodically the music stops, everything goes dark save for one lowly spot light that shines on an individual dancer who sings,
“Who am I anyway?
Am I my resumé, that paints a picture of a person I don’t know?
What does he want from me?
What should I try to be?
So many people all around and here we go, I need this job, Oh God I need this show.”
The words are haunting, and for too many people strike at the heart of what they feel.
Why?
Because for too many of us we have lost the sense of who we are, of who we were created to be, and much of that is because we’ve lost sight of the One in whose image we were Created!
The Psalmist writes:
Genesis reminds us:
But it’s not just that we were created in God’s image, but for a specific purpose:
Our purpose, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, have dominion over it.”
In other words this planet that we are blessed with is ours to care for, we are its stewards.
When we get to Genesis 2:16-17, we come to a verse that has particular significance in the Bible.
We spent a good deal of time on this a while back, and it’s worth revisiting.
This command is given to Adam by God, and we need to understand several things about this.
God speaks
We already know from the first chapter of Genesis that God spoke Creation into being, and that’s important.
God speaks directly to Adam!
Think about that.
God - the creator of the stars in heavens, the closest one to us being the sun - 92 million miles away - speaks directly to Adam.
The reason this is so important is because it emphasizes the whole context for which humanity was created.
We were created to be in relationship with the living God, the Creator!
This is not a distant God that doesn’t want anything to do with us, this is God in dialogue with the created ones.
This is the first thing we want to note of this command - God speaks with the created ones.
“Genesis records numerous divine-human conversations (Genesis 3:9-13; 4:6-15; 15:1-6; 18:17-33).
God’s word to Adam is only the beginning of the divine-human relationship.
God also converses with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, revealing his redemptive purpose for humanity, and he speaks to the people of Israel through the prophet Moses.”
Casket Empty, p. 12 - Kaminski
God’s people have a good reason to be in awe,
As we continue to look at Ge 2:16-17
the second thing that we want to note is that the command marks the FIRST command in the Bible, and in so doing it anticipates God’s relationship with Israel at Mt. Sinai.
If you’re not sure what I mean by that, Mt.
Sinai is where God calls Israel to be his people, and gives Moses the Ten Commandments.
Just as Adam is called to obey this command, the Israelites are to obey the Ten Commandments, and as we’ll find out later, more.
As we journey through the Old Testament and learn about these commandments we must recognize that they are fundamentally about life.
God’s commands are not meant to be the great kill-joy of our lives, but they are meant to lead us to life abundant, the life for which we were created.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans of the commands and how they bring life:
The third reason this command given in Genesis 2:16-17 is so important
…it defines God’s relationship with human beings.
The command itself causes us to recognize that we were not intended to be autonomous beings.
We were created for that relationship with our Creator God, the God who speaks.
This is significantly different than the religion of idols - whether that idol be man made or something within creation (sun, moon, stars).
When one worships an idol, “the worshiper speaks to the god and tells it what to do, but the god does not tell the worshiper what to do since it is unable to speak.”
(Kaminski)
In stark contrast to this, the LORD God speaks to Adam and tells him how he is to live — it is not Adam who tells God what to do, but God tells Adam what to do!
We will discover, however, that the worship of idols is attractive to human beings because it enables the worshiper to tell the god what to do, but the god (which cannot speak) is unable to tell the worshiper what to do.
This kind of “religion” means that people can do as they please.
It makes one wonder who really is god.
Who Are You?
In regards to God -
In regards to you -
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