Ontology 101: The Business of 'Is'-ness
A Biblical Survey on How God Made the World
8. What is a Church?
June 25, 2023 • David Schrock
Sermon Introduction Go, therefore, into all the earth and make disciples of all nations. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus gives what we call The Great Commission. In the closing scene of the first Gospel, Matthew records Jesus's final words to his disciples. As Matthew tells it, Jesus commands his disciples to go make more disciples. And when these disciples are made, by preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world (Matt. 24:14), these converts to Christ are to be baptized and taught all that Christ commanded. Significantly, however, Jesus does not simply give a command “to make disciples"; he gives a command based upon the newfound authority he has received from the Father. This is why the Great Commission begins with the word “therefore.” Indeed, only after his perfect obedience on the cross, can the resurrected God-man send his disciples into the world with the message of the gospel; only after he has received authority over all nations can the mission go from Jerusalem to Juneau, AK. And importantly, this authority is royal authority which begins to identify the nature of the church as a royal assembly of God’s New Covenant people. Indeed, for all that The Great Commission does in telling the church what to do, it also tells us what the church is. And this Sunday, that is the last question to answer in our series on ontology, what we have called "The Business of Is-ness." Over the last 8 weeks, we have attempted to discern what God says about various aspects of creation (e.g. humanity, the human body, men and women, marriage, etc.), but this Sunday, we respond to all these aspects of creation with the message of the new creation and the people formed by Christ’s resurrection—namely, the church of Jesus Christ. Indeed, to all the problems we have addressed over this series, to all the intractable complications that we have highlighted, the answer to those problems is not simply trying to go back in time and make the world a better place. Rather, our hope goes in the other direction, where the new creation brought by Christ is the solution to the problems of this creation. Even as we must know something of the way God made the world, we also need to know how God has begun to effect his new creation in the world. And thus, in our final sermon in this series, we will look at the new creation reality of the church. We will attempt to answer the question: What is the Church? And by answering this question, it should help us to see a clear path forward in a world filled with dead ends—figuratively and literally speaking. So to prepare for Sunday, re-read Matthew 28:16-20. For background, read Daniel 7:13–14; 2 Chronicles 36:23–24; and Joshua 14:6–15. Each of these Old Testament passages plays a role in understanding Matthew 28:19-20, which in turn informs our understanding of the church today. Additionally, if you are able, be sure to join us for Sunday School, where I will take some time to apply the Sunday School lesson to the sermon series and answer questions from some of the last few messages. Questions like: What does the pastor think about women voting? (Hint: Wendy and I voted on Tuesday 😀) I am deeply thankful for the feedback I have received on this sermon series. And I am grateful to God for a church that loves to press into the Word of God and applies it to all of life. Bereans make the best kind of Christians, and our church is filled with such Bereans. To God be the glory! As we approach Sunday, let us pray that God would give us a greater confidence in the work he is doing in his church today. And let us pray for God to continue manifesting his presence among us, as we gather on Sunday. As the Lord wills, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. As a reminder, the River Ridge Community Group is in overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy in Christ, Pastor David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Discussion & Response Questions What is the Church? 1. What has been most influential in your understanding of the church? What time have you spent studying the doctrine of the church in Scripture? 2. Why should churches teach about the church? What happens when someone seeks a church without knowing what a church should be? 3. The church is one, holy, catholic (universal), apostolic: What are the strengths and weaknesses of this definition? 4. What are the key metaphors in Scripture that identify the church? What do these reveal? 5. Why is it important to see the church in royal terms? Hint: Read Matthew 24:14; Acts 8:12; Acts 28:30–31. 6. What is the relationship between the universal church and the local church? How does Matthew’s Gospel relate the two (read Matthew 16:18 and Matthew 18:15–20). 7. Is the Great Commission for individuals or the church? The universal church or local churches? What difference does this make? 8. What do we learn about the nature of the church in the Great Commission? How does a church covenant help us be the church? 9. What is the chief mission of the gathered church? What are Christians called to / free to do when they enter the world? 10. How does a proper understanding of the church help us address all the other issues we have seen in this sermon series? 11. What is most encouraging or challenging about being the church? What can you do to reinforce the nature of your local church? In reverse, what are you doing to “de-nature” the local church?
7. What is Manhood and What is Womanhood?
June 18, 2023 • David Schrock • Numbers 30, Proverbs 31
What is a woman? Answering this question is not difficult, unless you live in America, where over the last decade common sense has become all too uncommon. Except for those who hold fast to the realities of biology and the Bible, the simple question, “What is a woman?” has https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fobc.us14.list-manage.com%2ftrack%2fclick%3fu%3ddd23918991ea6f542a8065bed%26id%3da8099fa282%26e%3df5b57025e0&data=05%7c01%7c%7ce87412df703a4c548e0e08db6eaa80a0%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c638225450811219338%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c3000%7c%7c%7c&sdata=uehsa%2fzwdwdt30m%2bnxluphuieavsj31lysbmqjnbrby%3d&reserved=0, https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fobc.us14.list-manage.com%2ftrack%2fclick%3fu%3ddd23918991ea6f542a8065bed%26id%3d4c0e863c1e%26e%3df5b57025e0&data=05%7c01%7c%7ce87412df703a4c548e0e08db6eaa80a0%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c638225450811219338%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c3000%7c%7c%7c&sdata=rjbi%2bpw0sxldqi7tqdd3wyz7ompuumfqwuv%2bjpvdn8w%3d&reserved=0, and countless others who were interviewed by Matt Walsh in his recent documentary, https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fobc.us14.list-manage.com%2ftrack%2fclick%3fu%3ddd23918991ea6f542a8065bed%26id%3d18ec1a3e53%26e%3df5b57025e0&data=05%7c01%7c%7ce87412df703a4c548e0e08db6eaa80a0%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c638225450811219338%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c3000%7c%7c%7c&sdata=tuvivh85brjfbh1ipdl3ouzt5gjun5thrvivjetwhn4%3d&reserved=0 (If you haven’t seen it yet, you should). On Sunday, we will take time to answer this question and we will go one step further. We will also answer the question, What is a man? While our culture teaches us to think in parts and pieces, tidbits and talking points, we will attempt to look at something bigger—namely, what the whole Bible and nature itself says about men and women. Critically, we will see that women cannot be defined without men, nor men without women. Just read 1 Corinthians 11:8–9. 8 For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. 9 Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. When God made mankind in his image, he made them male and female (Gen. 1:27). And in that creation, he gave humanity one nature in two forms. And only in relationship to one another can the nature of each be fully understood. So, while it is appropriate to ask, What is a woman? Any answer that ignores men, will be shortsighted. And the same is true in reverse. Sadly, our world has become so atomized, we don’t think like this. Even Matt Walsh’s eye-opening documentary doesn’t think like this. But by God’s grace, when we open up God’s Word, we will see men and women from the perspective of God himself. And I will warn you, what you may find may challenge how you think about men and women. As we saw last week, God did not create individuals as individuals, he created image-bearers who are born into families. This means, the basic building block of society is not the single man or woman, it is the family. And individual men and women learn who they are not by looking within, but by looking without—at the mothers who nurse them and the fathers who discipline them. This is how God designed it. And actually, the absence of family only proves the point. While the sins of abortion, divorce, and abandonment have often fractured these family bonds, they haven’t change the way God ordered his world. They have only marred that order. Likewise, as mad scientists are trying to create life without human parents, they are not changing the nature of humanity, they are only attempting to kill, steal, and destroy that nature—all in the name of research and design. Still, these experiments will end, but God’s nature created order remains. And so does God’s message of redemption. Therefore, as we stand in the gap to pray for and plead that our neighbors would repent of their sins and to submit to their Maker, we must be able to confidently answer the question: What are men and women? What makes them similar? What makes them different? And why does this matter? Those are some of the questions we will answer on Sunday as we gather to worship. To prepare for Sunday, take time to read Numbers 30, Proverbs 31, and 1 Peter 3. On this Father’s Day, those will be just a few of the passages we consider. And to press you to think more closely on this subject, take time to consider how much our culture (and the church!) has changed since the 1950s or the 1850s, when the practices of Numbers 30 were largely still in effect. Ask yourself, has the dissolution of Numbers 30 really served the cause of families, churches, women, and children? Or has it opened the door to all sorts of harm to women, men, and the children of God? As the Lord allows, I will look forward to seeing you on Sunday. As a reminder, the Bristow Community Group is in overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy, Pastor David --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions What are men and women? Where did confusion about this question come from? How did feminism contribute to the confusion? How have you seen confusion manifest itself? In what ways does individualism contribute to confusion about men and women? What about technology? Why should we start with the human body? What role does anatomy play in defining male and female? Is gender a social construct? Assigned by doctors or parents? Or is gender defined by God and the sex of the human? Why does this need to be addressed? Can we say that men and women have behaviors? Or is that being stereotypical? Are stereotypes wrong? How does the Bible speak? What evidence does the history of civilizations do to help answer the questions about men and women? Why must we define men and women in relation to one another? See Genesis 1:27; Numbers 30; Proverbs 31; 1 Corinthians 11:8–9. What direction does the Bible give to us? Is the Bible patriarchal (i.e., families led by and organized around the man)? Why or why not? What does Numbers 30 teach? Is this only for the Old Testament? Or does it give instruction for today (see 2 Timothy 3:16–17)? If it applies today, how so? Why is it important to recover a biblical understanding of manliness and womanliness? And how would you begin to do that?
6. What is a Family?
June 11, 2023 • David Schrock • Genesis 4
In 2023, few things are more important or more endangered than the family. Whether we look at divorce rates, or birth rates, or stores celebrating the destruction of the family with transgender bathing suits and binders, from all sides the family is in peril. And if Mary Eberstadt is correct (in her book How the West Really Lost God), the downfall of the family also means the downfall of Christianity. Indeed, when God made mankind in his image (Gen. 1:26), he made them male and female (Gen. 1:27), so that in marriage they could be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:28). Indeed, image-bearing is inseparably connected to the family. And so, if the family is destroyed, so is the image of God, as well as the God who gives shape to our image and likeness. Long story short, it is impossible to have strong families without God, and it is impossible to have God without strong families. On Sunday, we will see this point in fuller detail. But more than simply lamenting the loss of family values, we will see what Scripture says about the family, so that we can answer the question: What is the family? And from Scripture we will see that a family is not whatever want to make it. Rather, the family, like marriage, is divinely designed by God. And Christians, in all stages of life, need to know what the family is and isn’t. To that end, you can prepare for Sunday by praying for families in our church and by reading Psalm 127–128. The family is supposed to be a place of blessing, yet it is under great threat and often feels more like a place of cursing. That is what we need to address on Sunday with the hope of the gospel and the promise that God is making a new family of faith, even as his plans in creation continue to inform our own homes and families. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday and worshiping our God and Father, the one who redeems us and brings us into his family by means of his Beloved Son. As a reminder, the Montclair Community Group is in overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy, Pastor David --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions What is the Family? 1. In what ways has your family shaped you? Your faith? Your approach to God? 2. In what ways have you seen the family hurt over the last few decades? What has been most harmful? 3. What do we learn about the family from a survey of the Bible? In creation, fall, redemption, new creation? 4. What happens when deny or change the nuclear family (one father, one mother, children) into some other order? 5. How does the family provide stability for individual identity? What happens when an individual defines themselves outside the family? 6. What roles do men and women play in the family? (More on this next week). 7. Why do we need to make the family the basic building block of society? What happens if individuals are the basic building block? 8. What are you doing to lead your family to follow the model given in Scripture? What are the greatest threats? 9. What is your ultimate hope for your family? How do Jesus’s words about his family (Mark 3) inform your views on the family? 10. Take time to pray for your family and others.
5. What is a Marriage?
June 4, 2023 • David Schrock • Genesis 2:18–25
‘Marriage … is what brings us … together …today’ This famous line from The Princess Bride reminds us just how many love stories—on screen, or in print, or in the Bible—center on a wedding, a marriage, and the union of a man and a woman. In Scripture too, the Bible begins and ends with a marriage. And along the way, the union of man and woman, plus the children God gives them, stands at the center of what God is doing in the world. That being the case, we might think that the world would naturally understand what marriage is. And honestly, until "yesterday", the people made in God’s image did know what marriage was and is. That’s not to say that sexual sin was unknown in Corinth or homosexuality was not present in Rome. What it means is that marriage was a God-given institution that men and women entered into; it was not a plastic accessory to be made however one chose. Yet today, marriage has become an expression of self rather than a shared union between a husband and wife. And accordingly, we need to define again what marriage is. As God created marriage, God’s Word is up for the task of defining marriage. And so, this Sunday God’s Word about marriage is what brings us together. Indeed, the whole Bible gives us a picture of marriage but we will devote our time to Genesis 2. To prepare for Sunday, please read that chapter and pray for God to be glorified as we set our minds on his plan for marriage—not just what we do in marriage, but what it is and what it is for. Pray for our time and for the marriages in our congregation. May the Lord continue to sanctify his bride as we gather to worship him. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. As a reminder, the Manassas Community Group is in overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy, Pastor David ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions for Genesis 2 What is Marriage?Who taught you about marriage is? What impact did your family (If married and had pre-marriage counseling): What did you learn in pre-marriage counseling? Was it what marriage was? Or was it how to do have a good marriage? What is missing if we try to improve marriage (think: 7 tips for a better communications) without understanding the nature of marriage? What do we learn about marriage in Genesis 1–3? Why do we need to go back before the Fall (Gen 3) to define marriage? Relatedly: How does Jesus answer questions about marriage (see Matthew 19)? What changes about our understanding of marriage if we begin with God? If he creates marriage, what implications does that have? What is marriage for? What is the relationship between the image of God, dominion over the earth, and marriage? What happens when marriage is disconnected from having children? How might procreation be a truth we rehabilitate in the church? How do you handle discussions about marriage, homosexuality, so called same sex marriage? How does a better grasp of Genesis 2 help you with that discussion? Ultimately, why does this matter so much? What is the connection between marriage and the gospel? How is standing for marriage related to the gospel?
4. What Are Our Bodies For?
May 28, 2023 • David Schrock • 1 Corinthians 6
Yesterday, Elon Musk made news, not for anything related to Twitter, Tesla, or teasing a new presidential candidate, but for getting the FDA to approve testing for an in-human brain implant. Neuralink is the name of his company, and in the days to come he hopes to help the paralyzed to be able to walk by means of this brain chip. Paralysis and other neurological problems are some of the things he hopes to cure by his technology. This sounds great, doesn’t it? By means of human innovation, the deaf might hear, the lame might walk, and the blind might see. Indeed, it is truly miraculous. It is also messianic. When Jesus was asked by John if he was the expected messiah, Jesus turned to the prophesies of Isaiah and said to John. “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matt. 11:4–6). By comparison, Elon Musk hopes to do what Jesus did—to heal the sick. Meanwhile, the innovators at Google hope to raise the dead, or at least, to find the key to eternal life. In these ways, such real-life Tony Starks (the wizard scientist in Marvel’s Iron Man) are pushing the boundaries of life and as I will argue on Sunday, they are pushing to change what the human body is. Just how many modifications can be performed on a human being before that human becomes inhumane? How much Artificial Intelligence can be added to our world, or to our bodies (in the forms of microchips or blood serums), before the basic forms of humanity are changed? If we are made in the image of God, and Satan is working to erase the image of God, what might science and technology—with all of its benefits—do to confuse or change the way we think about human bodies? And in a world of constant change, where we ‘need' to keep up with others, what should our position be on the human body? In so many ways, these questions require more study and specifics than we can handle in a Sunday sermon. But on Sunday, we will look at this question: Why the human body? What is it for? And what does Scripture say> Our bodies are not incidental, accidental, or occasional elements of our existence. They are instead essential to who we are and how we experience God and his world. Accordingly, we need to know what God’s Word says about human bodies, so that when technologies allow us to treat the lame, we do not treat Elon Musk or anyone besides Christ as a newfound messiah. Even more, we need to know what God’s intentions for the body is, so that we can glorify God with our bodies. To this end, we will look at 1 Corinthians 6:13–20 on Sunday. To prepare, take time to read this chapter. Ask yourself what it means to glorify God in your body, and come prepared to hear why your body is *not* a temple, but is instead a sacrifice to be offered to God. Pray that God would give us wisdom and that we who know Christ would not be offended if and when he calls us to do things with our bodies that others do not. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you—with real bodily presence—on Sunday. As a reminder, the Dale City Community Group is in overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy, Pastor David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions for 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 What is the Body For? 1. What does the Bible say about the body? 2. How does biblical theology (Creation - Fall - Redemption - New Creation) give us a framework for the body? 3. How have the arts and sciences challenged our understanding of the body? 4. In what ways have a wrong view of sex, marriage, gender, etc., impacted our view of the body? 5. Why should we avoid thinking of our bodies as temples? What does it mean that the church body is part of the temple? 6. How should we think of the human body? See Romans 12:1–2. 7. If our bodies are living sacrifices, what changes does that make for how we live, move, and have our being? 8. Anticipating the next sermon or two—how does the nature of the body inform sex, marriage, gender, as well as biblical masculinity and femininity? Are these ethical matters tied to nature or to some choice of the will or the desires of the heart? 9. How does a better understanding of the body help you navigate present and future decisions about technology? 10. In what ways do you need to help your children navigate the challenges of technology that imposes (and erases?) human nature?
3. What is Humanity?
May 21, 2023 • David Schrock • Psalm 8
When I watched the reruns of Star Trek as a kid, Captain James T. Kirk would talk to the computer like it was a real person and get all kind of information about the mission he was on. At that time, when Star Trek began in 1966, smartphones, artificial intelligence, not to mention personal computers were science fiction. Today, however, they are all scientific fact! The fact of the matter is that our world is increasingly automated, computerized, and embodied by artificial intelligence. But if you are paying attention, an embodied computer is but a facsimile of a human. And if today, Siri, or ChatGPT, or Google Bard, or whatever—or is it whoever?—are your conversation partners at work, or home, or on the go, what will it be like in 6, 16 or 60 years? If it has not been apparent that the sexual revolution and transgenderism movement have endangered the nature and nurture of humanity, then the rise of Artificial Intelligence should make it absolutely clear. In a day when children are given AI, it won’t be long before those children prefer AI to real friends. Likewise, if finding a spouse is difficult today, and the prospect of a good match is running low on the latest dating app, what would keep a man, tutored by AI, to seek a mate who was manufactured at Brides R Us? As odd as that sounds, considering where our world is going, what was science fiction yesterday, is fact today. And what is science fiction today, may not be fiction tomorrow. Truly, with the increasing likelihood of a world populated by "non-human persons," we need to secure our understanding of humanity. Years ago, I wrote an article calling for a Sixth Sola (https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3a%2f%2fobc.us14.list-manage.com%2ftrack%2fclick%3fu%3ddd23918991ea6f542a8065bed%26id%3d5f88d361e0%26e%3df5b57025e0&data=05%7c01%7c%7c86d8159aad8b41deb76808db58a9e00a%7c84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7c1%7c0%7c638201258865149775%7cunknown%7ctwfpbgzsb3d8eyjwijoimc4wljawmdailcjqijoiv2lumziilcjbtii6ik1hawwilcjxvci6mn0%3d%7c3000%7c%7c%7c&sdata=lxmgpxeded7ho2vjhjxkxk4zethk0rc%2bgo%2bddqryo9m%3d&reserved=0). I would encourage you to read that article this weekend as we prepare for Sunday. Read and think about what God is doing in the world. Then pray over Psalm 8, which will be our passage this Sunday. As we ask the question, What is Humanity?, we will see what Scripture says as we take another step to better understand the world that God has made. Pray for our time together and rejoice in the chance to gather with the body of Christ. John said that he longed to see the saints face-to-face, and so should we. We are embodied souls and bodily gathering is a gift that God gives us. On Sunday, we will begin to think about what it means to be human. And I pray, as the Lord allows, you will join us. As a reminder, the Mapledale Community Group is in the overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and your joy in Christ, Pastor David ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Discussion & Response Questions for Psalm 8 What does it mean to be human? Before Sunday how would you answer? Where have you gotten most of your views on humanity? What needs reconsideration? What does it mean to be the Image of God? What does Psalm 8 teach us? How does Psalm 8 point to creation? To the new creation? Where are the places that the image of God / humanity is under threat today? What does the incarnation teach us? What errors does the incarnation help us avoid? How should Christians think about technology? Artificial Intelligence? Automation? What is our hope—in this life and in the life to come? What other questions do you have about humanity today?
2. What is a Cosmos?
May 14, 2023 • David Schrock • Psalm 104
Where are we? This is an important question, especially if you have been dropped off in a place you don't know. Or, you are visiting somewhere for the first time. In truth, lostness is a part of life. When God created the world, he made it big, with large stretches of land and sea. Then, when he brought Noah and his family through the flood, he added mountains and valleys, languages and cultures. As a result, all humans have experienced the paralyzing effects of not knowing where we are and not knowing (for a short time or a long time) how to find our bearings. Thinking about this, we realize that “finding ourselves” in this world requires more than a good GPS. While we may know our coordinates on the planet, we may be equally confused about how to think about the planet itself. That is to say, while we may have a map on our phones, if we are interpreting the world around us by the tools given to us by a secular and secularizing world, we may not have any idea that God dwells in heaven and we are on earth, in the place that we are (Acts 17:25), because he put us here and defined our boundaries. Moreover, without the right tools for interpretation, we may try to find ourselves in ways entirely at odds with our Creator. Such is the condition of postmodern humanity. For all the technological know-how that we have acquired, we have lost something valuable in our world—namely, a right understanding of the cosmos. After all, what is the world? Even for those who have grown up in church, the stories of Creation and the Flood must contend with Darwin and his disciples. The miracles of Jesus must overcome our modern commitment to natural causation. And our belief in Jesus's virgin birth and third day resurrection must be treated as facts of history, not not just ethical fictions like Aesop’s Fables or the tales of Harry Potter. And those are a just a few of the ideas that contend for space in our world and elevate the question: Where are we? To help us get our bearings, we began a sermon series last week called “The Business of Is-ness,” which introduces us to something called Ontology (the study of the way things are). If you missed it, you should go listen to the first message. It will pave the way for this week’s message on Cosmology. Cosmology is a study of the universe. And Sunday, we will look at Psalm 104 to see the world God has made. Indeed, to understand our place in the world requires a right understanding of God’s Three-Story Universe. Yes, the world has three stories, and if that doesn’t make sense, then it’s likely you are working with a cosmology taught in public high schools instead of God’s Word. Again, this is why we need to study Ontology. To prepare for worship, take time to read Psalm 104. As best you can, take note of the seven days of creation in that Psalm. On Sunday, we will walk through the seven days of creation to understand the universe and our place in it. Indeed, for all of us living in a secular world, we need to embrace a sacred view of creation. And Sunday, by God’s grace, we can take a first step. Please pray for our time together and for the Lord to continue to shed his light upon us as we seek the light of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ. As a reminder, the County Center Community Group is in the overflow this Sunday. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you on Sunday. For His Glory and your joy, Pastor David ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions for Psalm 104 In what ways do you think about the world in which you live? What has influenced that understanding? What is a biblical cosmology? How is that similar too or different than a scientific understanding? What does it mean to have a sacred view of the world? How could that go wrong? What does that redeem? What is the relationship between Genesis 1 and Psalm 104? Have you seen that before? Why do we struggle to see those connections? What does it mean that God clothed himself with light? What are the three stories of the universe? How does the concept of a three-tier universe reform your thinking about the world? How does Psalm 104 incorporate the story of salvation? For instance, what do we learn about the flood? About beasts, man, and Satan? What is the goal of creation? How does Psalm 107 communicate that hope? What else did you learn about the world? What questions remain?
1. What is God?
May 7, 2023 • David Schrock • Genesis 1:1
It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” Those infamous words, uttered by Bill Clinton in 1998 should have told us that the world and everything in it was already succumbing to the deconstructive forces of postmodernism. Postmodernism claims that meaning is no longer found in what a human author intends or what the Author of life declares. Rather, meaning is decided by individuals or local groups interpreting, or in most cases reinterpreting the words others. In college after college, postmodern ideas have sprung to life from the 1960s on, and by 1998 such revisions of meaning were emerging in the public square. Bill Clinton’s elusive response to a question about his relations with Monica Lewinsky were not abnormal for a culture celebrated for transgression (think: the Hippies of the 1960s), raised on MTV (think: the teens of the 1980s), or enslaved to self-expression instead of submission to the truth (every American born since WWII). Fast forward 25 years, add two decades of social media, a handful of contested elections, one global pandemic, and endless woke crusades in public schools and city streets, and it is not just language that has come under assault, it is everything that God upholds by the word of his power. To be certain, Christ the Lord reigns in heaven. But on earth, all is not well. And in our day, we can’t even figure out what a man is, why women’s sports should only include women, or why children should not be exposed to Drag Queens in public library. In a word, the world has gone mad. And its insanity began when words could mean anything, or nothing, or something at one time and not another. Many have rightly claimed that those who define the terms, decide the turf. And this means that in our day, we are at war for the dictionary. As Adam was charged to name the animals, so we are watching Adam’s heirs renaming everything. Only instead of naming the world as it is, we are like Adam trying to remake the world in our own image. Instead of receiving God’s world and giving thanks, we are trying to create new worlds. And don’t think that a few old fashion pronouns can get in the way. This is our world! As Christians, called to salvation and commissioned to bring the light of the gospel to all nations, we cannot sit back and watch. Instead, we must take up our Bibles and hack to pieces the lies that are destroying our neighbors and sending people to hell. We must learn afresh what Scripture means when it says, God made us in his image and he made us male and female. We must learn what this world is, what humans are, and why it matters. To this end, we will spend the next 7 weeks looking at the dictionary. And that means, we will open our Bibles to define some terms. Instead of just looking at the Bible to see what works (pragmatism). We will be looking at the Bible to see what is (ontology). Ontology is the “study of being,” and in May and June, it is our task to learn something about what is, and what is not. Thus, beginning this Sunday, we will begin with one single verse—Genesis 1:1. This verse is arguably the most decisive verse in the Bible today. And so we will begin this new series, Ontology: The Business of Is-Ness, with an extended meditation on this verse and what it means for us today. So to prepare for Sunday, take time to read that verse. Then take time to look up any other verses that you might think relate to that verse. Take time to consider what that verse says about God, about the world, and about the way things are. That is what we will do Sunday, as we pray for God to give us light so that we can be light in the world. As the Lord allows, I look forward to seeing you Sunday as we open the Scriptures to see the light of the glory of God in his creation and in his Son, Jesus Christ, As a reminder, the Springwoods Community Group is in the overflow this Sunday. For His Glory and for your joy, Pastor David --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Discussion & Response Questions for Genesis 1:1 What does the word ontology mean? Why does it matter? Where do you see the meaning of words being assaulted today? How do you respond to that? In what ways do Christians need to learn (or relearn) the doctrine of creation? What do you learn about God in Genesis 1:1? What do you learn about creation? Have you taken the time to study what Scripture says about humanity, gender, marriage, family, nations, or the church? What are you hoping to learn? How does Exodus 16, the story of manna help us apply Genesis 1:1 today? How should you respond to God as creator? What is your responsibility to your neighbors in declaring the message of Creation?