God's People - Adam

First of all, thanks for joining us to read this weeks blog. This week we are going to be starting off a brand new series 'God's People', where we will be taking a look at some of the key figures throughout the Biblical narratives. We are going to be starting with the first man Adam.

So let's start by exploring Adam's name. The first time that Adam is mentioned in the Bible is:

Genesis 1:26 (NIV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

When we look at the Hebrew word used here we find the word אָדָם, pronounced aw-dawm'. This term actually translates more closely to being 'mankind' as it isn't gender specific although in many modern translations it is written in the masculine form. Interestingly, the actual Hebrew term here is also known to represent the word 'red' referring to mankind's reddish coloured skin when God created us. When you look at the word Adam in an etymological context (I know that's a long word but it basically means the origin and development of a word) then we see that the word 'Adamah' is also used in the word of many historical Jewish scholars, as this word has links to the idea of 'red clay' from which God made the first man, Adam.

The next point that I want to pick up on is the fact that God created Adam in His likeness. God had already created the animals of the earth, and though we hold similarities to many of them, Adam, and in turn us also, was created to be set apart from them. This means that there is a distinct gap between both humans and animals but also humans and angels, we are not told anywhere that heavenly beings are created in God's image, which again set's Adam apart from them. I'm not going to dive into the depth of Biblical discourse around what is actually meant by 'in our image'. But two perspectives that I would like to highlight if you want to explore it further are; the idea that Adam's physical image is in the likeness of God and the idea that Adam's personality, morality and spirituality are a reflection of the three parts of God (Father, Spirit and Son). There are so many more angles and interpretations of this and I would recommend looking into it as it really helps us understand what it is to be human.

The final thing that I want to highlight about Adam is his weakness. In recognition of the fact that just like God, humans are made to be relational beings, God created Eve. Through the deception of Satan, Adam and Eve eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and become sinful:

Genesis 2:6-7 (NIV)

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,who was with her, and he ate it.7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Upon eating the forbidden fruit, Adam realised his nakedness and all of the negative emotions and thoughts that can often flood our lives came upon him. In his shame he goes on to hide from God:

Genesis 2:8

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

I think this is a brilliant image of a father and son. How often do we mess something up or commit a sinful act and think that we can hide from God? If you read on you come to see God calling out to Adam and Eve and asking them why they are hiding, not because he didn't already know but because they needed to see the wrong in their actions. The only thing that can separate us from God is us and it's been that way since the beginning. Thankfully, we know that God had already got a plan in place to overcome this sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

So to recap, what can we learn from Adam?

• God created us to be set apart.

• God created us in His image.

• God created us to be together.

• God loves us that much that he calls to us in our sin and has paid the price for our wrong doings, all so that we might return to Him.

Lord, I pray that we might be secure in the knowledge that you set us apart, that you loved us so much that you would sacrifice Jesus, the human embodiment of your own self, to pay the price for our transgressions. I pray that we might learn from the mistakes of Adam and that we might turn to you for our guidance, comfort and care.

Amen

The Reset - Respond

Welcome to this weeks blog, I took a week off last week as I had a lot on and didn't want to put out something that I didn't think wasn’t ready. In this weeks blog we are going to finish 'The Reset' series with the final part; Respond.

If you haven't already, check out the previous two blogs to catch up with the context behind this one. We have looked at refocussing and releasing, so now with those things in mind we should be ready to respond.

It is really easy for us to get caught up in doing stuff, like we looked at in the previous blog, sometimes the things we get caught up doing aren't what we are meant to be doing and don't particularly add anything to our lives. So, it's really important we measure our action against our mission statement. This way, we can help to assure that we stay on track with completing the work that God has set out for us.

Colossians 3:23-24 (NIV)

23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

I love this verse in Colossians and I think it's really key for understanding the 'doing' or 'responding' in our lives. I once spoke with an ex military man who told me that he always operated by the idea that he would put his best effort into whatever it was he was doing. Whether that was washing his hands, tying his shoelaces or doing his job. It really stuck with me. I'd never considered before that I should put my best effort into something as simple as tying my shoelaces. This verse encapsulates the sense of a heartfelt and honest dedication to the works that God has set before us.

It's also really important to acknowledge that, no matter what God has given you as your 'mission', we should all give our utmost and best effort to that task, as each and every persons assignment is as important as the next. Whether you are called to serve by cleaning dishes or called to serve by preaching to thousands of people, each task is of equal value to the building of the kingdom of God.

Take some time to consider how you are going to live out your mission statement this week. Pray about what it is God wants you to do to fulfil the assignment he has given you and give it your absolute dedication.

One final thing to finish this short series off. The three part process that I've covered isn't an answer to everything! I quite frequently go backwards and forwards between steps within this process and over time my mission statement has changed. There isn't a special formula that will make these ideas super easy, but the key to it all is to pray for clarity, measure against scripture and test it out with others. None of the things we have covered can be done without God's guidance and blessing over them all.

I pray that we would be ready to respond to the mission that God has set out for each of us. That we might be willing to serve him whole heartedly in the ways that he has put before us and that through this we might build His kingdom and glorify His name.

Amen.

The Reset - Release

In this weeks blog we are going to be continuing with 'The Reset' series with our second part entitled Release. I want to try and help both myself and you reflect today about what might be holding us back and what we might need to let go of.

Our lives can often become cluttered. Cluttered by possessions, cluttered by commitments and cluttered by expectations. I want to look at these three kinds of clutter in biblical context and try and explore how we might benefit from decluttering in these areas.

So first of all, what does the Bible tell us about material possessions?

Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)

Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So this verse explains to us that we shouldn't store up 'treasures on earth'. For all of us our 'treasures' will be different. A personal example for myself is that I used to collect books, I literally had hundreds of books, a lot which that I had read and then put on a shelf or in a box never to be seen again, a lot of which that had never had the pages turned from the day that I had acquired them. It's important that we take a step back and look at what we are keeping and why we are keeping it. My justification for those books was that one day I might read them, but really they were just cluttering up my life. I got rid of every single book that I had read, by either giving them to friends or donating them to a local charity shop so that someone else could enjoy them. The books that I hadn't read before I sorted through and placed into a pile to keep and a pile to go and I've repeated this process several times. The idea that I am explaining here all hinges on the intentional living that we looked at last week and by removing the books that weren't adding anything positive into my life I have been able to focus more on reading the ones that do.

In theory, we can apply that idea to any of our possessions. I often refer back to my mission statement and say to myself, is this item going to help move forwards? Once we remove the distractions and the items that clutter up our lives we can start to make our physical space an intentional space. For me, it's all about removing the distractions for myself. The idea that 'moths' and 'vermin' will destroy our treasures or 'thieves' would break in and steal it is so true, if some of my possessions were eaten by moths or vermin, or stolen by thieves, I wouldn't have a clue that they were gone. So, do they really hold any value or importance in my life? An interesting question for us to ponder and maybe action in our own lives?

So the second point I want to look at is letting go of commitments. I've spent the last 8 years or so since I became a Christian being busy. Nothing springs to mind more than the story of Mary and Martha when I think about this topic.

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

At the Home of Martha and Mary 38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Being committed is a great thing, but sometimes we can commit ourselves to unproductive things. All to often we can get caught up in the 'doing' of things and forget the reason that we are doing them. Here in this account, Luke recalls Jesus giving a lesson in being 'still'. Take some time today to think about your commitments and what purpose they serve. By no means am I saying that we should stop doing things that are good for us or that bring us joy, but it's important that we are intentional about our commitments and that ultimately they help us to gain a closer connection with God. Service is so important and Martha was trying to serve Jesus in this account, but in doing so she completely missed the fact that the Son of God himself was sat in front of her. Don't let your commitments become more important than your relationship with God or your relationships with other people.

The final point that I want to look at also ties into this story really nicely. The idea of letting go of expectations. We spend so much of our lives taking action based on the expectations of others, societal expectations or the expectations that we put upon ourselves. Again, Martha in this story is acting based on a societal expectation that she needed to 'entertain' Jesus by preparing food, drink and ensuring her house was clean and tidy - why? It's such an important question that we should ask ourselves, why am I doing this? When we begin to align ourselves with God's expectations rather than the world expectations that are the norm in today's society, we will find that not only our actions will change but our perspectives, relationships and lives altogether will change abundantly. What are the expectations that have been put on your life? How do they line up wit God's expectations?

I hope there's a lot for us all to reflect about here and I know this isn't my usual style of blog! (Don't worry, I'll be getting back into the context and word origins soon).

I pray that we might live intentional lives, that we might release the things that are holding us back in order for God to give us the things we need. I pray that we might not hoard our earthly treasures but let go freely, that we might not be bound by commitments and that we might live under God's expectations.

Have a great week!