The Big Story of God Part 2: Where are you

To start off this morning I would like you to think of one of your favourite stories, it can be any story, it may be a film, play, book, audiobook, ebook, whatever, one of your favourite stories.

Have a quick think, now let's tell the two or three people around you what one of your favourite stories is, you may want to tell them your name first if you have not met before.

Ok off you go, introduce yourselves with your name and tell people what one of your favourite stories is.
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These stories attract us, they attract us because we identify with these stories on a level that is deeper than just entertainment, and as was quoted last week from John Eldredge

“We go to the movies because we hope to find in someone else’s story something that will help us understand our own.”

A practical thing you can do is watch or read your favourite 3 stories and examine them to see what it is that you identify with. I have done this, it was fascinating. I went for Dead Poets Society, Shawshank Redemption and Madagascar

Most if not all of the stories we have mentioned have a key component of something being wrong or going wrong. The pattern of the story is then how it all gets fixed, resolved, the battle won, romance blossoms, families are reunited, dogs walk home across a vast wilderness.

I think we are in a story, the story of God, where something has gone wrong. The big story is an adventure to resolve, fix, make well, all leading to a dramatic conclusion and a perfect ending. We can’t even imagine how great it will be, this is Gods story.

If this were not the case, if nothing went wrong, then the Bible, I think, would be rather short.
In the beginning was God, he created the magnificence of the heavens and the earth, he also created stars, he created us, we all lived happily ever after, the end.

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I wanted to test out the question this poses, has something actually gone wrong? Or is this just it.

So I asked this question to people, who didn’t know me or know why I was asking, just random people from around Leeds:

The questions I asked were:

“is the World we live in, as it should be?”

to this I was expecting a Yes/No answer

My second question was “why do you think this was the case, and what do you see that shows you that the world is not as it should be”.

I talked to people at:
Sheila’s Sandwiches near the Vineyard Centre, The square outside Leeds Library / gallery, Headingley outside Costa Coffee where we have Alpha, The Parkinson Steps at the University.

This was not intended as a scientific study, but really to try and get peoples views and see what other people think.

I spent an hour or so talking to people and was able to talk to 31 people.

“is the World we live in, as it should be?”

The answers were not what I expected. I thought everyone would say no.
23 said no, 5 Yes and 3 said they did not know
These 3 people said they don’t know – they all said
“did not know how it should be.”
I found that answer difficult to hear, it seemed to have no hope or direction.
5 people said Yes the world we live in is as it should be:
Yes – not perfect but it is as it should be
Two people just said yes, I think they liked it and were happy
The other two yes’s gave the reason that the Earth was meant to change, and we are evolving.

The reasons that people gave for “No, the world is not as it should be” were very interesting.

I am sure you are wondering what people said.

Top 5 answers:
• Blair / Government
• Disrespect for the environment
• People
• Greed and Money
• Over development

Other answers:
• Short term decisions (I loved this answer, there is so much in it)
• Moral failure
• Selfishness
• Youth
• No discipline
• No community
• Violence
• Inequality
• Themself (only one person said this)

Here’s a challenge for you, why don’t you ask people you know and meet the question of “is the world as it should be”

When I look around, when I watch the news, when I read the newspaper, all reporting poverty, debt, unemployment, hunger, when I hear about stabbings, shootings, muggings, drug dependency and crime, when life is cut short or there is illness, pain, mourning. I don’t think the world is as it should be. I think the reason for that and I look for answers in God’s big story.
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Of all the stories you have talked about this morning I would guess that your favourite part of the story is not where it all goes horribly wrong but these points are important to understand, without them there is often not a story to be told.
The part where it goes wrong in the Bible, and I see much of the reason for the world as we know it, is in Genesis, right near the start.

Lets set the scene: Last week we heard about the wonderful creation of God, and towards the end of that story God gives some instructions, they are on the screen for you:

Genesis 2 verse 15 -17
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat any tree in the garden; but you not must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will certainly die.’

Now lets have a look at what went wrong. Lets look at Genesis 3 right at the front of the bible, a few pages in.

So let’s open our bibles at the front, page 5.

Genesis 3 verses 1 – 7
Now the snake was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”?’
The Woman said to the snake, “we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’
‘You will not certainly die,’ the snake said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’
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 it and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

So enter the villain, satan, an enemy of God, represented here as a snake.

We also learn about the nature of God, he gives choice, both in terms of the tree and also to love God, there is love if we choose love. God makes us as the crowning point of creation, his image bearers, those he can talk with, relate to and love. Still he chooses to risk this all by giving us choice.

Satan, has chosen to go against God and targets the heart of God by going after his most loved, the people, people like you and me.

I have broken this scene down to have a closer look at it.
The start from Satan: questioning God “did he really say?”
The woman replies not fully understanding God “ we may eat” versus “you are free to eat”, and then saying touching the fruit will lead to death, God had said eating

Doubt stirred up again by the deceiver, “you will not certainly die”

Is this in your life? Have you heard this? have you heard this yourself? said it to yourself “its not that bad, it won’t harm anyone, it will be OK this time, what harm can it do, little bit won’t hurt, Did God really say that? Do you hear this in relation to money, sex, relationships, pride, this community of faith, our speech, our actions.

Then the temptation to move away from God, not to trust God: “for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ These are lies, lies that we come across in our lives, the lie that God does not want the best for us.

‘When the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom,

You may be wondering at this stage, what is wrong with the knowing good and evil, isn’t that a good thing? But this is really about law making, not law breaking. This is about living independent of God, making our own rules, putting ourselves above God, choosing to not be part of his story, walking off the page.

...she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
What was he doing just standing by, letting this happen. It was both of them that fell for this, just like it is all of us.
This is when it happens, where it goes wrong, the fall, the twist, the catastrophe, this is where it begins to go wrong in the big story.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sowed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God was walking in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord among the trees of the garden.

Self-worth, covering up, identity crisis, exposed, this is where it started. Immediately a response of cover up. Quick lets cover up, pretend nothing has happened, make excuses, hide from God.

How many of us react like this? Both on a trivial basis and on more important issue: cover up, pretend nothing happened.

At this point God knows what is happening, he is searching for the man and woman, even though he is God and he knows where they are or indeed where we are. He is seeking them, calling them out of love, not out of anger, his cry for his people:

‘Where are you?’

God is searching for his loved ones, those made in his image, those he wants to walk with, talk to, relate to, it is also an invitation: ‘Where are you?’

He answered [man], ‘I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’
And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’
The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me- she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.’

Blame, straight in blaming God, blaming her, blaming, we are part of a blaming culture, not me them. Everyone I talked to on the streets blamed.

I have picked out words that are apparent in Genesis 3. I know we can all recognise these words on the screens: selfworth issues and questions, covering up, identity, exposed, hiding, afraid, blame, deceived, misled, shame, guilt, disobeying, avoiding God.

Does anyone relate to any of these in one form or another. This is real, this is real in our world and real in the big story. However, some people whether they know Jesus or not brush these things aside and just try to be good.

God knows that we are going to mess up, all of us have our Eden moments.
God is still the God who has made us in his image. We are the ones he wants to walk with, talk to, relate to, loves.
God “does not let us go” when it goes wrong.

This is where we start to see the story of Jesus begin. God's son, the one who is sacrificed to bring us back to relationship with God. It is through Jesus that we can be forgiven for all this stuff, we can’t do it ourselves, we need Jesus.

In Romans it says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus” so there is hope.

In summary of the story so far. God has created us, but the world we are in is not as it should be, we have decided to ignore God, to make our own rules. Despite all of this God comes looking for us, he calls out ‘where are you’ he calls out in love to forgive and bring us back to him. So as God asks the question of ‘where are you’ here and now, are you going to let him lead you?, heal you?, transform you?, be with you?, love you?

Shall we stand
Response:
This is tough stuff, but what I think God is saying is this;
‘Where are you?’
Where there is not love for yourself, covering up, identity problems and desires, exposure, hiding, afraid, blame, deception, shame, guilt, disobeying, avoiding God, hatred, racism, broken ness, addiction.
Where that is in your story and mine, God, today is asking, calling out to you: where are you?
Forgiveness, dealing with issues, need to work on more

Big story: where are you in creation, where are you in the story
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Ben Newman, 25/04/2010

The Big Story of God part 2: Where are you?

Ben Newman

In the second talk on the big story of God, Ben looks at the Bible's description of how things began to go wrong. Yet, in the middle of human rebellion against their creator, there remains hope. God will not give up looking for his people.

Downloads:	2097
Recorded:	25/04/2010
Length:	29 minutes
Reference:	Genesis 2-3

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