Do you ever feel that life is like doing a jigsaw puzzle? Except you’ve lost the top of the box with the picture?! Without the box top it’s difficult to make sense of all the pieces.
Author Frank Turek suggests that following Jesus means receiving the top of the jigsaw box.[1] With the picture on the box top we can understand (roughly) how all the pieces fit together. It doesn’t mean completing the jigsaw won’t still be a challenge, but at least we can make some sense of our lives.
I agree with this: Jesus helps us to make sense of our lives. So in this new preaching series we’re going to unpack how Jesus helps to answer five pressing questions that every person asks:
- the origin question: where do I come from?
- the identity question: who am I?
- the meaning question: why am I here?
- the morality question: how should I live?
- the destiny question: where am I going?
The first question we all ask is “Where do I come from?” “What is the story of my origin?” “And how does where I come from affect my life now?”
But before we unpack all this, let’s pray.
Eternal God: send us your Holy Spirit to open our ears to hear your preached Word. Glorify your Word in our hearts and comfort us by it to eternal life — for the sake of Jesus, your Son. Amen.
Aesop’s Fable: The Donkey carrying the Idol
Once upon a time, a master artist was commissioned to carve a life-size wooden statue of one of the town founders. He spent months studying the subject and materials. Afterwards the artist used his Donkey to move the completed masterpiece to the town square where it would be displayed. He put it on the back of the Donkey, who carried it through the main street of the town. As the Donkey plodded along, he saw all the people stop and stare. They bowed their heads in lowly reverence. Now the animal fancied that it was him they were honouring, and in consequence pricked up his ears, flourished his tail, and felt as proud as might be.
When the statue was delivered, the artist mounted his Donkey and rode him home. But on the way home the Donkey saw that the people took not the slightest notice as he passed them by. The Donkey realised it was the statue, and not himself, which the people had looked upon with honour.
Introduction
I think we’re a bit like that donkey. We like to think everything is about us. We think we are the main actors in the story of our life. Even when we question and think about our origin we expect the answer to be about ourselves. “Where do I come from?” we ask.
God reveals an answer to this mystery, but in doing so we realise that the truth about where we come from is a story about God. God is the main actor.
And yet this is something wonderful, because when God is the main actor, our origin isn’t something that happened in the distant past, but something that has relevance now and everyday.
So we’re going to explore two aspects of our origin, and how our origin gives meaning and relevance to our everyday lives.
(a) God was in the beginning, and he freely gave you life
Firstly, the accounts of our origin that God has given us in the Bible reveal that God was in the beginning.
Now we might want more detail on how exactly the universe was created, but the Bible is not a science textbook. That’s not why it was written. As much as we might want it, the accounts of our origin do not go into detail about the ‘how’ (how was the universe created), but rather the ‘who’ (who created the universe).
And the ‘who’ is God. We hear that God was in the beginning. The Word (i.e. Jesus) was in the beginning with God. The Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters. The Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — was in the beginning and is now.
In the creation accounts we hear a repeating pattern: ‘then God said … and God saw that it was good;’ ‘then God said … and God saw that it was good;’ ‘then God said … and God saw that it was very good.’ The word “God” is used 32 times in Genesis chapter 1. God is the main actor, not you. Your beginning does not begin with you, but with God. God was in the beginning, and he freely gives you life.
Think about this for a moment. Before there was any stuff, before space and time, you weren’t here — but God was. And then God freely created you. God spoke you into existence out of nothing.
“Let us make humankind in our image, [let us — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — make humankind] in our likeness.” … So God created humankind. (Genesis 1:26–27)
You didn’t will yourself into existence, you didn’t create yourself — you couldn’t, because you didn’t exist! But God, he’s always existed, so he freely gave life to you. Like a master artist, God knit you together in the womb, he molded you from clay and breathed life into you — all before you could do anything. You couldn’t earn any brownie points or do any good works or do anything to deserve the gift of life. And yet here you are. Because God freely created you.[2]
So when you ask the question “Where do I come from?” the answer is that you were created by God. You didn’t/couldn’t do anything to earn the right to be created. God knit you together in the womb, not because you’d done a bunch of good deeds, but simply because he wants you here. He gives you life, and everything you need to live.
Challenge: This week I challenge you to stop and pause to take in the free gift of creation. Go and sit in the backyard. When you’re out in the paddock, stop and look up from the farm equipment for a moment. Go for a walk during your lunch break. And give thanks to God for freely giving you life. Thank him for freely creating everything you see, for creating the material world that sustains you and all of us.
(b) God wants to be known, so he makes you his image
As we are beginning to see, this question of “Where do I come from?” affects your entire life. Your entire life is a gift. So the next logical question is “Well, if this life is a gift, what am I going to do with it?” The God-given accounts of our origin also have something to say about this.
God tells us that we have been created in his ‘image’:
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in our likeness.” … So God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them. (Genesis 1:26–27)
But what does it mean that you are made in God’s ‘image’?
Well in ancient times kings and rulers would make idols or statues (images) of themselves. Then they would send them to the far reaches of their kingdom. Everyone from all the kingdom could look at one of these images and know who the ruler was. Though not the ruler himself, the idol/statue was a reflection of the ruler, a reminder of his presence.
Likewise the stories of our origin tell us that we are reflection of the One who rules this world: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Like the rulers of old who sent images into the far reaches of their kingdom, God wants to be made known to his creatures. This is our second point: God makes himself known in creation through you. God sends you to be his image — his reflection — to stand in the far flung corners of the world. You reflect your maker.
How amazing!? Not only does God gift you life, then he invites you to work with him to make him known through out the entire world! Everyday, in every way, in every little thing that you do or say or think, you reflect God’s glory to the world. Whether it’s changing a nappy, planting a seed, doing your homework, sitting having a coffee with someone, or paying your taxes — you are reflecting God’s image in the world.
Yet, as we’ll hear next week, our image has been corrupted. Because of sin, we have become like a dirty, warped, and cracked mirror. We no longer reflect God’s image perfectly. We’re messed up. We misrepresent him. Others have to try and peer through the dirt and grime to see God.
Can you think of a time this past week when you failed in your God-given task of being your Creator’s image in the world? Maybe you spoke unkind words? Or wished harm on someone? You ignored a neighbour in need? Maybe you don’t even know how you corrupted God’s image?! I’m ashamed to say that I can think of more than just one time this week when I failed to reflect God’s image to others…
However, the good news is that when God tells the story of our origin, he tells us that Jesus was in the beginning, with the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the Spirit hovered over the waters, we hear that ‘the Word (i.e. Jesus) was with God’ (John 1:1). And ‘the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (John 1:14).
During this time after Easter we remember in a special way that not only did Jesus become flesh, but he died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, so that he could restore your image.
Have you ever repaired something before? Fixed a broken tool or home appliance? Sanded back and painted a wardrobe? Restored a rusty car or piece of farm machinery?
Well right now Jesus is restoring you. Through his death and resurrection he’s working on you to restore your God-given image. Jesus has begun polishing the mirror, fixing the cracks, making you into new people who truly reflect your Creator. Now you can shine brightly to make God known in the world.
I wonder how you are reflecting God in this world? Who are you making God known to? And I wonder how Jesus is restoring you so that you can more fully reflect his image to others?
Challenge: This week I challenge you to ask God to reveal how you are acting as his image in this world. Take note of situations when others see God through you: your family, your friends, your work colleagues, school mates, strangers in the street.
Blessing
May you thank God for the gift of life he has freely given you, as you reflect his image in the world. Amen.
[1] Geisler & Turek. 2004. I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. Crossway Books.
[2] “The solution to the riddle of life in space and time lies outside space and time” (Ludwig Wittgenstein).
