WE BELIEVE IN THE HUMAN PREDICAMENT (ROM 5:1-8)

SERIES: THIS WE BELIEVE, PART 3

GCEFC: JULY 18, 2010

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Overview of the created universe

1. When you think about the universe God has made, it’s extremely humbling. Both in its beauty, and in its staggering magnitude.

2. For example, our closest neighbor in space is the moon, a mere 240,000 miles away. Traveling the speed of sound (750 mph) it would take 13 days to get there.

3. The sun is quite a bit farther—93 million miles. Traveling the speed of sound it would take 14 years to reach the sun.

4. The time required to reach places farther than the sun traveling the speed of sound is pretty much meaningless. With those kinds of distances we use the speed of light to indicate how far they are and how long it takes to get there.

5. Light travels at 670 million mph. At that speed we could travel to and from the moon in…2.5 seconds. This is very fast travel.

6. Traveling that speed we could expect to arrive at Pluto, the most distant planet from our sun in about 5 ½ hours.

7. To get to the closest star to us, other than our own sun, traveling 670 million mph would take…more than 4 years.

8. To travel from one end of our galaxy, the Milky Way, to the other end at 670 million mph would require 100,000 years. And you thought Albany was far.

9. The largest galaxy in what is known as our Local Group is Andromeda. To reach Andromeda at 670 million mph would take 2 million years—the Local Group.

10. The most distant galaxy discovered so far is known as IOK-1, initials of those who discovered it. Traveling 670 million mph—we would need 13 billion years to reach it.

11. Is it any wonder that the Psalmist wrote these words: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

B. The Significance of Man

1. The amazing thing is that of all God’s material creation. Of all the material things he’s made in all of the universe—his crowing achievement is…man.

2. The angels are not material beings but are immortal and non-material. But there is no greater creation in the material universe than human beings.

3. So the Psalmist adds in the following verse: You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.

4. It’s a wonder that anyone ever has self-esteem issues considering we are at the pinnacle of God’s created material universe.

5. So if man is so special—it would behoove us to see what else the Bible says about man. What the Bible teaches us about the human race.

6. This is part 3 in our summer series: This We Believe. We’re exploring the doctrinal statement of the EFCA. Ten articles of faith we’re taking one at a time this summer.

7. Today we’re looking at what theologians call anthropology—the doctrine of man.

II. THE HUMAN CONDITION

A. Doctrinal Statement Article 3.

B. God created Adam and Eve in his image…

1. In the first chapter of the first book in the Bible we read: Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness… So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’

2. Now before we delve into what this means, I want to settle something. I want to remove any thought that by using the term “man” to describe the human race, that we’re in any way being sexist or chauvinistic.

3. Over in GEN 5 God gives a summary statement through Moses regarding the creation. Here’s what he says: This is the written account of Adam’s line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them…man.

4. It was God who originally referred to the human race of male and female as MAN. No one need apologize for the term or the usage of this word to refer to humankind. It’s neither chauvinistic nor sexist—it’s biblical.

5. Now there has been a lot of ink and a lot of paper used in an attempt to explain the meaning of the biblical term: Image of God.

6. The term simply means that in one or more ways—human beings are like God. There are ways we resemble God.

a. So how are human beings like God? Several ways.

b. We have the ability to think and reason. We can engage in abstract thinking. We can even think about thinking and how we know what we know.

c. And though animals can do some remarkable things, and be trained to sit up and roll over, animals do not reason like human beings do.

d. No chimpanzees will ever sit around in a library arguing about the Trinity or the relative merits of Calvinism, Democracy, or Supply Side Economics.

e. And though dolphins travel in schools, and are bright for aquatic life—they will never publish any works on “the history of dolphin thought.”

f. Even pre-schoolers have an extraordinary ability to use language and concepts far above the most intelligent animal life.

g. Human beings have an inner sense of right and wrong that animals just do not possess. Animals respond out of fear of punishment or the hope of reward. Animals aren’t concerned with justice or morality—their concern is survival.

h. There’s a spiritual element in human beings. There’s an immaterial part of every human being that survives physical death. This is taught throughout the Bible.

i. We are like God in that we relate to other people and to God himself on a personal level. We saw a couple weeks ago that God is a relational being by his very nature. Our relational characteristics reflect God and reflect his likeness.

j. To be made in God’s image and likeness means that there are characteristics of God that we share. To a much lesser degree—but to some extent. We would expect a Creator to reflect his own being in what he creates.

C. But how did God do it?

1. But there’s also the question of HOW God created the first human beings. We immediately reject any non-theistic or non-biblical explanation.

2. Yet some questions remain.

a. Is the Genesis account to be understood as historical or allegorical?

b. Are the days of Genesis 1-2, 24 hour days or are they much longer?

c. Genesis was written in a pre-scientific age—should it be read pre-scientifically?

3. There are good, Bible-believing, evangelical Christians that take various positions on this issue. But here are some things to think about.

a. No one but God was present at Creation—so no one else is qualified to speak with authority on the subject. To move away from what God has revealed puts us in the realm of speculation—no matter how well thought out.

b. God is a God of revelation—he loves to communicate—and this is what he gave us, so we should not abandon it casually.

c. Rejecting the straightforward Genesis account of Creation has far-reaching theological implications that get us into some pretty sticky theological wickets.

d. I would recommend that you not abandon the literal, grammatical record from GEN 1 without a very good reason that you’ve carefully thought through.

D. Adam and Eve sinned when tempted by Satan.

1. God’s forbidding the eating of the fruit in the Garden of Eden was a test to see if Adam and Eve would obey him simply because he commanded obedience.

2. The prohibition could have been anything God chose that would test their obedience. He could have commanded that Adam and Eve not walk backwards, or part their hair on the right side, or eat unwashed fruit, or talk with their mouth full.

3. Not eating the fruit God commanded they not eat was just a test of their will. A test of their loyalty to their God who had given them everything they needed.

4. And even though they were tempted to sin—they were both responsible for their decision to sin. Temptation is never an excuse to sin. Temptation is just an invitation to sin. Sin is saying yes to what is forbidden.

E. In union with Adam…

1. This gets a bit complicated theologically. But simply put it means that when Adam originally sinned—so did you and I.

2. Adam was our representative. He was our proxy. And all of the consequences of Adam’s sin were passed down to everyone since.

3. Does this seem unfair? Before you answer, consider that unless you’ve never sinned yourself, you have no case. If you’ve ever sinned—you’ve done no better than Adam.

4. But here’s the best part. Just as you sinned along with Adam because he was your representative—likewise—when Jesus died on the Cross, he was your representative too. How does that sound?

5. ROM 5:18 puts it like this: Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

6. Just as we die because of Adam’s disobedience—we live because of Jesus’ obedience. It’s actually a very good deal. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

F. Beings sinners by nature and by choice…

1. Every human being since Adam and Eve, with the one exception being Jesus—has been born with a sin nature.

2. So what’s a sin nature? A sin nature is a nature that’s inclined to sin. Just as when we say someone has an agreeable nature, we mean they tend to be agreeable.

3. Theologians call our bent to sin, our tendency or propensity or inclination to sin original sin. You could also call it inherited sin. It means we are sinners at birth. We are sinners by nature. By constitution. All of us—no exceptions.

4. But not only are we sinners by nature—we’re also sinners by choice. We have a tendency to sin and we follow that tendency naturally.

5. Now theoretically you could have a tendency to sin and still not choose to sin. Just as a bird has a flying nature—but may choose to sit around all day. Or just as a dog has a barking nature. But the dog could choose to be silent.

6. But we stand condemned before God by our sinful nature. We are condemned before we sin the first time. We inherit our condemnation from Adam.

7. Just as you inherit your DNA from your parents. You may not like it, you may complain about it—but you can’t change it. You’re stuck with your DNA and you’re stuck with your sin nature. Sorry about that.

G. Alienated from God…

1. Well sin is bad enough in that it’s direct disobedience to God’s command. But sin also causes us to be alienated from God. Sin separates us from God.

2. Much like when we sin against another person—it creates alienation and a relational wall comes up.

3. And the original sin of Adam and Eve brought other unpleasant consequences. Like physical death, spiritual death, and a curse throughout the universe.

4. ROM 8 describes it: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

5. And there’s this thing theologians call total depravity. Which means that sin affects every aspect of our being. There’s no part of a human being that sin does not in some way adversely affect.

6. C.S. Lewis said it well in his classic, Mere Christianity. He writes: These, then, are the two points I wanted to make. First, that human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and cannot really get rid of it. Secondly, that they do not in fact behave in that way. These two facts are the foundation of all clear thinking about ourselves and the universe we live in.

7. Sin isn’t just wrong—sin alienates us from God. It did so the very first time with Adam—and it does so every time now.

H. and under Gods’ wrath…

1. JN 3:36 says: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life—for Gods’ wrath remains on him.

2. If God’s wrath remains on us we will not see him, but will be alienated from and separated from him forever.

3. The only way we will see him is if his wrath is removed. It can only be removed through the provision of Jesus’ atoning death for us.

I. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

1. Think for a moment of something you own that you like to be really clean. Maybe it’s your car. You love having a clean car—even willing to pay someone to detail it.

2. Or maybe it’s your home. So picture a time when you’ve just cleaned this thing spic and span. It’s pristine, shiny, and clean. It looks fantastic.

3. But at the very moment you’re admiring it—one of the kids who’s been playing in the local creek comes up covered with mud and dirty water—and they start to come into the house or get into the car.

4. You say…STOP!! You can’t come in here like that—you must be cleaned up first.

5. Well, in a similar way—we’re too dirty to come into the presence of a holy, righteous, and perfect God. We need to be cleaned up first.

6. And we’re not just talking about a clean object being made unclean—we’re talking about an unclean person in the presence of a totally holy God.

7. Our sinfulness doesn’t defile God—nothing can defile God—but sin is an affront to God’s character and holiness.

8. For example, you could call me some disgusting, rude, ugly things—none of which make me those things. But they’re still an affront to me. They’re still offensive.

9. Because sin is such an affront to the holy and righteous character of God—no one will enter God’s presence unless they've been cleaned up first.

10. And the only way we can be cleaned up is through faith in the cleansing death of Christ. It’s why Jesus said: No one comes to the Father except through me.

11. Only when we recognize that our sinfulness has alienated us from God, and put us under God’s wrath.

12. And that only through the saving work of Christ and our personal trust in him—can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

13. Rescued from our condemnation. Reconciled to God and our relationship restored. And renewed into a state of being forgiven and part of God’s family.

14. This is who and what the Bible says we are. This is man as God says we are. We may chafe at it, we may not like it, we may deny it, we may ignore it.

15. But this is what our Creator has revealed about who we are. And what must be done in light of who we are.

16. I trust you’ve already done what needs to be done. If not—you’ll do it right away.