Generous Creator

I (Mark) have been trying to write something for a while now. This is evidenced by a lot of half started blog posts. But I also needed to write a sermon for last Sunday where I preached at a friends church. This was the first sermon in a series on stewardship – and I was asked to focus on the goodness of God in creation, common grace and knowing him. Psalm 104 and John 17:1-5 were read before the sermon.

What I said went roughly like this:

Let us pray: Father, as we listen together to your word, help us to open our hearts to receive what you have to say to us, and may we let it change us.

In everything we do as Christians, and perhaps especially in this area of stewardship – of how we think about our money, and make use of resources we need to begin with God, and make sure our understanding of him is correct. 

Jesus told a story about two sons – the younger outward rebel who goes away, taking his Father’s inheritance, and the elder conformist who stays at home. Then at the end of the story, when the younger son comes to his senses and returns to a Father’s welcome the older brother criticizes his brother for his wastefulness, and reveals his own attitude when he says to his Father who has just welcomed the younger son with a feast “for all these years, I’ve been serving you, and never disobeying your orders and you never gave me so much as a goat…” The older brother in that story is the lost brother at the end – and he is lost because he has the wrong attitude to how he sees himself and to how he sees the Father in relation to him. 

He sees himself as a servant, not a son, 

and he sees the Father as stingy to him and not generous. 

As we think about money and how we use it, and what our priorities are as individuals and as a church we need to know that the Father is generous in his creation of an ordered and beautiful world, and in bringing us to know him so that we can delight in him and so enjoy being sent back into the world as his children with the same mission Jesus had of turning people back to God by showing and telling them what this God is like, that we are prepared to give everything for this.

So this morning, we are going to look in a sense at the whole sweep of the Biblical story, and see that in it the God who made everything speaks to each of us, and calls us to join him in his work in this world. 

And so this morning we’re just going to focus on those two things:

• God is generous and not stingy – so trust him
• We are children of the Father and not oppressed servants – so delight to know him and work with him on his mission

As we do that I’m going to read slightly more scripture than you might get in an average sermon – because I want us to see how in fact God speaks to us by interpreting himself to us (all quotes from NIV 2011). 

First of all: 

God is generous and not stingy – so trust him

We start this by looking at creation at the wonder, diversity and goodness of all that God has made. Just a few verses from those first chapters of Genesis will set the scene for this.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Then skipping on to the 5th and 6th days

 ²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day. ²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

And in the next chapter

⁸ Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ⁹ The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. 

Are you getting the idea here? God produces an abundance of creatures – the seas are filled with all sorts of amazing creatures. The land is filled you cannot miss the sheer variety and technicolor wonder of God’s creation. Take a walk in the Lake District mountains. Just take a drive along the A66. Since moving up here I’ve been astonished how every single time I drive into the Lakes it is a different view. The colours change, the contrast of cloud and mountain means they look different every single time. Sometimes towering and vast, sometimes rugged and challenging – sometimes crisp, clear and warmly inviting. But each time is different. Because God lavishes colour and diversity on his creation. 

Not only does he give us this beautiful world – he gives us the ability to live well within it and care for it.

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

God places people in his world “to work it and take care of it”. 

Biblical theologians have commented that Genesis 1 has a structure that would remind its original readers of accounts of temple building. The culmination of such stories is the place of the “image” or “idol” of the god in the temple. 

In God’s creation story, God is the temple builder, and the only image of God is people. No created or sculpted object can represent God – only people, made to show him to the world, and made to rule over the world for him. 

This is the job people have as those made in God’s image. We live in a beautiful and ordered world, and we need to look after it, and each other – as fellow image bearers. 

Scientists, engineers, doctors, teachers can all do their work because God creates an ordered world. 

Artists, poets and painters can all show us more of the beauty we see all around us. Scientists and artists alike can reflect God’s image and help us show God to others.

And it isn’t as if God’s generosity stops at making this beautiful world so that he then steps back and stops doing anything. No, moment by moment God is the one who sustains this world, and who rules this world. Which is why we read Psalm 104 earlier.

Psalm 104:10-15

¹⁰ He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
    it flows between the mountains.
¹¹ They give water to all the beasts of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² The birds of the sky nest by the waters;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³ He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
    the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.
¹⁴ He makes grass grow for the cattle,
    and plants for people to cultivate—
    bringing forth food from the earth:
¹⁵ wine that gladdens human hearts,
    oil to make their faces shine,
    and bread that sustains their hearts.

The water cycle works because God sustains it. 

God gives the rain that provides water for animals and for plants. 

It is God who provides food, and the gifts of wine, oil and bread – simple realities – to make the sustaining needs of life enjoyable, and yet signs of God’s bounty and generosity. 

All of this comes from God:

Psalm 24

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it;
² for he founded it on the seas
    and established it on the waters.

There is nothing that God does not have, there is nothing that God needs – Psalm 50:

⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall
    or of goats from your pens,
¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine,
    and the cattle on a thousand hills.
¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,
    and the insects in the fields are mine.
¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
    for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

As we think about the idea of stewardship we need these ideas firmly in our minds. God is a generous giver who has unlimited resources. God powers the universe. Minute by minute we exist because God wants us to. 

Resources are not a problem for this God.

Jesus brings this home to us more vividly still:

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? . . . 
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Here I shared the story of how, at the start of my PhD journey, having recently been gifted a car, the car needed repair work. The bill was around £90 – and that money was needed for the month. When I got back from the garage an envelope was waiting in our post box with £90 in it. And that happened at various points in the PhD journey, thanks to a generous anonymous giver.

And still today I worry about how the month’s money is going to stretch. You would think I would learn. But I don’t. Each month I look at our funds and I wonder how it is all going to stretch, and how money is to be provided. But God provides – sometimes through wisdom to spend money well, sometimes through unexpected gifts, sometimes through unexpected relief from expense. The point is not my faith – thank goodness – the point is His faithfulness. 

That works corporately too. There are so many challenges for churches today to think about how to spend money well and wisely – so many different ways and places that money could be spent – and yet maybe a shrinking pool of people giving. 

The question is: do we believe that the God who created the universe and who moment by moment holds us in his hand is giving us the resources we need or not. We need to settle in our hearts the reality of this generous God – and trust him.

But we all know that for all this talk of a generous God and a beautiful creation there is a problem. The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 8 where the writer talks about how people are made with honour and glory, and the way things should be:

“What are people that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?

You made them a little[a] lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor
and put everything under their feet.”[b][c]

Then the writer to the Hebrews says this:

In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f] 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death,so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

We do not see everything subject – things fall apart, disasters happen. People let us down. We do not see the wonder of a world ruled as it should be. I don’t think it takes long to establish this point. Just read the news. 

But we see Jesus – the perfect image of God, tasting death for everyone. And this brings us to our second section where we look at the difference this death makes for us.

Here’s where we see that:
We are children of the Father, not oppressed servants, so we delight in him, and join his mission.

We heard John 17:1-5 read to us earlier.

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Here, as the end of his earthly life and ministry draws near Jesus prays to his Father. There is so much in John 17 we could draw out. But notice here the sandwich of the passage.  v1 and v4-5 talk about the glory that Jesus and the Father give to each other, while the central verses speak of Jesus’ gift of eternal life to all who the Father has given him – and of the reality that this life consists in knowing the Father, and knowing Jesus.

Here we have the trinity in action in the interaction of Father and Son. The Father gives glory to the Son, while the Son gives glory to the Father. Glory is a shorthand for all the goodness that makes God, God. To glorify someone is to show how utterly good and wonderful they are.

In John’s gospel Jesus is shown to be utterly glorious by going to the cross. The moment of supreme glorification is his death in our place as the passover lamb, slain for us – Jesus’ supreme authority and godlikeness is shown in his supreme sacrifice for us.  The Father’s supreme godlikeness and wonder is shown in his giving of the Son for us.  Trusters in Jesus are kept by the work of the Father and Son. 

The Father gives Jesus all authority, so that he gives eternal life to all the Father has given him. All this is gift. Gift of Father to Son, and of Son to humans.  You and I, human beings, people who have rejected God can know him as our Father, simply by trusting in Jesus. That is the vital thing – elsewhere in John when asked about the work God requires Jesus answers simply that it is to believe in the one God has sent – i.e. in Jesus.

And when we read on in Jesus’ prayer we read these astonishing words that I would not dare to believe were they not written here for us: 

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— 23 I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

have loved them even as you have loved me.

We need to reflect on those words, and let them penetrate our hearts – we need to let the reality of that gift sink in deep. To delight in God, and love the Father as Jesus loves him. This is the foundation of everything and it is as people who know this reality in our hearts that mean we carry on the mission of Jesus in this world. On that first Easter Sunday John tells us of these words of the risen Christ:

21 Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 

Loved with the same love that the Father has for the Son we are sent into the world by the same Father as part of the same mission. 

We need to remember both of these things. We can only play our part in God’s mission as we remember we are loved by the Father, and as we allow that love to change how we think.

Being part of Jesus’ mission means that we show what Jesus is like to a world that needs to see. It means also that we show how the Father intends his children to live. We live out the image of God – being part of Jesus’ mission does not deny this humanity – it enables us to live as more fully human in God’s world – as the children we were created to be. 

We are not taken out of the world – but we go back into the world empowered for life – to show what it looks like to live in this world with God as our ruler, in the world he has generously given us. Being a Christian means we show what it means to follow Jesus in each and every area of life God has placed us.

And so we must go back to our workplaces, our families, our communities knowing that all we do truly matters, and that in all of it we can signpost people to God’s rule and God’s ways. 

As  you think together about church life and the resources you need to do the things God has called you to here in this part of Carlisle to show people the reality of who God is and explain what he is like you need to remember that God is the generous creator who made an ordered and beautiful world, that people are created in his image to be treated with dignity and care, and that the supreme thing we were made for is to know God and enjoy him forever.

So everything we do together should fit into that, and signposting people to the reality of the kingdom that is coming. 

Our children have all really enjoyed a book series called “The Green Ember” – the main characters are rabbits, and they live in a wood where a great tragedy has occurred due to a traitor’s actions.  Small groups of rabbits who remain true to their ideals and who live and look forward to the day when the wood will be mended and whole again group together. One of the main characters, Heather is hearing the story teller of the community, Mrs Weaver,  explain how the resistance and restoration will happen.

“There are secret citadels, though only a few, which have kept alive a hope of invading and retaking the Great Wood. I wish them well, and part of my sewing and mending goes to support them. But there’s another kind of mending that must be done. This place is full of farmers, artists, carpenters, midwives, cooks, poets, healers, singers, smiths, weavers— workers of all kinds. We’re all doing our part.”
“But what good will all that do?” Heather asked. “Shouldn’t everyone fight for the Great Wood—for King Jupiter’s cause?”
“Sure we should,” Mrs. Weaver said. “In a sense. Some must bear arms and that is their calling. But this,” she motioned back to the mountain behind her, “this is a place dedicated to the reasons why some must fight. Here we anticipate the Mended Wood, the Great Wood healed. Those painters are seeing what is not yet but we hope will be. They are really seeing, but it’s a different kind of sight. They anticipate the Mended Wood. So do all in this community, in our various ways. We sing about it. We paint it. We make crutches and soups and have gardens and weddings and babies. This is a place out of time. A window into the past and the future world. We are heralds, you see, my dear, saying what will surely come. And we prepare with all our might, to be ready when once again we are free.”

In all our work – in all our worship – we anticipate what is yet to come.  We are a people out of time. We are a window of what was, and what is to come. And in all our lives – including our use of the resources God has given us we should reflect that reality, of a God who is that good. That should be our prayer for this church in this city, and for Christians across this city. 

That closed the sermon. But I finish this blog post by saying that it was one of the hardest sermons I’ve preached. Part of the reason it was so hard is that there was so much to leave out because the implications of the generosity of God are staggering and all-changing – and because there was so much I wanted to say about how Christians so often fail to grasp parts of this – and because I can think of times in my life when damage has been done to me or others because of the failure to grasp these things. I wanted to be able to say more. But some of those things make me angry and I didn’t want to inflict my rants on people who didn’t deserve them. In a future blog post or two I don’t exactly want to rant, but I do want to expand a bit more on some of the implications of this reality that God is utterly good and generous for all of life, and how that needs to change the way we think of how our faith and life interact.