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People are the pinnacle of God's creative work, and He is in relentless pursuit of a relationship with each of us. God's grand vision was to go on walks with His children; to be in their presence. God creates the Lower Story so He can come down from the Upper Story and do life with us.
1. When God looked at creation and declared it both “good and very good” what do you think He was trying to express?
God declared His creation good, not because it was good for Him but because it was good for us. Something can’t really be declared good unless it is good for a reason…a purpose. God declared His creation good because He knew it was good for us. God wasn’t dependent on creation because He existed before His creation. He created everything with us in mind.
We also know that it was good because it was complete. The phrase “and it was so” (wayehî kēn) indicated a state of completion . So God’s assessment that a given day’s work was “good” (ṭôb) can mean “wholeness” or “completeness” and it did not include disease or death. So we know that God’s creation could be declared good because it was complete and free from disease, death, suffering and any form of evil We also know it was good because He created it with us in mind and with purpose. |
2. Genesis 1:26-27 says that we are made in the image of God. How do we, as people, actually reflect the image of God?
Consider first what it mean that we were made in the image of God?” Of all the creations of God, only mankind was made in the image and likeness of God. Everything else was made “according to their kind”; but we were made according to His image (smile). God also pronounced a blessing (Hebrew verb barak ) over His creation (Gen 1: 22, 28) but there was a difference in the blessing that He spoke over man. Besides giving man authority over all other creation, He spoke the blessing to them. We see that man and woman were able to communicate with God and they understood. God went on to communicate what He expected of them. This is important because this indicates that God didn’t just create us and then no longer have involvement with us (deism) but He was involved with us from the beginning and (as we will see throughout the Scriptures) remained actively involved in our lives.
Knowing that we are made in His image, we reflect His image in at least three ways: mentally, morally and socially (ref: (http://www.gotquestions.org/image-of-God.html) |
Since Adam was made in God’s image, Adam had the capacity to make free choices. Although he was given a righteous nature [complete and good], Adam made an evil choice to rebel against his Creator. In so doing, Adam marred the image of God within himself, and he passed that damaged likeness on to all his descendants (Romans 5:12). Today, we still bear the image of God (James 3:9), but we also bear the scars of sin. Mentally, morally, socially, and physically, we show the effects of sin. Even so, we can reflect His image as we were originally intended when we are made new thru the redemption of Christ and we submit to the Holy Spirit’s process of sanctification. When God redeems an individual, He begins to restore the original image of God, creating a “new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). That redemption is only available by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from the sin that separates us from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through Christ, we are made new creations in the likeness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). |
3. If you could walk with God in the perfect garden of paradise, just like you would with a friend, what would you ask Him and why?
4. In a normal day, what gets in the way of you
taking a walk with God and talking about what is on your heart?
5. Even though Adam and Eve began walking in perfect fellowship with their Maker, God still gave them freedom to reject this perfect life. What does this spiritual reality say about the power of the choices we make each day?
We have this freedom of choice because God is not interested in controlling us. If He was, He would have made us differently….He would have made us without choice and in a way that could be controlled. We need to take great care with this gift of freedom when making our choices.
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6. Adam and Eve made a choice to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They rejected God’s vision for their lives and declared that they wanted to run their own universe and be their own god. How do you see that same sinful desire and behavior in our lives today and how does it influence our daily walk with God?
Satan convinced them that God was keeping something from them….they didn’t trust in the instructions that God had given them. Essentially, Satan was telling them that they could be their own god (be in control of their own lives and choices – Gen 3:4-5). We do the same thing when we knowingly make choices to do something that is contrary to what we know God wants for us. This idea and attitude is exhibited when we justify our choices and it even influences our prayers when we don’t pray for God’s will but ours.
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7. If God truly loved Adam and Eve, why would He throw them out of the garden? Randy said that God’s choice to drive Adam and Eve out of the garden was really and “act of grace.” Do you agree or disagree with his statement and why do you feel this way?
We know that God is consistent in character. His word tells us He is the “same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is full of compassion but He is also just. He cannot do anything inconsistent in His character. We may not always understand God’s decisions but we can trust it. God had given Adam and Eve instructions for what they needed to do to stay in the garden.
[Notice: there were two trees (Gen 2: 9) – they were only told to not eat of the tree of knowledge. The Scriptural truth is that eternal life, symbolized by the Tree of Life, is the ultimate destiny of mankind. He gave them free access to the Tree of Life. If they had eaten of this tree, God would have revealed to them the way to spiritual salvation and eternal life. In the beginning, God desired that Adam and Eve choose His way, which would lead to eternal life, as symbolized by the Tree of Life. But God did not force them to choose to serve and obey Him, nor did He restrict their choice, otherwise free moral agency would not exist. These were the two choices God placed before Adam and Eve. They had to choose between: 1) God’s way of life, as symbolized by the Tree of Life, resulting in eternal life; and 2) their own way of life, as symbolized by the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil--cut off from God, removed from His grace, under the sway of Satan the devil--resulting in eternal death. But even while He was pronouncing sentence upon Adam and Eve for their sins, God prophesied of the coming Savior and the grace that would come to all mankind through Jesus Christ (Gen.3:15). Ref: Fred R. Coulter http://www.cbcg.org/series/grace/graceofGod_OT.htm] When they disobeyed, God needed to deal with the situation justly. It is difficult to see this as an act of grace because what we really want is mercy without justice. But think of what grace is - it is unmerited and undeserved favor. What Adam and Eve should have been given was worse than being excommunicated from the garden…they deserved death (Gen 2:17, Romans 6:23). As a consequence for their sin, they could no longer be in God’s direct presence. Sin separates us from God. We also deserve death but God, in His grace, grants us forgiveness through the redemption of Christ (Romans 3:24-26) |
8.
What are ways to identify
that we are about to enter into sinful and rebellious actions and how can we
stop before we have
crossed the line?
crossed the line?
We need to recognize that we do have a choice. Romans 6:12 tells us to “not let sin reign in our mortal bodies so that you obey its evil desires”. This is not some self-help advice; there is a spiritual aspect to this. When we accepted Christ, we were given a new identity – a new nature (we were made into a new creation). But we still have our old sin nature that we need to crucify daily and to walk in the Spirit. There is a tension between these two natures – we have to wrestle and decide which side of the argument we want to identify with. Do you identify with your sin-nature side (“I’m not perfect, everyone does it, I can’t help it, This is just normal for someone in my situation”). When you argue from that stand point, that view of yourself, you are arguing from the stand point of sin – but this is how you use to be (old self). You are still identifying with someone you are not (or don’t have to be). You are letting the goodness and righteousness of Christ stand a part from you and you identify with sin.
The struggle changes once you see yourself and identify with who you now are in Christ! The struggle now looks like this: “That is sin trying to rule me, that choice is allowing sin to have power over me. Holy Spirit, I choose to allow you to use this situation to transform me more into the character of Christ. I submit to you and ask you to help me in this moment.” |
9. What is the theme of this first movement?
God created us in His image so that He could commune with us in a way differently than all His other creation. Sin introduced in the garden separated us from God but He had a plan to redeem us from the very beginning.
(See Definitions for complete rendering) |