Recently I was in the Philippines with some victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Haiyan hit landfall in the Philippines at 190 mph. 5,200 people were killed. Half a million homes were destroyed. 4.3 million people were displaced, including 1 million children.
I had the opportunity to visit with families who had lost their homes either partially or fully. Nathan Luther, our missionary in the Philippines, was with me. Nathan told me that one of the major questions on the minds of those families was this question: “Why?” [PP Why?] Why did God allow this disaster to happen? Why were their homes demolished and others spared? Why?
That is a common question. In fact, author Philip Yancey, writes in the title to his newest book that Why? is “the question that never goes away.”[1] No matter how much we think about it, how many books we write about it, how many sermons we preach on it, it’s a question that endures:
· Why do things like typhoons and tornadoes hit?
· Why are St. Jude and LeBonheur children’s hospitals filled with children who have deadly conditions?
· Why is the Elmwood cemetery filled with the bodies of thousands who died from the plague in Memphis in the 1800s?
· Why do people of different races hate one another so much that one white man may gun down a black man at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis?
· Why do people in power seem to act contrary to what is good for the people, as in Ukraine and Thailand?
Why?
In many ways that is the very question the Bible was written to address. The Bible was written to answer the question Why? Why is this world the way it is? Why are we humans the way we are? Why? That’s one of the fundamental themes of the Bible.
And for the next three Sundays, Eric and I want to talk about the whole Bible. Cover to cover. Genesis through Revelation. Because the Bible has one overarching story that answers some of the most important questions we’ve ever ask about life. And one of those questions is the Why? question.
In order to cover the entire Bible over three Sundays, Eric and I have divided the material between the two of us. This morning I’ll be covering Genesis chapters 1-3. Over the next two Sundays, during which I’ll be visiting family in Arizona and New Mexico, Eric will cover the rest of the Bible. That may sound as if Eric has been given an unfair amount of material. Actually, he has!
But this first scene sets the stage for everything else that follows. The first act of the Bible impacts every act which follows it.
That first act is found in Genesis 1-3. One of the key texts in this section and in the whole Bible is found in Genesis chapter 1: 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen. 1:26-27 ESV)
I want to use some help from a book called The Blue Parakeet by Scot McKnight.[2] And in that book McKnight says there are two fundamental truths rooted in this passage. The first one is this: We are created. We are not accidents. We are not merely a byproduct of a chemical reaction from a primordial soup. We are created by God.
Specifically, the text says, we are created for “oneness.” We are created for oneness in three ways.
First, we are created for oneness with God. In the first chapters of Genesis we find God speaking directly to Adam and Eve, shaping their bodies with his own hands, uniting them together in a wedding ceremony over which he officiates. There is a oneness between Adam and Eve and God. We’ve all been created to experience that oneness. The story we belong to is one in which we love and are loved by God, know and are known by God.
Second, we are created for oneness with one another. At each step in the creation process in Genesis, God declares that what has just been made is good. At the very end of the creation process God steps back and gazes at all that he has made and declares that it is very good. But then God realizes something. And for the first time in the Bible God declares that something is not good. What is not good? It is not good that Adam is alone. Adam remains incomplete without another human with which to be in friendship and companionship. So God makes Eve.
Author John Ortberg states that not only are we created with a God-shaped hole in our hearts. But we are also created with a human-shaped hole in our hearts.[3] Our story remains unfinished and incomplete until we experience genuine community with other humans. The story we belong to is one in which we love and are loved by others, know and are known by others.
Third, we are created for oneness with the earth. In this story the earth does not merely exist as something that we consume. Rather the earth becomes the place upon which we pursue our own divine vocation. Chapter 2 verse 15 puts it this way: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Gen. 2:15 ESV) We are called to keep and tend the earth. In turn, the earth blesses us with its fruit and beauty.
This is the story of our lives. We are created. Created for oneness with God, with others and with the earth.
But often, we don’t realize it. We’re caught up in other stories and have to be led back to our true story.
The 1995 Disney film Toy Story is a parable of this. The film tells the story of a group of toys owned by a boy named Andy. One day, on Andy’s birthday, a new toy arrives in Andy’s room. The new toy is named Buzz Lightyear. Written on his box is the story which Buzz believes he was meant to live out. Buzz believes he is a heroic space ranger on a mission to destroy a dark Emperor Zurg.
Andy’s toys try to help Buzz understand that he’s not a real space ranger being sent into real space. Instead, he is a toy that was created to bring happiness to a boy named Andy. Buzz resists this truth and instead keeps trying to live out his own space story. But eventually he realizes that the other toys are correct. And eventually, as Buzz embraces the true narrative meant to guide his life, he finds greater meaning and joy in life..
Many of us are just like Buzz. We have a narrative, a story, a plot which guides our lives. But like Buzz some of us have that story wrong. The Bible it exists to introduce us to our true story. And here in Genesis we learn one of the most important features of that story. We learn that we are created. Created for oneness. With God. With others. And with the earth. The Bible exists to remind us that this is our true story and that all other stories are half-truths or outright lies.
And that’s the problem that crops up in Genesis. In the garden, coming in between Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve and God, and Adam and Eve and earth, slides a snake:
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:1-5 ESV)
The snake comes to rewrite our narrative. That snake comes as a book peddler offering all kinds of alternative stories. He wants us to believe that we were made for a different story. And in the end, Adam and Eve buy what he’s selling. In the end many of us buy it as well. The Bible is all about our struggle with competing narratives. God gives us our true story, but we decide to follow the false story given to us by the snake.
And the results of trying to live by a different story are disastrous. Scot McKnight put it this way: we are created. But when we decide to live by the false story we become cracked.
The decision to follow the plot of the snake’s story cracks us. And that crack wreaks havoc. It affects all three aspects of our oneness.
First, it istorts our oneness with God. Adam and Eve go from being naked and feeling no shame to realizing they are naked and hiding from God: 9 But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Gen. 3:9-10 ESV)
“I was afraid.” Walter Brueggeman states that this becomes the dominant problem for the rest of the story of the Bible. We are afraid of God.
Second, we are cracked and this distorts our oneness with others. Adam and Eve go from being one flesh to blaming one another for their problems: “11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:11-13 ESV)
Disagreement. Distrust. Deception. These come to characterize our relationships with one another.
And third, we are cracked and this distorts our oneness even with the earth: “17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” (Gen. 3:17-19 ESV)
We are cracked. And that becomes the Bible’s basic answer to the question Why? Why? Because we are cracked.
· Why all these religions and why all these godless acts in the name of God? Because we are cracked.
· While these wars and conflicts? Because we are cracked.
· And why does nature itself in the form of viruses and cancers and hurricanes and tornadoes seem to be out to get us? Because we are cracked. And our cracked nature distorts spirituality, relationships, and even nature itself.
I used to struggle with this. How could one little decision in Genesis 1-3 by two people lead to such global and comprehensive damage? But some clarity to came to me a few days ago. It was the day before I was leaving for the Philippines. My alarm went off. I rolled out of bed and put one foot on the floor. And where I normally felt dry and warm carpet, I felt something wet. I put my hand down. More wetness. I started feeling around. More wetness. Half of our master bedroom carpet was soaked—and I was pretty sure I hadn’t “had an accident.” Kendra and I moved the furniture and pulled up the carpet. Dripping wet.
The water was coming from inside a wall—the wall that adjoined Jacob’s bathroom. It turns out that we were victims of the same thing many had suffered when that polar vortex hit the Mid-South—a cracked water pipe. One small crack soaked half our master bedroom and cost thousands to fix. And I talked with others who had far worse experiences. I talked with one woman who told me she received a phone call at work. The person said, “Maam, do you live at [and she gave and address]?” The woman said, “Yes I do.” The caller said, “Maam, you better get home immediately.” When she got to her house, water was running out her doors onto the yard. Her entire first floor was flooded. From a crack. A crack in a water pipe.
A little crack can destroy an entire house. And this not-so-little crack in Genesis 1-3 distorted everything: our oneness with God, our oneness with others, and our oneness with the earth itself. That’s the story of our lives.
What does that mean? Let me make two points of application. First, this story means this: We must become a confessor of our crackedness.
Our culture needs a sobering reminder of this. Our culture needs to be called to confess our cracked natures. Because generally, our culture pushes just the opposite story.
For example during the recent Grammy awards show, country singer Kacey Musgraves was awarded a Grammy. During the show she sang from her new album. And her advice in the song was this: “follow your arrow, wherever it points”:
When the straight and narrow
Gets a little too straight
Roll up a joint, or don’t
Just follow your arrow
Wherever it points, yeah
Follow your arrow
Wherever it points
In other words, follow your heart. Follow your passions. Follow your intuition. Do whatever you feel called to do.
And that sounds nice. It sounds noble. But it’s dead wrong. It ignores the fundamental truth about our story: we are cracked. Our arrow is cracked. Our compass is cracked. We cannot trust where that arrow points. Because it may not be pointing North. We cannot trust where our arrow points when it comes to our feelings about romance and sexuality, or our feelings about money and possessions, or feelings about our career, or friends, or our notions about who God is and how God works. We are cracked. And our culture needs to learn to confess this. We need the help of someone higher than us. We need the help of our Author to gain a true perspective on who we really are and where our arrows should really point.
But the church needs to confess this as well. One of the best steps we could take to restore our tarnished image in Western culture as a church would be to stand before that culture and say “We are cracked. It’s not that you are cracked and we are perfect. It’s that you are cracked, and so are we. We are cracked.” Imagine how refreshing that message would be.
Recently my family had the opportunity to tour a local school to explore the possibility of placing our son Jacob in it. As we walked around, we were impressed by how polished and professional everyone and everything looked. Floors were shiny. Recent renovations had been completed. Students wore crisp and clean uniforms. Staff and faculty were courteous and compassionate. It was hard to find anything wrong. Then the principal and vice principal took Jacob into an interview. Kendra and I were sitting outside the door, so we could hear what was being said. And one of the first things they said to Jacob was this: “Jacob, we want you to know that we aren’t perfect. There are kids at this school who are going to act in ways that are wrong and who may even treat you wrong. There are teachers at this school who, at times, won’t act the way they should.” Then they brought Kendra and me in and they gave us the same speech: “Mr. and Mrs. Altrock, we want you to know that we aren’t perfect. There are kids at this school who are going to act in ways that are wrong and who may even treat your son wrong. There are teachers at this school who, at times, won’t act the way they should. But we’re all working together to be the people God’s called us to be.”
In other words: we are cracked. And I can’t tell you how refreshing that honesty was. Imagine how refreshing it would be to the watching world if we, the church, made that same speech regularly to them. We aren’t perfect. We too are cracked.
Second, this story of our lives lead to this: We must become a community for the cracked. I’m reminded of a man named Gene Peugh. Gene died a few weeks ago. The first church I preached for was a church in New Mexico where Gene was an elder. He and those elders were the only church in America who gave me, a 25 year old preacher with no experience, a chance to preach full-time.
Before I arrived at that church Gene used to write the Yellow Pages ad for our congregation. (That was back when churches still had Yellow Page ads.) He owned a business and did the Yellow Pages for his business. So he took over that task for the church. Our Yellow Page ad was pretty plain. Times of our services. Location of our church building. But plastered across the top, in bold letters, was this slogan: “Sinners and Downtrodden Welcome.” The first thing Gene wanted people to see when they turned to our ad was that sinners and downtrodden were welcome.
Well, one of my first official acts as the preacher for the church was to have that line removed. “Gene,” I said, “I’m removing that line.” Why? I could try to defend my decision in a number of somewhat desperate ways. After all, even if you wanted a line like that, there’s a better way to put it than, “Sinners and downtrodden welcome.” But my decision really came down to something terribly unChristian. I had two non-Christian parents in that same town. They were upper-middle class. Cultured. They went to symphonies and plays. They listened to classical music. And frankly, I wanted a church where they might visit and feel comfortable. A church full of people just like them. Cultured people. Refined people. Respectable people. So I had that line removed. “Gene,” I said, “I’m taking that line off.” Gene protested, but he was such a gracious man that he let me have my way. He let me make my first major mistake as a preacher. And at least in print, we were no longer the church where sinners and downtrodden were welcome.
Somehow I had missed the story of our life. We are created. And we are cracked. And as a result, we’re called to be a community for the cracked. We’re called to be the once place where the most flawed, most distorted, most helpless, and most cracked people on the planet can find safety, warmth, hospitality and hope. A place where they can once again become the people they were created to be.
That’s the story of our lives. The story continues next Sunday.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Question-That-Never-Goes-Away-ebook/dp/B00EH3IBOI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393513638&sr=1-1&keywords=the+question+that+never+goes+away
