BRING IT HOME
MISBEHAVING
DR. JIM DIXON
AUGUST 16, 2009
GENESIS 1:26-27, GENESIS 3:1-6
Now, every church has problems from time to time, and this church is no exception. And even now, we have a few problems around here. One of our problems has to do with prairie dogs. See, we have 25 acres to the south here, the southern fields right below our church building here. Someday it may have parking for the church, it may have athletic fields, or there may be educational buildings put there, but right now it’s home to hundreds of prairie dogs. We have a prairie dog colony on our property, and we’ve been assured that this is the kind of a problem that they could develop disease and they could spread disease, even the plague. Of course, we have a lot of children and families in our facilities around here, and a lot of other kids in the neighborhood. So that concerns us.
Then we begin to get complaints from neighbors, perhaps some of you who live nearby. Because our prairie dog colony is growing and expanding, some of our prairie dogs have gone into your backyards. And so you’ve called us. And then of course we also just have the problem of the proliferation of the dogs themselves. They’re reproducing and their growth is almost exponential. So we had this problem about 10 years ago, and we had to export them to another place. Now, of course prairie dogs are not canines. They’re rodents, but they are federally protected. You can’t just go out there and kill them. So what we’ve done is, in accordance with government regulations, contracted with a company to remove the prairie dogs from this site.
It’s a company called Dog-Gone. And they’ve only charged us $35,000. Can you believe that? $35,000. We have 300 to 400 prairie dogs. So it’s about a hundred bucks a prairie dog. They put the dogs in these air-conditioned vans. They feed them six meals a day. They clean up after them, and they take them to a government sanctioned wildlife facility up by Fort Collins where they begin a new life. And we began to receive complaints from protestors who are saying that we shouldn’t be removing the dogs. We shouldn’t be moving the prairie dogs. And we had protesters on the radio in Boulder. We’ve had some people say they’re going to organize pickets around our property. We’ve had animal rights groups. And this thought occurred to me: we live in a strange world. We live in a really strange world. And the truth is, you really can’t count on Judeo-Christian values or a Judeo-Christian worldview being prevalent anymore. Judeo-Christian values are eroding.
There are some people who have almost a, a Buddhist view of life, and they view all life as equal. Certainly we want to be humane. And we acknowledge that we are stewards. God has given mankind stewardship over the earth. And one day we’re going to be judged and held accountable for our stewardship, and we’re going to be held accountable for how we’ve treated life in all of its forms. And we certainly acknowledge that. But we hope you understand that there is no life more precious than human life. There are people out there who will protest about rodents and they won’t say a word when 45 million babies are aborted in our nation. I mean, this is a strange, strange reality. It really truly is.
But we hope that you understand the Judeo-Christian biblical worldview and that mankind is sacred to God, and indeed, so precious to Him that the breath of God is upon us. Genesis chapter three, part of our scripture this morning, says how God breathed on man. The word “nephesh” means “breath.” It also means soul. We, the Bible in the early chapters of Genesis speaks of God as “ruah,” which can mean spirit, but it also means wind. But you see, the original parents, Adam and Eve, had the breath of God breathed on them, and they became unique, and they received the image of God, the imago Dei, and they represented the crown of the creation. We hope you understand this Biblical Judeo-Christian worldview. Every child born is precious to God.
Every when you go home or when you pick your kids up in the Sunday school, those kids are so precious to God. They have the breath of God upon them. You know, the Bible speaks of the scriptures as God breathed. The breath of God is upon this book, and therefore, it’s inspired. There’s a sense in which human life is also the inspiration of God and His breath is upon us. The imago Dei, the image of God, has been imparted and we are the crown of the creation. So you might be thinking, well, what’s gone wrong? What’s gone wrong? How come so many times we’re so messed up? I mean, what’s wrong with the human race if we’re the crown of the creation and the breath of God is upon us and we’re His inspiration and we have the imago Dei? What’s wrong?
Well, I have two teachings this morning, and the first concerns what theologians call the fall. The Bible tells us the human race is fallen. The breath of God is upon us, we are created in His image and likeness, but we are fallen. Now, a lot of people (but even a lot of Christians) do not understand that the fall of humankind was preceded by the fall of the angelic realm. The Bible tells us clearly that the fall of the angels preceded the fall of mankind, and that the fall of humankind was actually influenced by the fall of the angels. Now, recent surveys in the United States of America show that 80% of the population of the United States believe in angels. 50% of the population of the United States of America believe the devil is real and they believe in spiritual warfare.
Now, reality is not based on surveys. If reality were based on surveys and polls we’d be perhaps more interested in surveys and polls. But the Bible itself tells us that Satan is real. I mean, he really does exist, and he represents principalities and powers of darkness. And he transitioned at the dawn of time from light to darkness, abusing his freedom. You see, God loves freedom. Do you have any idea how much God loves freedom? He gave this precious gift not only to humankind. He gave it to the angels. And He foreknew not only what could happen, He for knew what would happen, and yet He gave it anyway. He so loves freedom He gave it anyway. He gave it to the angels and He gave it to mankind.
Then there was this fall in the angelic realm at the dawn of time. And you know, I think in this world there is so much misunderstanding about this being called Satan. Maybe some of you have seen an early Tom Cruise movie, a fantasy genre movie, called Legend. In that movie the devil is killed by Tom Cruise by the horn of a unicorn. And you have to wonder where in the world Hollywood gets this stuff. I mean, where do they come up with this stuff?
And how about the stereotypical picture of the devil representing cultural stereotypes from throughout history? He’s portrayed in that movie as having cloven hoofs, the big horns and the claws and all these stereotypical pictures. They’re really not based on the Bible. It’s not based on holy scripture. The fall of Satan is described in Revelation chapter 12—perhaps is described as well in Isaiah 14 and in Ezekiel 28. The devil was glorious in his beginning and full of wisdom and perfect in splendor. He corrupted his wisdom for the sake of his splendor, the Bible says, and in his heart he said, I shall ascend above the stars of God. His fall is described in the apocalyptic language of Revelation 12. And in that genre of literature, the devil is described as a dragon, a great dragon who wars in heaven with the armies of God. Satan has his own angels, and there’s this great war between the Archangel Michael and his holy angels and the fallen angels of the demonic realm led by the devil. And the devil’s cast down. It says in Revelation chapter 12 that the great dragon sweeps perhaps a third of the stars of the heaven down with him, perhaps meaning that the devil took with him a third of the angelic hosts.
It says in Revelation chapter 12 that when he fell, woe under man. As he fell to earth, he fell with venomous rage. And of course, when mankind fell, as described in Genesis chapter three, powers of darkness were already there. When mankind fell, the devil was already there, and he was the tempter. And he said to the woman, you shall be like God. And of course this was his own temptation. This was his own enticement. This was his own desire to be like God. And mankind fell, male and female. Adam and Eve, they fell. And you have this fall of humankind. And the mind of Satan, the Bible tells us, has permeated humankind. The Bible tells us that Satan is the prince, the archon, the ruler of this world. Jesus tells us that Satan is a usurper and one day will be destroyed. But at this time in history, he’s the archon, ruler of this world.
The mindset of the world is influenced by his mind. That’s why you have the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. That’s his mind. It has permeated cultures everywhere. Now, in the Christian world, you have many different views of the Book of Genesis. Anyone who really believes in holy scripture knows that this book is inspired of God. But there’s some who believe that God is using a different genre of literature than others might believe. So for some Christians, Genesis one, two, and three represent parabolic literature and allegorical genre. For other Christians, Genesis one, two, and three represents historical narrative. Still some other Christians would combine Genesis one, two, and three with some historical narrative and some parabolic or allegorical elements. There are varieties of views in the Christian world with regard to creation. I mean, there are some in the Christian world who believe that God created in six literal 24-hour days. There are other Christians who believe that God created in six extended days, six ages, six vast periods of time. There are some who believe that God in His creation used at least to some extent the process of evolution, that God somehow orchestrated and guided that process. There are all kinds of views within the Christian world, but on this Christians agree on this:. mankind was breathed on by God.
Mankind received the imago Dei, the image of God. He was the crown of creation, and he has fallen. The effect of sin pervades the human race and pervades this earth and world. And this is a Judeo-Christian view. It is the biblical view. And you can go to Romans five, and you can go to 1 Corinthians 15, and you’ll see in Romans five and in 1 Corinthians 15 something called original sin. I mean, you’ll see the source of the doctrine called original sin, the concept that Adam and Eve’s sin has tainted now the whole human seed and we are born in sin. There’s a sense in which in Romans five and in 1 Corinthians 15 we’re said to be in Adam. We are in Adam, we are in Eve; we are in their death. We’re in their fall. We’re in their sin.
But make no mistake about this (and the Bible’s very clear): we’re all culpable. It’s not just that we’re born with a taint of sin. We sin when we don’t have to. All of us throughout our lifetimes have had times we could have done the right thing and we did the wrong thing. We could have done the good thing, we just didn’t do it. We all are sinners in need of grace, and we all are fallen and we’re all culpable. We’re all responsible. And of course, that’s why David, king of Israel, wrote those words in Psalms 51. He said, “Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. Blot out all of my transgressions, for I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgments. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin did my mother conceive me.”
David loved his mother. He loved his father. They were relatively righteous. But David understood the taint of sin was upon him from birth. “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward being. Therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart.” And what is that wisdom? That we’re fallen? We have the imago Dei, but we’re fallen. We have the breath of God, but we’re fallen. So your children, your children’s children, my children, our children’s children, are all born with the breath of God upon them. They are all precious special, the crown of creation, the imago Dei. They’re born with a breath of God upon them, but they’re also born fallen. So for us as families and for us in this culture and for us as Christians in our homes, this challenge is so great.
I don’t know how you felt about the old television series Get Smart, or if you haven’t seen it. I don’t know whether you saw the movie Get Smart that that came out more recently. I do know there was something about the whole Get Smart series that I did like, and that is that evil on the earth is called chaos. I wonder if you realize how biblical that is. I wonder if you realize how, in a sense, profound that is, because evil is at the core chaos. And in fact, the word chaos, both in terms of its Latin and Greek derivation, means “the abyss.” The truth is that in the Bible, in the New Testament, there are many words that mean chaos. “Ataktos” is one. “Akatastasis” is another. These words mean without order, confused, or confusion. And the Bible tells us God is not a God of confusion. God is not a God of chaos. God is not a God of disorder.
There’s something profoundly evil about chaos. Understand that when children are born, they’re like little gardens. When each of us is born, we’re like little gardens. Because the breath of God is upon us and because the imago Dei was once given and because we are the crown of creation, there are flowers in the garden and the potential for more flowers. When any child is born, you can just see from the get-go some real precious stuff there. Flowers are in the garden; it’s a manifestation of the imago Dei and the breath of God. But you’ll also notice there are weeds in the garden. There are weeds in the garden because mankind is fallen and there is spiritual warfare and evil is a reality. And so the garden becomes chaos.
As parents, obviously with our children you want to water the flowers and plant more flowers. But you also understand that as Christian parents with the Judeo-Christian worldview, you have to pull a few weeds. I mean, if you’re going to raise kids, you have to pull a few weeds or the whole garden is just going to get ruined. Now, understand that when kids come over to your house… Barb and I are grandparents and we love not only our kids, we love our grandkids. And when they come over to our house and spend some days with us, we love them. When they leave, we are totally exhausted and we understand the meaning of the word chaos. Now, some of that chaos is just energy being expended. Some of that chaos is just curiosity. But some of it is sin. It’s exhausting. I mean, when the kids came over to the house the first few times we had extended stays we’d try to pick up after them. Then one day, Barb and I just looked at each other and said, we give up.
Just recently little Nina, only two and a half years old and so cute, said she doesn’t like to be told no. Particularly when she’s doing something she really wants to be doing she does not like to be told no. We told her no, and wow. I mean, this was a powerful fit. And you know, she was pounding her hands on the floor and just kicking her legs with great force. And there are some weeds in her garden. As parents what a challenge this is. I mean, living in this world, what a challenge it is.
But there’s a second message this morning, and the second message concerns the Savior. We’ve seen the fall. Let’s just take just a brief look at the Savior. What a privilege, by the way. What a privilege we have as parents to be able to introduce the Savior to our kids. And what an amazing, divine privilege to be able to introduce the Savior to our kids. Did you know that the coming of the Savior into this world is prophesied from the earliest pages of scripture, very early in the biblical narrative? You see the promise and the prophecy of a Savior. Even Genesis three, part of our scripture for today, where God pronounces judgment on Adam and Eve, reflects a prophecy that a Savior will come. So what does God say to Eve? God says, “I will put enmity between your seed and the devil’s seed. An offspring shall come from you that will be bruised by the devil, but your offspring will crush the devil’s head.” Pretty amazing stuff. And of course, Jesus is her offspring, the promised Savior bruised for our iniquities. But He will crush the devil’s head.
And of course, all through the Bible, we have prophecies of the Savior. The minor and major prophets, from Micah to Isaiah, prophecy that Jesus the Savior will come. Jesus is so called because He is the Savior. His name, Jesus, in the Hebrew Yeshua, means “savior.” It comes from a root word meaning “to save.” He’s the Savior. And what a privilege it is for us to introduce Him to our kids. I hope you take this seriously, and I hope you receive this with joy, because I think there are a lot of parents, a lot of Christian parents who, even though they’re Christians, just want to outsource their kids to the church. “We’ll give our kids to the church, and the church can get them saved.”
I hope you understand that, as a church, we love your kids and we love serving them in Christ. We recognize the fact that some of the children that come here do not have Christian parents. I mean, there are some moms and dads who just drop their kids off at Grace Place or Sunday school or youth group, and they go on out to brunch. I mean, some of our kids do not have Christian parents. And so certainly we love to introduce the Savior to your kids. I just want you to understand, though, that as parents it’s your primary responsibility to introduce the Savior to your kids. The church is secondary. This is primarily your task.
I hope you take it that way. I hope you understand this. I thank God for my mom and dad. I know my brothers thank God from my mom and dad and their faithfulness through all their years on this earth and how they introduced us to the Savior. I’ve told you how I knelt with my mom when I was five years old in the living room of our home and asked Jesus to be my Savior. I said the words that Mom told me to say, and I repeated them after her. I used those same words at the end of many messages.
Now, when I invite you to ask Jesus into your heart as Savior and Lord, I thank God for a mom and a dad like that. And of course, Barb and I had the privilege of introducing the Savior to Drew and Heather. We had that joy of seeing their salvation and our children, our daughter Heather and her husband Chris, have had the joy and the privilege of introducing Abigail to Jesus. And she’s accepted Christ, and they’ve seen in her the beauty of her salvation. And one day, Heather and Chris look forward to telling little Nina about the Savior. I have every confidence that Nina and Abigail will grow up and introduce Jesus to their kids and so on, until Jesus comes, as long as Jesus tarries. And I’m confident that our son Drew, if and when he gets married, will tell his kids about the Savior. What a privilege it is and what a responsibility.
I saw recently where Barack Obama, our president, was asked by a media source if he as a Christian would raise his kids in the Christian faith. And he responded by saying that he would leave that up to his kids, that he would want his kids to make their own choices and to choose their own faith systems. And you know, I hope I misunderstood that. I mean, I hope something got lost in the translation. I mean, I hope that is just inaccurate reporting somehow, because as Christians we’re commanded to rear our children in the Lord. Truth isn’t up for grabs. We’re commanded to rear our children in the Lord. We want our children to be well educated. We want our children to have scope. We want our children to know how to ask the right questions. But we rear our children in the Christian faith. We rear them in Jesus. And this commandment has always been given to the household of faith and to the people of God. It was true under the Old Covenant with the Jews. It’s true under the New Covenant with followers of Jesus. That’s really what the Shema is about.
The Shema, so precious to the Jewish people, is in Deuteronomy chapter six. You realize that for the Jewish people, over generations and over centuries, those words have been precious. And they have sung them and they’ve memorized them and they’ve carried those words close to their heart. Those words are found in Deuteronomy chapter six, and it’s called the Shema. That’s a word in the Hebrew which means “hear,” and it’s the first word of the Shema, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And the words which I give you this day shall be upon your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your children as you wake in the morning, as you walk along the day, and as you go to bed at night.” The Shema. What an amazing and beautiful requirement God has put upon us as parents.
It’s no different for us as Christians. We’re told again and again that we’re to rear our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. So what a privilege it is to introduce the Savior to our kids. I hope you take that seriously. And if you haven’t, I hope you will. I hope you pray every day for your children and your grandchildren, and for their salvation and for their life in Christ.
I do hope you understand that the word salvation has a little more scope than some Christians are aware of. We want our children to be saved. We want them to get saved. But that’s not the sum total of what salvation means. Salvation is the Greek word “soterios” in the New Testament. Sometimes it’s punctiliar—it refers to something that happens in a moment in time when someone gets saved, kind of an altar call experience. Someone asks Jesus into their heart as Savior and Lord, and that is salvation.
But this word soterios is built on the word “soter,” which means “savior,” which is built on the word “sozo,” which means “to save.” And the word sozo isn’t always punctiliar. It’s not always referring to something that happens in a moment in time. The word has scope, and sometimes it refers to health; sometimes it refers to healing; sometimes it refers to wholeness. So when you seek your kid’s salvation, you don’t just want them to have that altar call experience. You do want that, but you want their health and their healing. They were created in the imago Dei, the breath of God upon them, and they’re fallen just like us and we all need this healing.
So salvation has this kind of wholeness of concept, and in that sense, the Greek word sozo is very much like the Hebrew “yasa.” The Hebrew yasa also means to save. It’s the word from which the name of Jesus comes. The name Yeshua comes from yasa, and this word means to save. But yasa, like sozo, can also mean health and wholeness and healing. So Jesus is the savior in the fullest sense. He saves our souls eternally, but He also begins the healing. We’re called to this ministry of His as parents. So from the beginning, we need to be working and praying with our kids for the healing because of the fact that we’re all fallen and there are weeds in the garden. So starting next week, I want to share a little bit about how we can understand in our ministry, in our families, and even for us as individuals, how we can understand the scope of salvation and minister for the fullness of salvation—not only in our children’s lives, but in our own lives.
As we close, I know you’re all aware that last month was the 40th anniversary of the first flight to the moon, the Apollo 11 space flight. Armstrong and Aldrin and Collins flew to the moon and Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon. And Armstrong landed with Aldrin on the lunar module Eagle. That was July 20th, 1969. And what did Armstrong say? He said, “A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind,” and he left footprints on the moon. He literally said, “A small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind.”
But was that a giant leap for mankind? What do you think, 40 years now later? Was it a giant leap for mankind? You can understand why Armstrong would’ve said that, and people might think that, but I have to say, I don’t think so. I don’t think it was a giant leap for mankind. I don’t even think scientifically, in terms of the technology of space travel, it was a giant leap for mankind. I mean, even now, 40 years later, we don’t have the technological sophistication in terms of space travel to be able to take a man to the far extensions of our solar system. Our solar system is just a drop in the bucket compared to the vastness of this galaxy we live in called the Milky Way, which is 100,000 light years across. Light, moving at 186,000 miles a second, still takes 100,000 years just to get across our galaxy, one of billions of galaxies. I mean, we don’t even have the technology to fly, in terms of space travel, one light year. So no, it was not a giant leap for mankind. And the nearest galaxy to our Milky Way that’s a spiral galaxy is Andromeda, 2.2 million light years away. Do you think we’re ever going to get there? Not in this age of the world. So I don’t think it was a giant leap for mankind.
When you really think about it at a deeper level, what would be a giant leap for mankind? I think something a little closer to the soul, something a little closer to the core of who we are. Something that in some sense remedies or improves our predicament, since mankind has the breath of God, the imago Dei, the crown of creation, and yet we’re so tragically fallen and there are weeds in our garden. And I know Jesus is the only one who can bring a giant leap for mankind.
I was ordained to the gospel ministry 35 years ago at Glendale Presbyterian Church in Glendale, California. The sermon at my ordination was preached by Dr. Bruce w Thalman, a great preacher. And he took his text from Ezekiel, chapter two. “Son of man, stand on your feet.” And it was the call of God to Ezekiel and to the ministry. Again and again and again, Bruce Thalman looked at me and he said,
“Son of man, stand on your feet.” And he would talk about the challenges of the ministry. And then he would say, “Son of man, stand on your feet.” He would talk about everything he thought I would face. And then he said, “Son of man, stand on your feet.” I remember the final words he said to me. He just paused, and he looked at me and he said, “Son of man, stand on your feet. You make no footprints sitting down.”
I don’t know how you feel. Would you like to make a few footprints? I mean, it’s said that Armstrong’s footprints on the moon will last for hundreds of years because of that environment. But how about the earth? Would you like to make a few footprints? I know this Jesus is the answer. I know in my lifetime I would like to make a few, and I know I’m fallen and I’m not able to do anything, but I know Jesus. He’s the one that offers that giant leap for mankind. In your lifetime, you want to start at home and you want to honor Jesus and introduce the Savior to your kids and leave some footprints and then you move on. You never leave your kids. You always minister the wholeness of salvation and you seek a full healing, but you move on to your neighborhood and to your place of work and ultimately to the nations, leaving footprints. And It’s all about Jesus. Well, we’ll look forward to next week, but let’s look to the Lord as we close with the word of prayer