Creation: Day 1 - Light

Introduction
The world we live in is breathtaking and complex.  The artistic genius of it points to Something/Someone higher, greater, more wonderful than we can even imagine.  How did it all come to be?  Was it merely an accident or does nature’s harmony point to a Higher Power?

Come along with me on a journey back to where it all began—Genesis Chapter 1.  Over the next 7 weeks, we will explore the depths of the Creation story as told to God’s people for thousands of years.]

Genesis 1:1-5
¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

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

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

God created the heavens and the earth – everything!
Much debate has surrounded the origins of the universe, planet Earth, and life.
However, there is something we can all agree on.  This world is amazing!  

The farthest known star is 13.2 billion light years from earth.[i]  In other words, it would take you 13.2 billion years to go there if you could travel at the speed of light!

The smallest living organism (the porcine circovirus) is only 17 nanometers in diameter.[ii]  3,000 of these organisms could easily fit on a single grain of sand.[iii]

The blue whale is the largest living animal, weighing 180 tons or 360,000 pounds (that’s as much as 13 school buses)! 

Much more impressive than facts about any single specimen, is the intricacy of how the whole of creation works together.  Plant life absorbs carbon dioxide and uses it to live.  Plants produce oxygen so animals can breathe.  Animals absorb the oxygen and turn it into carbon dioxide so plants can live.  Fungi live in the soil producing chemicals that allow plant roots to take up important nutrients and even enable roots from one tree to communicate with other trees by chemical signals!

Countless fragile ecosystems work in perfect harmony with every living thing—from the smallest bacteria to the largest blue whale—playing a crucial part to contribute to the success of the whole.  Many have looked at the amazing interconnectedness of these living systems and describe the whole system as living organism in its own right.  So one could describe Creation a one BIG living organism made up of millions of tiny little parts instead of a planet made up of many different living organisms.

Within the infinite vastness of space, planet earth stands as the only known haven of life.  We are so small, and yet so incredibly precious.  Whether you believe this is all a happy accident brought on by chance or the result of an intentional act of creation by a Divine Power, is a matter of faith.  Science cannot contain something so unfathomable. 

The account in the book of Genesis of how it all began was given thousands of years before the advent of science.  It was never intended to describe the creation of the world in purely rational, scientific terms.  Genesis was written to speak to the mysterious longings within our hearts to know the Truth about God.  In these verses, the creation story reveals the character of God and the life He offers us.  If you want to know God, you can know Him by studying the story of creation in Genesis.

On the first day, God created light.
The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.  The original Hebrew describes a place that is a wasted, worthless thing.  Darkness (in Hebrew:  ḥšeḵ) figuratively describes misery, destruction, death, or ignorance.  These things are contrary to the character of God.  One might say the creation of the universe was inevitable.  For the Creator to abide in formless, empty darkness, was as unnatural as for a rooster not to crow at the dawning of new day.  And so God said, “Let there be light: and there was light.”

This light is not necessarily the light of the sun.  It is simply light.  It is illumination.  It is the ability to see things clearly.  It is the ability to perceive.  It is the opposite of darkness, misery and ignorance.  Light is cheerfulness—as when your spirits brighten when the sun breaks through the clouds—even for just a moment-- n an overcast and gloomy day.  Light is understanding—as when a light turns on when you get a new idea.  Light is the symbol of Truth.  Not scientific information.  What God gave the world swallows up scientific information as one small part of His larger Wisdom.

Today, we think so highly of science (as if it has all the answers).  Science has only been part of our culture for a few hundred years.  We don't know what new discipline might replace science in 100 or 500 year.  But the human longing for Divine Truth has been in with us from the beginning and will last forever. 

God brings understanding and Truth.
We see something important about God’s character in the very way that Genesis tells the story.  God works systematically, day by day, to bring order out of chaos.  Day one is simply light.

Day two is the sky.  Day three is land and vegetation.  Each day, God moves to more and more complex systems until He finishes with the most complex of His creation—humanity. 
This was not a random act.  It was purposeful and ordered, because the Creator is enlightened.

It is God’s intention for you to know understanding and Truth.  When we open our lives to Him, God does the same thing for us that He did for all Creation.  God offers you understanding about your purpose in life.  God seeks to awaken you so that you live your life on purpose in an enlightened state of being.  While animals may wander the earth according to their instincts in a lower state of consciousness, you were meant to live for so much more. 

You were meant to know God.

Seeing God in Creation
Romans 1:20 says, “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

When I was a young man (18-19 years old), I moved away from home to attend college in Marietta.  I was studying to be an engineer.  For the first time, I felt I was an adult and trying to really decide what I believed about life and religion and my purpose.  I was studying a lot of science and wondering (as many young adults do) if all that I'd been taught about God and faith as a child was just myths and superstition.  Was it time for me to leave behind those outdated, childish ideas?

I thought of this often as I studied in my classes and lived the life of a college student.  One day, I was contemplating all this as I walked across the beautiful campus.  The grass was freshly cut and birds and squirrels were busy gathering their food.  And as I walked through a thin stand of pine trees, I saw a parking lot through the trees filled with cars.  And it struck me how different people are from all the other animals.  Biologically, we are the same material--flesh and blood and bone.  And yet, of all the animals on earth, we are the only ones who can take the minerals and materials from the earth fashion them together into rubber and steel and plastic and make a car with and internal combustion engine and an electrical system.  Humans are so different from the other animals; so special.  And it occured to me that it could not have come to be this way by accident.

About this time, I also read an illustration that made so much sense to me.  It told the story of a man walking along the shoreline on a beach who found a watch in the sand and he picked it up.  He came to the logical conclusion that someone was walking on the beach and dropped the watch. Now, it is true that all the elements and materials that makeup the watch are present in the ocean.  However, it would be ludicrous to think the elements naturally present in the ocean randomly and spontaneously came together in just the right way and in just the right amounts and order to accidentally form a watch.  The idea would be ludicrous and no one would believe it.  

The world is far more complex than a watch.  Yet science would have us accept that this incredibly complex and amazing world randomly and spontaneously came to be after an explosion.  The theory requires far more faith than any religion!  And so it confirmed for me that there must be Someone, Something higher and greater and beyond creation that made it all.  And these thoughts drove me to dig deeper and want to know more about this Higher Power that must be in charge of it all.  Soon, through my searching, I came to believe at the core of my being that the God of the Christian Bible is indeed the One Tre and Living God.  The realization set my feet firmly on the path of seeking Him and soon serving Him and led me to the life I live today, working as a Christian minister, living as a child of God putting all his hopes in Jesus Christ.

Invitation
The first day of spring in only 4 weeks away. I already saw a cherry blossom tree blooming yesterday.  As we see new life beginning to bloom, I challenge you to open your eyes and look for the Truth about God in nature—His invisible qualities, His divine nature, His eternal power.

Look at the birds in your yard and see the incredible creativity of a Master Craftsman who designed them.  Study your pet dog or cat, whose ancestors started out as wild predators, but now is your companion and understands you better than most people.  Contemplate how the flowers and grass grow from the warmth of the sun and live their own life while also providing food for animals and a virtual forest ecosystem for billions of tiny bugs and microorganism we never even see or consider. We literally walk by them every day without a care or thought. Yet without them, we could not exist.

And through all your observations, consider the God who made it all. 
I invite you to pray to God now and ask Him to reveal Himself to you as you study His creation.

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[i] Abell 1835 IR1916 - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_far_away_from_earth_does_the_farthest_known_star_in_the_universe_lie

[ii] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_Smallest_living_organism&isLookUp=1

[iii] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_small_is_a_grain_of_sand&isLookUp=1#Q=how%20small%20is%20a%20grain%20of%20sand

The Beautiful Mind

Introduction
Mother Teresa once taught, “Christ has no body now on earth, but yours; no hands, but yours; no feet, but yours. It is your eyes through which Christ’s compassion looks out to the world; your feet with which he must walk about doing good; your hands with which he blessed humanity; your voice with which his forgiveness is spoken; your heart with which he now loves.” 

Mother Teresa’s words are a poignant reminder to all who follow Christ as Lord that we the Church Christ established to serve as His physical presence on the earth.  When we are faithful, Christ’s love spreads and the world becomes a better place.  

If we are to represent Christ well, we must be faithful to His teachings and way of life.  For great harm is done whenever people misunderstand Christ’s teachings or intentionally misuse Christianity to further their own selfish agendas.  Therefore, it is imperative that we study and do our best to be faithful.

We enjoy so many blessings today because of the work of Christ’s Beautiful Church over the last 2,000 years.  Consider these blessing we enjoy and even take for granted today that came into being through the work of Christ’s Church: 

• Sacrificial Love as the highest virtue
• Charitable giving
• Humility as a virtue
• Peaceful protest
• Nonviolent resistance
• Abolishment of slavery
• Equal rights for women
• Civil rights
• Public Hospitals
• Care for orphans
• Child abandonment laws
• Court Appointed Attorneys
• Religious Freedom 

Today, I want to address one final blessing we have received from the Beautiful Church--the blessing of intellectual learning. 

1 Corinthians 2:13-16
¹³ When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. ¹⁴ But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. ¹⁵ Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. ¹⁶ For,

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?  Who knows enough to teach him?”  But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

Christianity and Education
When the Church is faithful to Christ, we take on the mind of Christ and we help enlighten the world with God’s wisdom and knowledge.  The Church caused the advancement of medicine, science, better government, wisdom, and education. 

In our day and age, there is a misconception that science and learning stand against Christian religion.  That is an unfortunate misunderstanding that has been perpetuated by ignorant people.  Jesus himself stated in Matthew 22:37 that the greatest commandment of all was to “…love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” 

Jesus, as a 1^st century Jew, came from a religious background that valued education and learning.  Jewish children were taught to read the Torah from an early age.  Many could recite the first 5 books of the Bible from memory and make logical arguments about their teachings.  

Jesus’ first followers were Jews that valued education. They spread their love of learning to the Christian Church--even as it spread out beyond the Jewish community to more and more gentiles.  The Christian faith always included a love for learning, because Christ’s followers believed their faith was logical and knowing God required Christians to study and learn. 

Even though the earliest Christians were mostly from the lower classes of society that tended to be uneducated, these believers were required to learn.  In order to join the early church, new converts were often required to attend 3 years of classes in the Christian faith before they were fully initiated into the Christian Church.  

One of the great attractions of the Church to common people was the opportunity to receive an education.  Education was not commonly available to the average person in ancient times.  The Christian Church valued education as a road to deeper understand of and devotion to God.  Therefore, the Church believed all people should be able to receive an education and worked diligently to provide educational opportunities for everyone—rich and poor alike. 

The earliest Christians began as a small minority in a sea of other religions that were often hostile to Christianity.  However, the early Christians refused to use violence to defend themselves or advance their cause.  Instead, Christians said, “Let’s debate the issues and let group with the most compelling arguments stand.  And over the course of 2 centuries, more and more people in the ancient Roman world—from all walks of life—found the Christian’s ideas most compelling.  And so, in the face of violent persecution, and a myriad of competing religious ideas, Christianity rose to prominence as more and more people were won over to the Christian Church by the reasoning of Christian arguments about faith in Christ.

The early Christians knew what they believed and why they believed it and they lived out their beliefs even in the face of persecution, torture, and death.  For they believed because they knew what Scripture said:

Romans 8:37 – “No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.”

1 John 4:4 – “You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

The early Christians could willingly embrace the loss of property, freedom, and even their life because they really did believe something greater was already won for them--the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal live.  This world had nothing for them.  Their hope was in the coming Kingdom of God.

 

Christians and Scripture
Christians as a people of the Book, highly valued reading and writing.  They set about recording the life and teachings of Christ, which was no small task in the ancient world.  Today, we take for granted our access to the Holy Bible.  Most Americans have multiple copies as well as access to the Bible through the internet and a computer or smartphone.  We forget the tremendous cost expended to preserve the Bible for us. 

The printing press, which automated the book printing process, was not invented until 1436.  So for 1,400 years, all books had to be copied by hand—word by word, letter by letter.  The cost of materials  and labor to manufacture a book in the first few centuries after Christ’s birth was incredible.  The cost to reproduce just one Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—was the equivalent of 30 years of wages for the common person.  How much money have you earned in the last 30 years?  That's how much one Bible would cost to produce in the first few centuries of the Church.  Consider that for just one moment...

The early Christians valued Scriptures so much they set their hands to copying them so that future generations would have these sacred words to guide our minds and our faith in what we need to know to be faithful to God through Jesus Christ.  They sacrificed the time, resources, and energy to preserve God's Word because they knew this Word holds the key to wisdom and life and eternal life. 

Early Christians were even willing to die in order to protect their sacred texts.  Two female deacons of the early church, Catalina and Micoclius, were arrested and interrogated by Roman authorities who demanded they give up their sacred texts to be burned.  Catalina and Micoclius refused to tell where the books were hidden and were therefore put to death (Bullies and Saints by John Dickson). 

One might think it a waste of human life that these two women would sacrifice their lives for the sake of a book.  However, you must understand these early Christian really believed with all their hearts what their book said—that Christ has already won the victory.  The main purpose of this life is to further the purpose of Christ coming Kingdom.  We who follow Christ have already died to our selfish ambitions, and to die a physical death for Jesus is only to begin our eternal life in Christ heavenly Kingdom.  These are not just words.  They are Truth.  Early believers were willing to sacrifice their life for the cause of Christ's Kingdom with the sure and certain knowledge that what was to come was far better than this life.

When you hold your Bible, I want you to remember the hundreds of thousands of Christians who dedicated their lives and livelihoods to preserving the words of these texts so you can read them today.  It was a tremendous sacrifice they willingly made. 

The early Christians efforts were not limited only to Christian texts.  They also believed other important documents of classic learning should be preserved as well.  The reason we know so much about philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, (as well as other important ancient texts) is because the early Christians preserved their ideas by copying their texts and teaching their philosophies through the centuries.

Christians love for learning flourished even more after the Roman Empire officially converted to Christianity.  With the support of the Empire, Christians were able to establish great institutes of learning that helped advance government, science, medicine, writing, wisdom, philosophy, and mathematics.  Ironically, the so called “dark ages”, which modern enlightenment thinkers like to blame on the Christian Church, was not caused by the Church.  Rather, it was caused by the collapse of civilization with the fall of the Roman Empire and its Christian institutions of learning. 

Christian Scientists
Christian education and love for learning inspired scientific discovery throughout the ages.  In fact, the most influential scientist during the enlightenment period were Christians.  Their love of God and desire to know Him and His creation inspired them to delve deeply into scientific investigation to discover the mysteries of God’s universe.  A list of Christian scientists included such lauded scientific pioneers as:

Galileo Galilei, who discovered the earth revolves around the sun.

Robert Boyle, who defined elements, compounds, and mixtures and the first gas law.  Boyle said that a deeper understanding of science was a higher glorification of God.

Isaac Newton was a passionate Christian who spent more time on Bible study than math and physics. Newton profoundly changed our understanding of nature with his law of universal gravitation and his laws of motion; invented calculus; built the first ever reflecting telescope; showed sunlight is made of all the colors of the rainbow.

Michael Faraday was a devout member and elder of the Sandemanian Church. Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction; discovered the first experimental link between light and magnetism; carried out the first room-temperature liquefaction of a gas.

Werner Heisenberg was a Lutheran with deep Christian convictions and the primary creators of quantum mechanics who formulated the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

Louis Pasteur was a Christian, a biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation and pasteurization. 

These scientists and countless others believed deeply in Jesus Christ and were faithful members of His Church.  Their love of learning and the drive to search the mysteries of God’s creation were not deterred, but rather enhanced, by their faith in God.   

Conclusion
The Christian faith challenges us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  God gave us our intellect as a tool to help us know Him better and to bring His heavenly Kingdom upon the earth.

Therefore, let us not shy away from learning.  But let us join with Christians from throughout the centuries who have helped make our world a better place by promoting education and intellectual pursuits for the glory of God.  Let us rebuke the slanderous idea that the Church is only for the ignorant and unlearned.  Let us show the atheist that true knowledge comes from God through Christ. Furthermore, let us be eternally grateful to God and His Church for the incredible contributions over the centuries that have made our world a better place. 

Communion and Welch’s Grape Juice
I want to end my message with a true story about a man named Thomas Bramwell Welch.  Welch (1825-1903) was a British–American Methodist minister and dentist. He pioneered the use of pasteurization as a means of preventing the fermentation of grape juice.  This grape juice, which millions enjoy today, was not practically available before Welch use pioneered a way to pasteurize it (using an adapted method created by Louis Pasteur).  Prior to Welch and the advent of refrigeration, grape juice would turn to wine within a few days due to natural yeast found in the air.  

During the 1800s and early 1900s, churches were fighting against an epidemic of alcoholism and encouraging Christians to abstain from drinking alcohol.  However, at Sunday morning communion services, the Church had no option but to use alcoholic wine for their sacrament.  Welch wanted to provide the Church with a non-alcoholic option for the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Welch's grape juice, pasteurized to prevent fermentation, was the solution.  When sales to churches were low, the graoe juice was made available for general use to the public for secular consumption.  Sales skyrocketed and Welch's grape juice is one of the most common brands available in grocery stores today.  However, the grape juice we love so much, was originally intended for sacred use.  

In my church, we use grape juice for Holy Communion.  Whether it uses real wine or Welch’s grape juice, the red color of the beverage is a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for us, shedding His precious blood to atone for our sins.  The sacrament also reminds us that Jesus is here with us in spirit even now.  His presence nourishes us and strengthens us to be His Church, joining with the countless saints who have gone before us.  When we are faithful to Jesus--the Way, the Truth, and the Life--we are the Church, Jesus physical presence on earth.  

So, let's be His feet going. 
Let us be His hands serving. 
Let us speak His words of truth.
Let us offer His grace, love,  and forgiveness.

 

The Beautiful Image

Preface
This message series was inspired by a book I read last year by an enlightening book by James Dickson I read last year titled Bullies and Saints.

Introduction
When the Church is true to Christ, we are His body, the perfect image of God. Our respect for the image of God means all human life is sacred and must be respected equally.  This helped change the way people are treated and is still changing hearts and minds today. 

Unfortunately, the Church has not always represented Christ well.  When we misunderstand Christ’s teachings or use religion to pursue our own selfish ambitions, we distort the beautiful image of Christ.  But we shouldn’t judge Jesus or His teachings by those who fail to follow them.  Instead, let us consider how the Church makes the world radically better when it was faithful to Christ’s teachings.  And let us resolve to set aside our own selfish ambitions, take up our cross daily, and follow Christ. 

The Ancient Value of Human Life
In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jeferson penned the beautiful, revolutionary idea that “…all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  America's founding fathers didn’t pluck these ideas out of thin air.  They actually gleaned them from Biblical Christian teaching.  Jewish and Christian sacred texts hold that all people bear the image of God, and thus, we are all loved by God and sacred to Him. 

In our times, we take for granted that all human life is sacred.  People did not always believe this way.  In fact, ancient societies did not believe it at all.  Kings, Pharaohs, and Caesars were sometimes thought to be the image of God, but not ordinary people and especially not children, the elderly, slaves, or the infirm. 

Here's an example.  In 1 BC, a Roman soldier named Hilarion stationed away from home wrote a letter to his pregnant wife to say if the baby was a boy she should keep it. But if the baby was a girl, she must “throw it out.”[i]  What’s even more striking is Hilarion mentions this in passing.  It’s not even the main point of the letter.  The life of the child—which we hold to be sacred and worthy of all dignity, respect, and protection—was just a thing to be kept or discarded and mentioned as nonchalantly as if it were instructions about throwing out of an unneeded and worn-out rug.

Hilarion's letter seems callous and cruel to us.  We would arrest anyone today who acted that way.  However, people in Hilarion’s day would not have thought he was being cruel or immoral.  This was what was expected of good citizens.  It was actually considered a danger to society to keep unwanted or disabled children. 

It was common practice in the ancient world for families to “expose” unwanted or deformed children.  Exposure meant parents simply left the child outside and let it die of exposure to the elements.  Ironically, people who were too soft-hearted to do their “civic duty” were seen as weak or uncivilized.  Aristotle—the great, Greek philosopher lauded by historians and scholars today—recommended there should be a law "to prevent the rearing of deformed children."[ii] 

This practice seems horrific and evil to us today, but suppose you were somehow transported back in time to Hilarion’s time to convince him not to throw out his unwanted daughter.  What argument would you make?

You might say, “It’s cruel and immoral.”

Hilarion and his neighbors would counter that it was cruel to let an unwanted child live, that it weakened society, that the child had no useful purpose, and that it would be an unnecessary drain on the family and society.  

You see, in the ancient, non-Christian, non-Jewish world, people believed a person's worth was based upon it’s capacity (or potential) to contribute to the family and society.  A person or a child who with little or nothing to offer had no intrinsic value.  Non-religious people today struggle to make an effective argument against this.  Why do people have value if not for what they provide?  Why is human life sacred if someone does not accept the reality of religious sacredness? 

Our outrage in modern times at the exposure of an infant reveals that modern people have a very different fundamental belief that all life is sacred—especially the life of a helpless infant.  We feel compelled to stand up for the weak and vulnerable and voiceless.  Where do we get this urge?

The answer is found in Scripture.  Right back at the very beginning of the Christian story of faith, we see that God instilled sacred value in human life.

Genesis 1:27
So God created human beings[a] in his own image.
    In the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 tells us that every person is created in the image of God.   And throughout Scripture, we are reminded to respect and protect people because they bear God’s image.  God loves them and we are to love and respect people too.  The reason we don’t murder is because people are made in God’s image and to take another person’s life is an attack on God Himself.  Genesis 9:6 says, “If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.”  

Thankfully, the civilized world no longer “exposes” unwanted children.  The reason is Jesus came and showed us the perfect image of God and established the Church to carry out His mission on earth.  And for 2,000 years, the Church has been working to transform the way the world thinks.  So many of the blessings we enjoy today started with Christ and came to fruition through His Church.  Consider: 

The Blessings We Have Because of the Church

Because of the Church, we have laws forbidding the abandonment of children.  The Christian Church led the Roman Empire to establish a law forbidding the exposure of the of unwanted children.

Because of the Church, we have orphanages.  The Christian Church founded the first orphanages and foster care systems to take care of unwanted children.  How many millions of people are alive today because the church rescued unwanted children who would have otherwise been abandoned or exposed?

Because of the Church, we have public hospitals.  The early Church invented public hospitals where everyone—rich and poor alike—could receive care because we are all equally sacred to and loved by God.  Christians believed all people should be cared for when they are sick because they are made in the image of God.  Before the Church era, the infirm, elderly, deformed and outcast (especially those that were poor) were disposable and often abandoned because they could not contribute to society.  Christians changed this—establishing the first hospitals, monasteries to care for widows, and rest homes for the elderly.

Because of the Church, we had the abolition of slavery.  Church teaching led to the ending of slavery.  Early Christians frequently purchased freedom for slaves or rescued them by other means.  Eventually, Christians led the fight to abolish slavery in Europe and then America. You can’t own someone as property, because they are made in the image of God.  Their life is sacred to God who made them to be free and only under the authority of One Master—God.  

Because of the Church, we have free legal representation.  Today in America, you have the right to an attorney.  If you can’t afford an attorney, the court will appoint one to serve you for free.  Do you know who started that?  The early Church started this practice because they said “Everyone is equal in the eyes of God and deserves equal justice, whether rich or poor.”  The justice system in ancient Rome was very corrupt and favored the rich who could afford court fees, bribes, and expensive legal representation.  The Christian Church stepped in to level the playing field--paying court fees and advocating for the poor so they would receive equal justice.  Later, the Roman Empire adopted the same practice to ensure equal justice for rich and poor.  This practice has been handed down to America today.

So we see, these are just a few of the example of how Christ’s Church has beautifully transformed our world in countless ways that we take for granted.  Even people who are not Christians today (or who would never set foot inside a church) benefit from these blessings faithful Christians normalized in our world.  

Of course, the Church has not always been faithful to Christ’s example & teachings.  And it is very destructive when people stray from Christ and use religion for their own selfish gain.  We must always be on guard, realizing the image of God in us is broken and distorted by sin.  We do not naturally do the right thing.  That is why Christ had to come—as the perfect image of God—to atone for our sin and set our feet back on the right path.

Colossians 1:15-20

¹⁵ Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
¹⁶ for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
¹⁷ He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
¹⁸ Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.
    So he is first in everything.
¹⁹ For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
²⁰ and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

 

Join Christ’s Mission to Save the World

When the Church is true to Christ, we are His body, the perfect image of God.  Our respect for the image of God means all human life is sacred and must be respected equally.  This helps change the way people are treated and is still changing hearts and minds today.

 

We have much work left to do.  Look around at the world and see there is still so much suffering and injustice and oppression.  The answer is not found in human reasoning, a college degree, politics, government programs, or nation building.  The answer is Christ.

 

We must surrender.  We must recognize we are not our own and cannot live however we please.  We must recognize Jesus is Lord.  We must repent of our sin and pledge our lives and livelihood to Him and Him alone.  Then, we must be faithful and follow Jesus.  We must be the Church He calls us to be—which Colossians 1:18 says in Christ’s body.  Rise up men and women of faith!

 

And so I plead with you today.  

Turn from your sins and turn to Jesus.  

A world without Christ is a very dark place and a life without Christ ends in eternal death and damnation.  Turn to Jesus and be saved.  Serve the Lord and help save the world.

It’s as simple as that.

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[i] https://sententiaeantiquae.com/2018/07/15/if-it-is-a-girl-a-letter-about-child-exposure/

[ii] https://mn.gov/mnddc/parallels/one/3.html