This is the first of three parts to a recent series I shared at New Hope. I used a great deal from Gregory Boyd’s book in this series. I do not agree with Boyd on his open theism stance but this book is very compelling.
God is pro choice?!? It is an interesting thought isn’t it? Actually I first heard this mentioned by Amanda Wagner. Amanda is a thoughtful person who looks at things from a unique perspective. It is true though God is pro choice. When God created men and women He gave them free moral agent, or choice. This choice is the greatest challenge and opportunity of our lives. The choice we make has everything to do with life. But lets go back to the beginning to look at this closer.
In the beginning God… Before creation there was God. He was the same as He is now. God is immutable, that is he never changes. (See Hebrews 13:8) So the triune God was full of glory and love as now. I am sure God enjoyed being God. In the fullness of God there was incredible love shared between the Father, Son and Spirit. Their communion was sweet. And the glory of God was incredible. God was good, perfect, lovely and right. This glory needed to be revealed this love needed to be expressed. Love needs a recipient. So God created. The heavens and earth would reveal God’s glory and though God saw all of His creation and He said it is good. After creating man and woman God looked on creation and saw it to be very good. Why was there a different evaluation between the ‘good’ that God saw in nature and the ‘very good’ that He saw after man and woman were created? I believe the difference was that man and woman could experience love. The other creatures could not experience this love. So what is the difference between these creatures and man and woman? Man and woman are given choice. Adam and Eve could choose to live in God’s love or not. The other creatures were not given this ‘free moral agent’.
This choice is huge! For Adam and Eve the choice was a matter of life and death. It is a matter of life and death for us as well today. I love a particular scene from Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. After managing his way into the room where the ‘holy grail’ is, having overcome many deathly challenges Indy is confronted with the choice of which chalice is the actual ‘holy grail’. The rival in the film insists on choosing first. After taking a drink from the cup he shrivels into bones and dust and the ancient knight guarding the chalice says, “He chose poorly.” If we choose poorly we will surely die. This is what God told Adam
6 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 of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:6-7)
The choice that Adam and Eve were given was a choice of life and death. Let me set the scene a little more. God created a beautiful garden, Eden. Adam and Eve were placed in this garden were all of their needs were met. They could eat of any tree. They got to name animals, and best of all they got to share in divine fellowship with God. He would come and walk with them in the cool of the evening. Everything was provided for them. And they could eat of the tree of life. They were innocent. They were stress free. But then came the choice.
Now this choice was different than what many of us think about when we look to this historic time. This choice would alter the cause of men and women for eternity. It is important that we not only answer the question right but we must answer the right question. A professor of mine told of a time when he took an intelligence test in high school. The problem was that he got the answer sheet mixed up and he was actually answering the wrong question. He said the result was he came out with the intelligence of dirt. His well-meaning counselor directed him towards careers that required little or no cognitive ability. All of this was a result of him answering the wrong question. Obviously if he became my professor he had some other life changing events to over-rule this test.
I wonder how many times we chart a life path that is off base not because we answered the question wrong, rather we answered the wrong question.
Adam and Eve were in the garden when the serpent came and asked Eve what God really said. He began the conversation by setting seeds of doubt in Eve’s heart and mind about God and His nature. Let’s look at the account in Genesis 3
The Fall of Man
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 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.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Did you notice the subtlty of the serpent? His questions go to the very nature of God. “Did God really say?” “You will not die!” “You will be like God!” The question and the temptation is not between good and evil. The choice is wether we will rely on God or try to be God.
I posted the graphic on my facebook a few weeks ago. It was amazing to see the comments that were put up. One of the first was, “The choice is between good and evil right?” That is the common assumption. We think that our choice is between good and evil and of course we should choose that which is good. The choice however is more fundamental than that. One tree was the tree of life, the other tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So even though it was warped the serpent said it. He told Eve that they could choose to be like God, knowing good and evil or she could choose to trust God. One tree offered life with God supplying needs. It offered continued fellowship with God. The other tree promised the right to decide for ourself what is good and evil. One tree offered life the other judgment. And Adam and Eve chose to determine on their own what was good and what was evil. When they chose to enter the realm of judgment they passed from life to death.
This is the fundamental choice that I have been referring to. Our choice is like Adam and Eves. We can choose to be the judges of good and evil or we can choose to live under God’s choice. Where we have gotten it wrong most of the time is we have lived a life arguing what is right and what is wrong. We have chosen to be the judge according to our reading of scriptures or denial of scripture. But as we have become judges we also have moved into judgment.
Luke 6
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Being like God is not all it was cracked up to be. It was true that when Adam and Eve ate of the tree they would be able to determine what they felt was good and evil, but they did it without the character and wisdom of God. They recognized rightly that they were naked and so they fashioned for themselves clothing. They were not good at that what they made had to be scratchy. What if the accidently would have chosen poisin ivy? Their innocence was lost. Now they were judges and they were found to be lacking.
When man and woman decided they wanted to be god they lost fellowship with God. They hid.
When man and woman decided they wanted to be god they quickly turned to blame. They blamed the serpent (3:13). They blamed each other (3:12). They even blamed God (3:12).
Since the problem was greater than just doing right or wrong the solution had to be more than just right living or following the right rules. See this is the problem most of mankind’s searching to be made right has centered on doing the right thing or not doing the wrong things. It has been a search for which fruit to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The real problem is we need to eat from a different tree. However we can’t go on like we never ate from the judgment tree. Because judgment demands a verdict.
So there entered another tree. This tree was the one that Jesus would choose. It is the way of the cross. On this tree Jesus took upon himself all the punishment for the sins of men and women and paid the price. What made this tree even effective however was the way in which Jesus died. Jesus humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
Listen Jesus
6 Who, being in very naturea God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very natureb of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:6-11)
You see the one who was God became flesh and then did not think that living in judgment was the way to live. He laid aside that which Adam and Eve and you and I grasped. He chose to live and die in love rather than in judgment. And this act became the way for us to move from the tree of judgment to the tree of life.
Our choice then is to quit trying to rule, run and judge our way through life. Our choice is to allow God to be the center of the garden not judgment. Our choice is to trust that God is enough. When Adam and Eve chose to eat of the forbidden tree they were making a statement about all that God had given. They were saying that it was not enough in their eyes. The result was they would be turned to a life of struggle and stress. When we choose to be our own masters or when we choose to follow any man made system to please God our the rules we think are right we subjigate ourselves to a life of stress. On the other hand when we choose to live trusting God, His Word and His judgment we are freed from the curse and the stress of living in this world. We are set free to live and love even as God lives and loves.
So today, you choose. You determine if you will continue on with your life centered on yourself or on God and his provision.
A few weeks ago I was reading an article about a pastor in Ft Worth, Texas. He told of a time that God asked Him the question, “Am I enough?” That question has echoed in my heart since then. So many times choose wrong attitudes wrong actions. Too many times I have put myself at the center of the garden. Each time I do that I am telling God He is not enough. And every time I give into that temptation I move from life and love to stress and judgment. So today I choose not to eat of the tree of judgment. I choose to eat of the tree of life. I choose to believe that God is true to His Word. I choose to believe that He is making right decisions for me. I choose to be free from being the centter. I choose to make Jesus the center of my life. I choose to let His life bring me life, and that life is a life of love.
New Hope 