Giving is the Good Life Pt. 2
Speaker: Pastor Pierre du Plessis
Read: Genesis 1:1, 2:15, 3:16-17; Acts 17:28; Ephesians 2:10; Colossians 1:16; James 2:17
Sermon Reflection Questions:
1. What resonated with you as you listened to this sermon and reviewed it?
2. It was said that if the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable. Consider abusive situations you have seen in the world and discuss how the true purpose was not known or honored.
3. God’s blueprint for man includes an operating manual and safety warnings. What are ways the manual tells us to operate? What are some warnings we are given?
4. Read Genesis 1:28. Look up the words “subdue” and have “dominion. ” Describe in your own words what God is commanding us to do. What are specific ways we can carry out God’s assignment of caring for the creation and created things?
5. How do you think the desire for elevation and superiority is illustrated in our world today?
6. It was said that in God’s design of all things, everything has a purpose of giving and receiving and that when something stops doing either, decay is inevitable. What are some ways that you feel you are called to give and receive?
7. In your own words, how is the “good life” being defined in this sermon?
Sermon Recap:
We have learned that God is the architect of our lives and His blueprint shows how we are to operate. He has created everything, including us, to have a purpose, meaning and interconnectivity to all other things. He also created us in His own image and likeness, and as such, we are to be a reflection of Him, but not a duplication. We are to be like Him in appearance and actions. God is a working God who continues to be active every day. Likewise, God expects us to be working people. He assigned us the tasks of serving and watching over the rest of creation. We are to work in partnership with Him to bring forth fruitfulness and multiplication. That which we receive from God we are to pass forward to build and care for creation and created things. In essence the blueprint for man’s existence is to work with God to serve others out of royal love. However, Satan perverted Adam and Eve’s understanding of God’s blueprint and it led to their sin and the fall on mankind. His temptation implied that they could be elevated to actually be like God, whereby they could dominate all creation and not be required to serve or do the undesirable or menial tasks of administering the world. Consequently, God cursed that which Satan had targeted: man’s future efforts of work. Women would experience hard work or labor in childbirth bringing forth the next generation, and men would experience hard labor while producing for his needs. This mentality and desire for elevation and superiority still exists today as is evident in classism, sexism, racism and prejudice in our society. Many have accepted the way of the broken world as normal and it is in their DNA to be selfish, to take and receive, rather than to give. But God has not changed His plan. He invites us into an upside-down kingdom where His wisdom is diametrically opposed to that of the world. When we enter His kingdom, we are to believe and commit to His principles and let our actions be the true indicator of these beliefs. He sent His Son to bring us back to His original design. Through redemption, He is beckoning us back to serving and caring for creation and other people. He calls us back to a “good life” which means that we are to re-join the royal partnership with God and carry out His original plan even in a broken world. Living such radical lives will certainly confuse the world, but will bring glory and honor to God.
