WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.599 Well, like it or not, if you look at the movie listings in any given point over the last couple of years, you'll notice a trend. 00:00:11.200 --> 00:00:16.440 And that is that most of the movies, or many of the movies being made now, are superhero movies. 00:00:17.019 --> 00:00:22.740 And you're either very excited about this or you are very fearful for the future of the moviemaking industry. 00:00:23.219 --> 00:00:24.480 But either way, it's true. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:37.880 And one of the interesting things about this incredibly popular genre of movie is that there's a kind of subplot or a subgenre of the superhero movie that seems to be the most popular. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.740 And that's what you might call the origin story. 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:47.780 And if you know anything about these kinds of plots, the origin story is based on a premise. 00:00:48.219 --> 00:00:53.799 And that is that to truly understand this superhero or this character, you have to understand their origin. 00:00:53.799 --> 00:00:58.439 And so the origin story tells you how the hero came to be. 00:00:58.959 --> 00:01:01.699 It's the story of the creation of the hero. 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:11.239 And the idea is that if you understand the circumstances through which the hero came into being, the creation, then you understand the purpose. 00:01:12.200 --> 00:01:18.859 So you have Batman who, as a child, as Bruce Wayne watches his mom and dad be murdered by criminals. 00:01:18.859 --> 00:01:28.599 And so that helps make sense of his purpose as he becomes Batman as an adult and wages a one-man war against crime. 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:30.539 That's the origin story. 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:41.580 The first book of the Bible, Genesis, as we call it, and really the first three chapters of the book of Genesis. 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:46.260 So when you open your Bible, this is the first thing you're going to come to after the table of contents. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:53.840 This section of Scripture is the origin story of the world. 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.980 It's the origin story of us and of everything that has been made. 00:02:00.380 --> 00:02:05.000 What's interesting is when you bring up Genesis these days, when you bring up the creation story, 00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:11.219 often the first association that people have is they think of the creation-evolution debate. 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:13.840 They think of science versus faith. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:20.780 They think of all of the tension and all of the ink that has been spilled and maybe in some ways the blood that has been spilled, 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:24.759 debating science and faith and creation and evolution. 00:02:26.480 --> 00:02:34.740 That's because we read the story of Genesis through modern eyes or with a modernist lens. 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:40.800 In other words, when we read the creation story, we want to understand the how of it. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.080 We want to know how the material stuff came to be. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:45.100 What was the process? 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:55.500 I've heard some good teaching on this before from people, some of my great influences, 00:02:55.700 --> 00:02:58.939 people like Tim Keller who's even influenced the way I've thought about this evening. 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:01.340 But I've also heard a lot of bad teaching. 00:03:01.920 --> 00:03:07.400 And one of the things that you notice is that a lot of the misunderstandings of Genesis 00:03:07.400 --> 00:03:09.880 come from the fact that we're reading it through the wrong lens. 00:03:09.879 --> 00:03:17.799 The ancients, not just the ancient Hebrews, but the ancient Babylonians, the Sumerians, 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:22.979 the other people groups from which we read creation stories, 00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:26.340 none of them were concerned with the how. 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:28.599 They weren't concerned with the science. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:30.099 They weren't concerned with the process. 00:03:30.359 --> 00:03:33.280 Somebody that's done a lot of great work on this is a man named John Walton. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:41.099 And he's proved, and I think pretty conclusively, that when the ancients, whether we're looking 00:03:41.099 --> 00:03:46.840 at the Genesis story or any of the other creation stories, they weren't concerned with the how, 00:03:46.939 --> 00:03:48.439 but they were concerned with the why. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.460 In other words, creation stories are all about function. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:03:55.599 They're all about purpose. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:00.180 If you wanted to understand your life, if you want to understand your world, if you want to understand 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:07.099 the current contemporary issues of your day, you went to the creation story to understand 00:04:07.099 --> 00:04:09.299 why things are the way they are. 00:04:09.400 --> 00:04:10.819 How did we get here? 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.419 That's true throughout the ancient Near East. 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:18.199 And it's very true when we look at the story of Genesis. 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:26.740 So if we today want to understand who we are, why we're here, what life is about, if we want 00:04:26.740 --> 00:04:32.159 to make sense of things like racism or justice, if we want to understand our work and vocation, 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:37.319 if we want to understand our relationship to the environment and the cosmos around us, 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:43.199 if we want to understand complex issues like sex and gender and marriage, if we want to make 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:49.079 sense of any of these things today, the Bible says we need to go back to our origin story. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:57.099 And there we will find the foundations of all of these things. 00:04:57.980 --> 00:05:03.740 And we will begin to understand why they're here and what they're for. 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:07.379 And that's what Genesis is all about, these first few chapters. 00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:12.199 And so we're starting a series that's going to take us all the way through the season of 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:18.819 Advent, essentially to Christmas, looking at the first three to four chapters of Genesis. 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:24.000 And it's called Foundations, for all the reasons that I just said. 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:29.959 And so tonight, as a kind of introduction to this series, we're going to start by just looking 00:05:29.959 --> 00:05:33.980 at the first four words of the Bible. 00:05:34.980 --> 00:05:37.699 In the beginning, God. 00:05:39.039 --> 00:05:41.500 In the beginning, God. 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:42.659 Let's pray. 00:05:46.479 --> 00:05:55.519 Father, such few words, but almost infinite implications. 00:05:58.019 --> 00:06:03.599 Lord, we're humbled by our own inadequacy to understand or make sense of these great issues. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:14.280 Father, we're still to make sense of you or ourselves or this world. 00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:20.980 And yet we know that you have come and promised to reveal these things to us. 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:23.939 And that you primarily do that through your son. 00:06:24.580 --> 00:06:33.780 And so we ask that your reality, Father, would be made known to us in your son by the power of your spirit. 00:06:34.580 --> 00:06:41.800 And we ask this because we know that you desire that we would know you and that you've promised to speak to us. 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:44.000 So it's in your son's name that we pray. 00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:44.439 Amen. 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:44.560 Amen. 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:49.719 So first of all, I'll just read our passage. 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:52.040 In the beginning, God. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:54.579 Thus ends the reading of God's word. 00:06:54.579 --> 00:06:57.759 What is this telling us? 00:06:58.339 --> 00:06:59.300 There you go. 00:07:00.459 --> 00:07:01.800 What does this tell us? 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:05.479 What it essentially tells us is this. 00:07:05.560 --> 00:07:14.459 Is that before the beginning, in other words, before anything was, before anything existed, there was God. 00:07:14.459 --> 00:07:19.319 That God is the only thing that exists that has no beginning. 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:22.359 That God is the only thing that exists that always was. 00:07:22.479 --> 00:07:30.539 Before time, before space, before matter and energy, before the tiniest quantum particle came into being, there was God. 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:40.860 And the implication of this is that everything that exists, everything that is, finds its origin in God. 00:07:40.980 --> 00:07:47.860 So everything that exists can be traced back to God and his original intention when he made it. 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:55.960 So Blaise Pascal understood the enormity of this truth. 00:07:55.959 --> 00:08:07.539 In his pensées, which is, you know, after his conversion, he began to accumulate and to write thoughts that he hoped to turn into a great work. 00:08:08.099 --> 00:08:10.419 He died, sadly, before he completed it. 00:08:10.479 --> 00:08:15.939 And so they were, all of these thoughts were gathered into the work that we now call the pensées. 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:20.420 And in this, he contemplates this reality. 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:28.199 And he says, essentially, that what we believe about this fact determines everything else. 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:31.519 Are we just cosmic accidents? 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:37.919 Or are we divinely designed for a purpose? 00:08:38.100 --> 00:08:41.259 And he says, however we answer that question, that determines everything else. 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:50.840 He writes, it is impossible to take one step with sense and judgment unless we regulate our course by our view on this point. 00:08:51.759 --> 00:09:00.960 So these four words, in the beginning God, what you believe about those words will determine everything else in your life and in our society and in our culture. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.399 I know this is a huge claim. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:05.059 And you might wonder why. 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:07.460 How could it possibly be so important? 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:12.620 What difference does it make whether we believe we were created by God or just cosmic accidents? 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:17.340 We live in a society where religious beliefs are largely seen as private matters. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:20.860 Why can't you believe in no God and I believe in a God? 00:09:20.920 --> 00:09:22.759 And why should it matter one way or another? 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:31.120 I want to give you an example to maybe help clarify what Pascal and so many other people have seen about this fact and its implications. 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:37.580 This application or this example is actually coming from Jean-Paul Sartre. 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:41.500 And he uses an example that involves a pen knife. 00:09:41.580 --> 00:09:44.360 I'm going to update it a little bit and I'm going to talk about an iPhone. 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:47.759 So this is adapted from him. 00:09:48.039 --> 00:09:50.860 But take a look at this phone for just an example. 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:58.759 Now if I were to ask you if this is a good phone, how would you answer? 00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:02.379 What would you base your answer on? 00:10:03.740 --> 00:10:08.080 See if you look at this phone, you can tell that it was made for a purpose. 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:08.819 Right? 00:10:09.259 --> 00:10:21.019 You can tell that in other words when somebody made this, it's inconceivable that somebody would have made this without already having some sense of the purpose for which they were making it. 00:10:21.019 --> 00:10:28.720 So the very fact of its existence means that the maker had some sense of its purpose. 00:10:30.519 --> 00:10:34.079 No one would make something like this without knowing what it was for. 00:10:34.199 --> 00:10:36.120 Now think about human beings. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:43.860 If human beings have been created, if God made human beings, then he made us for a purpose. 00:10:44.720 --> 00:10:51.879 In other words, our sheer existence, if God created us, is evidence that before we were created there was some purpose for our creation. 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:55.659 Some reason, some design, some intention behind it. 00:10:55.659 --> 00:11:01.759 And Sartre, who was an avowed atheist, says this. 00:11:01.819 --> 00:11:08.919 He says, if you reject the idea of God, and if you reject the idea that God has created all of this, 00:11:09.779 --> 00:11:19.360 then you also have to let go of any absolute ultimate standard of good and evil, or of right and wrong. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:23.379 So I come back to this question, how do we know this is a good phone? 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:27.500 Well, in order for me to tell you whether or not it's a good phone, I have to know what it's for. 00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:34.200 So if I were to dial right now and make a phone call, and the call goes through, and the quality is reasonably clear, 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:36.539 I would hang up and I would say, yeah, it's a pretty good phone. 00:11:37.680 --> 00:11:40.680 But what if I tried to use it to hammer a nail into a piece of wood? 00:11:41.779 --> 00:11:43.899 Or what if I tried to use it to open a beer bottle? 00:11:44.600 --> 00:11:49.259 Or what if I tried to use it to hold my tires so I could change it flat on the highway? 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:55.899 If I tried to do any of these things, would I in the same way say, yeah, it's good? 00:11:56.779 --> 00:11:57.940 No, probably not. 00:11:58.240 --> 00:11:59.680 I'd probably destroy my phone. 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:06.740 The only way we can know if something is good or bad is if we understand its purpose. 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:10.639 And in the same way, if human beings are not created, 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:18.560 if they're not created by some ultimate being, then they have no ultimate purpose. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:28.539 And if that's the case, it really becomes more and more impossible to say anything that we do is good or bad or right or wrong with any ultimate sense. 00:12:29.659 --> 00:12:31.139 So Sartre says this, he says, 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:38.179 There can no longer be any good a priori, since there is no infinite and perfect consciousness to think it. 00:12:39.319 --> 00:12:46.059 It is nowhere written that the good exists, that one must be honest or must not lie, 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:49.120 since we're now upon the plane where there are only men. 00:12:49.120 --> 00:12:54.259 Dostoevsky once wrote, if God did not exist, everything would be permitted. 00:12:55.220 --> 00:12:59.899 And that, for existentialism, for which he was a proponent, atheist existentialism, 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:02.240 is the starting point. 00:13:02.919 --> 00:13:06.120 Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist. 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:09.820 Everything is permitted if God does not exist. 00:13:09.940 --> 00:13:14.000 So if you reject the idea of God, Sartre would say that you need to suck it up, 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:17.340 which is a big point in this essay that he wrote. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:20.960 He's essentially saying, here's where all the other atheists got it wrong. 00:13:21.039 --> 00:13:24.879 They tried to reject the idea of God, but hold on to some sense of a moral fabric. 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:28.399 And he says, no, we can't have it both ways. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:32.840 If you want to reject the idea of God, which he was totally for, he says you've got to suck it up 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:37.600 and let go of any sense that there is any absolute right and wrong in the world, 00:13:37.699 --> 00:13:38.699 because there's not. 00:13:39.860 --> 00:13:43.319 Or, as Friedrich Nietzsche said, Nietzsche said, 00:13:43.579 --> 00:13:45.220 you have your way, I have my way. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.199 As for the right way, it does not exist. 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:50.620 Or as Richard Dawkins famously said, 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:53.220 humans have always wondered about the meaning of life. 00:13:53.740 --> 00:13:58.079 Life has no higher purpose than to perpetuate the survival of DNA. 00:13:58.399 --> 00:14:02.240 Life has no design, no purpose, no evil, and no good. 00:14:02.539 --> 00:14:04.860 Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. 00:14:06.439 --> 00:14:09.179 So for Sartre and the rest, this means freedom. 00:14:10.199 --> 00:14:11.079 This is freedom. 00:14:12.139 --> 00:14:16.279 Because freedom comes when we reject the idea of any and all absolutes. 00:14:16.819 --> 00:14:20.439 And instead, we are then free to determine right and wrong, 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:22.779 good and bad, meaning and purpose for ourselves. 00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.779 And each person is, in this view, rendered free by that. 00:14:26.779 --> 00:14:29.980 So the sooner we get rid of God, the better. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.679 And I know that maybe there are some of you here who hear this, 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:35.079 and this sounds good to you. 00:14:36.379 --> 00:14:38.159 And maybe you'll leave tonight, and you'll think, 00:14:38.259 --> 00:14:40.039 I'm so glad that that was brought up. 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:41.899 That's how I've thought all along. 00:14:41.899 --> 00:14:46.399 I can't believe anybody today thinks that there is actually a God. 00:14:46.480 --> 00:14:50.039 I think belief in God is infantile and idiotic. 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:52.279 And I think it's bad for society. 00:14:52.459 --> 00:14:55.860 And I think the sooner that we can eradicate belief in God from our society, 00:14:55.980 --> 00:14:57.279 the better off we'll all be. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.379 And you say, this is how I think, and I'm even more convinced of that now. 00:15:00.439 --> 00:15:02.279 And you can think that, and you can walk out of here, 00:15:02.419 --> 00:15:03.379 and that's your takeaway. 00:15:03.379 --> 00:15:06.939 But then you get to the bike rack, 00:15:07.460 --> 00:15:09.860 and you realize that somebody stole your bike. 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:12.659 What are you going to say? 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:15.279 That's wrong. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:17.279 That's wrong that they stole my bike. 00:15:17.320 --> 00:15:19.000 I can't believe somebody would steal my bike. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.340 And you know what you're really saying? 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:23.700 In the beginning, God. 00:15:25.500 --> 00:15:26.600 That's what you're really saying. 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:28.379 Now, some of you might object, and you might say, 00:15:28.379 --> 00:15:34.000 well, I don't need to believe in God to believe that it's wrong for somebody to take my bike. 00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:35.659 And technically, you're right. 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.460 Human beings can believe in right and wrong. 00:15:39.559 --> 00:15:42.220 We can believe that there is right and there is wrong. 00:15:42.439 --> 00:15:43.639 We don't need God for that. 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:47.240 But who's to say that your standard is any more true than my standard? 00:15:48.779 --> 00:15:51.340 Who's to say that your standard is the one we should live by? 00:15:51.439 --> 00:15:52.299 Why not my standard? 00:15:53.259 --> 00:15:55.820 In other words, there's no foundation for those beliefs. 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:57.639 You can believe what you want about right and wrong, 00:15:57.639 --> 00:15:58.740 but where is it grounded? 00:15:58.879 --> 00:15:59.539 Where is it founded? 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:04.199 And how are we to evaluate your standard versus my standard? 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:05.740 There's no way to do that. 00:16:07.240 --> 00:16:10.399 So imagine that you see the guy riding off with your bike. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:11.980 And you say, I'm going to get him. 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:14.139 And you take off, and you're running, and you're really fast. 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:16.120 And somehow, he's not able to get away. 00:16:16.199 --> 00:16:17.299 And you corner him in an alley. 00:16:17.480 --> 00:16:18.500 And you say, I got you. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:20.360 And he can't get anywhere. 00:16:20.539 --> 00:16:21.720 And you say, give me my bike back. 00:16:21.740 --> 00:16:22.980 And he says, why should I? 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:27.360 And you say, well, you stole it. 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:27.940 It's mine. 00:16:28.060 --> 00:16:28.639 That's wrong. 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:32.700 And then imagine that he quotes Nietzsche to you. 00:16:35.419 --> 00:16:37.259 Which is conceivable in D.C., right? 00:16:39.620 --> 00:16:42.220 And imagine if he kind of looks at your bike, 00:16:42.300 --> 00:16:45.060 and he kind of squeezes the brake a couple of times, 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:46.659 and he says, you have your way. 00:16:47.620 --> 00:16:48.779 I have my way. 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.839 As to the right way, it does not exist. 00:16:53.939 --> 00:16:59.779 What do you say to this grad school dropout thief? 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:00.579 What do you say? 00:17:04.639 --> 00:17:07.819 You think stealing is wrong, but he thinks it's totally fine. 00:17:07.899 --> 00:17:10.559 In his moral universe, there's nothing wrong with it, right? 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:13.339 I mean, sure, he's breaking the law. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:14.859 And you can say, well, you're breaking the law, 00:17:14.940 --> 00:17:17.599 and our country has established laws to maintain law and order, 00:17:17.659 --> 00:17:19.440 and we need that to function as a society. 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:23.859 Where do you think the whole idea of a rule of law came from? 00:17:25.460 --> 00:17:29.279 It's based 100% in the religious concept 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:31.879 that there is some absolute standard out there. 00:17:31.880 --> 00:17:36.540 The entire Western concept of the rule of law 00:17:36.540 --> 00:17:39.100 comes straight out of that belief. 00:17:41.800 --> 00:17:43.620 Without God, there is no grounding 00:17:43.620 --> 00:17:46.160 for our sense of right and wrong. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:47.480 There's no ultimate standard. 00:17:48.760 --> 00:17:51.360 So when you sound off about police violence 00:17:51.360 --> 00:17:52.860 and racial profiling 00:17:52.860 --> 00:17:55.600 and all of the evils that come from that, 00:17:55.660 --> 00:17:56.880 what are you ultimately saying? 00:17:57.040 --> 00:17:58.140 In the beginning, God. 00:17:58.140 --> 00:18:01.280 When you say that we should be responding 00:18:01.280 --> 00:18:02.500 to the refugee crisis 00:18:02.500 --> 00:18:04.240 or fighting for immigration reform, 00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:06.060 you're saying, in the beginning, God. 00:18:07.460 --> 00:18:09.380 When you campaign for human rights 00:18:09.380 --> 00:18:10.420 and say, I'm not going to stop 00:18:10.420 --> 00:18:13.740 until every human being has equal rights across the planet, 00:18:13.800 --> 00:18:15.060 even if you're an avowed atheist, 00:18:15.280 --> 00:18:17.780 you're really saying, in the beginning, God. 00:18:19.560 --> 00:18:22.000 Why not let refugees starve and die? 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:26.300 Why not let the genocides happen 00:18:26.300 --> 00:18:27.540 as long as they're far away? 00:18:28.140 --> 00:18:33.000 Why not let the strong trample the weak? 00:18:33.900 --> 00:18:37.860 If life is just about the survival of my DNA, 00:18:39.140 --> 00:18:42.300 if it's just about me perpetuating my DNA, 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:44.740 then why does it matter at all? 00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:47.460 Why does it matter? 00:18:49.080 --> 00:18:51.160 Because we know in our guts that it's wrong. 00:18:52.600 --> 00:18:54.080 Because you know that it's wrong. 00:18:54.800 --> 00:18:56.340 And you know you don't need a standard 00:18:56.339 --> 00:18:57.240 to tell you it's wrong 00:18:57.240 --> 00:18:58.619 that your guts tell you it's wrong. 00:18:58.939 --> 00:19:00.859 The marrow in your bones tells you it's wrong. 00:19:03.699 --> 00:19:05.119 We can deny it all we want, 00:19:05.220 --> 00:19:05.939 but deep down, 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:07.199 in us all, 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:09.439 we know that there is some ultimate sense 00:19:09.439 --> 00:19:12.199 of right and wrong. 00:19:12.259 --> 00:19:13.099 And no matter what we say, 00:19:13.159 --> 00:19:14.899 we can't escape that fact. 00:19:14.939 --> 00:19:16.220 And that's why throughout history, 00:19:16.299 --> 00:19:17.459 across cultures and religions, 00:19:17.639 --> 00:19:18.279 you see 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:20.220 these concepts 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:22.579 of an absolute standard 00:19:22.579 --> 00:19:23.500 of right and wrong. 00:19:25.579 --> 00:19:27.720 The Sumerian concept of Anu, 00:19:28.299 --> 00:19:28.600 right? 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:30.559 The ancient Egyptian Amun. 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:33.059 Plato's idea of the good. 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:36.339 Early Hinduism's Rita. 00:19:37.620 --> 00:19:39.100 Or the Chinese Tao. 00:19:41.620 --> 00:19:42.400 Deep down, 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:43.420 we know in our bones 00:19:43.420 --> 00:19:44.500 that there is an absolute, 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:45.940 that there is a way. 00:19:45.940 --> 00:19:48.380 And Sartre, 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:49.640 no matter how hard he tried, 00:19:49.740 --> 00:19:51.360 he could actually never escape this. 00:19:51.580 --> 00:19:52.880 And he made moral pronouncements 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.039 throughout the rest of his life, 00:19:54.120 --> 00:19:55.279 despite what he said. 00:19:55.860 --> 00:19:57.320 And what this means is this, 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:58.380 in the beginning, 00:19:59.200 --> 00:19:59.519 God. 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:03.559 So the Bible says 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:04.820 that you don't find freedom 00:20:04.820 --> 00:20:06.279 by rejecting the whole idea 00:20:06.279 --> 00:20:08.080 of creation and purpose, 00:20:08.299 --> 00:20:10.380 but actually by embracing it 00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:12.900 and by living it out. 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:15.040 It says, 00:20:15.240 --> 00:20:16.080 do you want to be free? 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:16.680 Do you want to, 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:17.960 do you want to know 00:20:17.960 --> 00:20:19.220 what freedom really is? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:21.380 Then what is your purpose? 00:20:23.560 --> 00:20:25.540 What is God's divine intention 00:20:25.540 --> 00:20:26.380 and what was it 00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:27.400 when he made you? 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:30.940 If you look at a fish, 00:20:31.019 --> 00:20:31.880 a fish is free 00:20:31.880 --> 00:20:32.700 when it is sailing 00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:33.340 through the water. 00:20:34.600 --> 00:20:35.560 It is elegant 00:20:35.560 --> 00:20:36.360 and powerful 00:20:36.360 --> 00:20:37.100 and beautiful. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:40.220 But a fish out on dry land 00:20:40.220 --> 00:20:41.519 is pitiful 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.079 and dying 00:20:43.079 --> 00:20:44.680 barely capable. 00:20:46.039 --> 00:20:46.920 A fish in the water 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:47.639 is free. 00:20:47.819 --> 00:20:48.599 A fish on land 00:20:48.599 --> 00:20:49.119 is not. 00:20:50.759 --> 00:20:51.639 Because when the fish 00:20:51.639 --> 00:20:52.259 is in the water, 00:20:52.339 --> 00:20:53.099 it is submitting 00:20:53.099 --> 00:20:54.000 to its design. 00:20:54.139 --> 00:20:54.639 It's submitting 00:20:54.639 --> 00:20:55.420 to its purpose. 00:20:57.160 --> 00:20:57.400 Right? 00:20:57.440 --> 00:20:59.000 A bird is not free 00:20:59.000 --> 00:20:59.519 in the water. 00:21:00.379 --> 00:21:01.200 A bird is free 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:01.720 in the air 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:02.539 because it's submitting 00:21:02.539 --> 00:21:03.319 to its design 00:21:03.319 --> 00:21:04.200 and its purpose 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:05.980 as it soars 00:21:05.980 --> 00:21:06.480 in the heavens. 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:09.680 So you and I 00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:10.639 will only be free 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:11.620 when we understand 00:21:11.620 --> 00:21:13.200 what our God-given purpose 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.020 is and submit to it. 00:21:16.120 --> 00:21:17.660 Now that is counterintuitive. 00:21:18.860 --> 00:21:20.100 But all around us 00:21:20.100 --> 00:21:20.580 are examples 00:21:20.580 --> 00:21:21.540 of that very thing. 00:21:23.100 --> 00:21:24.160 And this is really 00:21:24.160 --> 00:21:24.980 the invitation 00:21:24.980 --> 00:21:26.700 that sits at the very heart 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:27.740 of the Christian gospel. 00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:31.040 The idea of some 00:21:31.040 --> 00:21:31.920 ultimate purpose 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:32.660 or design 00:21:32.660 --> 00:21:33.340 or Tao 00:21:33.340 --> 00:21:33.960 or way 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:35.140 is not unique 00:21:35.140 --> 00:21:35.920 to Christianity. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:36.680 It's not. 00:21:36.800 --> 00:21:37.560 There's nothing unique 00:21:37.560 --> 00:21:38.120 about that. 00:21:38.119 --> 00:21:39.219 Christians 00:21:39.219 --> 00:21:39.919 and Muslims 00:21:39.919 --> 00:21:40.619 and Jews 00:21:40.619 --> 00:21:41.359 and Hindus 00:21:41.359 --> 00:21:42.079 and Buddhists 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:42.779 and Jainists 00:21:42.779 --> 00:21:43.559 and Taoists, 00:21:43.879 --> 00:21:44.619 Confucianists, 00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:45.759 Native North Americans 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:46.619 and Mesoamericans, 00:21:46.739 --> 00:21:48.239 the original Indo-Europeans, 00:21:48.479 --> 00:21:49.459 on back to the Egyptians 00:21:49.459 --> 00:21:50.439 and the Sumerians, 00:21:50.599 --> 00:21:52.719 all believed 00:21:52.719 --> 00:21:55.319 in some ultimate standard 00:21:55.319 --> 00:21:56.659 or absolute. 00:21:57.659 --> 00:21:58.819 All believed 00:21:58.819 --> 00:21:59.539 that there was 00:21:59.539 --> 00:22:00.179 embedded 00:22:00.179 --> 00:22:01.439 in the very fabric 00:22:01.439 --> 00:22:02.139 of creation 00:22:02.139 --> 00:22:03.259 a way, 00:22:03.500 --> 00:22:04.259 a way. 00:22:04.259 --> 00:22:06.900 and it's rooted 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:07.720 in the foundations 00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:08.359 of the world 00:22:08.359 --> 00:22:09.279 and that human beings 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:09.759 were made 00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:10.819 to live that out 00:22:10.819 --> 00:22:12.359 that that is our purpose. 00:22:15.980 --> 00:22:17.339 But only Christianity 00:22:17.339 --> 00:22:18.460 is based on 00:22:18.460 --> 00:22:20.740 a man who said, 00:22:21.379 --> 00:22:22.680 I am the way. 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:28.759 when Jesus said, 00:22:28.860 --> 00:22:29.360 I am the way, 00:22:29.460 --> 00:22:29.940 the truth, 00:22:30.340 --> 00:22:31.299 and the life. 00:22:33.220 --> 00:22:34.259 It's an invitation. 00:22:35.060 --> 00:22:35.700 He's saying, 00:22:35.779 --> 00:22:36.380 do you want to know 00:22:36.380 --> 00:22:38.299 what a human being is? 00:22:40.940 --> 00:22:41.680 Do you want to know 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:43.039 what a human being is for? 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:45.340 Then look at me. 00:22:47.380 --> 00:22:48.759 Look at the way he lived. 00:22:48.940 --> 00:22:50.019 Look at the way he loved. 00:22:50.019 --> 00:22:52.539 Look at the way 00:22:52.539 --> 00:22:53.660 he treated his friends. 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:54.160 Look at the way 00:22:54.160 --> 00:22:55.079 he treated his enemies. 00:22:56.779 --> 00:22:58.079 And you begin to see 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:00.200 what a human being is 00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:01.559 and what a human being 00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:03.079 is for. 00:23:03.379 --> 00:23:04.220 You begin to see 00:23:04.220 --> 00:23:05.259 the embodiment 00:23:05.259 --> 00:23:06.559 of this way 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:07.440 that even the most 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:08.480 ancient people 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:09.920 knew in their bones 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.819 exists. 00:23:14.440 --> 00:23:15.259 And then you have 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:16.740 this Jesus dying for us 00:23:16.740 --> 00:23:18.160 and through his death 00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:18.980 making it possible 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:20.240 for us to be reconciled 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:20.700 to God 00:23:20.700 --> 00:23:21.880 and then calling us, 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:22.880 those of us who believe 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:23.200 in him, 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:24.460 to follow him, 00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:25.000 which means 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:26.200 we completely 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:26.900 and utterly 00:23:26.900 --> 00:23:28.400 surrender our lives, 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:30.299 every aspect of our lives 00:23:30.299 --> 00:23:33.339 to him. 00:23:34.539 --> 00:23:35.559 And this is the 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:36.339 counterintuitive, 00:23:36.500 --> 00:23:37.819 even paradoxical 00:23:37.819 --> 00:23:38.620 invitation 00:23:38.620 --> 00:23:39.920 of the gospel 00:23:39.920 --> 00:23:41.259 that by giving ourselves 00:23:41.259 --> 00:23:42.680 completely to him, 00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:43.839 obeying him 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:44.740 in everything, 00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:47.940 that that is the road 00:23:47.940 --> 00:23:49.120 to true freedom. 00:23:50.940 --> 00:23:52.019 The gospel is nothing 00:23:52.019 --> 00:23:53.519 less than the invitation 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.220 to become truly 00:23:56.220 --> 00:23:58.140 and fully human. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:01.059 All of this 00:24:01.059 --> 00:24:02.680 because in the beginning, 00:24:04.120 --> 00:24:04.480 God. 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:06.559 Let's pray. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:16.379 Our Father, 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:17.799 as we contemplate this, 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:19.279 we ask that 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:20.740 through the power 00:24:20.740 --> 00:24:21.639 of your spirit, 00:24:22.259 --> 00:24:23.379 you would grant us, 00:24:24.980 --> 00:24:27.079 enable our imaginations 00:24:27.079 --> 00:24:28.279 to see what life 00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:29.179 might look like 00:24:29.179 --> 00:24:31.679 with you 00:24:31.679 --> 00:24:32.339 at the beginning 00:24:32.339 --> 00:24:33.000 of everything. 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:34.940 if we truly 00:24:34.940 --> 00:24:35.799 understood this 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:36.240 and it truly 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:37.019 became a part 00:24:37.019 --> 00:24:37.480 of the way 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:40.440 we loved, 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:41.279 the way we 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:42.779 forgave, 00:24:42.900 --> 00:24:43.539 the way we 00:24:43.539 --> 00:24:44.799 thought about 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:45.380 our friends, 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:46.039 our children, 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:47.319 our marriages, 00:24:48.779 --> 00:24:49.319 though we thought 00:24:49.319 --> 00:24:50.099 about our jobs. 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:52.720 Lord, 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:53.839 in all these ways, 00:24:54.680 --> 00:24:55.839 give us the imagination, 00:24:56.259 --> 00:24:57.500 baptize our imagination 00:24:57.500 --> 00:24:58.400 that we might see 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:00.839 what our lives 00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:01.579 would look like 00:25:01.579 --> 00:25:03.039 if we truly believed 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:03.819 that in the beginning, 00:25:04.859 --> 00:25:05.299 God. 00:25:05.899 --> 00:25:06.779 We ask this in your 00:25:06.779 --> 00:25:07.319 Son's name. 00:25:07.619 --> 00:25:07.839 Amen.