Today's Old Testament reading comes from the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 31.
Then God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the birds of the heavens, and over the livestock,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image.
In the image of God, he created him.
Male and female, he created them.
And God blessed them.
And God said to them,
Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it,
and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and over the birds of the heavens,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
And God said,
Behold, I have given you every plant-yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth,
and every tree with seed in its fruit, you shall have them for food.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens,
and to everything that creeps on the earth,
everything that has the breath of life,
I have given every green plant for food.
And it was so.
And God saw everything that he had made,
and behold, it was very good.
And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Well, again, let me welcome those of you,
especially those I have not yet met.
If you're joining us for the first time tonight,
we are in the midst of a series that we started a few weeks back called Foundations.
And we're taking some time to ask
what you might call ultimate or foundational questions
about ourselves, about our world, about our God.
And the foundation for all of this
can be found in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis,
which is the first book of your Bible.
It's the first book of the Old Testament.
And so we're looking at the first few chapters.
We've spent quite a few weeks in chapter 1.
And we're here at the end of chapter 1.
A couple of weeks ago, we asked the question as a part of our series,
what does it mean to be human?
What does it mean to be a human being?
What does it mean to be a person?
It's a pretty foundational question.
And there are a lot of thoughts about that, but very little agreement.
Which is interesting, considering most everything else
that we think, believe, do,
is somehow related to how we answer that question.
There are some people that say,
well, being human is distinct in that we can use tools,
or we have a superior intelligence,
or we have the ability of foresight,
or we have the ability to have self-awareness,
or it's our use of imagination and creativity.
And yet there's a whole other group of researchers
that continues to say and to demonstrate
that they're finding that animals are capable of such feats and such acts.
And so there are some people who say,
well, genetically we're 99% identical to chimpanzees.
There is nothing that makes human beings uniquely human.
So we're asking, what does it mean to be human?
Is there anything that is distinct about a human being?
And we're looking in the Bible to help us understand this,
specifically at Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 to 31.
And a couple of weeks ago we had part 1 of this,
and we said, first of all, what makes us human,
what it means to be human,
is that we are created in the image of God,
the one who made us.
Unlike the other creatures of creation,
we uniquely bear God's image.
And we said that has a lot of implications.
It means that we are spiritual and material,
that we are body souls.
It means that we have an inherent holiness or sanctity,
that there is a sanctity to all human life.
And we said, lastly,
that there is an inherent dignity to all human life.
Well, this week we're going to continue asking this question,
looking at this passage,
and we're going to go further than just our nature as image bearers,
and we're going to look at the purposes for which human beings were made.
Why are we here?
And we're going to see that this passage shows us
that the central reason that we're here is that we're made for relationship.
Simply put, we're made for relationship.
Three kinds of relationship, to be more specific.
We're made to have a certain kind of relationship with this world.
We're made to have relationships with one another.
And we're made to have a relationship, finally, and most importantly, with God.
And we're going to have time tonight to look at the first two in detail.
We will touch on the third.
And then next week we're actually going to spend the whole night
talking about what our relationship with God was created to be
as we look at the Sabbath.
But tonight we're primarily going to focus on the first two,
our relationship with creation and our relationship with one another.
And here's really the point of tonight that I would like to invite you to consider.
And that is that whether or not you're a Christian,
whether or not you're certain what you believe
or whether you believe there's anything to this,
this is making a very clear claim.
And that is that all three kinds of relationship are essential
to what it means to be a human being.
And if you have all three,
a right relationship with the world,
a right relationship with other people,
and a right relationship with God,
that that is the most fully human way to be.
And if you lack any one of these,
it's impossible to be fully and authentically human.
So that's the claim.
So let's consider these in more detail.
Let's pray for the Lord to lead us.
Our Father, we do thank you for your word.
We thank you for your promise to speak through it.
May this not remain simply ink and paper,
but through the power of your spirit,
may we see in these pages and hear in these words
and encounter the word, your son.
We pray that by encountering him,
we would be changed,
that we would leave differently than when we arrived.
And we pray that this would be for your glory
in the name of your son.
Amen.
So, again, we're looking at Genesis chapter 1,
beginning in verse 26.
The first thing we see is that we're created
for a certain kind of relationship with this world.
It says in verse 26,
Then God said,
Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness,
and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea,
and over the birds of the heavens,
and over the livestock,
and over all the earth,
and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
And then if we move down to verse 28,
it says,
And God blessed them,
and God said to them,
Be fruitful,
and multiply,
and fill the earth,
and subdue it.
And then again,
Have dominion over the fish of the sea,
the birds of the heavens,
every living thing that moves on the earth.
So right here,
we have our original job description,
the original job description
for human beings in creation.
And you have these verbs that really stand out.
Be fruitful,
multiply,
fill,
subdue,
have dominion.
Now the context of these words in the English language,
they have certain connotations to them,
undeniably so.
When you look at the words by themselves,
at least for me,
they conjure up ideas of conquest,
domination.
When I hear have dominion,
my mind immediately goes to this idea of domination.
And so this,
at first pass,
gives us this image of human beings
sort of spreading throughout creation
and subduing and conquering
and dominating.
And it sounds more like a virus.
And surely,
this helps us understand
why many people have taken these verses
to justify all kinds
of harmful and exploitative relationship
with the world.
In the years and decades
following the Enlightenment,
when there arose in the Western culture
a kind of post-Enlightenment utilitarianism,
there was very much a view
that we could justify
exploiting the earth for our personal gain
in the name of progress.
And it was easy for Christians
to jump on the bandwagon
and to support that theologically
by pointing to such verses.
But is that, in fact, accurate?
And we see as we move to chapter 2
that, in fact,
that's not the right way to read this
because God restates
this job description to Adam
in verse 15 of chapter 2.
It says,
The Lord God took the man
and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work and to keep it.
Or you might translate it
to tend and till it.
That's Andy Crouch's way
of translating this
in his book, Culture Making,
which, if you haven't read it,
you should pick it up and read it.
It's a fantastic book
that focuses on this idea.
There's a lot here.
We're going to come back to this,
actually, in a few weeks
when we talk about our work
and our vocation.
Our whole way of understanding
as Christians,
our work and our vocation
is rooted in these verses.
But for now,
it helps just to clarify
our role in the natural world.
because God's given us
this tremendous responsibility.
He's created this world
that he says is good and perfect.
It reflects his will in every way,
and yet it's inherently incomplete.
It's an unfinished world.
And that's amazing.
That should give us applause.
Why?
Why would it be good
and yet incomplete?
Why would God create
a world full of potential?
An acorn world?
Well, that's why we're here.
It's amazing to think
that God desires us
to bear his image
in creation
by finishing creation.
In other words,
by...
Why did God create a garden
and then the rest of the earth
is a wilderness?
It's because the purpose
of human beings
is to turn the wilderness
into a garden.
It's to finish the work
of creation.
It is to exercise dominion.
It is to subdue.
It is to cause to flourish
and be fruitful.
This was our original purpose here.
It's our job
to turn the wilderness
into a garden.
And our role
can really be summarized
in one word.
It's the best word for it,
and that is
the role of stewardship.
Stewardship.
Part of what it means
to be human
is that we are stewards
of creation.
What that means is this.
All of this stuff,
just as we sang
a little while ago,
this is our Father's world.
It doesn't belong to us.
Nothing does.
It all belongs to Him.
And we have a responsibility
to care for it.
We've all been in this situation
where we had a friend
go out of town,
or maybe we were the people
going out of town,
and they wanted somebody.
Maybe they wanted you
to come and house sit.
And they say,
well, come,
and we're going to be gone
for a few weeks,
and we want you to house sit.
And all the food
in the fridge is yours.
All the wine
in the wine rack
is yours.
You can have it.
We want you to enjoy yourself.
Watch Netflix.
Sleep in the bed.
We want this to be
a restful time for you.
At least,
hopefully,
that's what they said
when you house sat.
And they said,
make yourself at home.
But that doesn't mean
this is your home.
In other words,
it doesn't mean
that it belongs to you.
Right?
And a good house sitter
knows that you need
to take care of that house.
You need to take care
of the stuff.
You need to enjoy it
and love it
and have fun with it,
but you need to remember
that it doesn't belong
to you, right?
And in the same way,
God has said,
this is my world,
but I'm entrusting it
to you.
And in verses 29 to 31,
we actually see
why this balance,
this stewardship relationship,
it requires such
a finely tuned understanding,
it's because God
establishes
an interdependence
between us
and the earth,
an interdependent
relationship.
So it says,
yes,
we have dominion
over the earth.
Yes,
we're called
to subdue it.
Yes,
we're called
to exercise
in God's name
authority over it
and make it flourish,
but we also have
to depend on it
for our survival.
So it needs us
to cultivate
and care for it.
The world was designed
to need humans
to care for it,
and yet,
we need it
for our survival.
We need each other,
so there's a very
fine balance here.
And it's fascinating
when you think about
the way this speaks
into the current
conversations about
human beings
and the environment,
because it does
balance us out.
On the one hand,
we very clearly see
that we're not called
to worship nature.
We're not called
to worship animals
or trees
or mountains
or rivers.
We're not called
to worship these things
because the Bible
makes it very clear
that God is not
His creation.
He's above it.
He's separate from it.
That's what holiness is.
So we're not called
to do that.
It says,
we're not called
to think of animals
as being as valuable
or more valuable
than human beings.
because we see here
that only human beings
are created
in the image of God.
Animals are created
after their own kind.
And we're called
to have dominion
over them
and they're given
into our hands.
God gives the world
into the hands
of human beings
for their survival.
However,
we are the ones
God holds responsible
to care for the world
and to make it as fruitful
as it can possibly be.
So that means
that we are accountable
and as Christians
when we have an understanding
of sin and repentance,
we need to include
in these things,
in our understanding
of what sin is,
things like pollution
and global warming
and the depletion
of natural resources
and waste disposal
and deforestation
and animal cruelty
and overpopulation.
these are things
that should massively
concern us.
They're things
for which we are
responsible
and are held accountable.
You know,
the issue of overpopulation
is an interesting one.
It says that God
blesses people
and gives them
the potential
to fill the earth.
That doesn't mean
we have license
to so populate the earth
that it becomes
unsustainable
for human life,
right?
This is something
we need to be thinking about
as Christians.
These are actually ways
that we sin against God,
His world,
and our created purpose,
things that we need
to repent of.
And the church
has not historically
done a very good job
of recognizing
the central role
we should be playing
in these issues.
Some of you,
many of you actually here
are very passionate
about these issues.
You either volunteer
or through your vocation
you work on issues
like renewable energy
or environmental stewardship
and I know that you're
passionate about these things.
This is changing.
Pope Francis' encyclical
on climate change,
Laudato Si,
is a strong voice
in the direction
of recognizing our role.
He very much emphasizes
in that the interconnectedness,
the interdependence
between us
and all living things.
There are groups
like Arosha
and Flourish
and the Evangelical
Environmental Network.
Many of you
are affiliated
with these groups already.
Some friends of ours
have actually joined together
and started a campaign
with the Humane Society
called Every Living Thing
and they're trying
to get Christians
engaged in standing up
for and fighting
against animal cruelty.
And actually,
our very own Ryan Patch
was commissioned
to make the video
that sort of explains
this campaign
and to my great surprise
when I watched the video,
I saw Aaron and Joanna
and their dog Lily
in the video,
which was pretty cool.
But this,
so a lot of our friends
are involved in this.
All of the groups
that are partnering with it,
we're personal friends with
and we think
it's a great movement.
It's called Every Living Thing.
You should check it out.
But all of this
is basically
where Christians
are catching up to
or recovering
or regaining a sense
of the fact
that this needs to be
a central concern for us
as we think about
a missional presence
in this world,
restoring
the created purpose
of human beings
to be good stewards
of creation,
to recognize our responsibility
to care for this world.
And what this means,
if we're talking about
what it means to be human,
it means when we neglect this,
it's not just irresponsible,
it's inhuman.
There's an inhumanity
to us
when we neglect these things.
So that's the first
kind of relationship
we're called to have,
a balanced relationship
of interdependence,
a stewardship relationship
with the world
that God has made,
with our Father's world,
as we sang earlier.
The next kind of relationship
we'll look at
is the kind of relationships
that we are called to have
with one another,
interpersonal human connection.
If we look at Genesis 1.26,
it's very fascinating.
It says,
Then God said,
Let us make man
in our image
after our likeness.
What's fascinating about this
is if you look at
the whole creation account,
start at Genesis 1,
verse 1,
and you read through it,
there's a poetic rhythm to it,
because this is a kind
of liturgical poetry,
as we said a few weeks ago.
And there's a rhythm to it,
and the rhythm repeatedly says this,
Then God said,
and God said,
and it says that
for all of the days of creation,
for the sky and the sea
and the day and the night
and the earth and the land,
all of that,
until we get to the day
that God creates human beings.
And then it changes.
And imagine, you know,
in a song,
if you've been hitting
the same note,
and all of a sudden
you hit a different note.
You're meaning,
you're trying to emphasize something.
And it changes,
and it doesn't say,
and God said,
it says,
then God said,
let us.
And that us just kind of
crackles into existence.
Us.
And it emphasizes
the nature of God
as a relationship.
This being who is one,
and yet three persons,
three distinct persons,
who are all God,
and yet they're not
interchangeable.
And so what we have here
is a being who is one
and yet interpersonal.
An eternal relationship.
And then we see later
when God places Adam
in the garden,
in chapter 2,
it says in 2, verse 18,
that it's not good
for Adam to be alone.
And the sense of that
is that he is incomplete.
And while this has
implications for gender
and implications for marriage,
and we'll be talking about
those in a few weeks,
this also has implications
for the fact that humans
are designed
for relationship
with others.
That it's part of how
we're built.
It's part of how
we're made
because we reflect the image
of a God
who is
a relationship.
And the most foundational,
most basic relationship,
as much as we talk
about marriage these days,
the most foundational
relationship
is actually friendship.
And you know,
friendship,
at its core,
every good marriage
is
a committed friendship.
A lifelong,
covenantal friendship.
friendship.
This is why
Aristotle,
I believe,
wrote so much
about what he called
the virtuous friendship.
He said,
you know,
there are friendships
of pleasure
and friendships
of utility,
but he considered
among the highest
possible things
that human beings
could attain
a virtuous friendship.
And that's a friendship
where you are concerned
for the betterment
of the other,
regardless of whether
that brings you
pleasure
or utility,
that your primary
concern is for the good
of the other.
And he said,
this virtuous friendship,
there are few,
if anything,
greater than that
that human beings
can attain.
He put it higher
even than things
like justice.
Neuroscience,
as we look,
and it's always dubious
to quote neuroscience,
so, you know,
so,
a caveat aside,
you know,
but,
you know,
neuroscience
is increasingly showing
actually across the board
that,
that our brains
are hardwired
for social connection.
They're just hardwired
for social connection.
I mean,
studies everywhere
in every kind of area
you can imagine
are just showing
again and again
and again
that we are,
the wiring,
the way we're built
is actually designed
for that.
There was a study
that you may have heard of
at Harvard
called the Grant Study.
Anybody heard of this?
It's famous
because it's the longest
and most comprehensive
longitudinal study
really ever undertaken.
Now,
admittedly,
there was a narrow
selection of candidates.
268,
I think,
all of them white,
Harvard males
were a part of,
this started in the early
20th century,
so,
you know,
cut it a little slack,
but,
but essentially the idea
was take people
who are pretty well off,
who seem to come
from decent families,
who are fairly intelligent,
who had a fairly decent
shot at worldly success,
and tracked them
for 75 years.
This has been running
for 75 years,
and the goal
is to figure out
what are the primary factors
that,
that influence
aging well,
living a long time,
and being satisfied
with life.
What are the main factors
that contribute
to that,
to those outcomes?
And they assessed
everything.
They assessed everything
about career,
everything about family,
everything about health,
to everything
from organ functioning,
to the hanging length
of the scrotum.
Yeah,
let that sink in.
Suffice it to say,
they wanted to leave
no stone unturned
in their search
for the key to well-being.
The outcome,
it may surprise you to know,
has nothing to do
with scrotal hanging length.
The outcome is,
in fact,
the primary investigator
for the last three decades
is a guy named
Dr. George Valant.
He's written three books
on the findings,
and he says this,
essentially,
life satisfaction
and healthy aging
can all be boiled down
to one factor.
Guess what it is?
The quality
and the warmth
of human relationships.
Literally,
the people
with the warmest,
deepest,
highest quality
friendships
are the people
who not only
live the longest,
but the people
who report
the most satisfaction
in their lives.
It matters more
than money,
it matters more
than career,
it matters more
than where you live,
it matters more
even than your health.
Human relationships.
We were designed for it,
we were made
for relationships.
They make us
more human.
They make us
more human.
I've said this before,
but you know,
C.S. Lewis in The Four Loves
has a great example
of how we are humanized
in our relationships.
He says when a friend,
when a mutual friend died,
there used to be
three friends
that would spend
a lot of time together,
and he said when this
one of the friends died,
the two remaining friends,
he said logically
you would think
that would mean
you would get more
of each other
because there's not
a third person competing.
But he said in fact
it was the opposite
because the friend
that died
used to be able
to evoke things
in this person
that only he could evoke.
And he would evoke
things in this person
that only he could evoke.
And so the loss
of that person
meant a loss
in each of the surviving friends.
Something in them
was no longer brought out.
The more we have
deep, meaningful
human relationships,
the more of us
is brought out
or evoked
or nourished into being
or watered
or fed
that we humanize
one another.
Relationships
are the key factor
to our health
and well-being
because we're designed
for them.
So knowing that,
here's the question.
We should be very thoughtful
when it comes to things
that hurt
or impair
or damage
our relationships.
Right?
If I told you,
if I took one of your organs
and put it out
and your life depends
on this organ
and I put it in a glass jar
and said,
take care of this,
you probably would.
You would,
you know,
if your heart
was somehow
on the outside
of your body
and it was in a glass case,
you would probably protect it
and you wouldn't let anybody...
Why don't we do that
with our relationships?
Why are our relationships,
if they're so key
to our health
and well-being,
why will we so casually
let them go?
Why will we so casually
let them fade?
As somebody who has let
many, many, many
friendships fade,
I often ask myself
this question.
One in...
What a big issue
that I think
we should talk about
in relation to relationships
is the impact
that technology is having.
This is a big conversation
as it should be.
In 2010,
researchers put together
the findings
of 72 separate studies
and they found
that there had been
a decline in empathy
among college students.
A 40% decline.
And there was a precipitous drop
starting in the year 2000.
And since the year 2000,
empathy among college students
has been plummeting.
A 40% drop
is quite significant.
And the primary reason
that researchers point to
is the impact of
technology
on our empathy.
If you may be familiar
with Sherry Turkle
who writes and thinks
a lot about this,
she's an MIT professor
who basically
has spent decades
researching this.
And here's what she says
specifically about
our smartphones.
She says,
Our phones are not
accessories,
but psychologically
potent devices
that change
not just what we do,
but who we are.
Your phone in your pocket
is changing
who you are.
It's changing
not only
your productivity,
your connectedness
to things like email
and social media,
but it's changing you.
She did a study
in a device-free
summer camp
and she had a control group
and an experimental group.
In the control group,
they were allowed
to continue using
their devices
and they participated
in all of the camp events.
And the experimental group,
she took their devices away.
And she said,
after just a few days,
there was a statistically
significant measurable
increase in empathy
among kids
who had had their devices
taken away.
Why is that?
Well, she says
it's quite simple.
We learn,
especially as children,
we learn empathy
from face-to-face contact.
When I'm looking at you
and I'm talking to you
and I say something funny
and I see your face smile
and I see you laugh,
I learn,
I learn what that emotion
looks like on your face.
Or if I say something
that's hurtful
or a hurtful topic
comes up
or you get angry,
I see what that looks like.
And because we're talking
face-to-face,
body-to-body,
person-to-person,
as kids,
we learn how to read
the emotions of others
and then we develop
the capacity to identify
and put our place,
put ourselves
in one another's place.
But today,
the tendency is more
and more for kids,
even who are there together,
to text one another.
So they're literally
getting less time
looking at one another's eyes
and so they're not learning
how to empathize.
But just a few days
without devices,
and there was a spike
in empathy
because kids were learning
how to interpersonally
connect.
Simply having a phone
put out on the table,
so having a phone
just out on the table,
doesn't have to be on,
it can be in the periphery,
it can be on the edge
of the table.
Simply having a phone
in the vicinity
when you're speaking
to another person
has a measurable impact
both on the quality
of the conversation
and the things
that you choose
to talk about.
Conversation tends to be
a lot more disconnected,
topics tend to be
a lot lighter,
the sense of connection
tends to be a lot less.
Why?
Because there's that
ever-present awareness
of this other thing
that might interrupt you.
This is the kind of impact
that simply smartphones alone,
not to mention the impact
on marriages,
on sex lives,
on intimacy.
So the question
we need to be thinking
is what role
is technology playing
in our life?
Technology is not evil,
it's not good,
it's neutral,
but as Turkle says,
it is very obviously
taking us places
we may not want to go.
Especially if what we've said
about relationships
is true.
And here's the thing,
if part of what it means
to be human
is having warm
and deep friendships,
and our smartphones
are harming
those relationships,
then we need to ask ourselves
a very honest question.
Are our smartphones
dehumanizing us?
That's a strong way
to put it,
but is this
dehumanizing
me?
I believe they are.
I think that all
of the connectivity
is having ultimately
a dehumanizing effect.
Now what does that mean?
It means different things
for different people.
It may mean
that we throw our smartphones
out and we go back
to the flip phone.
Maybe that'll solve it.
Some of you are very
pro flip phone.
You're that far ahead
of the rest of us
in the curve.
But,
and that may be
for some of us
the answer.
That may be what
I have to do.
Surely,
at a minimum,
it means that
we're very intentional
about how and when
we use devices.
That we have
device-free zones
and times
in our house.
I remember,
and I've probably
told you before
the time that
one of my boys
was trying to get
my attention
and I was looking
at my phone
as I will
habitually do,
like a nervous tick.
I can whip that thing out
and get to my news feed
in a fraction
of a second.
Right?
With the slightest
pause in activity.
Boom!
I'm on the news feed.
My kids hate it.
You know how I know?
Because he took it
out of my hand
and dropped it
in a cup of water.
And then he said,
Dada?
Because that's all
he could say.
He was that young
but he had learned
to hate
the smartphone
in my hand.
So what role
is technology
playing in our lives
and our relationships?
We need to be
thinking about
what it means
to have freedom
from these things
that are meant
to set us free.
As a church community,
I think we need
to take very seriously
the priority
of human relationships.
We believe
this is what
makes us human.
That face-to-face
conversation
and interaction
is one of the most
humanizing things
we can do.
When you invite people
into your home
to have dinner
with you,
there's much more
going on there
than you might think.
That is an opportunity
to humanize
and be humanized.
It's nothing
less than that.
Hospitality
and our commitment
to radical hospitality
is one of the most
powerful ministries
that we can have.
Why?
Because you're inviting
somebody
into a relationship
where they can
experience
humanness.
There are a few
greater things
that we can do
for another human being.
Our vision
is for this community
to not only be a place
where anyone
can experience that,
but where we actually
take steps
to safeguard
and protect
our relationships.
And also,
by the way,
what that means is
if somebody is
working 80 hours a week
and they have no margin,
that we say,
I have an interest
in you being a human being.
You need to cut back.
You need to have margins.
We're so quick
to judge somebody else's
diet.
That's bad for you.
You're going to die
next year
if you keep eating
like that.
Maybe that's just
what people say to me,
but people have said
that to me a lot.
But what I don't often hear
is people saying,
you need to prioritize
the relationships
and the friendships
in your life.
If you don't,
you're going to live
a short life.
It's actually hurting you
and dehumanizing you.
The fact that you work
that much.
We need to be having
these conversations.
This is also a place
to learn how
to have friendships.
A gospel-centered church
can be a laboratory
for learning
how to be a friend
and how to have friends.
Listen,
friendship is a set
of skills,
a set of abilities
and aptitudes
that does not come
naturally to people.
We need to learn how.
And there are people here
who feel like they
continually fall
through the social cracks.
This needs to be a place
where those people
learn how to be friends
and have friends.
We need to have
these conversations
about what real friendship means.
It requires making,
in some cases,
major changes.
But if human relationships
are so central
to our humanness,
why would we not do
everything we can
to protect and nourish them?
So, as I said
at the beginning,
the third kind
of relationship
we're created for,
we looked at our relationship
with the world
as stewards
and we looked at
our relationship
with one another
and how vital that is
to our lives.
The third kind
of relationship
is the kind
of relationship
that we are designed
to have with God.
And we're going to spend,
in some ways,
this is what we talk
about every week.
We're going to get into it
in much more detail
next week,
but I will say,
I will say one thing.
I'll say this one thing
about this third relationship.
There's a reason
why virtually every society
across all cultures
and societies,
all places,
virtually every society
that has ever existed
has been religious.
There's a reason for that.
There's a reason why
when places like China
try to outlaw religion,
the opposite effect happens
and there's an explosion
of spiritual hunger.
children.
It's because we were made
to know the one
who made us.
And that is the good,
fundamentally good impulse
underneath all religions
is that desire.
You know, a few nights ago,
we had the senior leadership team
from this church,
All Souls Unitarian.
They came over to my house.
Some of our leadership
was there.
We had a wonderful conversation.
And it's very clear
that we disagree
on most issues.
But one of the things
as the Spirit worked
and as time passed
and as guards dropped
and as tears began to flow
and as arms uncrossed
and legs uncrossed
and postures became more open
and eye contact became deeper
and more prolonged,
one of the things
we were able to acknowledge together
is that we all
have a deep down
gnawing hunger
to know that we are loved by God.
That we're loved by God.
And it's because we were made
to know the one
who made us.
And all of these relationships
that we're talking about
are part of what it means
to be a human being.
Our relationship with creation.
Our relationship with one another.
Our relationship,
most importantly,
with God.
All tend toward
one or another of these.
You know, some of us
are very much
about the environment.
And some of us
are very much about community
and we love community.
And some of us
are very pious
and religiously observant people.
Right?
We all have our tendencies.
But the point this is making is
all three are required
for humanness.
You can't have one
without the other.
In other words,
the ecological landfills
that some of us
are so concerned about,
those are simply symptoms
of the spiritual landfill.
And you cannot address one
without addressing the other.
All of these are required.
You cannot have a relationship
with the Lord
that doesn't immediately
impact your relationships
with other people.
Because Jesus says
if we love Him,
we'll love one another.
We need all three.
And that's why the gospel
is such good news.
The good news is this,
that Jesus Christ
has come to restore
all of these relationships.
Through His death
and resurrection,
He reconciles us to God.
As He puts His Spirit in us
and as we follow Him,
we learn more
what it means
to love one another
as we're loved.
And then lastly,
His promise is to renew
the heavens and the earth.
Including our bodies.
This is why the gospel
is not only good news,
but there's no better news
imaginable
for human beings
than Jesus.
Because Jesus has come
for nothing less
than to make us
fully human once again.
That's the gospel.
That's what it's here to do.
The gospel restores to us
our humanity.
Let's pray.
Our Father,
we recognize that
for Your words
to penetrate,
to be planted
and to give life,
it requires Your Spirit.
We pray that
whatever has been said
that is not of You
would be removed
from our memory,
but whatever has been said
tonight that is Your Word,
Lord,
and we believe
this is Your Word,
that You,
by Your Spirit,
would plant it deep
in our hearts,
that it would bring new life
in and through us.
We pray this in Your Son's
holy name.
Amen.