Blue Parakeet - Lesson Two

BLUE PARAKEET No. 2 is the fourth verse of Genesis chapter two. This verse follows Genesis 1:1 - 2:3, no kidding, right? That is obvious, of course, but the change of story that takes place in Genesis 2:4 is the key to the second lesson: The God Who Creates.



When Christians formulate doctrines of Creation they generally go straight to Genesis 1, which they should! However, if one reads Genesis 1-2 carefully one realizes that there are two separate accounts given. Genesis 1:1-2:3 sets forth the creation of all things by God in a framework of six days followed by a day of rest. Each day is denoted by a blessing of God or God recognizing the good of His creation and is sequenced by a pattern of, "and there was evening and there was morning, the first day..." and so one for six days. This pattern of seven days gives us our week of seven days and is the basis for the third commandment to keep the Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11). Then you reach Genesis 2:4 and it appears that the author starts all over! This time the whole of creation seems to be set in the context of a single day: "...in the day that the LORD God made the heavens!"

S0, what's this? Is the Bible contradicting itself? Indeed some scholars argue that indeed it is as I found out in a college classroom and you might too. This is a Blue Parakeet in Scripture if ever there was one! The Scripture, being God's Word, can have no contradictions but that doesn't mean we can iron out all that the text actually says. Nevertheless, what we have here are two distinct but complementary accounts of creation. The big point is that God is the Creator of ALL things.

The first account of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:3 lays out the whole of creation as it unfolds from the creation of the first particles of light, a true Big Bang! To the climax of creation with the making of humanity. Creation is accomplished in a progressive framework of successive creative acts over seven epochs of time. Some folks are dogmatic that the seven days are seven literal 24-hour periods of time, a day as we know it now, but I don't think we can be certain about that at all. There are several reasons for this: (1) "day" does not always indicate a 24-hour period of time in Scripture, as such usages as "the day of the LORD" indicates; (2) a literal day as we know it could not have been experienced before the creation of the sun itself which did not exist until the fourth day; (3) and Genesis 2:4 uses the word "day" in a generic sense as well. Nevertheless, the creation is given to us as taken place in six days in the life of God but His experience of time is very different from ours as Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8 show us.

The big truths of Genesis 1:1-2:3 are this:

• God is the Creator of all things.
• Humanity is made in the very image of God. This means that humans are made like God in many ways: we have reason (the ability to think, design, and create), emotion (the ability to feel and express), desire for relationship (capacity for friendship and intimacy), will (the ability to decide and make a choice), conscience (knowledge of right and wrong), but it is more than all that! The New Testament tells us that we were made with Jesus Christ Himself in mind as the supreme example of a man. Furthermore, the image of God points to God Himself as we mirror Him in our lives. He is all that is beautiful and true and good and we are capable of reflecting that.
  
• Humanity was made male and female from the beginning.
• Humanity was given dominion over the rest of creation.

The second account of Genesis 2:4-25 telescopes in on the creation of humanity and how they were placed in dominion over creation. It is an expansion of the account given for the sixth day in Genesis 1:26-31. God began with one man, Adam, and formed him specially and breathed His own life into Him. Then God planted a garden, Eden, and put Adam over it. When Adam reviewed the rest of the creatures and found himself lonely God then made for Him a companion created out of Adam's side. This was the first woman and Adam loved her and took her to be his wife!

The big truths of Genesis 2:4-25 are this:

• Our dominion over creation is intended to be that of a gardener, caretaker, and protector not manipulator, abuser, or destroyer!
• Men and women were created before the Fall as different but equal with complementary roles.
• Marriage was created by God from the beginning, before the Fall, to be between one man and one woman. This sets the precedent for marital and sexual relationships for the rest of the Bible and for us as well.

There are two HUGE IMPLICATIONS of creation.

First, you are born with a built-in basic belief that there is a God. Scripture teaches us this in numerous places (Romans 1:18-23). You do not need anymore proof for God's existence than yourself. You were born knowing innately and intuitively that there is a God. This is not to say that there are not good reasons for believing in God or that there are no really excellent arguments for God's existence because there are ! Nevertheless you know this truth from birth as a basic belief. Will you live your life attempting to suppress this truth you already know or will you affirm this truth by giving your whole life to God and pursuing and loving Him with your heart, soul, mind, and strength?

Second, because you are the creation of God the Creator, you were made to worship Him. This is simply a matter of definition. The maker or builder of anything receives respect, admiration, compliments, and praise through his or her work. This is infinitely more so with God for made all things from nothing and by His own power and He continues to uphold it. You were made to know and worship the one true and living God!

4 For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens. - Psalm 96:4-5 (ESV)

Blue Parakeet - Lesson One

Mark 4:1-20 tells the story of Jesus teaching the famous parable of the sower and the seed. In this parable, the seed represents God's Word and the different types of soil represent different human responses to God's Word. Jesus was a marvelous teacher and often spoke in parables, stories which illustrate truths about God and His kingdom. Jesus pulled from the common, every day realities of life, things like seeds, trees, birds, herding sheep, tending vineyards, and investing money and shed light on the nature and character of God's Kingdom. He was the greatest of teachers, drawing huge crowds, and followers and often it is noted that he was so good and so clear precisely because He used parables to make it easy for people to understand. Yet Jesus plainly states here that he uses parable so that some people do NOT understand. And we step back and ask, "can this be? Is this the same Jesus who claimed that God had sent His Son into the world so that whoever believed in Him would not perish but have everlasting life?" Is this a contradiction? Does Jesus not want everyone to know God and understand and be saved?

First, what did Jesus really mean? Think of it this way. Jesus is saying that the parables are meant both to reveal and to conceal. He is saying that God actually reveals truth to some people and conceals it from others.



God is a God who reveals and that is what His Word is all about. He wants to be known and He wants us to know Him and that is why He inspired and gave us the Scriptures. So what of Jesus's statements in Mark 4:9-12?

Well take a look at Matthew 21:33-46. In this account Jesus tells a parable about a vineyard and its tenants and at the end of the parables it says this, "when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him..." So they did understand the parable and yet they did not really hear it. John 6:60-71 gives an account of Jesus teaching difficult things and some of His followers leave Him and quit following, others, like the Twelve Disciples, stay with Him in spite of His hard sayings. Jesus says in v. 64 that those who left did so because they did not believe and in v. 69 the disciples stay because they do believe.

The issue is one of attitude: do you approach Jesus in faith or do stand aloof in unbelief? It is a matter of the orientation of your heart. If you believe then you see; if you do not believe then you are blind. If you have faith then you hear; if you refuse to trust then you are deaf. So two people can listen to the words of Jesus and both hear the same words, get the point, and understand the meaning and yet one believes and they really hear and see and the other one rejects and they are truly deaf and blind.

It is about your response to Jesus Himself. God will reveal Himself through His Word to those who humble themselves, believe, and obey but God will conceal Himself and His Word from those who exalt themselves, deny Jesus, and live for themselves.

The question is ultimately personal: when Jesus says, "he who has hears to hear, let him hear," do you hear and believe? For only then do you really see and to to you God will reveal Himself and His Word. How will you respond to Jesus?

Intro to New Teaching Series: Blue Parakeets

Blue Parakeets?? What is this new series all about? Tonight we started this new series about Blue Parakeets and the subtitle of the series hints to the purpose these messages: Being Surprised by Scripture.

The seed thought for this series comes from a book by a bible scholar by the name of Scot McKnight who relates this experience in his book titled Blue Parakeets. One day he was watching birds out his back window and noticed a blue bird, among the others, in his backyard and did not recognize it. He asked himself, "what is that? It's not a blue bird, or a robin, and certainly not a sparrow. What is it?" He observed as the other normal backyard birds were terrified of the new strange bird, avoided it, and flew away from it. Finally, he realized that it was a loose pet, a neighbor's blue parakeet.

Again, what in the world does this have to do with us? Or the Bible? Or God? Blue Parakeets are an analogy for reading the Bible. Have you ever read the Bible and went, "huh?!?" "Did God really do that?" "Did Jesus really say that?" "That's unbelievable!!" These are the moments when we are shocked, surprised, and jolted awake by the Word of God and its demands - and our concepts of God are blown away. These Scriptures are the Blue Parakeets we see as we look into the Word of God. They say things about God and ourselves that we find difficult and awkward. They make demands on us that we find very hard and perhaps impossible. These Scriptures may be simple on the surface, but very difficult to accept.

The Bible tells us in some places that we should expect this, that God's Word is simple but deep at the same time--easy and hard (2 Peter 3:14-18). John 6:22-71 has Jesus teaching hard stuff, stuff so difficult that many responded by saying, "this is a hard saying, who can listen to it?" That is an example within Scripture itself of a blue parakeet - turning worldviews upside-down, smashing preconceived notions of Jesus, an extraordinary, radical statement of truth. So, some people left Jesus and other stayed. So we need to be careful readers of the Bible because it is God's Word and it tells God's own Story--a story that He has put us in and in which we live our lives - and it doesn't always fit our notions of how God should work and what He is like. But God's Word not our opinions is what matters most.

Our plan for this series is to examine a number of difficult passages of Scripture. Our purpose is to learn to let Scripture speak freshly, wildly, and radically for itself and into our lives rather than putting God and the Bible into our box of preconceived ideas. The ultimate goal of this series is for you to see yourself within the story world of God's Word.

The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life

"Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying..."

- Matthew 5:1-2


Undoubtedly the Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon ever preached; given by Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Messiah, the Healer, Immanuel, God-With-Us, the Lord of Glory-yes!-all of those things and more-but also the greatest teacher and preacher to ever walk the Earth. He had no church building, no cathedral pulpit to climb, no synagogue chair on which to sit and teach; instead he simply stood and spoke, sometimes at table among friends and followers, sometimes on a boat just off the shore, and sometimes on Galilean hillsides, and the people would gather in droves to hear this Man preach.

Jesus came to do more than to preach, but not less. He did not come to "lay down the Law"-that had already been done. You might say that He came to "lay down the Love", and indeed He did. He laid Himself down in Love upon the Cross as the Lamb of God for the sin's of all. But this act was more than for mere forgiveness-as important and powerful as that might be-it was also to initiate a new people. Through the life and work of Jesus the Kingdom of God was born, a dominion without borders where the Lord reigns in the hearts and minds of people and they live out the Kingdom life. Wherever people are found that live under the rule, reign, and relationship of the Lord, that's where this Kingdom is found.

In the Sermon on the Mount, contained in Matthew 5-7, the teachings of Jesus concerning this Kingdom are summarized and you had better be paying attention! If you are listening carefully to the Sermon on the Mount the clues are obvious, this is the essence of life in the Kingdom of God. Here Jesus directly addresses us and points us to the attitudes, righteousness, and relationships expected in the Kingdom of God. This is, as Steven Curtis Chapman would say, how to "Live Out Loud!"

And it is for us-the Church-today. We are living in the middle between Pentecost and the Second Coming but the Sermon on the Mount is not for the coming Millenium or New Jerusalem it's for life in the Kingdom in the here and now. You are invited into that Kingdom. You must be born again from above to see it, but you may come, and God will transform you. You will then be empowered to live the life of His Kingdom.

Since October 14, 2007, Truth4Youth has been trekking our way through the Sermon on the Mount. As we bring this series to a close I will be posting on the Sermon on the Mount and I hope that you read and grow. More than that, I hope that you hear the voice of one whose authority is above all. That is the only question: will you hear Him out? Listen to the words of Jesus, go and do, and live.

"And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes."

- Matthew 7:28-29