So I’m taking a risk posting this picture.  Let’s be honest, it’s not your typical image of Jesus right, embracing a woman who. . . well, you get the idea right.

Yet we hear the stories of Jesus taking incredible risks to reach people.  In Luke 15 Jesus goes through parable after parable to convey the love of God and the extents it will go to reach out to his lost ones.  He’ll leave 99 sheep behind to go for one.  Wow, what have you been leaving behind to go after.

He’ll sweep his house apart to find one lost coin and then throw a lavish part to celebrate.  Have you been going to this extent or partying for lost ones out there?

And of course, the prodigal son- risking all kinds of relationships so he can care for his sons (both of them).  Have you taken any risks in relationships lately to help people connect to God?

God’s love is just so big and so incredible, it’s amazing.  It reminds us of everything God has done to reach out to us, the pain he’s taken from us.  It reminds us of the risks others have taken to reach out to us and keep us connected to God.

It reminds us that we need to reflect that too.  Pray to God about what kind of risks you might have to take to keep reaching.

(note- the inspiration for this article and the title “risk everything to reach everyone” comes from an online conference today called The Nines and I apologize that I didn’t catch the speaker’s name.  I might try to post some more insights from the conference later today.)

I like this image because it literally turns things upside down.  The tower of Babel is correctly interpreted as a real and symbolic act of the pride of humankind.  “Come let’s build a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves”.

Are you trying to make a name for yourself?  If so, you’re like these people crawling toward the upside down tower.  That tower has no chance of standing.  It’s goal is upside down.

Are you building so that you can make your name great, or are you building so that God’s name might be seen in your life?

This week we met here for our first session of Letters from Dad.  One of the points that came through in the teaching portion was that God has incredible blessings in store for people.  Those blessings take on different shapes for different people, but we all receive the greatest blessing, God’s grace.

Then Greg Vaughn brought home an interesting point to follow up on that- the job of parents (he was focusing on dads) is to make sure that we keep passing on that blessing, that we keep building up our house, not for our own name, not to make the “Borkenhagen” name great, but so that people can see the “Borkenhagens” know that God’s name is great.

I hope and pray that in building my family, we’re building toward that goal.

Cain breaks relationship with God, and in seeing his brother find favor, he is moved to jealousy.  Jealousy turns into deceit (”let us go out to the field”), deceit becomes murder, murder against his own brother, murder of a good man.  And as with Adam and Eve, he too attempts a shallow defense (”am I my brother’s keeper?)

Most images of this story capture the moment of attack, what I like about this one is that it captures the emotion of the aftermath.  Even before God confronts Cain, he must realize what he has done.  Again, things will never be the same.  There is something new in the world, and this new thing is not good.

Sin is crouching at the door and waiting to overcome (4:7).  Here is a picture of a man who knows he has been overcome.

What do we look like in the moments where we know we’ve been overcome?

While this image is not inspiring, what can be inspiring is that sin is not the only thing there.  God is also there in those moments.  Will we let him ward off those attacks?  When we fail, will we let him apply his grace?

We all think about the consequences- serpent crawling on his belly, Eve with pain in childbirth, Adam having to toil on the ground, and of course, death and getting kicked out the Garden.  It’s truly the worst day imaginable, no overstatement.  The image captures the despair, but as I’ll be speaking of in my sermon this Sunday, there is also some grace.  Now some of it is best understood by us because we have the cross and Jesus.  But there are also peeks of grace that Adam and Eve had as well.

Notice this image, it’s very dark, but. . . there is that blue sky peeking through the clouds.  And while that isn’t in the text, what Adam and Eve are wearing is- clothing provided by God. He clothed them.  When you think about their previous clothing, some leaves they put on to hide the nakedness that suddenly shamed them, this clothing provided by God must have been comforting.  It may be subtle, kind of like the cloud, but it is a strong statement of grace nonetheless.

Do we also experience subtle signs of God’s grace?

True

Comforting

Surprising

Life Changing

Always With Us

If you’ve been part of a High Seas Expedition VBS program this summer these phrases will leap out at you.  They’ve gotten me thinking about God’s Word.  We can say much about God’s Word.  My favorite verse on God’s Word (what the Bible says about the Bible right is Heb. 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

When I thought about this Scripture, about the way God’ s Word can cut us to the heart and do all the things listed above, I started looking at images.  There are some nice images with the sword and the Bible put together, but then I started thinking about the first phrase, how the Word of God is living and active.  And I found this image.  The Word of God isn’t always safe, it can cut us to the heart, but part of it’s life, part of why it can cut us and grab a hold of us, change us completely, is because it comes out of the page, it comes alive, and grabs a hold of us.  The people who can cut us to the heart, the ones who can really get us to change our thinking are generally those who also love us, who embrace us.

And that’s the image above.  The Word of God is living and active.  The stories jump off the page when we bring them to others and speak about their relevance to our lives and to their own lives.  The Word of God is living and active when we let it change us and when people see that change.

The Word of God is many things, including all those from the High Seas Expedition, but I hope this image (not from the High Seas) also speaks to you today.

With these words temptation entered the experience of Eve.

I love this image because sometimes when we read the text we see Eve giving into the temptation and I don’t think we sense the struggle.  Here’s a woman who doesn’t know sin and who’s confronting the serpent, the liar.  Something in her senses that this is wrong- she covers her ears.  And yet- she is sitting there.  She’s not on her feet.  She’s not moving away from the temptation.  And yes, she will fall.

There’s something interesting in this for all of us- in what ways is Satan tempting you?  What words of God to you, what promises, what warnings of God is he twisting?  Are you covering your ears?  Are you actually moving away?

Do you notice anything about the results that are pulled up.  Almost every single image that’s returned is of the temptation, the fall, or the expulsion.  Why is this so?

It’s interesting that when we think of this seminal moment in God’s creation, the creation of the human race as man and woman that our minds and paintbrushes apparently go straight to the fall.

At first, I wasn’t that excited about the image on the right.  It’s not very modern.  There’s nothing in it that necessarily grabs a person right away.  But as I was thinking about it, I began to like it more.  There’s an innocence attached to this image, both in content and in style.  Things are whole and wholesome.  As they were meant to be.

When God created Adam and Eve this was his desire.  To create an environment where things were innocent, not in a foolish “golly gee” way, but in a way where people followed God’s will and were in line with the design.  Part of that desire was man and woman to meet.  To care for each other and for the creation.

Think about it- what would a creation look like where sin had not entered, where people saw God’s will as good and went back to his designs.  What would the relationship between man and woman look like?

I’ve been studying the idea that we’re created in the image of God for the beginning of a sermon series this Sunday.  The series is “Lessons from Eden”, but we’re beginning by exploring the idea that God created us to be in his image. What does this phrase mean and what does it mean for our life- what are the implications?  I find that God’s instructions to us to be frutful and fill the earth, and to rule it to be keys.

I think the image above is helpful.  Here we see Christ’s image created by the images of others.  God creates his people in his image to represent him to others, to be his workers in his creation, and to fill the earth with knowlege of him.  There is a gift in this- the affirmation of our worth as creations of God, and not just regular creations, but ones uniquely in his image.  And there’s also a challenge- to bear that image to the world.  A high privelege and call indeed.

Back to the subject at hand- fruit of the Spirit.  What I like in this image I finally found was that it really shows the flow for fruit.  The key to this whole concept in Gal. 5:22-23 is that fruit is just produced naturally by trees.  You don’t threaten or cajole a tree to get it to produce an apple.  It does, because that’s what’s inside it to do.

In this image, we see a tree producing fruit, but the tree doing so is the wood of the cross.  This is the tree that allows us to produce the fruit of the Spirit.  Without it, we would still be lost.

It’s not that we don’t still need the law.  We do!  But let this image remind you that through the tree of the cross, God has created something new in you.  You are a good tree, and you can produce good fruit.  Even some which might seem really hard.  Think on the list- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There’s at least one on there that’s hard for you I know (a few for me!)  Let God produce some fruit in you this week.

And as for next week- I’d like to focus on one of two concepts, bonus points if you find something that does both.  I’ll be on vacation so I’m thinking about the idea of sabbath and rest.  The other thing that comes to mind is freedom as we head towards July 4th.

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I liked that thought and as I was looking at different artist’s interpretations of the story this one founds its place at the front of the crowd.  Why?

Well, read Luke 7:11-17 and tell me what you think.  I agree with Nate, restoration is a key theme here.  Imagine the situation with a huge crowd of these people wailing and mourning as only this era of Jewish mourners could do, and at the center of it all is a widow who’s now lost her only son.  She’s got almost nothing left.  For her to see Jesus then raise him from the dead and return him to her arms.  Wow!

Look at the reaction in this picture.  Some images do a closeup of the woman and the boy, but I like that this one shows the whole crowd.  Think of that day and the crush of all those people wailing, who’s wails are now turned into shouts of joy.  Think of all those arms that had been thrown about in grief that are now raised in praise.  “A great prophet has appeared among us” they say.

A prophet, but more than a prophet.  You see, God did some restoration that day.  He restored a child to his mother.  He restored a true prophet to walk amongst the people.  But Jesus was much more than that and he would restore more than that to his people.

So think this week on restorations you’ve experienced.  What has God restored to your life?  But as you celebrate those events, think also about how God is pointing you to the bigger restorations and how we can live in anticipation of that, just as the widow must have.