2. HOW WE GROW. GOD’S PLAN A
Eph 4:12-16…to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for
building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the
faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,
to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we
may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by
craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into
Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by
every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working
properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
3. WHY DID CHRIST COME? WHAT
IS HE UPTO?
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting men’s sins against them.And he has
committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:
18–19).
5. BIG IDEA ONE: GOD ISTHE
SOURCE
Everything starts out with God as the Source.
God is more than just the creator of all things but also
the recreator of our lives.
It is the theology of how one overcomes a depression
or heals a marriage or rescues a failing business career.
In other words,“How do I bring this marriage or this
business career back to life?” The Bible’s answer to all
these questions is “God.”
6. BIG IDEATWO: RELATIONSHIPS
(Gen.2:18).Man was incomplete with God alone.So we see at
the outset that relationship was at the core of the way things
were created.
As the Bible says,“The man and his wife were both naked,and
they felt no shame” (v.25).
One of the aspects of genuine,healthy relatedness is that people
don’t hide their vulnerability from one another and are not
ashamed of who they are before each other.
Relationship as it was created to be was vulnerable and open,
without duplicity and without brokenness or breach
7. BIG IDEATHREE: GOD IS BOSS
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to
work it and take care of it.And the LORD God commanded the man,
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you
eat of it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:15–17).
Relationships had order. Not only was God the source but he was
the Boss, the Lord, the Authority.
God gave both positive and negative directions.
We were to live life, but to live it in submission to God, or we would
not have life at all. Life and submission to God were one and the
same.
8. BIG IDEA FOUR: GOD’S ROLE
OUR ROLE
GOD’S ROLEWASTO BETHE SOURCE OR PROVIDER;OUR ROLEWASTO
DEPEND ONTHE SOURCE.
God originated life,and we were given life.Therefore we depended on God for life
and for all that we needed.
God’s role was to provide;our role was to receive.
God gave breath;we took it in.
God gave the garden;we lived in it and ate from it.
God gave us relationship;we received intimacy and relatedness.
Our role was designed to be a dependent one.
He provides;we depend and trust.
The role we must take in life is not only for dependency but also against self
sufficiency
9. BIG IDEA FOUR: GOD’S ROLE:
OUR ROLE
GOD’S ROLEWASTO BE IN CONTROL;OUR ROLEWASTOYIELDTO
GOD’S CONTROL OFTHEWORLDANDTO CONTROL OUR SELF.
So many of people’s problems come from trying to control things outside
of their control,and when they try,they lose control of themselves.
It is no wonder that praying“the Serenity Prayer”*—knowing the
difference between what we can change and what we cannot—leads to
people regaining control of their lives.
God’s role is to be in control of the big picture,and our role is to be in
control of our self and our responsibilities.In short,to maintain“self-
control.”
10. BIG IDEA FOUR: GOD’S ROLE
OUR ROLE
GOD WAS THE JUDGE OF LIFE;WE WERE TO EXPERIENCE LIFE.
Gods Role was to judge good and bad. He was the judge of the
universe and he commanded Adam and Eve to stay away from
the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.
We were not meant to worry if “Am I Good Enough” and we
were simply to do and be good.
We were to experience all that God had given us in pleasure,
work, and relationship.
Live it to all the limits, but don’t try to become God and judge it.
11. BIG IDEA FOUR:GOD’S ROLE
OUR ROLE
GOD MADE THE RULES;WE WERE TO OBEY THEM.
The roles were clear.
God designed life the way it was supposed to be and the
rules on how to live it.
We were to obey them.
God did not consult us on setting up the rules and the
design of life.
12. THETEMPTATION
Gen. 3:1-5 He said to the woman,“Did God actually say,‘You shall
not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the
serpent,“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but
God said,You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the
midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But
the serpent said to the woman,“You will not surely die. For God
knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you
will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
14. EPH 2:1-3
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once
walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of
the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of
our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and
were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
15. THE FALL
They Became Independent from the Source
They Lost their Relationships
They Reversed the Structure and Order
16. THE FALL
Reversing the Roles
Stopped depending on God and tried to become the source of life
for ourselves
We desired to control things we could not control, including each
other, and we lost control of ourselves.
We tried to become the judge, and we ended up being judgmental
instead.
We lost our ability to experience life and each other by exercising
the very judgement we desired.
We stopped obeying God’s design and rules and made up our own.
17. THE ROLES AFTERTHE FALL
THE DESIRE THE RESULT
We are the source We depend on ourselves
We are the creator We exist unto ourselves
We control of the world
We try to control our world
and each other, losing control
of ourselves
We become the judge of life
We judge ourselves and each,
ceasing to experience
ourselves and others
We design life and the rules We live any way we want to.
19. WHY CHRIST APPEARED
“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in
him there is no sin. … The reason the Son of God appeared was
to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a
practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot
keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.”
1 John 3:5-9 ESV
http://bible.com/59/1jn.3.5-9.esv
20. THE MINISTRY OF
RECONCILIATION
God Paid the Price to gain it all back.
God laid all of this sin upon Jesus
This paved the way for God to have it all back and return
everything to its rightful order.
Redemption is the process of growth itself: it is the returning of
everything to its rightful, righteous place before God.
To solve Life’s problems and to grow spiritually are one and the
same.
21. RETURNTOTHE SOURCE
We seek first the Kingdom of God and all the things of life are
“added to us” Matt 6:33
God is the source of healing and growth
When we come to the end of ourselves, realizing we are
impoverished (poor in spirit Matt 5:3) we find ourselves in a
position to receive from him
We turn to God and receive strength, truth, healing, care,
correction, and a host of other things which are not available to
those still trying to provide them for themselves
22. RETURNTO RELATIONSHIP
To return to the created order means to get back into
relationship with God and with each other.
Redemption reconciles us into a relationship with God through
faith and forgiveness
Redemption brings us back to connection with others stressing:
Redemption reverses our alienation and isolation from each
other and gets us rightly reconnected.
23. RETURNTO ORDER
Redemption is also a surrender to God as Lord
I have God as a source of power and I have others to support
me.
I have a new nature in me, One that is empowered by God to
follow God and to submit to him
I have a body of people to help me in my new found obedience.
I am in a position to obey God and submit to him as I return to
the source and relationship
24. RETURNTOTHE ROLES
We become dependent and give up our independent stance
before God and others.
We give up trying to control things we cannot control and yield
to and trust God’s control.
We regain control of what we were created to control in the
first place,which is ourselves.We regain the fruit of“self-
control.”
25. RETURNTOTHE ROLES
We give up the role of playing judge with ourselves and others by giving
up judgmentalism,condemnation,wrath,shaming,and so on so that we
are free to experience ourselves and others as we really are.
By not being God,we are free to be who we truly are and allow others
to be who they truly are as well.
We stop redesigning life and making new rules and instead live the life
God designed us to live.
In redemption we begin to do it God’s way.
26. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What Areas do we struggle to use God as our source?
What makes submission so difficult at times?
How do we come to rely on God as our source?
How do we build a community that helps us reconcile our lives
to God's design?
