Acts and Apologetics: 5. Right Relationship

So, if God is the Creator, I'm the creature.

As we study and practice apologetics, we have to not only start on the right foot, but we have to understand what our "worldview" is. A worldview is just that: HOW we, as an individual, look at the world around us and our actions in it. Our worldview(s) color everything else that we think about, speak about, and react to.

As Christians, we have definite, oftentimes opposing, worldviews as compared to non-Christians, Wiccans, atheists, agnostics, and other post-modernists.

What we believe about God and Who He is and how we relate to Him forms the foundation of our worldview. But it is not enough to argue for the "simple" existence of God, or theism. As believers, we are to defend  Christian Theism. That is the belief in God as the Triune Being of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

I know that's a big order, but to that point, we begin.

Our foundation MUST begin with a clear understanding of who God is. True,  biblical, orthodox (right thinking) Christianity - alas, even the Bible itself - asserts two essential facts about God: He created all things and He is Triune in nature. Before we wrap our brains around the Truth of God existing all of the time and simultaneously in the persons of Father, Son, and  Holy Spirit, let's get a little more basic. 

In Job chapters 38 through 41, God quizzes Job about the known universe and everything in it. Did Job have any part in the creation? No.  

"Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone — while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?" Job 38:4 - 8.

How about Job being able to control behemoth or Leviathan? No again. Job was mortal. He was born and then he died.

"Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword." Job 40:15 - 19.

The  REAL foundation that we begin with is that God is the Creator of ALL things. And that means ALL things; every star and planet, every rock and tree, every fish and bird, every person, every atom and its subatomic parts. God is the perfect and reasonable explanation for all that is.  With that foundation, I can state my beliefs simply and succinctly.  Period. 

Furthermore, without God, NOTHING can exist. He brought it all into existence. He can take it all out of existence whenever He wants. He holds everything together. God is only responsible to Himself. He colors the New England autumn leaves as He likes them as much as He colors the various nebulae in the sky. 

Order and beauty abound in all things He has created. More than a finely crafted watch or the intricacy of the human eye, there is order, beauty, and even function and purpose (a keyword and strategy that we'll cover much later). All of it exists for HIS glory and HIS  pleasure. God allows us the opportunity of sharing all of this with all of us. God is a "relational" Being; relationships are His thing.  But there is also a hierarchy in Creation.

And what about us? We are the creature. Man did not "create" God (although certain philosophies would suggest just that) in his image. No, God created US in HIS image (Genesis 1:26). Male and female He created us. Whereas the universe and seas and plants and animals were spoken into existence by His Word, man was crafted out of the dust of the earth and when properly formed, God breathed His Spirit into man, passing on to us  His communicable attributes. 

We are dependent upon God for Four general areas: Physical, Historical, Knowledge, and Morality.

Man is dependent upon God Physically. 

But we are still the creature. Man and woman are still 100% dependent upon God for everything. Psalm 139:13 - 16 reads: "For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,  your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."

As independent as we may want to be, it is only God who is truly independent. We need air. God doesn't. We need food and drink. God doesn't. He always existed and always will exist. We men and women had a beginning; God didn't. The other side of that coin is that none of us will have an end; either in glory for eternity or damnation for eternity. 

We depend on God for our History. 

By the work of the Holy Spirit, we see God's guiding hand throughout history. Where we came from, where we're going. In Acts chapter 7, we see the church's first martyr Stephen arguing before the Jewish Sanhedrin. Stephen eloquently, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, lays out Israel's history. From Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph to Moses to finally King David and his son Solomon. History is truly God's History. It's His-story. God was in the details then and is in the details today.

The Bible is not just a book of fairy tales as many unbelievers say it is. The Bible and the authenticity of historical events have been proven time and time again. Archaeology is continually digging up (pardon the pun), new and more relevant pieces of the puzzle of history that support the Bible. The people mentioned in the Bible are actual historical men and women, kings and queens, heroes and villains. Extra-biblical writing proves them correct. Even certain prophecies of the Old Testament writers have found credence with support from other historians such as Josephus and others.

Romans 15:4, sums it up nicely, "For  everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so  that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." Man should be learning from his past actions and mistakes. We can more effectively move forward by examining the "what" was behind us.

We depend on God for knowledge.

We don't know everything and for that reason, we keep searching. God is omniscient. God wants His creation to KNOW Him. God makes Himself known to us in two ways: through General Revelation and Special Revelation.

General Revelation is what God provides, by Grace, to every man, woman, and child on the planet. No matter what their individual stature. We can know God and gain knowledge just by looking at and examining the world and universe around us. God calls out to His creation to know Him. God essentially "lays Himself bare"  for all to see in the general revelation of creation itself. We can know  God just by looking out the window. Psalm 19:1 states, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."  

Then there is God's Special Revelation. We see God's hand weaving through history as He drives it to an eventual conclusion. God specifically draws attention to Himself through the special revelation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. He beckons all men and women to read, drink in, and get to know Him. 

In the person of Jesus Christ, man was able to actually touch God for the very first time; to hold Him as a  baby, to break bread with Him, to touch His resurrected body. Hebrews  1:1 - 2, says it well: "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers  through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these  last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all  things, and through whom he made the universe." 

Jesus goes on to speak to us specifically in John 6:44 - 51, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will  all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to Me. No one has seen the Father except the One Who is from God; only He has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

This is an incredibly bold statement. He tells us that we can know, truly know God, by knowing Him. Unfortunately, most of the world rejects this statement. It is too narrow; it isn't fair. The Jews (unbelievers)  grumbled then when Jesus spoke those words, and many more grumble today.

We depend on God for a standard of morality. 

When left to our own devices, all men become immoral and corrupt. Actually, we don't "become," we already are immoral and corrupt. That is our sinful nature. Our fallen nature. God is the standard of morality in justice,  mercy, love, proper anger, and wrath. How an atheist declares that man  "developed" morality through evolution is dumbfounding.

All of Psalm 119 is a guide for good living. It is a guide for understanding our vertical relationship with God as well as our horizontal relationship with our fellow men and women. Are there sacrifices to make? Of course. Every good thing that you want to have or to be requires sacrifice. God's Word and His call to our being holy, or set apart, is not a straight-jacket. His Word is our ultimate liberation. We become who we were meant to become. 

That is living the "abundant life" that Jesus proclaimed. Jesus speaking in John 6:37-40 states, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I  will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him W sent Me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. For My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

In contrast, you may want to read the classic book, "Lord of the Flies."  That is man's true nature. That is our sinful nature. We'll look more at that in Lesson 6.

And so, as we recognize our proper relationship with God, as we willingly humble ourselves to our Creator in understanding that we are completely and forever dependent on Him, we set and reinforce the foundation to tell the world of our God.