Moses as Spiritual Director - Conception/Genesis
These are my notes for my series on "Moses as Spiritual Director" at Corinth Presbyterian Church in Parker, TX (6/24/12-6/26/12)
I. What is the Bible & Conception/Genesis (6/24/12)
1. What is a “Spiritual Director”
a. A friend who walks with us following Jesus, listening to our stories, sharing his with us, and pointing to where we can find God.
b. Moses served this as well as many other roles for Israel.
2. As Christians, we read Moses’ writings through the lens of the cross and resurrection of Jesus and the end of the story God began with his people at creation.
3. We can look to the end (the book of Revelation) to see how the story ends and to show us what’s important to watch for as we read.
a. Revelation – Genesis
b. Revelation: new creation/new Jerusalem – temple
Genesis: first creation/garden temple (people)
c. Revelation: God dwells w/his people on new creation
Genesis: God rests on Sabbath and “walks” with Adam and Eve (God’s presence)
4. Learnings
a. Bible is a story to be read from start to finish (begins in a garden; ends in a city which encases the garden)
b. In this story matter matters, eternally.
c. It’s chief theme is God’s fellowship and community with humanity in the new creation (begins with God walking with Adam & Eve in the garden; ends with his continuous presence w/all humanity in the new city
II. Genesis: Conception of a People
Theme: Beginnings, Beginnings, Beginnings . . .
1. Everything I need to know I learned from Genesis 1-11
a. What goes God want the world to be? A temple-garden-palace
b. What does God want us to be? Priests/Rulers of God’s temple-garden-palace (“image of God,” 1:26)
c. What’s gone wrong? “God, you aren’t the boss of us!” Imperial pretensions (“the serpent”)
d. How wrong did it go? We are alienated: from God, from our selves, from each other, from creation - Universal (flood)
e. What has God done about it? The great “Messianic” promise (Genesis 3:15)
f. The God with whom we have to do
i. “but where sin increased abounds, grace multiplied even more” (Rom.5:20)
2. The Bible’s great promise (Genesis 12:1-3): Peoplehood, Promise & Peace
a. God promises Abraham and Sarah to get a great people through them, to bless that people, and to bless the rest of the world through them.
b. God makes a “covenant” (commitment) with Abraham and his family (Genesis 15)
c. First and greatest of a series of covenants God makes with his people: Mosaic Cov. (Ex.), Davidic Cov. (2 Sam.), and the New Covenant (Jer.)
3. Genesis gives a profile of Abraham’s relationship to God that is a template for a growing relationship to Covenant God
a. 12:1-3: YHWH speaks/Abram and Sarai obey/they leave home and leave the outcome of journey to YHWH
b. 12:7-8: YHWH speaks & appears/Abram and Sarai consecrate this place and worship YHWH
c. 13:14-17: YHWH challenges Abram to walk all the land he can see and it would be his/Abram trusts and truly enters the larger story of God
d. 15:1-21: Abram speaks to YHWH for the first time. Abram expresses his fear and YHWH dramatically assuages that fear by undergoing the “death walk”
e. 17:1-22: “El Shaddai” (“God Almighty” - ruler of all peoples and history) gives Abram and Sarai new names: Abraham (“father of nations”) and Sarah (one who gives rises to nations) and now find the meaning and purpose of their lives in God’s agenda (see v.1)/ full reciprocity in relationship now (see v.4 and v.9)/circumcision/close relation (v.22)
f. 18:1-33: Abraham is internalizing his relation to YHWH and begins to bless others/YHWH shares his plans with Abraham and “dickers” with him over that plan/ Abraham has become God’s “friend” (Is. 41:8).
g. 22:1-19: God asks Abraham to sacrifice his “son of the promise” Isaac; -Is Abraham committed to YHWH’s agenda or to his gifts? -”fear of YHWH” has replaced the fear that has driven Abraham earlier
4. One Final Note: Grace Not Genes
a. Matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel) of Abraham’s family are “naturally” barren till God grants fertility (11:30; 25:21; 29:31)
b. Election
©Lee Wyatt 2012
I. What is the Bible & Conception/Genesis (6/24/12)
1. What is a “Spiritual Director”
a. A friend who walks with us following Jesus, listening to our stories, sharing his with us, and pointing to where we can find God.
b. Moses served this as well as many other roles for Israel.
2. As Christians, we read Moses’ writings through the lens of the cross and resurrection of Jesus and the end of the story God began with his people at creation.
3. We can look to the end (the book of Revelation) to see how the story ends and to show us what’s important to watch for as we read.
a. Revelation – Genesis
b. Revelation: new creation/new Jerusalem – temple
Genesis: first creation/garden temple (people)
c. Revelation: God dwells w/his people on new creation
Genesis: God rests on Sabbath and “walks” with Adam and Eve (God’s presence)
4. Learnings
a. Bible is a story to be read from start to finish (begins in a garden; ends in a city which encases the garden)
b. In this story matter matters, eternally.
c. It’s chief theme is God’s fellowship and community with humanity in the new creation (begins with God walking with Adam & Eve in the garden; ends with his continuous presence w/all humanity in the new city
II. Genesis: Conception of a People
Theme: Beginnings, Beginnings, Beginnings . . .
1. Everything I need to know I learned from Genesis 1-11
a. What goes God want the world to be? A temple-garden-palace
b. What does God want us to be? Priests/Rulers of God’s temple-garden-palace (“image of God,” 1:26)
c. What’s gone wrong? “God, you aren’t the boss of us!” Imperial pretensions (“the serpent”)
d. How wrong did it go? We are alienated: from God, from our selves, from each other, from creation - Universal (flood)
e. What has God done about it? The great “Messianic” promise (Genesis 3:15)
f. The God with whom we have to do
i. “but where sin increased abounds, grace multiplied even more” (Rom.5:20)
2. The Bible’s great promise (Genesis 12:1-3): Peoplehood, Promise & Peace
a. God promises Abraham and Sarah to get a great people through them, to bless that people, and to bless the rest of the world through them.
b. God makes a “covenant” (commitment) with Abraham and his family (Genesis 15)
c. First and greatest of a series of covenants God makes with his people: Mosaic Cov. (Ex.), Davidic Cov. (2 Sam.), and the New Covenant (Jer.)
3. Genesis gives a profile of Abraham’s relationship to God that is a template for a growing relationship to Covenant God
a. 12:1-3: YHWH speaks/Abram and Sarai obey/they leave home and leave the outcome of journey to YHWH
b. 12:7-8: YHWH speaks & appears/Abram and Sarai consecrate this place and worship YHWH
c. 13:14-17: YHWH challenges Abram to walk all the land he can see and it would be his/Abram trusts and truly enters the larger story of God
d. 15:1-21: Abram speaks to YHWH for the first time. Abram expresses his fear and YHWH dramatically assuages that fear by undergoing the “death walk”
e. 17:1-22: “El Shaddai” (“God Almighty” - ruler of all peoples and history) gives Abram and Sarai new names: Abraham (“father of nations”) and Sarah (one who gives rises to nations) and now find the meaning and purpose of their lives in God’s agenda (see v.1)/ full reciprocity in relationship now (see v.4 and v.9)/circumcision/close relation (v.22)
f. 18:1-33: Abraham is internalizing his relation to YHWH and begins to bless others/YHWH shares his plans with Abraham and “dickers” with him over that plan/ Abraham has become God’s “friend” (Is. 41:8).
g. 22:1-19: God asks Abraham to sacrifice his “son of the promise” Isaac; -Is Abraham committed to YHWH’s agenda or to his gifts? -”fear of YHWH” has replaced the fear that has driven Abraham earlier
4. One Final Note: Grace Not Genes
a. Matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel) of Abraham’s family are “naturally” barren till God grants fertility (11:30; 25:21; 29:31)
b. Election
©Lee Wyatt 2012
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