IN CHRIST ALONE!: FROM OUR BRETHREN... A CHRISTIAN DENOMINATION THAT IS IN UNION WITH US IN OPPOSING THE FALLACIES OF THE RH/RP BILL: “Excellence of Design"

“Excellence of Design"

October 7, 2012

The 19th Sunday of Ordinary Tine

A.K.A.

Kingdomtide

and

Time of the Church

Genesis 2: 18 – 24/Psalm 128/Hebrews 2: 9 – 18/Mark 10: 2 – 9

His Eminence

The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.

Archbishop of Manila

and

Primate

of the

National Church in the Philippines

and

the Territorial Church of Asia

International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church

Today’s lessons begin from Genesis. I am sure that the Church fathers who put these Scriptures together did not understand how dangerous it was to start off with Genesis as far as a Bishop would be in 2012 age of bringing out truth from this writing.

Genesis is a very, very valuable and important writing to tell us and to reveal to us the plans of God. It is here in the beginning that God unveils all things. We look at it, read it, and are awed by the surface of it; but yet, in the midst of it, God speaks to us prophetically of the plans that He has ordained and set.

These plans are faithful and perfect; they will not change. Even though man does not agree with them, man does not understand them or man tries to change them, they cannot be changed because God has set them. They will be fulfilled in a manner in which God brought them forth.

In Genesis1, when God was working out the plans of creation, He spoke to the Trinity, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Those few words speak so powerfully of the life of man and the potentials of man: “Our likeness and Our image.” I realized that we have separated ourselves from an understanding of God to a point wherein we feel we can set our own direction and purposes of life. Rarely do we go back and begin to understand that we were created in the image and likeness of God.

The image of God means that in our lives, it is going to be brought that which comes from God. The manifestation of life itself is godly. There is no source of life outside of God. There is no ability outside that which comes from God. And yet, we try to do all kinds of things to belittle this thought. We thought we could bring it out in our being and we could do our own directions and set our own course and our plans. We think that we can be successful in the midst of them.

However, the plans of man have come and gone. They have not truly affected life itself. God created man to be the image of who He was – the image of His character and His abilities. Even though we don’t see it and understand it, we are proclaiming the greatness of God in our lives. Physical being in itself is an awesome creation of God. Its ability is without having to be recharged on a regular basis like our apparatuses today. That which God created comes with power that does not fail. The sun, the universe, and the earth – see the image of God in all of these.

Even though man failed and sinned, the effects of sin are still scarring man today. Man has been given eternity. Life is eternal. Life does not die. Even though we bury it in the ground thinking that we have come to an end, Jesus Himself said, “Even if you die, you live.” It came from God. It is eternal. This is God! This is the power and the ability of God. This is God’s character and His commitment to man – His image and His likeness.

The design and the order of God is so powerful that if man could ever grasp its totality and begin to live it, we will, one day, begin to change everything around us. Power, greatness, provision, life itself. When God created man, He spoke to man and blessed him. He said to man, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.”

Here was the character of God being shared with man – the very image of God. As God was created, man was given the same imagery. As God was eternal, man was given the same imagery of eternity. We could go on and on in what God has placed within us. Even today we have not paid attention to what God has done. We have caught ourselves into things which are, in some cases, contrary to God’s imagery in our lives. We cause our own sorrow, pain and suffering by denying the image of God that He has put within us.

When God created man, it was such an awesome creation. Up until this time, everything that was created was out of the dust of the ground. Every beast, every bird of the sky, everything that was created as far as living beings were concerned was created out of the dust of the ground. When man was created, God also created him out of the dust of the ground. Our identity with God’s creation, the earth, we are one with it. Its power and strength brought forth life for us and for all the animals. It is an awesome thing that God did.

Then God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper suitable to him.” The animals were not suitable to man. In the earlier days when I would do a wedding, I would mention that; and I had some of the women really upset because they were saying that I was comparing them to animals. The Bible says that the animals were not compatible, suitable for man. God created something else for man. Women are not animals. We have to have that recognition. God created the woman.

Scriptures says that God caused man to have a deep sleep. As he slept, God took a rib from his side and He closed the flesh of that place. This event should say something very special to us, especially to women. Women were not created from the dust of the ground; women were created and brought out of the flesh of man. It would indicate, perhaps in our thinking, a higher provision, something that has much more than dust involved in it.

In my Bible it says, “The Lord God fashioned a woman.” In other translations, the woman was given attention, special recognition in the creation so much so that when that first man saw this woman, he was awed, but not speechless. When I found out that these were the Scriptures for today, I went back to review some of the things that I have studied about Genesis. I tried to find more things that I could bring into my understanding of God’s creation.

Tertullian, one of the saints of old and writers of much about Scriptures, said that when God put man to sleep, causing a deep sleep to come upon him, God gave him a dream. God implanted within man the understanding of what was happening. Even though he was asleep, God was not going to surprise him. God was not going to take him by force into something that he was not prepared for.

Tertullian describes this event as ecstasy – an emotion that is so high that reaches a peak that literally drives a person to joy and to excitement. He said that this was the dream that God gave man that from him there was something that came forth that was going to be so powerful and so beautiful and awesome. When man woke up, he proclaimed, “This is bone of my bones!” He wasn’t apathetic, lazy, or lethargic. He was excited because God had given him a revelation. God had brought him to this ecstasy so that he would recognize something great was taking place.

This greatness was woman. “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man, not out of the dust. It gives an imagery to the female of the special care and compassion of God, how that God was favoring man with something very special. It was not like the animals coming out of the dust. Not even like man coming out of the dust. It was like she was being given high honor of greatness. In order for this to happen, man had to die.

In Scripture, Jesus refers to death as sleep. It was in this condition, in this sleep, that out of man came forth this awesomeness of new life. This is the beauty of the fashioning of the females given from God. That first man prophesied. I think along with Tertullian. God implanted in the mind of man and in his heart what was going to take place. God said, “For this cause, a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

We get to that point and I stopped. I go back to Genesis 1 when that God said that He was creating man in His image and likeness. Here is a proclamation of what was to come to humanity. Here was a proclamation of that even that was going to take place one day when Christ would become flesh. He will leave His Father and He will take upon flesh in order that He can redeem man.

This is the prophetic utterance of that event that was going to take place. Christ was going to leave His Father. He was going to become one flesh with man, the same as what the first man says, “The two shall become one flesh.” Here was the prophetic guidance to share right from the very beginning of the Scriptures of God’s plan that He was going to bring into existence. Christ did not come because man failed, because of man’s sin. Here was the plan already set from the very beginning of time: they shall become one flesh.

Christ becoming one flesh with man, identifying with man so that there was this unity that was brought forth in the beginning. What did God say, “I will never leave you; I will never forsake you.” The permanency of this event, that which was from the very beginning. As Jesus said in the gospel when He was asked about divorce, “It has never been that way before. The two shall become one.”

There is a spiritual event that takes place which puts man in the imagery of God, which causes man’s existence to be like unto God – of unity and oneness. Christ brought that into its fullness in our lives. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, He was bringing the heart of God into its fullness and into its provision. Yes, man failed and sin. Yes, man rebelled; but the Father, through His Son, restored man back into the fold.

In so doing, He sets that pattern for us that there should not be broken relationship. It is our responsibility to heal and to restore rather than separate. It is more than what we call the marriage vow; it is our relationship with God and with each other. There is no excuse or reason for separation because God has brought us into a unity and into oneness.

Ephesians 4 tells us to preserve the unity. “Don’t divide; don’t run away from what I have done.” Christ became flesh and blood as it says in Hebrews so that in so doing, in so identifying with us, He might take the things that hindered us from being one with Him and take it to a point of death so that out of that death, we could bring forth new life. Is this not Genesis 2? Is this not what happened to the first man? He was put to death, and from that death, he was able to bring forth new life. He was able to bring forth that which was awesome in its ability and in its provision and in its imagery.

In like manner, we have been restored by Christ. He has given us this new life. He has provided for us the protection. He gives to us everything we need. We lack in nothing. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. This was the responsibility of the man. Christ sets the pattern for us even today. In our lives, as men, we are to protect, we are to restore, we are to build, we are to bring forgiveness, and we are to bring life into a relationship that shows forth the very imagery of God –a God of restoration, of peace, of joy, of greatness. This is God! He created us like Him so that in our lives, we would bring forth that same character as He did.

In the imagery of Adam, in putting him to sleep, it shows the necessity of dying to self, in dying to our own pride in order that we can bring forth relationship and that we can bring forth that which allows multiplication, creativity, and prosperity. This is the work of God in our lives. Society has come up with all kinds of things. They have said that we can have this kind of a marriage and that kind of a marriage; but in the Scriptures, we find that the marriage was a law set by God. It was established by Him and therefore, marriage is holy and sacred. It must be handled with reverence and awe.

The laws of the world have belittled the very principle of God. This is right in the beginning of God’s creation. God established this. It was set. When it was broken, He restored it by sending Christ. He wouldn’t allow the separation to take place and He calls us His image. He says that we are supposed to be sharing this. We are supposed to be showing this because He dwells with us. His Spirit is within us. He said, “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you.” It should be the same attitude that we sense coming from our innermost being that in separation, we feel that something is wrong. We are driven to restore, to heal, to reunite, and to bring the unity back as God so endeavored that it would be.

Awesome is His greatness. This is His design. This is His pattern, His plan and what He has set for us. This is how the world is supposed to be today. Man has destroyed the imagery. He has suppressed it, allowing his own feelings, his own emotions, and as Jesus said, “The hardness of heart.” What a cruel term! Stubbornness, arrogance, pride. These are the things that cause separation. Sensitivity of God’s heart in us will not allow this to take place. Even to a point where that maybe death - dying to self - is required in order to restore and bring forth the provision and the ability of God through our lives.

We have been created in the image and likeness of God. Out of our being should come forth that which is like unto God; seeing that which He has given to us, the power. Jesus speaks to His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Can we see this? Why have we lost this imagery? Why have we lost this understanding? Why do we allow all these things to seemingly overpower us rather than we being in the image of God – having the strength and the power to rise above the circumstances, to proclaim the greatness of God? It isn’t the battle. Scriptures says, “Submit yourself to God; resist the devil, and he will flee.” Resist! Don’t submit. Don’t bow down. Don’t accept the evil. Rise up, be submitted to God! His power and His ability reigns in us!

There is this creative order by God. This is His plan. This is how the earth would be filled with His glory. This is how mankind will be filled with the joy and the peace that comes in knowing God because we follow the principles of His life. When the Pharisees asked Jesus as to why Moses allowed divorce, Jesus said, “Because of the hardness of your heart.” Pride, arrogance, self-centeredness, thinking only of self. In Genesis 1, before the beauty of woman can come forth, man died. He had to be subdued and be put to sleep by God. We don’t find any reference to sleep prior to this, but out of that came forth the beauty of a relationship.

It is a challenge to us. We have been given this purpose and called for this purpose. Romans 8, “We have been called according to His purpose which causes all things to work together for good for those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.” Can we see the potential that is ours? Yes, I understand that we have allowed so much to come to our thinking that we may say, “Oh, it is almost impossible.” With God, all things are possible.

Divorce is not godly. Abortion is not godly. We are the caretakers of life. We are the protectors of life. We are to bring forth the fullness and the provision that God has given to us. Isaiah says that if you will consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. If you choose not to be obedient, you will suffer the curse, the pain, and the sorrow.

This is where we are today in our society worldwide. This is why we have the tragedies, the wars, and the pain and the sorrow. Sickness and disease is rampant. We have chosen not to be obedient. We do not consent to the things of God. We can consent to what we think, what we want. We put ourselves up as the god deciding the difference between right and wrong. In many cases, the things that God has said are wrong, we decided that they are okay. Therefore, we have the consequences.

May this which God gives us today in Scriptures bring out to us an awareness that God, from the very beginning, set a course, a direction and order. That order is perfect! His design is excellent! It doesn’t need changing. That design will function and work. It doesn’t matter the culture, the age, the time. It will work because God created it and it is eternal.

In Malachi, God speaks, “I hate divorce.” Change the word, “I hate division. I hate separation.” He created us to be one. There are times when we are overwhelmed by situations. We are human, but in the end, we should come back to God and realize that He has the answer. He is the answer and He has given to us the power.

Genesis is so powerful to reveal God’s plan, purpose, and direction. All the other Scriptures fit into this which is in Genesis. Genesis unveils God’s love. It unveils God’s heart, how He restores and heals the brokenness. In our lives, it should be the character that we have. Rather than throwing away, we restore, we rebuild and we heal. This should be our character because we have the imagery of God in us which is compassionate, loving, kind.

May we, as God’s people, walk in that hope and that power knowing what God has done. Ladies, you are blessed! You are fashioned. Men, we are just made out of the dust. This is why we are rough and we have beards and all the other things that aren’t so pleasant. Women are so beautiful, gentle, soft, compassionate, loving and kind. We think, “My husband is so rough. He doesn’t have any compassion. He doesn’t have any understanding.”

Man came from dust. This is why God made the woman to complete the two. Don’t expect your husband to be like you. God did not create him like you. You have a special assignment. You have a special responsibility. You catch his attention. You keep him in the right path, and you keep him where God wants him to be because you attract his attention. God created you that way.

Use what God gave you for the purpose God intended it to be, and we will see the glory of God in our midst. Genesis, the beginning, still today is the same. It has not changed!

LET US CONTINUE OUR REFLECTION

WITH

HIS GRACE, THE MOST REVEREND ARCHBISHOP LUIS ANTONIO "CHITO" GOKIM TAGLE D.D.

ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA AND VENERABLE PRIMATE OF THE PHILIPPINES

THROUGH

THE WORD EXPOSED