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In week 1 of Life’s Big Questions, we consider the question of origins. It’s the question we ponder when we look at the stars and we are reminded of our smallness. What question is that? Where did I come from? Where did everything come from? How did everything that exists begin?
Short Clip
Where we come from impacts who we are. You know this to be true. I know it to be true.
It also impacts how we talk…
Let’s play a little game and we’ll see how stereotypical we all are…
Do you say pop or soda? If you’re from here, it’s likely “pop.”
Do you throw your trash in a garbage can or a trash can? Trash can if you’re from here.
What do you call one of those big trucks that pull large amounts of stuff? Semitruck. Other people in other parts of the country call them Tractor Trailers or Eighteen-Wheelers.
What do you call athletic footwear? Tennis shoes? Sneakers? Gym shoes? Probably Tennis shoes, right?
How many syllables are in this word: caramel? Two or three?
Where we come from impacts how we talk.
But where we come from also impacts who we are.
Today’s first question in our new series, Life’s Big Questions is “where did I come from?”
Quick Answer
And depending on how deep you think about this, you might be able to answer it rather quickly.
Where did I come from? Well, I came from… my parents. I don’t want to think about that…
I’m from America. I’m from the Midwest. The state of Indiana. The city of Fort Wayne. I grew up on the south side in Waynedale. I graduated from Wayne High School.
Where did I come from?
If you keep digging deeper…
But if you keep digging and rewinding…
I came from my parents, Chad and Vicki. But they came from their parents. And they came from their parents. And so on and so on and so on.
Where did I come from?
If you keep digging you’ll find that this question leads us down a path that stretches our minds. It’s a path that comes face to face with realizing that this single question, where did I come from? really is one of life’s big questions.
Because how we answer this question will impact the way we answer all the rest of the questions we’re going to ask in this series.
A Confused Culture — Keep Rewinding — Foundational Question
Much of our culture today is confused because when you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know who you really are.
Where did I come from? This question naturally leads us to the question of the existence of God.
If you keep rewinding and rewinding and consider all the causes that led to you being born and alive today, you’ll reach a point where you ask what was the first cause?
And I think it’s fitting that the biggest question we could ever ask, the most foundational question for all of life’s other big questions is addressed in the first sentence of the book we Christians believe contain God’s words called The Bible.
Genesis 1:1
If you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to the first page, Genesis chapter 1. These are the first words we find on the first page on the first line.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning Elohim. In the beginning God. What happened in the beginning? He created the heavens and the earth.
When nothingness became something-ness, God was behind it.
When the Universe sprang into existence, God was behind it.
When, in an instant, energy and matter and space and time appeared, God was behind it.
When the laws of nature were written, God was the author.
The scientific world has put forth evidence after evidence that our Universe had a distinct beginning. When everything that is came into existence out of nothingness. That there was a point of singularity, a big mysterious bang.
That in one moment, no dynamite existed and in the next, it had exploded.
How could something come out of nothing?
Where did I come from? — The bible never sets out to prove God’s existence
The Bible, from the first sentence to the last sentence never sets out to prove God’s existence. The fact of God’s existence is the Bible’s starting point.
Genesis 1:26-27
But Genesis 1 doesn’t stop there. It gives us an amazing account into the mind of God and the motivation of God when He created the first human beings.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
27 So God created man
in his own image;
he created him in the image of God;
he created them male and female.
In the midst of God creating atoms and molecules, time and space, stars and planets, plants and animals, God decided to do something shocking.
He had saved the best for last. And I know this because He said everything was good. But then when He created human beings and He stepped back and looked at the canvas that He had painted, the beauty that He had crafted, the wonder that He established, He said it was very good.
But why? Why did the addition of human beings make what God was creating go from good to very good?
Because God created humans in his own image.
In other words, God created humans like Him.
Every human. Made in God’s image. Every single one.
Unlike the rest of creation, human beings are rational and intelligent… like God. We are relational beings that function best within community… like God.
God in Community: Notice in Genesis 1:26, “let us.” Here we see the first clue to the Trinity, that God is three in one. One God, three persons.
We humans, also, are given the authority to rein and rule over the earth… like God reins and rules over all things including us.
Who we are has its foundation in where we came from.
Who are you? Why are you? How are you? What are you?
You are someone made in the image of God by the hand of God. And so is every other person who has ever lived.
This explains our angst
And I believe this explains our angst. It explains why we feel like the way things are not how they ought to be. It explains why we have this deep-seated sense of right and wrong called our conscience. It explains why you see people who don’t believe in God doing the very things that God does—caring for the needy, fighting for the oppressed, and giving a voice to the voiceless.
Our angst is felt like a twisted gut because the world we live in has been tattered and stained by sin. When God created, it was very good. And our hearts yearn for that very good. Our souls yearn to be back in an unblemished relationship with our Creator.
Where did I come from? — God, eden, perfection, goodness
Where did I come from? I came from God.
Where did I come from? A garden called Eden.
Where did I come from? Perfection.
Where did I come from? Goodness.
Because I am from God and live in a sin-stained world, I have a deep sense that I am in an incomplete land, a fractured location.
Think about this: desires and satisfaction
We all have innate desires that correspond to things that satisfy those desires.
We have an appetite for nourishment that is satisfied by food.
We deal with tiredness and that is satisfied by sleep.
We have relational desires that are satisfied within friendships.
We have sexual desires that are satisfied in sex.
And as Timothy Keller puts it, “We have a longing for joy, love, and beauty that no amount or quality of food, sex, friendship, or success can satisfy. We want something that nothing in this world can fulfill.”
In other words, when you look up at the stars, when you look at something beautiful and it just feels right, when you stand on a mountain and look out at nature, when you stand on the beach and listen to the waves, there’s a reason you long for more.
It’s called beauty. It’s called joy. It’s called love. It’s those things in perfection. And we were made to crave that because we were made in God’s image. We were made by Him in a place of perfect beauty, perfect joy, and perfect love.
That’s why we not only yearn for perfection, but it’s why we are appalled in the evil we see in the world. It’s why we, sometimes, are appalled at the evil in ourselves.
Let’s Change the Camera Angle and See a Fuller Picture: John 1:1-5
You’ll notice something similar here.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him,and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
In the beginning… all things were created through Jesus.
He wrote the laws of nature by hand.
Life emanated from Him. He’s the reason you have oxygen to breathe. He’s the reason you have water to drink. He’s the reason you have food to eat. He’s the reason you have gravity to keep you down. He’s the reason you have bones to hold you up. He’s the reason you have a heart to circulate your blood. He’s the reason you have blood.
He’s the reason the earth keeps rotating on its axis and keeps going around the sun.
He’s the reason scientists can examine the beauty of His creation. He’s the reason for the consistency.
He’s the source.
Because your life came from Jesus, you will be restless without Him. You will wander without Him. You will be dissatisfied without Him. You will be homeless without Him. You will be lost without Him.
Every one of our hearts yearns for perfect love, joy, and beauty and those are only found in and through the source of perfect love, joy, and beauty—Jesus.
Colossians 1:16
For everything was created by him,
in heaven and on earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—
all things have been created through him and for him.
You are from Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. Your place of origin is a person and His name is Jesus.
God became flesh. When you see Jesus, you see the Father.
You were made in His image. And not only were you made in His image, but He is the One who created you. You were created through Him. And you were also created FOR Him.
No longer should we give ourselves a license to separate sacred from secular.
Where you come from impacts who you are. You are someone who is fully and wholly created in His image. Sunday at 9:30 or 11am is not the only time set aside for Him.
You, my friend, have been set aside from Him and for Him.
The Prodigal Son
I want you to picture the scene… Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners. And observing this, the religious leaders are criticizing him under their breath.
And Jesus, knowing what was going on with these religious do-gooders decided to tell a series of stories, one of which about a father who had two sons. The younger son wanted his share of the inheritance which was the cultural equivalent of wishing your father to be dead.
So the father divided his estate between his sons and shortly after, the younger son left his father’s home and traveled to a distant country where he spent all the money he had on wild living.
So he’s broke and then to make matters worse, a famine struck the country he was in and the little bit he had left was now gone too. So he went to work for someone nearby to make ends meet. And while he was working for this person, they sent him out into the field to feed pigs.
For a Jewish person, this was the bottom of a bottomless pit of horror. But he was so low that he even began to long to eat what the pigs were eating but he couldn’t even get any of that to eat.
Jesus, with sinners and tax collectors around him and the religious leaders looking at him, tells them that this man came to his senses and began to think about where he came from.
He thought about how even the hired workers at his father’s house have more than enough food to eat while he is here dying of hunger. So he started to think up a brilliant plan to return to his father’s home.
He thought of the speech he would tell his father about how sorry he was and how he failed him. He was ready to ask his father to just make him like one of his hired workers. He ruined the opportunity to be his son.
And then he got up and made his way back to his father’s home.
And Jesus, I think probably paused here. Then he goes on…
While the son was still a long way off, his father saw his son and was filled with compassion. The father ran to his son. Sprinting. And when he reached his son, the father threw his arms around his neck and kissed him.
The son was in his father’s arms. The son’s heart, melting because of the love emanating from the father.
And the son, while I’m sure sobbing, began what he could remember of his speech and told his father how he sinned against him and is no longer worthy to be called his son.
And as the father is embracing his son who is reeking of pig, who is a complete mess, he has his BEST robe brought out, he put it on him, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet. And then he threw a party because his son was dead but is alive again, he was lost but now he is found. And the celebration ensued while the son still stunk.
The older son, when he found out what was happening, grew angry that this party was being thrown for his younger brother who squandered his father’s wealth. And the father goes out to talk to his oldest son and he pleaded with him, come in and celebrate that your brother is alive!
But the older son told his father, I’ve been with you every day, slaving away year after year. I’ve never disobeyed you. I’ve never done you any wrong. And yet, you never threw me a party, dad. You never served me one of your goats. But he comes back and he gets a party?!
And the father looks at his son and says to him, Son, you’re right you’re always with me. But everything I have, son, it’s already yours. It’s already yours. We need to celebrate that this brother of yours was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he is found.
One father and two sons.
A father who has given everything he has to his sons.
One son who ran away and forgot where he came from. He set his hope on money, on power, on pleasure. He went away and fell down hard. He lived for himself and then, in the middle of a pigsty, he thought his best move was to return home and try to convince his father that he should let him be like one of his hired workers. I’ll apologize with a great speech. I’ll show him how sorry I am.
Many of us think that this was the turning point, the pivot in the story. But I’m not so sure anymore. I think the pivot point in the story is when the father ran to his son and embraced his son despite his son’s smell, his son’s past, his son’s sin.
I see a father who will RUN to his son while his son is still in a world of mess that he brought on himself. I see a father who will RUN to his son when his son forgets where he came from. I see a father who PURSUES.
And when that son was embraced, I believe that was the pivot point for that younger son. That embrace, in his father’s arms, with the love of his father surrounding him, that was his turning point.
My friends, you don’t get to impress God with your eloquence and apologies. Just go to Him. And when He embraces you, your life is changed.
Because you are from God, you will never be fully satisfied until you are with Him again.
But there’s this other son, too, isn’t there?
The son who tried to earn his father’s favor. The son who day in and day out, year after year, did the right things, said the right things. He’s the model kid in the youth group, he’s the model church goer. And he’s upset that the party isn’t for him. He’s upset that his father didn’t shower him with a party.
But what does the father say to him? Everything I have is yours. In other words, why are you trying to earn my love? Why are you trying to earn my favor?
You can’t EARN IT, son. You can’t earn it. I’ve already given it to you.
Son, you can’t earn it. Just receive it. Just open your arms.
Uncross your arms, son. Open them up. I’ve already given you what you’ve been working for. You got it before you did the work. Your work didn’t earn it.
