by Pastor Patrick Cho
It has felt like an eternity being away from San Diego, and it certainly is great to be back. What a great weekend it was spending a day at the park with the Lighthouse family, and it made things even sweeter being able to share that time with Pastor Chris Wu and Redeemer’s Grace Church. So many people came out that we needed to carefully ration the food! Not having enough food is hardly ever a problem at our church, but yesterday it was a great problem to have. It meant that a lot of people came out and enjoyed the afternoon with one another. I was so encouraged to see members of both churches engaging one another in good conversations or just playing team sports together.
One thing that our Fun in the Sun Day reminded me of is the grace of God to desire our unity in the gospel. What proof that God desires good for His people! He commands us to love one another (1 John 4:7), encourage one another (1 Thess. 5:11), and fellowship with one another (Heb. 10:24-25). It glorifies God to have His people enjoying the blessings of Christian fellowship.
All this is made possible because of the work of Christ on the cross to redeem us. Jesus died so that we could have life. He died in our place and bore our just punishment so that God’s wrath could be satisfied. And in His sacrifice, not only do we benefit by having our sins forgiven (which is a huge benefit!), but we also receive new life and are incorporated into a body of believers that Christ calls His bride. Jesus certainly meant it when He said He came that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).
One of the most exciting things about being back in San Diego is that we get to begin our series walking through “The Glorious Gospel.” There is no greater theme in the Bible! The gospel is the heart of everything we trust. It should be the focus of our lives and our ministry, and it should remain the overarching theme of our conversations.
This past Sunday we had the opportunity to examine the character of God. When it comes to the gospel, it is essential that we begin with God. It is only through a correct understanding of God that we know our purpose in life. Only by studying God do we gain a good understanding of what is morally excellent or reprehensible. Through a careful study of God, we gain a good understanding of our identity – our sinful depravity and desperate need for salvation. God’s character also helps us understand the necessity of the cross, that He might be both just and justifier (Rom. 3:26).
The foundations of everything the Bible reveals about God are found in Genesis 1. Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly defines Himself as the Creator, the Maker of heaven and earth (cf. Deut. 32:6; Ps. 104:24-30; Ps. 148:1-6; Isa. 40:25-28; etc.). It is no wonder that in Acts 17, when Paul defines God for his unbelieving Gentile audience, he explains that God is the Creator of all that is (Acts 17:22-29).
Many Christians today do not believe that the creation account is very significant. Because of the pressures of modern science and the pervasive trust in evolution by people both inside and outside the church, many have surrendered in the battle for the beginning. But it is essential that we understand how significant this battle is. Too often we find ourselves waging war in peripheral battles while the rest of the world undermines and attacks our foundation. We must not give up so easily.
Having a skeptical distrust of Genesis 1-2 is really founded in an unbelief of the supernatural and miraculous. People turn to natural selection and evolution because it seems scientific and explicable. If a person has problems with the creation account, there are all sorts of other inexplicable miraculous events in Scripture that totally fly in the face of modern science and completely go beyond the range of scientific possibility. People do not walk on water. People do not heal the blind or crippled. And people certainly do not come back from the dead. If you discredit Genesis 1-2, you might as well start ripping out entire sections of the Bible that are not scientifically explainable because at the core of that distrust is unbelief in the supernatural and miraculous.
God is God, and I am not Him. He chooses how to define Himself without needing my assistance or attempts to improve that definition. And God chooses to define Himself as Creator. It is not my place to second guess that or diminish the significance of it. He made me, and that has all sorts of ramifications on who I am, what my purpose is, what my problem is, and what I must do about that problem.