In ancient Egypt, there were four different Creation stories. In one creation story, the god Ptah called the world into being, having dreamt creation in his heart. In another creation story, a ram-headed god named Khnum fashions humans on a potter’s wheel. After fashioning a person out of clay, his spouse, Heket, places an ankh, which symbolizes “the breath of life,” up to the person’s nose to animate it. In chapter one, Moses describes Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the creator who called the world into being. And in chapter two, Moses describes Jehovah, the God of Israel, as the creator who fashioned Man out of clay/dirt and also the one who breathed life into the nostrils of his creation.

The god Ptah, was manifested in the form of a bull and this was the image that the Israelites were worshipping at the base of Mt. Sinai. Whether they did this in their ignorance, misguided zeal, or intentional deviance is unknown. But it is clear that Moses desired to inform them that the religion of Egypt was to no longer be their religion and that God was the one and only Creator. He was not the god of Egypt, but the God of Israel.

Ma’at was an Egyptian goddess that encapsulated the concepts of morality, justice, truth, balance, and order. She was considered to be created by the creator gods to maintain the order of the universe and prevent it from returning to chaos. This goddess was essentially the personification of a concept that it was all of humanity’s and all of the deities’ responsibility to maintain the order and balance of the universe by upholding the tenets of morality, justice, and truth.

Perhaps the most interesting thing of all this is Moses’ choice of words when describing Man as God’s Creation. He specifically calls Man the “image” (tselem) and “likeness” (demuth) of God. “Image” is the same word that Moses uses in Ex 20:4 to describe a carved image or idol. In the ancient world, the world “likeness” was used to describe the concept that the essence of a god inhabited the carved idol. Therefore an idol, like the golden bull or any other carved statue, was the representation of a god.

Moses uses this language to describe Man as the physical representation of God. False gods are represented by idols carved out of wood and stone, whereas God, the one, true Creator is represented by Man. The Israelites had Aaron craft a golden bull to represent God, but Moses wanted them to realize that they were the representation of God. The bull and any other carved images are worthless and unable to do anything. They are true representatives of their gods, which are worthless and unable to do anything.

However, Man was created to be a true representative of God. Man’s role was similar to the concept of Ma’at in that Man was created to maintain or cultivate what God had created. The main difference was that God maintains the order of the universe and does not need Man to aid him in this responsibility. Even though God has the power to maintain the universe on his own, he gives Man this responsibility. When Man fails in his responsibility, he throws universe into a chaotic, fallen state and God begins work to restore it back into balance and order.

Our sin throws universe into a chaotic, fallen state. But through Christ, we are restored back into the true image of God. Our lives are true representations of our Creator through Christ.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Regardless of a person’s faith in Christ, God has instilled in all of his creation an instinctive knowledge of himself. He has made it plain to them that their wickedness results in his wrath. Not only this, but their sin causes them to be unclean, blemished, and unworthy to be in the presence of the almighty, holy Creator.

To many people this leads to self-pity. They realize that they are not good enough and often this leads to despair. They think that there is no hope for them so they might as well remain in their sin. To others this leads to fear. They realize that God’s wrath must be placated in some way, so they do everything that they can think of to placate it. Some try placating God’s wrath through sacrifice. Over the centuries, Man has tried sacrificing their livestock, their crops, and even their own children. Man has tried sacrificing their happiness or comfort through living an ascetic lifestyle. Some try placating God’s wrath through their good deeds. They have the idea that maybe if their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, God’s wrath will not come against them.

However, none of these things placate the wrath of God. 1 Peter 1:15 – 16 tells us that God requires a perfect life from us. We are to be holy, or righteous, just as he is righteous. He is sinless, so we are required to be sinless. We only have one life and so if we mess up even once, our life is unblemished. We do not have any extra lives to make up for the one that is blemished. The only thing that can cover the penalty for our blemished life is another unblemished life.

This is what makes Christ’s sacrifice so incredible. He was a man that lived an unblemished life and so his life was the perfect sacrifice for our blemished lives. But not only was he a man, he was also God. God is infinite, while we are finite. Christ’s infinite life was the only suitable sacrifice that was able to cover the lives of the entire world. One finite unblemished life can cover the penalty for the sins of one blemished life. But one infinite unblemished life can cover the penalty for the sins of an infinite number of blemished lives.

If that was the end of the story, it would be spectacular, but it’s not. Christ’s death not only takes care of the guilt of our sin, but it also fixes the power that sin has over our lives. Paul tells us that we are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and that we were created for good works (Eph 2:10). He also tells us that our lives are to be a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). Our lives are only able to be an acceptable sacrifice if they are unblemished. And that is exactly what they are in Christ! Our old blemished lives are gone along with our old wants and desires. We are new creations, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Our new lives are aligned with God’s agenda and that agenda is restoring this world back to what he created it to be. Our living sacrifice involves giving up our old selves and working to restore his Creation.

This week reflect on these questions.

• What are you doing today to sacrifice your old life?
• What are you doing to restore his creation?
• How does knowing that your life is restored and that you are now a new unblemished creation make you feel?
• How does that inspire you to do good works and to restore his Creation?
• Who is someone in your life that remains stuck in the despair of his or her sin or is striving to make up for his or her sins in some way?
• Who can you tell that Christ has already done the work of covering their blemished lives?

Saturday     Love Old Louisville Serve Day

 

Love Old Louisville

Night of Worship

On this Sunday at 7pm we’re gathering together to spend an hour worshiping together. Everyone has an open invitation to this night of worship where we will spend an hour singing to the God who has given us so much. We won’t be having our regular Sunday night service at 5pm. Instead we will have this night of Worship at 7pm.

Baptism Night

On April 22 at 5pm we’re going to kick off the summer and the end of the semester with a baptism night and cookout.  This celebration will be in place of our regular 5pm service. It will also be the last Sunday night service until the fall. For more information email kyle@avechurch.com

Blood is the defining characteristic of life. A person with blood has life and a person whose blood is shed is dead. The fact that Christ’s blood was shed reveals to us that he was indeed fully man, but it also reveals to us that his human life was taken away. So when Peter uses the term “blood of Christ” in reference to the content of our ransom, he means the death of Christ. The shedding of Christ’s blood (i.e. his death) is the ransom that is paid on behalf of the sinner.

The knowledge that blood is symbolic of death causes Christ’s words at the Last Supper to take on an entirely new meaning. Christ informs the disciples that the wine is his blood and it is necessary for them to drink the cup of his blood. Likewise, John quotes Christ as saying that whoever drinks the cup of his blood has eternal life. This is symbolic language that is referring to sharing in the death of Christ.

Paul refers to this concept in Romans 8, when he tells us that sharing in Christ’s death means putting to death the deeds of the flesh (i.e. our sins). So in our own lives, our sinful desires are what are to be put to death. This is sanctification. Not only was Christ’s death a ransom to buy us back from the penalty of sin, but to buy us back from the power of sin. Our enslavement to sin did not just cause us to be guilty of sin, but it caused us to obey sin as our master. We are no longer slaves to sin, but Christ has bought us to be his slaves. No longer is sin our master, Christ is. We are justified so that we no longer perform deeds of the flesh, but deeds of the Spirit.

This week, I want to encourage you to dwell on the fact that Christ’s death was the ransom for your sin, but also on the fact that as a redeemed Creation, you are to share in Christ’s death. Your old self dies and your new self emerges. How are you still living like your old self? What about your old self needs to die today? How can you begin living like the redeemed Creature that you are, not enslaved to sin, but enslaved to Christ?

1. April 6th     Secret Church Knowing God Better

2. April 8th     Easter Sunday Investing in Others

3. April 14th   Love Old Louisville Serving Others

Secret Church

We are very excited to be hosting a simulcast of Secret Church on Friday April 6th starting at 7pm.  During this night we will dive deep into scripture and spend time in intentional prayer for all the Christians around the world facing persecution.For anyone who has really wanted to dive into the Bible and understand a lot more if it, this is for you. You will walk away from this evening with a much deeper understanding of Jesus, the cross, and suffering.  There is a study guide book that accompanies the evening and is a huge help in processing all of the information. For more information about Secret Church, to register, and to order a study guide click here.

Below is a video introducing secret church.

Easter Sunday

Clemenza and Lampone drive around New York City with Gatto all day to find good places for their family to hideout during the imminent war between the families. All day, they drive around town joking with Gatto, telling stories, and lulling him into a false sense of security. On their way back, Clemenza tells Gatto to pull off the road so he can use the restroom. While Clemenza is out of the car, Lampone kills Gatto. As Lampone gets out of the car to leave, Clemenza utters his most famous line, “Leave the gun; take the cannoli.”

This line always intrigued me because Clemenza was essentially saying that he did not care whether the police found the gun. He wasn’t afraid of the police. However, his wife told him not to forget to bring home cannolis. He was definitely afraid of his wife. He wasn’t afraid of the wrath of the police, but he was afraid of the wrath of his wife. Even in a gangster film, where there seems to be no rules, no morals, and no line between right and wrong, there is a code. This code could not be broken. This code was loyalty to the family, don’t be a rat, and take care of your wife and children at all costs. If this code was broken there would be consequences. Gatto received the wrath of the family when he made the decision to betray them.

As creations of the Creator, we live by a code as well. We are created in the image of God and our sin mars that image. When we sin, we no longer resemble our Creator. When we break the code of resembling our Creator, there are consequences. There is wrath. When we betray our Creator, we deserve due punishment. However, instead of us sitting in the seat of Paulie Gatto and receiving the wrath, Jesus Christ takes our place. He takes on the wrath himself and turns the ire of God away from us.

This week we want to challenge you to dwell in the peace that is propitiation. The tranquility that comes from knowing that your punishment has been fulfilled. How does this change your perspective on life? How does knowing the meaning of propitiation change how you interact with people? And how can you be a propitiation to those that need it?

We are also planning a mission trip to Ethiopia for May 17 – 26 to help with some of the projects that Eyes That See has in Ethiopia. For more information visit www.eyesthatsee.org.

Family Ministry Intern
Do you love children and families? Do you want to see churches partnering with parents to raise a generation who deeply loves God and the world around them? Do you love having fun and working with others? If this describes you, then you would be perfect for a family ministry internship at The Avenue. During this internship you would grow in the areas of developing kids’ curriculum, leading volunteer teams, working on a church staff, and discipling others. This internship would require 10-15 hours a week. $500.00 a month compensation.

Youth Ministry Intern
We’re looking for someone who wants to invest in middle and high school students with the goal of partnering with parents to disciple them into becoming passionate followers of Christ. This person would oversee an intentional discipleship process as well as planning and executing several trips and events throughout the calendar year. During this internship you would grow in the areas of discipleship, leading volunteer teams, working on a church staff, and event execution. This internship would require 12-15 hours a week. $500.00 a month compensation.

Media & Communications Intern
If you think in pictures… If you like the idea of coordinating lots of different elements to bring about one result… If you want to see how a website and twitter account can be ministry tools… Then this is an internship for you. During this internship you will be a part of developing and implementing a communications strategy using print, web, video, and social media to make an impact for the kingdom. You will grow in areas of working with volunteer teams, long range planning, discipleship, and church communication systems. This would require 10-15 hours a week. $500.00 a month compensation.

Paul also writes a short hymn of praise at the end of Romans 11, “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to his again? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Paul writes at length about the generosity of God. Not that God gives away money, or his time, or his resources, but that he gives away his mercy. He gives it freely, without judgment. He doesn’t give his mercy generously to those that deserve it or have earned it or who are trying to get their life together. Paul writes again in Ephesians 1:7 and 2:4 that God is rich in mercy and grace. But he isn’t just rich, he is generous with his mercy and grace.

Jesus tells a story about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus (Lk  16:19-31), in which the rich man would not even give Lazarus the scraps of food from his table. Paul tells us that God is similar to the rich man and we are similar to Lazarus. He has plenty and we are in want. The difference between God and the rich man is that he loves us and cares for us and he offers, not simply the scraps from his table, even though they would be enough for us, but he offers all he has to us.

How often do we act like the rich man? We have much, but we deem who is worthy of our generosity and who is not. We justify it by assuming that some people will use our generosity in an evil manner, therefore we should not be generous to them. It is possible that by giving a homeless person some money, he might use that money to buy alcohol or drugs, or he might simply squander it away.

But God gives without judgment. He gives not on any basis other than his love. He gives his grace generously even though it is possible that there are those that might use it for evil. There are those that take God’s grace and use it as an opportunity to continue in their sin, but God still gives.

Paul continues in Romans 12, he urges us to present our entire selves as a living sacrifice because of Christ’s mercy. He is exhorting us to give generously of ourselves. Not just to give, but to give sacrificially. To give until it hurts, even to the point of death. Not just for those who we deem worthy, but for all. For even those that that might not deserve our sacrificial gift.

This past Sunday, Ben encouraged us to not horde our resources for ourselves, but to give them away. The actions of Pharaoh exponentially multiplied the affects of the famine. God told Joseph to instruct Pharaoh to gather enough food to sustain everyone for the seven years of famine. The famine struck and the people needed the resources that Pharaoh had gathered. Instead of giving to all that had need, he was selfish and greedy and amplified the famine by not giving what God had given him to give to the needy.

Who in your life this week is in need? Who is experiencing a famine and what are you hording that can alleviate their suffering? God has lavished us with his mercy. Who are withholding mercy? I encourage you to meditate on repenting of selfishness and giving to those experiencing famine.

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

God made every effort to restore the relationship that he shared with us in the Garden through his son, Jesus Christ. In doing this, he gave us the ministry of reconciliation in which he works through us to restore that relationship with the rest of his creation.

God is just and that means that he always does what is right. He gave us the law to reveal his righteousness to us. However, when we disobey the law, punishment is required. Because God is just, he has to punish sinners. Once we sin, our relationship is shattered. He is no longer our loving Father, but he must become our executioner.

However, God is not only just, he is also love. Because of his love, he provided a new way. He sent his own Son to take the punishment that we deserved because of our unrighteousness. He became the executioner of Jesus and in doing so, our relationship with him was restored. He once again became our loving Father.

The reality of the situation is that God is both just and love simultaneously. In each individual person’s life, he offers both justice and love, law and grace. He cannot choose to act justly to one sinner, but lovingly toward another. To the one, he is righteous, but unloving and to the other he is loving, but unjust. So he leaves the choice up to us. We have the option to appealing to God for salvation through the law (his justice) or appealing to God through grace (his love). The work of grace has been accomplished, but whether that grace is applied to the individual person is still up in the air.

So if you are a believer in Christ Jesus, and have accepted him as your Savior, grace has been applied to you. Your relationship has been restored. However, you have also been commissioned with a responsibility to work to restore the relationship between God and unbelievers. You have been reconciled to God through Christ and you have been given the ministry of reconciliation to reconcile the world to God.

This week, know that your relationship with God is restored back to the perfect harmonious relationship that man and God shared in the Garden. But also remember that it is your responsibility to work to restore the relationship between God and your unbelieving friends, coworkers, family members, and people you meet everyday. What are some practical steps that you can take today to be a mediator with someone whose relationship with God is shattered?