Why Did God Need a Plan?

Illustration: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand during the national anthem in August 2016 because of his views on the country’s treatment of racial minorities. His protest caused quite a stir in the US, with the NFL team stating publicly is within Kaepernick’s rights to choose to participate. His protest ended in March of this year, as it became time for him to negotiate a new contract.

This action caused outrage in some and admiration in others. A similar action was taken by our own Cathy Freeman at the 1994 Commonwealth Games when she carried the Aboriginal flag as she took a lap of honour after winning the 400 metres. Questions were asked in Parliament about her action and Freeman was criticised by the then head of the Australian Commonwealth team.

Freeman is caught stretching upward, the sense of movement extended by the curving track and the billowing flag. The photograph has captured a moment of victory and a moment of reflection.

Freeman carried the Aboriginal flag as she took a lap of honour after winning the 400 metres. Questions were asked in Parliament about her action and Freeman was criticised by the then head of the Australian Commonwealth team.

How do you feel about Kaepernick’s and Freeman’s protest actions? Are they being disloyal to their sport and their country?

If you feel like they are being disloyal and breaking the rules, then you might feel justified in thinking they should have been punished in some way for their actions. Perhaps a fine or even banned from their respective sports?

God’s purpose is eternal and represented in the Bible through four images: a house, family, bride and body. In other words, God wanted to share with others the love and community enjoyed by the Trinity. However, He was not looking for action figures to manipulate, but free agents who would willing enter into allegiance with their creator.

That purpose was interfered with and delayed by The Fall, but not thwarted! God therefore graciously put into action a plan that would restore and renew His creation, and thus put it back on track to fulfilling His purpose. He put into action a plan because He does not treat us as our sin deserves, He does not punish beyond the natural consequences of our actions and the curses we bring upon ourselves.

I imagine you’re as intrigued by this as much as I, so let’s look more closely today at why the purpose of God needed a plan.

Exegesis

The Garden represented the fulfilment (mostly) of God's purpose

We see in the second creation account of God laying the groundwork for the fulfilment (mostly) of His purpose. By “mostly”, I mean that the complete fulfilment would not happen without humankind willingly choosing allegiance to God. So, God created the conditions for our willing allegiance but not in such a way as to manipulate or interfere with our freedom.

Let’s run through the story:

Genesis 2:4 NIV

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

God is the creator. While is self-sufficient and satisfied in Himself, God created anyway so as to share the love and community enjoyed by the Trinity.

Genesis 2:5–6 NIV

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

Genesis 2:5 NIV

Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground,

At its creation, the earth was a blank slate, more or less working fine, but something was missing! “There was no one to work the ground.” Someone was needed who could take what God had created —already “very good” in its own right— and turn it into something more than it was, a dwelling-place or “house”.

At its creation, the earth was a blank slate, but something was missing!

Genesis 2:7 NIV

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

God did more than create us:

Genesis 2:15 NIV

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

invited us to become co-workers with Him, His hands and feet, His “body” we might say.

God invited us to become co-workers with Him, His hands and feet, His “body” we might say.

gen 2 8

Genesis 2:16–17 NIV

And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Genesis 2:8 NIV

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.

gen 2

God provided food and shelter for Adam and even taught him the basic principles of life, as a parent would for the children in His family.

Genesis 2:18 NIV

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

God perceived the need of Adam for a helper, as He did Himself, so created a “bride” for him in the person of Eve, as God did for Himself in the person of Adam.

Genesis 2:25 NIV

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

gen 2 25

Life was good for Adam and Eve, perfect even. They had everything they needed, they had each other, and they had God:

Genesis 3:8–9 NIV

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

God therefore had set up the perfect conditions for a house, a family, a bride and a body, and fully expected that humankind would pledge its allegiance to God and so fulfil His eternal purpose, for His sake and for our sake.

The Fall corrupted the fulfillment of God's purposes

Genesis 3:10 NIV

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Why did Adam and Eve hide from God? Because they knew they had done something wrong, something that would certainly displease God.

What had Adam and Eve done? They ate from the tree that God had expressly instructed Adam to avoid () —the one and only command God had given them, yet representative of all the commands of God in that the command was not arbitrary, but for our benefit.

Adam and Eve had everything they needed for a free, full and forever life, and all He required of them was their allegience.

They ate from the tree that God had expressly instructed Adam to avoid () —the one and only command God had given them, yet representative of all the commands of God in that the command was not arbitrary, but for our benefit.

'It is quite true that man lives by bread alone — when there is no bread. But what happens to man’s desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled?

God provided Adam and Eve with everything they needed for a free, full and forever life, which included instructions for how to maintain that life. The command was not about obedience per se, but an indication of the boundaries in which to stay safe and sound. The command was not a restriction of their freedom but an expression of the contours of their freedom.

God created humankind as free agents, capable of self-determination. As a loving father, He provided wisdom to train them in the way they should go, hoping that when older they would not stray from it (see ). Unfortunately, the serpent was too easily able to ignite in them “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (

At once other (and “higher”) needs emerge and these, rather than physiological hungers, dominate the organism. And when these in turn are satisfied, again new (and still “higher”) needs emerge and so on. This is what we mean by saying that the basic human needs are organized into a hierarchy of relative prepotency' (Maslow, 1943, p. 375).

Why did Adam and Eve hide from God? Their reaction demonstrated their immaturity in that it is reminiscent of the reactions of children. When young children are caught in an infraction, the more immature tend to do one of two things: run and hide, or throw a temper-tantrum. To run and hide is an effort to avoid detection of the infraction; the throw a temper-tantrum is an effort to distract the parent from the infraction. In Adam and Eve’s case they did both: they first hid from God (see ), then passed the blame to everyone else (see ).

In one fell swoop, the purpose of God was thrown into disarray. For such a small matter, it would seem, Adam and Eve gave up fulfilling God’s purpose: the house was vacated (as Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden, see ); the family was estranged (God’s trust was diminished, see ); the bride was no longer pure (no longer permitted to eat from the tree and live forever, see ); and, the body was no longer capable of serving well (even the ground now produced thorns and thistles, see ).

If Adam and Eve had simply admitted their transgression, instead of hiding and passing blame, I imagine the outcome would have been quite different. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” ().

()

Therefore, we understand better how, due to The Fall, God’s purpose experienced interference because those in whom He had placed hope for all of creation became corrupted, for as it is written,

Romans 5:12 NIV

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—

God could have destroyed humanity and would have been completely justified in doing so

God could have destroyed humanity and would have been reasonably justified in doing so (see conversation with Moses)

How should God have reacted?

Entering The Garden, in the cool of the day, expecting to enjoy the fruit of His labours, to see His purpose blossom into fulfilment, what God did not expect was His house, family, bride and body to hide from Him.

If you’re a parent, imagine the first time you experienced a child hiding from you in a department store. This happened to my wife and I. Our daughter was old enough to walk fairly independently. We turned our backs for just a moment to look over here and she disappeared over there to hide amongst the clothes racks. At first, we called out innocently; then, imagining she is playing a game, we called out again, with a little playfulness; then, the thought that she’d been abducted entered our minds and we called out with urgency. Still no response. Now we’re scrambling around, frantically trying to find her, until a store employee spotted her amongst the clothes. It was all a game to our daughter, but not much fun for her parents.

God called out to Adam and Eve, wanting them to join in His enjoyment of the afternoon breezes, the explosions of colour in the leaves and wafts of scents from the flowers. Instead, they are nowhere to be found. Was this a game? Sadly, no.

Interestingly, when Adam explained why they were hiding, that they now felt naked in front of each other and God, He immediately knew that something was wrong and exactly what was wrong: they had eaten from the tree they were commanded not to eat from (Gen 3:11).

How should God have reacted?

Following the exodus from slavery in Egypt, when Moses was on Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights communing with God and receiving from Him The 10 Commandments, the people fell into sin and acted abhorrently. As it is written,

Exodus 32:7–10 NIV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”

God was inclined to destroy the people He had led into freedom, but Moses sought the favour of God and convinced Him not to follow through with this threat (). While He relented that day, God would have been completely justified in making good on His threat and punishing the people with destruction!

Funnily, perhaps Moses reasoned with God because he didn’t himself appreciate just what was going on down below because, once he saw they people worshipping the golden calf he punished them himself by grinding up the idols, mixed the powder with water, and made the people drink it! ()

God would have been completely justified in destroying humanity on a number of occasions and starting over —He, in fact, did with Noah, but that was an exceptional situation (). Why didn’t He when Adam described his nakedness and God knew they had done the wrong thing? Why was God’s reaction then not to destroy them and start over? It was because God did not create action figures that He could manipulate and bend to His will, but created free agents who might or might not pledge their allegiance to their creator and so fulfil God’s purpose. If they did pledge their allegiance willingly, that would be so much more satisfying to God than mindless action figures.

God’s purpose, then, required a response to sin other than destroying His creation and starting over. It required a plan to right the wrong, reconcile fallen humanity, and put the purpose back on track to fulfilment.

The Curses represent the natural consequences of their disobedience (i.e God's wrath)

Of course, we all know that God is good —and I hope my description is convincing you even more of God’s goodness— but actions carry consequences.

Genesis 3:14–15 NIV

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Gen 3:14

Against God’s original intentions for His creations, animals are no longer immediately friendly with humankind, but avoid us sometimes and attack us other times.

Genesis 3:16 NIV

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

Gen 3:

Women give birth in pain, thereby diminishing, to a degree, the joy of childbirth. Further, the relationship between husband and wife often erupts in tensions over power and control.

Genesis 3:17–19 NIV

To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Gen 3:17

As for Adam, the curse was deflected onto the ground, not humankind directly. Of course, that meant we would suffer the consequence of hard labour but we would not have to bear the full brunt of the consequences of our sin. That would be borne by another.

Genesis 3:21 NIV

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Where earlier Adam and Eve had felt shame because of their actions, shame toward each other and shame toward God, God sacrificed an animal so as to cover their nakedness. This would soften their shame somewhat, but not entirely. A greater sacrifice would be needed and that would require a plan.

An important point needs to be made here: While the word “curse” is used, we would be mistaken to identify this with God’s wrath. God was not punishing them in anger for their sin, but describing for them the consequences of their action; those consequences would be long-lived, hence a curse (whereas “consequences” almost implies the sense of being short-lived). This is made clear by the fact that God softened the curse by deflecting it onto the ground and killed an animal instead of the humans, thereby setting up the sacrificial system. In all of this we see God’s plan forming and the groundwork being laid for its final enactment in Jesus.

Allow questions seeking clarification.

Discuss possible implications.

Something to Think About

I was in the gelato bar down the street from our Croydon Park property a couple of weeks ago. The friend I was with at the time mentioned to the server I was the minister of the Uniting Church up the road. She immediately screwed up her face at me and spit on the ground. “That no-good Uniting Church and its no-good congregation can get stuffed, I say!” she said.

I’ll bet you’re feeling astonished. “What did we do to deserve that judgement?”

I’ll bet you’re also feeling somewhat remorseful. “What can we do to smooth things over?”

I’ll bet you’re also feeling, deeper down inside, just a little bit offended and angry. “I’m never going to patronize that establishment, ever!” (don’t worry, this story’s not true at all)

(don’t worry, this story’s not true at all)

What do you think people feel when Christians tell them they are sinners because someone they don’t know did something bad thousands of years before they were born, but God is going to punish them for it now by sending them to a burning lake of fire for eternity? How would you expect them to respond to such an indictment?

I hope you can understand, from our investigation of , that summary is not entirely correct. It has some elements of truth to it, but is so incomplete as to be certainly not helpful when introducing someone to the purpose and plan of God.

Romans 5:6–8 NIV

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

“While we were yet sinners...”

The truth is that, even before we knew that something was wrong around us and that something was wrong in us, God concocted a plan that resulted in Jesus dying on the cross to, among other things, free us from bondage to sin and death. Why did He do this, why did He set in motion this plan?

Psalm 103:8–12 NIV

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

“God does not treat us as our sins deserve...”

The only condition for God’s love here is that we “fear” Him, which is another way of saying “humbly and reverentially acknowledging God as our creator and lord”.

Ezra 9:13 NIV

“What has happened to us is a result of our evil deeds and our great guilt, and yet, our God, you have punished us less than our sins deserved and have given us a remnant like this.

Conclusion

When people are told they are sinners because of someone else’s sin, they are understandably not interested, however true that statement might be. When they are told of the grace of God’s purpose (being the unmerited favour of God that compelled Him to share with us the love and community enjoyed by the Trinity) and then told of the mercy of God’s plan (being the quality of compassion by which God shields sinners from what we deserve and gives gifts we do not deserve), they will be much more inclined towards thinking seriously about the implications and responding positively to the good news about Jesus, which is,

Manser, Martin H. Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser, 2009. Print.), they were much more inclined towards thinking seriously about the implications and responding positively to the good news about Jesus:

Manser, Martin H. Dictionary of Bible Themes: The Accessible and Comprehensive Tool for Topical Studies. London: Martin Manser, 2009. Print.) and the mercy of God’s plan (which helps the sinner escape the consequences of his sin), they were much more inclined towards thinking seriously about the implications and responding positively to the good news about Jesus:

John 3:16–17 NIV

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Conclusion

As we journey towards a revitalized vision and mission for the parish of Croydon Park-Belfield Uniting Church, it behooves us to recognise that God’s purpose to share with us the love and community He enjoyed in the Trinity came before our fall, which created the need for a plan to rescue and redeem and renew us and His creation. At some level, our vision and mission going forward will include sharing that all-important message of grace and mercy.

Let us make sure we understand and appreciate that message ourselves, that if we believe God does not condemn us but loves us enough to finish His plan to save us, then we too will overflow with joy and love in all aspects of our life, alongside grace and mercy towards our neighbours, whoever they are and wherever they come from.

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