CREATING COMMUNITY Review

CREATING COMMUNITY

BY Andy Stanley AND Bill Willits

The Original Plan

Genesis 1-2 shows how God planned for us to “do life”.  In the midst of His creation bonanza, a recurring phrase appears.  In fact, six times after God creates something the text says, “And God saw it was good.”  It is good. He is pleased.  The culmination of God’s creativity has arrived.  God is so pleased by this latest creation, that as He assesses all His efforts over the previous six days, His appraisal changes.  With His latest addition, the things He had created are no longer just good.  They are now very good.  God’s prize creation had tipped the scales.  With the addition of humankind, God awards His five-star rating.

            Then the unexpected happens.  After explaining in more detail His design and intentions for man, God says, It’s not all good.”  Up to this point, everything was as intended.  But in Genesis 2:18, God says isn’t right.  He says, “It is not good for man to be alone.  At it’s core, this is a statement about the importance of our connecting well with others.  John Ortberg has made a helpful observation on this passage:

What is striking is that the fall has not yet occurred.  There is no sin, no disobedience, nothing to mar the relationship between God and man.  The human being is in a state of perfect intimacy with God.  Each word he and God speak with each other is filled with closeness and joy; he walks with God in the garden in the cool of the day.  He is known and loved to the core of his being by his omniscient, love-filled Creator.Yet the word God uses to describe him is “alone.”  And God says this aloness is “not good.”