Who Do You Think You Are?

Good afternoon everyone, I'm Ian. Well done Jonathan and Corey. When you're asked to read, I think that's probably the last passage that you want, but beautifully done, thank you.

The world is changing at a pace that's never been seen before.

Urbanisation and ease of transport and travel mean that there's a lot more connected than there's ever been.

Humans are harnessing the power of nature to make their lives better.

The arts are flourishing. Technology is bringing about an ease of life that previous generations could hardly have dreamed of.

And yet, marriage is being devalued.

Anger and violence and pride are rife.

Human life is valued cheaply.

And the world's heading towards a climate catastrophe.

Welcome to Genesis 4.

Now I've tried to make it sound fairly modern, and obviously it's not.

We're talking early Iron Age here.

And yet many of the themes of what we see here are still very relevant today.

And this passage, these two chapters that look full of names and genealogies, I think still have quite a lot to teach us and to help us to understand how God wants us to live in our day.

Some theologians call the period that goes broadly from Adam to Noah as the dispensation of conscience.

Now whether you agree with that theology or not, I think it's actually a helpful description.

Because what's happening in this period is that by and large, human beings have very little knowledge of God.

The law hasn't been given.

The covenant promises through Noah and Abraham are still in the future.

And largely, men and women are living by conscience of what we'd call today their moral compass.

And we know, of course, that human conscience is flawed.

It does not always get things right.

I think that is very much a link with where we are today.

By and large, people around us, even the people who are making our laws, don't really take God into account when they do it.

They're going by what they want to think is right.

But actually, very often, it's not in accordance with the Bible.

And that, I think, brings Genesis 4 very much into the kind of territory we're in today.

The title of Given Who Do You Think You Are, of course, is taken from the BBC genealogy program.

But it may be relevant to what God thinks and what God thought in Genesis 4 about humans.

Who do you think you are that you can go your own way and you can forget about my instructions?

And in Genesis 4, it is personified in this family of Lamech.

I think we could describe it as a very dysfunctional family in many ways, and yet a family of high achievers.

And again, that's something that maybe is quite current in our day.

That often the families where the people are the greatest achievers in the terms of this world they do the most,

actually behind the scenes there are all sorts of problems.

Sometimes they come out, sometimes they don't.

But Lamech and his family, I think, really helpfully bring out the contrast in Genesis 4.

I've called it civilization question mark.

So on the one hand, you can see that mankind is progressing.

That things are, from that point of view, getting better.

So at the start of our reading, we had the first city being built, the start of urbanization.

We then have this man, Jabal, the first of Lamech's sons.

It says he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

Now in his own way, living in tents was probably almost as significant as building cities.

Building cities meant you could group together and people could live together and help each other.

But building, having tents meant they could move around and they could go to the best places,

in this case the best places for pasture for their flocks.

Lamech also was the one who started farming, systematic farming,

rather than just having lots of beasts breeding and so on, seemed to go back to him.

Then the second son, Jubal, who was the musician.

I don't think it was violins and trumpets, but to get the idea.

He was the one who first started making music and seeing that as part of human life

and something that people could enjoy and benefit from.

And then the third son was Jubal Cain, and he was the one who made tools.

He got bronze and he got iron, and he made things that would make life easier.

And all of these things are presented to us as mankind, humankind, really progressing.

Civilization is growing and developing, and that's a good thing.

But at the same time, we're told a number of things about Lamech that would make us pause

and think, well, perhaps it's not all good.

The first thing we see is that he had two wives.

Now, it's not uncommon in the Old Testament to have more than one wife.

Many of the leading characters in the Old Testament, like David, indeed did.

But this is beginning to get away from God's plan for marriage.

Remember God's plan for marriage?

One husband, one wife, they become one flesh.

And as soon as you introduce the third person into that, it's kind of going.

You don't have the same value being placed on marriage and on the intimacy of relationship,

which is a one-to-one thing.

And then in Lamech, you have violence.

Violence like you had with Cain, and perhaps in some ways even worse.

Now, the poem that Lamech gives us in the passage is quite interesting.

I've killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.

If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech 77 times.

What's he saying?

On the surface, I think maybe he's saying,

my crime is not as bad as Cain's crime.

Cain killed Abel in cold blood, if you like.

It was murder.

Lamech is saying, well, it wasn't murder in my case.

Someone came and attacked me.

I defended myself, and I killed them.

And if Cain has God's protection seven times,

then I deserve even more.

I deserve 77 times.

But of course, in it all, he is really just boasting in himself and in his power.

He has no concern for the young man he killed.

Doesn't sound like that young man had done him great harm.

Maybe had some kind of feud with him.

He'd come and attacked him.

And Lamech had responded.

He over-responded.

And he had ended up killing the man.

And he thinks, well, that's okay.

If someone comes up against me and does things I don't like

and hurts me in some kind of way,

I'll get back at them,

and I'll do it much worse than they did to me.

Sound familiar?

In our day, that kind of thing happens as well.

And this thing of seven times and 77 times is interesting as well.

So Lamech is saying, I deserve extra protection compared with Cain.

Now, actually, Cain received God's grace,

which he didn't deserve as a murderer.

However, Lamech is assuming that he can have the same grace

and that he in some way deserves it.

He has totally misunderstood a God

and the kind of relationship we should have with him.

And it's interesting also because the Lord Jesus picks up on it

in the New Testament.

Jesus has a conversation with Peter

where Peter says, well, how often should I forgive somebody?

Should I forgive them as many as seven times?

Peter's thinking, this is really good.

I'm showing him a really good follower of Jesus.

I'm willing to forgive even up to seven times.

And Jesus says, no, not seven times, but 77 times,

or perhaps it's 70 times seven times

that people disagree on that.

But I'm sure he was echoing what Lamech said.

But instead of talking about vengeance and about getting revenge,

Jesus is talking about the love that we should show

and the forgiveness that we should offer.

So the world under Lamech is regressing.

It's going backwards because although technology

and everything else is doing fine,

in the human heart, things are getting worse

and the pride of life and the desire to have more for ourselves

and to do whatever we need to to other people

is greater and greater.

So what's the application for today?

Well, the first thing I think is

we should celebrate the achievements of our generation.

We should celebrate the fact that in most of our lifetimes,

man has made so much progress

in understanding our environment,

in using it for our good,

in developing technology,

that even 20 years ago,

certainly 50, 100 years ago,

people could hardly have dreamed of.

And we should celebrate it

because we're using the talents that God has given us

to find out more about his world

and about his universe.

As someone said,

we're thinking God's thoughts after him.

And we shouldn't despise technology

or the arts

or the way man harnesses the world

as long as it's done in a positive way.

That is something to be celebrated

and to be enjoyed.

It's something that God wants us

to rejoice in

and to benefit from

and to give him the glory for

because he has given us the minds,

the mental capacity

to be able to do these things

and to appreciate them.

So there definitely is an element

as we look at this

that we should rejoice in God

and rejoice in what is happening,

that his universe is so marvellous

and we're just now finding out

what's always been there

and which is beyond our comprehension

in many ways.

But at the same time,

we need to recognise

that we're living in a world

which is in many ways

regressing.

Marriage.

I don't think bigamy

is a big issue

in this country

in our day.

But perhaps that's because

people don't think

you need to bother

to get married

if you want to have

an intimate relationship

with someone.

You can have two women

or you can have two men

and that's okay.

You don't have to tie the knot

for that.

And just one example

of the way in which marriage

is being devalued

and we're getting further

and further away

from God's plan for us.

And then you look at attitudes.

And you see in many ways

a real pride

and arrogance

about many people.

We see it in our leaders.

We see it perhaps also

in ourselves

and those we come into contact with.

And some of the great things

that we're finding

that we're inventing

are also doing great harm.

So the internet is wonderful.

The way that we have access

to information

that no one in any generation

before has ever had.

I want to find something out.

I go into Google.

I go into Wikipedia

or somewhere

and it's there

and it's great.

And yet the internet

has fuelled

the rise in pornography

and in people

interacting with their computers

rather than

with one another.

Mobile phones are great.

We are more connected

with each other

than ever before.

Even if we're out and about

we can easily talk

to each other by phone

or we can text each other

or we can use social media

or whatever.

And yet how often

is social media

used in a way

that's inappropriate?

That's intemperate.

We've seen the example

of that in our own country

this week.

We could go to America

and some of the things

the president there

has said on social media

and we look at it

and say

yes, social media

is a great thing

but man is not using it

in the way

that we should.

Our world is

in many ways

regressing

even as it is

progressing.

What shall response be

to that?

Well right at the end

of Genesis 4

in this chapter

full of names

and this family

which has so many problems

we have the birth

of another child

a man named Seth

and then his son

Enosh

and at the end it says

at that time

people began to call

on the name

of the Lord.

Even in this world

where God was

largely forgotten about

and was glorying

in his developments

and in his power

rather than

in God.

There were people

who recognized

that they couldn't do

without God.

The name of the Lord

that's used here

if you've got a Bible

in front of you

you'll see it's in

capital letters.

It's the covenant name

of God

later in the Old Testament

Yahweh.

Not sure how much

the people then

would have understood

exactly what that meant.

But it is calling

on the God

who is personal

and the God

who is interested.

And there were some people

perhaps not many

who recognized

the importance

of that.

And for us today

if we're Christians

we call on the name

of the Lord.

And we give thanks

for all the great things

that are happening

in his wonderful world.

But we should also

be on our knees

as we see around us

that people are getting

further and further

away from God

and from his standards.

We are called

to call upon

the name

of the Lord.

So that's Genesis 4.

What do we make

of Genesis 5

which is even more

a long list

of names

and of dates.

Well genealogies

in the Bible

are quite important.

And this particular

genealogy

is the introduction

to a new section

in Genesis

which runs

basically through

the account of Noah.

So we finish off

in chapter 4

essentially

the creation narrative

and we're now

coming on to

the Noah narrative.

And as a link

in that

the writer positions

where the two

sit together.

So it takes us

from Adam

down to Noah.

If we keep going

through the Bible

we can get that list

taken right down

and it ends up

with Jesus.

The key genealogy

in the Bible

starts with Adam

or starts actually

with God

if you read it

in Luke's Gospel

and it ends

with Jesus.

The writer is

positioning here

where Adam

and Noah

sit together.

But I think

there's more to it

than that.

Quite a lot of people

are into family history

I am myself

and it can be

quite fascinating.

Now when you do

family history

you have two things

that you look at.

One is

you get a long list

of names

and of dates.

So you go through

your ancestors

you go through

the record office

and the birth

and marriage

and death certificates

and the censuses

and everything else

that's available

and you end up

with a big chart

which has lots

of names of people

and lots of ages

or dates on it.

And that in a sense

is the core

of doing

your family tree.

It is looking

at the lives

of ordinary people

but actually

just looking at

their names

and a small amount

of information

about them.

But when you do

family history

very often

you find someone

you think

that person

looks interesting.

Perhaps I can find

out a little bit

more about them.

Now in my family tree

there's no one

who's particularly famous.

I don't think

there's anyone

you could Google

and find much

information about them

before my grandfather.

Previous generations

largely forgotten.

But there are

interesting people.

There are some

very strong women.

There are some

families which went

through really

difficult times.

And there are

some people

who think

well it would be

good to find

out a bit more

about them.

They look

quite interesting.

And that's what

the writer does

in this chapter.

There's a long

list of what I've

called ordinary

lives.

And then he has

a couple of

examples of what

we might call

extraordinary lives.

lives.

So I've called

this one

lives well lived.

As I said

there are

ordinary lives

and there are

extraordinary lives.

Now you might

look at Genesis 5

and say there are

no ordinary lives

here.

Almost everyone

on this list

lived to be

over 900 years

old.

That's kind of

not normal

in our day.

So let's just

deal with that

one quickly

before we look

in more detail

at the genealogy.

There are a number

of different views

about what

the ages here

mean.

Some people

think it could

be dynasties

that are being

talked about.

So when it

talks about Adam

or it talks

about Methuselah

whoever,

it's not talking

about an

individual,

it's talking

about a

dynasty was

started with

that person.

And so having

dynasties for

900 odd years

isn't out of

the question.

The problem

with that is

at least a

couple of

people on

this list

are definitely

presented as

being real

individuals.

They're not

just a dynasty,

they are real

people who

had real

lives.

So that is

slightly difficult.

Second possibility

is it says

years.

Actually does it

mean months

or does it

mean something

different?

So is the

time period

the same

as ours?

Again quite

difficult because

if you look at

the ages of

the people

when they had

children and

when they

died,

if they had

kind of normal

lifespans we

think of today,

there were things

like they became

a father when

they were seven

years old and

that really

doesn't work.

There's

genealogy a few

chapters on where

it says people

had children

that kind of

what we think

were normal

ages like

30 and so

on but not

in this one

and I think

it is difficult

to think that

it could just

be months

rather than

years.

So could it

be really

people living

for that

long?

Well maybe

it could.

We are pre-flood

and we are in

a different

environment from

what we have

now.

Perhaps some

remnant of the

tree of life

that Adam

and Eve

had originally

eaten from

before they

were thrown

out of the

garden of

Eden.

Perhaps that

was still

affecting things.

Maybe they

had a very

long life.

That has its

own difficulties.

Why would

you wait

hundreds of

years before

you had

your first

child?

Things like

that.

But maybe

it's the

best explanation.

I don't

know.

I'll leave

that to

you.

But actually

although the

writer undoubtedly

means us to

notice the

ages,

they're not

the key

point of

this passage.

The key

thing in

this chapter

is that

people were

born,

they had

children,

and they

died.

They were

born,

they had

children,

they died

generation

after generation.

That is

ordinary

life.

You're

born,

you may

not have

family,

and you

die.

That for

virtually every

human who

has ever

lived,

that is the

pattern of

life.

That is the

pattern of

our lives

unless the

Lord should

return before

we die.

And the

writer is

saying to

us,

this is the

curse that

came on

Adam,

the death

that came

through

Adam,

this is

it in

practice.

People were

born,

they lived,

they perhaps

had families,

and then they

died,

and they

were gone.

They had

ordinary

lives.

And then

in the

middle of

that,

there are

a couple

of

extraordinary

lives.

Now we

have at the

beginning,

Seth, I'm

not going to

talk in

any detail

about Seth,

notice Seth

in the

likeness of

Adam,

Adam in

the likeness

of God.

Does that

mean Seth

in the

likeness of

God?

To some

extent,

yes,

but also

affected by

the fall.

But the

two are

really

interesting,

Enoch

and Noah.

And these

are the

two men in

the Old

Testament where

it says they

walked with

God or

they walked

faithfully

with God.

Noah, that

is mentioned

in chapter

six.

Enoch is

before us

in this

chapter.

And these

are held

up to us

as examples

of people

who were

different.

They weren't

just ordinary,

lived, had

family, died.

They were

people in

their lives

lived

differently

and behaved

differently.

And so

at the

end, they

were treated

differently.

Enoch, it

says, never

died.

God took

him.

Noah was

saved from

the flood.

And both

of them, when

we come to

the New

Testament, are

seen as

important

characters.

Particularly in

Hebrews chapter

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

11, we have

that great list

of men of

faith.

Then prominent

among them

are Enoch

and Noah.

and a

reminder in

that chapter

that these

were men

who trusted

in God

and who

sought to

live their

lives for

God.

Enoch, the

shortest lived

of all the

people in

this chapter,

but only

because God

took him.

Noah, the

one who

out-survived

all the

others, he

was the

only one

in the

list who

came through

the flood.

Methuselah,

just passing

aside, Methuselah

died in the

year of the

flood, if you

count up the

number of

years.

Noah was

the only

one who

came through

the flood.

And Noah

is presented,

and we're

going to look

at Noah

over the

next couple

of weeks

in more

detail, he

is presented

by his

father as

someone, he

says, who

will comfort

us in

labour and

painful toil

of our

hands caused

by the

ground God

has cursed.

Now you

wouldn't think

of Noah and

comfort necessarily

together.

Noah was the

preacher of

doom.

He was the

one who

alone with

his family

was saved

when the

world was

destroyed.

But if we

jump forward

to Genesis

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8,

in Genesis

Genesis 8 · chapter mention

chapter 8,

God does

give us that

comfort through

Noah as

he sends

Noah out

to manage

the earth

and as he

promises there

will never be

another flood.

But what do we

make of Enoch

and Noah?

They are important

characters in

their own right,

but a lot

of their

significance is

that they

point forward

to Jesus.

There are

people in

the Old

Testament who

displayed the

kind of

characteristics

that we

look for

from Jesus

in the

New Testament.

Enoch

walked with

God.

And Jesus

walked with

God.

In his life

on earth,

he was

completely

obedient to

God his

father,

and he

was dependent

on God

his father.

And he

had that

intimate

relationship,

but he

knew his

father's

will and

was able

to pass

it on to

others and

to live

a perfect

life.

Jesus

walked

with God.

I know

in the Old

Testament it

is a picture

of Jesus

as one

who is

able to

save.

He is

saved by

God,

but a

picture of

God's

salvation.

As God

in his

mercy

spares

this

small

family

and takes

them

through

the

flood

and

brings

them

out

the

other

side.

And

knowing

that

gives us

a picture

of what

happens

with

Jesus.

Those who

are willing

to believe

the message

that Jesus

brings us,

those who

are willing

to put

their trust

in him,

are saved

from their

sin and

from all

the filth

that is in

our lives,

the things

we were

talking about

earlier,

through the

death of

the Lord

Jesus,

we are

able to

be brought

into a

relationship

with God.

So Enoch

and Noah

pictures

of Jesus.

But what

does it

mean to

walk

with God?

Let me

just bring

you three

verses from

the New

Testament that

I think

will help

us with

that.

Hebrews

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

chapter 11

is the

passage about

Enoch,

and it

says that

faith means

you believe

that God

exists and

that he

rewards those

who earnestly

seek him.

So the

first thing

of walking

with God,

what we

learn from

Enoch,

is we

need to

seek God,

we need

to look

to do

his will,

we need

to have

a faith

in him.

We need

to know

God and

to know

him in

our lives.

The Old

Testament book

of Micah,

it says,

what does

the Lord

require of

you?

To act

justly and

to love

mercy and

to walk

humbly

with your

God.

Very significant

word there,

humbly.

If we walk

with God,

we need to

recognize how

great he is

and how

insignificant by

comparison we

are.

As we see

our great

God, that

should be

something that

humbles us

and helps us

to understand

how much

greater he

is than

we could

ever think

or imagine

and by

comparison how

insignificant we

are but

still in our

insignificance

loved by

God.

And then

the Apostle

John, in

his first

letter, he

says, if we

walk in the

light as he,

that is Jesus,

is in the

light, God

is in the

light, we

have fellowship

with one

another and

the blood of

Jesus, his

son, purifies

us from

all sin.

So walking

means walking

in the

light.

It means

trying to

do the

things that

are right

and to

recognize what

God's pattern

for life is

and not to

walk in the

darkness, ignoring

God as all

these people in

Genesis 4 seem

to have done,

but to walk

with him and

to seek to

be obedient

to him.

Faith,

humility,

light.

these are

things that

should

characterize

our walk

with God.

So, who

do you

think you

are?

I hope

from what

we've seen

that for

most of

us, we

are going

to be, in

this world's

terms, pretty

insignificant.

I might

think my

life is

important just

now, give

it a hundred

years, and

I'll be doing

well if anyone

remembers me as

more than a

name.

In this

world, all

of us

ultimately are

fairly

insignificant,

and we

will be,

whether we

like it or

not, we

will be

largely

forgotten

very soon

after our

death.

And yet

the Bible

would tell

us that

although that

is absolutely

true, we

also have a

wonderful

status before

God.

Who do you

think you

are?

Who do I

think I

am?

I am a

child of

God.

I'm a

sinner.

I don't

deserve

anything, but

because of

God's grace, I

have this

wonderful status

of being his

child, and

because of my

faith in

Jesus, being

able to look

forward and

to know that

one day I'll

go to be

with him

forever.

And when you

think of that,

what happens

in this world,

and what people

might think of

me when I'm

gone, actually

doesn't matter

that much.

What matters

is the

relationship I

have with

God and

the confidence

I can have

in him,

knowing that

I matter to

him, and

if my trust

is in him,

in the

Lord Jesus,

then my

future is

secure.

And I'm

not looking

at 70,

80,

90,

maybe even

100 years

in this

world.

I'm looking

at an

eternity spent

with Jesus

and enjoying

his presence

and understanding

more of his

greatness and

the wonderful

world he's

made and

the wonderful

grace that

he has shown

in dying

for me on

that cross

and giving

me my

relationship

with God.

So we should

go away this

morning perhaps

reflecting on

the world

round about

us, on

the great

advances that

are being

made, but

also the

issues that

we see

everywhere we

look, reflecting

perhaps on

our own

sinfulness, our

own failure, our

own insignificance.

But knowing

that in God's

sight we're

important, we

matter, and

he wants all

of us to

have a real

relationship with

him as we

walk with

him, as we

call on him,

as we know

him as our

father.

If you're not

in that position

yet, I'd

urge you to

think about

your relationship

with God, the

things that

really matter

in life.

And if you

are, let's

go out, let's

pray for our

world, let's

walk the way

that Jesus

walked, let's

be God's

people in

our generation,

not just

ordinary lives,

but extraordinary

lives, because

they're lived

for God.

Let's pray

together.

Father, we

thank you for

your word.

We thank you

for this rather

obscure passage,

which nevertheless

has so much

to teach us.

We thank you

that you are a

great God, and

when we see all

that man is

able to achieve

now, we

should recognize

that all he is

doing is

thinking your

thoughts after

you, uncovering,

unraveling some

of the marvelous

intricacies of

your creation.

But we do

grieve for the

world around us.

We grieve for the

sin, for the

devaluing of

marriage, for

the way that

pride affects

all of our

lives, for the

conflict that

there is, for

the things that

are done that

are wrong.

Help us to be

in prayer to

you about

them.

But help us

above all, each

of us, to make

sure that we are

in a living

relationship with

you and with

the Lord Jesus,

and that in our

lives we seek to

walk with God

so that we

become not

ordinary lives,

but extraordinary

lives as

children of God

shining as

lights in our

world.

We give you

thanks and we

commit ourselves

to you in the

name of the

Lord Jesus.

Amen.