Understanding who God is

Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said, let there be light.

And there was light.

And God saw that the light was good.

And God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,

and let it separate the waters from the waters.

And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse

from the waters that were above the expanse.

And it was so.

And God called the expanse heaven.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place,

and let the dry land appear.

And it was so.

God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together, he called seas.

And God saw that it was good.

And God said, let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit,

trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth.

And it was so.

The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds,

and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night.

And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years.

And let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.

And it was so.

And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day,

and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.

And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on earth,

to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

And God saw that it was good.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures,

and let birds fly above the earth, across the expanse of the heavens.

So God created the great sea creatures, and every living creature that moves,

with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds,

and every winged bird according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

And God blessed them, saying, be fruitful, and multiply,

and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.

And there was evening, and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, let the earth bring forth living creatures,

according to their kinds, livestock, and creeping things,

and beasts of the earth, according to their kinds.

And it was so.

And God made the beasts of the earth, according to their kinds,

and the livestock, according to their kinds,

and everything that creeps on the ground, according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, let us make man in our image,

after our likeness,

and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the heavens,

and over the livestock, and over all the earth,

and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him.

Male and female, he created them.

And God blessed them.

And God said to them,

be fruitful, and multiply,

and fill the earth, and subdue it,

and have dominion over the fish of the sea,

and over the birds of the heavens,

and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

And God said, behold,

I have given you every plant yielding seed

that is on the face of all the earth,

and every tree with seed in its fruit.

You shall have them for food.

And to every beast of the earth,

and to every bird of the heavens,

and to everything that creeps on the earth,

everything that has the breath of life,

I have given every green plant for food.

And it was so.

And God saw everything that he had made,

and behold, it was very good.

And there was evening,

and there was morning,

the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished,

and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day,

God finished his work that he had done,

and he rested on the seventh day

from all his work that he had done.

So God blessed the seventh day

and made it holy,

because on it,

God rested from all his work

that he had done in creation.

Well, good morning, everyone.

My name's Dave.

I'm one of the pastors here.

Will you please pray with me

as we come to God's word?

Lord of heaven and earth,

help us come to your word today,

not trying to have all our questions answered,

but coming to listen to you,

to give so that we might be asking

the right questions.

Father, I pray that you would blow us away

with just how good you are

as our creator and our redeemer.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, what is the point of Genesis chapters 1 to 3?

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It's a very well-known passage,

so I feel like I need to address a few things.

Some people listening today

might see as much point in it

as perhaps they do the Greek mythologies

and other ancient beliefs.

I was sitting in the dentist's waiting room

just last week,

and on the TV came a commercial.

Maybe you've seen it.

A bright light followed by stars swirling,

a gloomy earth and a volcano erupting,

a brutish man walking,

and then a child blowing out candles,

and then a rocket launching to the moon,

and out of the mouth of a man comes a word,

wow.

And this man is standing in the aisles of Audi,

looking at the specials for the week.

Wow.

Now, this modern story might sound more sophisticated

than these ancient narratives,

but can it satisfy your heart's yearnings

to know why is there something rather than nothing?

Why is there such order

that makes predicting weather patterns

and quantum entanglement,

whatever, I can't understand it,

why is that even possible

out of mindless chaos?

Why is there conscious life,

personality,

that even is yearning like this?

Is there any hope

to overcome the mess and darkness and death

in my world, in my life?

Who am I?

What is my place in this universe?

Does my life have meaning?

All these yearnings.

Stephen Jay Gould, an evolutionary biologist,

here's his advice.

We're here simply because

one odd group of fish

had a peculiar anatomy

that just happened to be able

to transform itself into legs

for terrestrial creatures.

We're here just because

comets struck the earth

and wiped out dinosaurs

and gave mammals a chance.

We are here just for those reasons.

We yearn for a higher answer,

but none exists.

This explanation,

though superficially troubling,

if not terrifying,

is ultimately liberating.

We have to construct,

therefore,

any meaning ourselves.

So if you want to discredit all your longings

of your heart

and the longings that every human being

all over the earth have,

if you want to discredit all those yearnings,

then by all means,

go construct your meaning

buying the specials at Audi.

But then what's the point of Genesis chapters 1 to 3?

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Was it written to answer our scientific questions?

As I'm trying to get across,

I think it's answering something much more profound

for us to know how to live well,

answering the yearnings of our heart.

So is the point to tell us

if the seven days refer to 24-hour periods

or seven undefined eras of time?

Yes, I'm just going to deal with this

and move on

because some of you are waiting for it.

And I'm going to satisfy no one.

I'm just going to say,

by all means, look into it.

Study it.

Study scripture.

Study science.

Discuss it.

Debate it.

Come to your convictions on it.

As long as Adam and Eve are historical people,

as Romans 5 and other scripture clearly says,

come to your convictions.

But if you focus on that question,

you're missing the bigger questions

that Genesis 1 is answering,

those yearnings of our heart.

Who made and governs the universe?

Who am I?

Who are people in this universe?

What's the goal?

What's the point?

What's the purpose?

And what went wrong?

They are much bigger questions

that Genesis 1 has lots to say.

That makes more sense of why Moses wrote this to Israel,

who have just been set free from Egypt.

They're in the wilderness.

The wilderness.

And they're waiting to come into that promised land

of rest and blessing.

What do they need to know?

Well, they need to know,

Genesis 1 to 11,

chapters 1 to 11,

that the spread of sin

and its destructive effects.

And they need to know who they are,

that God has set in a plan

to bring blessing to the world

through Abraham

and his chosen descendant.

That's what they need to know.

They need to know who God is,

who are we as his people,

his purposes to bless the world,

and why are we in the wilderness

and not in Eden?

That's what we need to know.

And we need to know the same things today

to answer the longings of our own heart.

As a church family,

we're entering a year of change,

at least this year or coming few years.

We need new elders

to govern and guide the church.

We need a new pastor,

as Cordwood looks to pass on the baton

to the next generation.

We need a new constitution.

We have so many new people in the church

in the past few years

and we need to gather together

under the same truth

and head in the same direction.

We've got a lot of change.

But like Israel in the wilderness,

we need to just focus on what doesn't change.

We need to get our bearings.

We need to know the unchangeable God.

We need to know his unchangeable determination

to fully bring about that rest and blessing

he created the world for.

We need to know who we are as his people,

his image bearers,

and we need to know what went wrong.

If we know all this,

then we will stick to the gospel of Jesus Christ,

that in him we have rest and blessing.

There might be lots of change,

but really the big things,

they're not changing at all.

So that's why we're doing Genesis 1-3 this term.

So we're going to be focusing

on just the first three chapters

for the whole term.

So let's get into it.

Let's get into the text.

First we come to who is God.

And verse 1 makes the who very clear.

In the beginning, God.

Nothing else.

There was a starting point of space and time as we know it.

Things are not in this cyclical reincarnation cycle.

There was a beginning.

But before anything was,

God was.

And this is crucial

because God is not part of his creation,

like Avatar with,

who is it,

Ewa.

God's not part of the creation.

Creation is not an extension of God.

God is above creation,

but he's always involved in it.

He's before creation.

He has authority over all of it.

Which obviously might ask the question

in all of our minds,

like what was God doing before the beginning?

If before the beginning,

obviously logically doesn't make sense,

but before space and time,

what was God doing?

And scripture actually has a lot to tell us.

The father was loving the son.

God was making plans,

not only for creation,

but for history,

for it to culminate in his son.

We're told that God was making promises even.

And Francis Schaeffer points out the point here.

Prior to Genesis 1.1,

love and communication are intrinsic

to what always has been.

God didn't need creation

in order for his identity as creator to be realised.

He wasn't bored.

He wasn't lazy.

Like the ancient mythologies say,

they created people to do all the hack work.

He's not lazy.

He wasn't lonely.

He was in eternal, loving community,

father, son and spirit,

totally self-sufficient,

totally at peace,

totally full of joy.

He didn't need to create.

But he did.

He freely chose to create,

to display his glory,

to share his life.

The word create here in verse 1

is a special word in scripture

that only God is the subject of this verb.

This word create here,

only God does this sort of creating.

Yes, we reflect him as we are creative people,

but only God does this sort of creating.

In verse 1,

he creates everything

out of nothing.

No mass,

no energy,

no supplies.

He didn't have to go back to Bunnings

because he forgot something the first time.

He had no blueprint.

He had no blueprint.

He had no angel engineer.

He was consulting.

All his wisdom,

all out of his power,

all out of his goodness,

he created.

The heavens and the earth,

and that's a poetic device just to say everything.

All things belong to him.

All things belong to him.

As creator,

he has the right to do with all things as he pleases.

All things owe their being to him alone.

And then we come to verse 2,

which might seem strange at first,

but it's the key

that unlocks the flow of the chapter.

By his word,

this God,

he is the kind of God

who creates order

out of chaos.

So we've got,

the earth was without form

and void.

So without form

and empty.

And darkness

was over the face of the deep.

And the spirit of God

was hovering over the face

of the waters.

So without form,

there's no distinction

and it was empty.

It was lifeless.

So this shows us

the two stages

that God

fashioned everything.

We've got day 1,

2 and 3

where God

separates,

he distinguishes

and he creates

the conditions for life.

And then we've got day 4, 5,

day 4, 5 and 6

where he fills it

with life.

So without form,

he forms it.

empty,

he fills it.

He brings order

out of chaos.

Some see in this verse

a spiritual description

alluding to

Satan's rebellion

causing this chaos.

Others just see it

as a description

of the physical earth

as it was

after he created it.

It just wasn't fashioned yet.

Either way,

it tells us

what kind of God he is.

He doesn't want chaos.

He doesn't accept

darkness

as a necessary evil.

He certainly

doesn't call darkness

good.

But he's present,

he is above it

and he brings

order out of chaos,

he brings light

out of darkness,

he brings life

out of emptiness.

That's the kind

of God he is.

To consider

just the contrast

in Moses' day,

I just want to share

snapshots of the

ancient Babylonian

creation account,

the Enuma Elish.

So in that story,

and this isn't just

some tribal group

saying this,

this is a Babylonian

empire,

this is a pretty

big story of the day.

A God named

Absu,

who represented

Sweetwater,

and his wife

Tiamat,

Saltwater,

they bore children

and grandchildren

but they became,

I shouldn't laugh,

they became so noisy

that Absu decided

to murder

his sons and

grandsons

to have silence

again.

I really shouldn't

laugh,

that shows how

wicked I am,

but maybe you

can relate

to warning silence.

One of his

sons murdered

him first

and then

another one

of the sons,

Marduk,

the greatest

of all the gods

started fighting

Tiamat.

Tiamat created

dragons and

beasts,

Marduk killed

her with an

arrow,

stood on her

body,

split her

skull,

sorry kids,

cut her arteries,

he took her

body and

divided it into

two parts,

one part

becoming the

sky,

the other

part the

earth,

then Marduk

created people

to do all

the menial

work,

so that the

gods could

relax.

And God

said,

let there

be light.

And there

was light.

God

said,

let there

be,

and it

was so.

Let

there be,

and it

was so.

personal,

totally

sovereign,

rational

word,

formed and

filled the

heavens and

the earth.

God

separates the

material matter,

putting the

structure in

place for

life to

flourish.

I'm going to

try and move

through these

verses pretty

quickly and

just point out

a few things.

So dividing,

separating,

distinguishing is

a key theme

running through

Genesis 1.

life requires

things to be

distinct from

another,

in their

place,

serving their

purpose.

Notice in

verse 4 that

God only

calls the

light good,

not the

darkness.

He separates

the light and

darkness,

the mutually

exclusive.

Notice too

that he names

the light

day and

darkness

night.

So in

ancient times

if you name

something,

that's the

prerogative of

the one in

charge.

I suppose we

still do today.

You name your

children.

It's your

prerogative to

do that.

You're in

charge.

Throughout

Genesis 1 he's

naming.

He's in

charge.

For Israel

they were to

have total

confidence that

the Lord alone

was supreme in

the heavens.

The nations,

they're just

worshipping

created things.

Then we've got

day two.

We have the

separation of

the water above

from the water

below which we

would call our

atmosphere.

But notice God

doesn't call it

good yet because

his purposes for

the water isn't

complete.

that comes in

day three.

God separates

the ocean from

the land.

Now the water

is fulfilling its

good purposes and

he calls it

good.

Then we have

vegetation which

in Hebrew

thinking apparently

vegetation wasn't

living as we

kind of see it.

And each

according to

their kind.

Everything was

specific enough to

be identified and

yet incredible

diversity.

I just found

out that you

all know what a

gum tree is,

right?

Yep, anyway.

A gum tree, I

don't know why I

paused there.

Apparently there's

over 900 different

types of gum tree.

Like, I don't,

sometimes I get

uncomfortable with

how much I don't

know.

Specificity but

such diversity,

isn't there?

Notice too, the

fertility of the

earth is by God's

decree.

It's his blessing.

Israel shouldn't

participate in the

pagan, depraved

fertility rituals.

It's by God's

word that life is

given.

Perhaps in our

society's world

view, in this

cause and effect,

as if this is a

closed system, we

need to remember,

no, no, no.

Life comes by

God's word.

He is very

involved.

That herb garden

only grows with

him causing it to

grow.

So day one, two,

and three, the

forming is complete

and we come days

four through six.

He starts to fill.

Day four, we've

got the heavens,

the sun, moon,

and stars.

They serve mankind

for days and years.

Again, Israel

shouldn't follow the

Babylonians.

We're trying to

read their future

in the stars.

The stars are made

to declare the

glory of God.

I think it's one of

the biggest downsides

of living in the

city.

I see a few people

from Tamworth here.

Just to get that

witness of God's

glory in the sky,

it's one of the

things you miss

from the country.

Then day five,

conscious life

comes, filling the

atmosphere in the

oceans.

And here in verse

21, we've got that

special word create

again, as we had in

verse one.

When conscious life

comes in, we've got

this special word

create.

He created conscious

life, animals.

And again, fertility

of your herds is by

God's gift, not by

appeasing the pagan

gods.

And then day six, we

come to the climax with

all the animals of the

land and mankind.

Chapter two, verse

seven, speaks of this.

Then the Lord God

formed the man of dust

from the ground and

breathed into his

nostrils the breath of

life.

Yes, we are animals, we

are of the ground, but

we are so much more than

animals, which is where we

need to so depart from the

story of our culture around

us today.

Man is set apart, mankind.

I found this threefold

phrase helpful.

We're set apart by divine

plan.

Let us make God

planned divine pattern in

our image, our likeness,

for divine purpose, to have

dominion.

And that word, that special

word create, in case we

miss, that something

special is happening

here, it's used three

times to emphasise the

point.

So God created man in his

own image.

In the image of God, he

created him, male and

female, he created them.

This is what it's all been

heading for.

Us, can you believe it?

Mankind is the bridge

between earth and heaven.

We were made to know and

relate to the creator.

And we were made to

represent the creator in his

goodness as we care for this

world.

We are the bridge.

In a sense, everything else

was so that we could have

life and so that we can see

the glory of God and praise

God with our hearts and

mouths and lives.

Human beings in the image of

God, regardless of capability,

whether old or in the womb,

whether a celebrity or in power

or the lowest in society, each

human being has infinite,

divine, divine is that the

right word?

We reflect the worth of God

himself.

You have never met an

ordinary person.

So we better treat each other

that way.

And God speaks to himself in the

plural.

Let us make in our image, we

reflect God not only as

individuals, although that's

true, but also as we relate to

one another in friendship, in

marriage, in community, because

we reflect God, who God is, the

eternal community, Father, Son and

Holy Spirit.

And we're going to look into this

much more as we get into chapter

two next week.

But this is a radical teaching.

It was radical back then.

It is radical today, isn't it?

It is the bedrock for how we treat

people with value.

It is how we know what our purpose

is.

Francis Schaeffer again, he says,

people today can no longer answer

that crucial question, who am I?

A Christian doesn't have this

problem.

We have the gift of knowing who we

are.

We are in the image of God.

And so the sixth day finishes with

God commissioning and blessing

mankind.

Adam and Eve have deep personal

fulfilment, totally in a blessed

state.

Everything was at peace with

itself, at peace with the

creator, at peace with man, within

itself, within people, totally at

peace.

And God looks at all he has made

once man has arrived and is very

good.

God is righteous.

He only blesses what is good.

God is good.

What is good is not your subjective

opinion.

It's God's opinion of what is good.

When what he has made fulfills his

purposes, then it is good.

That's when he blesses.

He will only bless what is good and

what he says is good is deeply

fulfilling.

So we come to the why of creation,

God's goal on day seven.

Where are we?

Chapter two, verses one to three.

Thus the heavens and the earth were

finished, and all the host of them.

And on the seventh day God finished his

work that he had done, and he rested on

the seventh day from all his work that he

had done.

So God blessed the seventh day and made

it holy because on it God rested from

all his work that he had done in

creation.

Now as Jacob helpfully taught the kids,

this isn't talking about people resting.

This is talking about God resting, which

can't mean he gets tired.

He didn't need a nap.

He didn't need to put his feet up.

He didn't need a holiday.

He didn't need to catch his breath.

This is saying God stopped his creating

work because it was done.

Everything was in order.

Everything was at peace.

Everything was glorifying God and having

his blessing.

He had no work to do.

Everything was in proper relationship with

God.

And so he made it holy.

He's elevated above the other days.

Day six is not the end point.

The purpose of all this is day seven.

It's resting.

God enjoying his creation.

Like a builder of a house.

He builds the house and he puts his tools

down.

He doesn't just stand outside.

He goes in and he enjoys it.

He's finished the work and now he wants to rest in it.

That's the goal.

God wants to enjoy his creation as all things glorify him.

Tim Keller draws out the implication for us today.

The fulfillment we've been looking for in our work,

in building skyscrapers, in having wonderful spouses,

in having lots of children, in making money,

the blessing we've been looking for is actually

in the face of God.

Enjoying God.

Living for him.

God didn't do any more work until the rebellion of man

ushered in a new darkness and a new chaos.

But we'll come to that in chapter three.

Creation tells us God is a redeeming God.

He brings order out of chaos, light out of darkness,

life out of emptiness.

He is absolutely sovereign over every speck, everything.

He works by his powerful word and that he is determined

that heaven and earth will be in order and good

and have his blessing and enjoy rest.

He is determined to have that.

And the obvious question is,

why isn't that our daily experience?

Why don't we have that rest and blessing?

Why is there chaos in my own mind and heart?

Why is there chaos in my relationships and in my work?

Why is there chaos in the world,

in society and nature?

Why is there chaos in the world,

why is there chaos in the world?

Obviously, we'll spend more time as we come to chapter three.

But can I say for now,

how you answer this question

will depend on your starting point for answering it.

If you start with your own thinking

and your own experience, your own reasoning,

then you'll come out with distorted answers at the other end.

Like some conclude that darkness is good,

that it both existed with light.

It's just always been this balance in the universe or something,

or that death is just a part of life.

They call death good.

It's distorted thinking.

Or that God is not good, or that he's not God.

Like the ancient mythologies,

seeing God as violent and jealous and hateful

and sexually perverse like human beings.

If you start with your own thinking and work out God,

you'll come out with weird and distorted conclusions.

Will you let the word of your creator be your starting point

for answering that question?

He is your reference point.

He wants his world perfectly in order

and full of his blessing.

It was good originally.

So here we have the framework for understanding

how good God is

and how our sin has plunged the world into chaos again.

There is one creator,

and yet who of us consistently looks to him

as the source of life

and the one to whom everything I am

and all I have belongs?

It gives us a framework for understanding our problem.

Mankind was made to represent God's glory,

and yet we seek our own glory.

And we treat other people made in his image with violence,

with our words and choices.

Mankind was made to know and relate to God,

and yet we look to created things

to find that deep fulfillment we're all craving.

The blessing of life is found in resting with God,

and yet we think we can get blessing for ourselves,

trying to be God.

The God whose word breathed out the heavens

and the oceans roared and moved at his command,

and yet we don't listen to his word as we ought to.

We don't believe that his word is the way to blessing,

and if we don't believe his word is the way to blessing,

really we're saying,

God, you're not good.

This gives us the framework to expose us

and the real problem.

But that's not the end of the story.

Our creator is so good

and he's so determined to restore order and rest and blessing.

In term two this year,

we're going to get back into the Gospel of Matthew.

And the part we're up to in Matthew

has blown me away in preparing Genesis 1 this week.

So I just can't wait to say it,

so I'm saying it today.

It's when Jesus walks on the water.

Now when Jesus walks on the water

to his disciples on the boat,

our society mocks that miracle, don't they?

And I've got to be honest with you,

I find that miracle a bit perplexing

because all the other miracles,

he's healing, he's raising the dead,

they're full of compassion,

but walking on water kind of seems like he's showing off.

I've struggled with it

until I've appreciated Genesis 1 verse 2.

Genesis 1:2

Do you see

who is walking on the waves of the deep

in the darkness of the night?

He is the one who's above the chaos

and can save us from it.

He's not just above,

but he entered it

and took it

on himself.

And in his dying breath,

he finishes his work of salvation.

It is finished.

Our hearts yearn for rest and blessing

and the good news

is that the Creator has come

and he has restored his creation

and he offers you rest and blessing.

Getting back in order

with your Creator

to know that he is good

and wants to bless you

as you are in right relationship with him.

So will you look to the cross of Jesus

and know once and for all

that your Creator is good

and that it's your heart

that is the one that's out of order

and he can give you rest and blessing.

I'm going to finish with the words of 2 Corinthians.

for God who said

that light shine out of darkness

has shone in our hearts

to give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God

in the face of Jesus Christ.

rest and blessing are found in him.

Let's pray.

Father, I pray that your Spirit

once again would be moving

over the darkness of each of our hearts

to show us more of who you are

in the face of Jesus.

and for anyone who doesn't know you

as their good Creator

and their Saviour

I pray that your Spirit

might be moving

and speaking life

into their hearts

into our hearts.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.