God Spoke, And It Was

Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us.

Father, you know how sometimes we are afraid of your word,

that we're embarrassed by your word,

that we wince at your word.

And Father, you know that about us.

And Father, we thank you that you still speak,

that you still love us, that you speak the truth.

Father, help us to trust you and to trust your word.

And may your word come into our lives

and bear much fruit for your great glory.

And all this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, a couple of weeks ago,

one of the people that I talk to in the coffee shop all the time,

and we often have lots of disagreements,

he was puzzling over a complicated quote

that he'd found from Aristotle.

and he asked me over and he said to me,

he said,

George, you're a wise and learned man.

Can you help me to understand this?

And I just sort of, I thought about that

and I said to him,

well, I appreciate the compliment,

but I'm actually a fool in recovery,

not a wise and learned man.

I was thinking of what the book of Proverbs warns you about,

thinking of being wise.

I was thinking of 1 Corinthians,

how God makes foolish the wisdom of the world,

and I was thinking of Romans 1,

and how in our foolishness,

we want to exchange the glory of God for idols.

And so I said,

I'm a fool in recovery.

Anyway,

I appreciated the comment.

I mention that because

today we're going to look at this story

in Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It's the easiest story to find in the Bible.

You just go to the beginning.

It's Genesis 1.

And, you know,

you look at this story

and a lot of Christians nowadays,

we really wince with this.

We're very, very uncomfortable with it.

And not only are we uncomfortable with it,

we are uncomfortable

because we know a little bit about biology.

We've probably all been through biology in high school.

And, well, I mean, you know,

in our back of our mind,

we think to ourselves,

how can there be light

when the sun and the stars haven't been created?

How come light's created

before the sun and the stars?

And how come there's day and night

before there's sun

and even really a planet?

So how can there be days

before there's even a planet?

And how come

vegetation is created on the third day

and the sun

is created on the fourth day?

And it doesn't make any biological,

agricultural sense.

And so we're just very uncomfortable with it.

Some of us will maybe read

very, very, very, very, very clever Christians

who try to show

how this is just a way

to describe almost scientifically

how things came to be.

But in our heart of hearts,

we might say,

gosh, that's awfully clever.

However,

but it doesn't really work

apart from all your cleverness.

And so if we're honest,

as I said in my prayer,

we feel a little bit uncomfortable

when it comes to a text like this.

It wouldn't be a text

that we'd want to share

with our coworkers

and do a Bible study around.

If we're honest,

we'd be very, very, very uncomfortable about it.

And so it's hard.

So that's one of the reasons

I mentioned that I'm a recovering fool

because it's almost,

I'm going to talk a little bit

about what we talked about last week

to try to deal with some of this foolishness,

but it's like we forget it.

So here's the first thing

as we start to look at this text.

A couple of years ago,

I had a conversation,

once again, in a coffee shop.

I actually don't talk to anybody

if they're not in a coffee shop.

I don't know if you know that about me.

So if you want to talk to me,

go to a coffee shop.

I'll talk to you.

No.

It's the easiest way for me

to have conversations

with non-Christians, I guess,

just because of my personality.

And anyway, so I had a conversation,

which is, I don't know how it came up.

I mentioned something about trees

being a renewable resource.

I think it's because

I was using a cardboard cup.

True confessions,

when I go to coffee shops,

I like the cardboard cups.

I never get the, you know,

the more eco-friendly ones,

but that's a whole other.

I hope I haven't now made you all

really mad at me by sharing that.

But, so I think I made some comment

about, you know,

trees are a renewable resource.

And the barista, he said,

no, they're not.

And I said, well,

I mean, I know it's a slow resource,

but you know, you plant a tree

and it grows.

And so it's always renewable.

There's lots of land to grow trees

and you just keep growing trees.

And even if you cut them down,

you can just keep planting trees.

And she said, no,

it's not a renewable resource

and they don't plant trees in Canada.

I didn't make a face.

I have a tiny, tiny, tiny bit

of people skills

which occasionally peak out.

But I said to him,

I said, my oldest son,

for eight years,

he was a tree planter.

Like, that's how he graduated

from university with no debts.

Like, he went in northern Ontario

and northern BC

and he planted trees.

And he said, no,

nobody does that.

So at that point in time,

there's no point

talking any further with them, right?

Like, the person's an idiot.

Sorry.

Now, here's the question.

Is Moses an idiot?

It's a good question.

I'm just going to take it for now

that Moses is the primary author

of the book of Genesis.

I'm not going to get into authorship.

It's actually technically,

it doesn't say that Moses wrote it.

There are other reasons

why it might or might not be Moses.

But let's just say,

I'm going to just say

for the sake of argument

that Moses wrote it,

whether he adapted an older story

or not doesn't really matter.

But the question is,

is Moses an idiot?

You see, the reason

that's a very, very good question

to ask is,

my guess is this.

My guess is that Moses

knows vastly less

than anybody here

about biology.

Okay?

But, you know,

he probably knows

way more than just about

anybody here

about how things grow.

And one of the things

he would have known

is that if you go

into a dark cave,

you don't see vegetation.

Like, we might have people

who don't understand

that trees grow.

You know,

because we're in

post-modern,

you know,

Canada.

We might have people

who have problems with that

because we're sort of

distant from nature.

But Moses would have

known that.

Like, it would have

dawned on him

that if you don't

have a light,

like you go into a cave,

you go into a dark room,

you can't grow a tree

or grass in a dark room.

He would have known that.

So why do you write it?

Isn't that a good

question to ask?

You see,

because the subtle

way that we approach

the scripture

is we're very influenced

by the skepticism

of much of our culture.

And so we sort of

assume that Moses,

just because he lived

at a time before

there were flush toilets

or Instagram,

doesn't mean he was stupid.

Right?

Or any person

who's an older writer.

Doesn't mean they're stupid.

So,

we just take that

as a bit of a clue

that maybe there's

something else

going on in this text.

Maybe there's something

else going on

in this text.

In fact,

I talked about that

a little bit last week

and I'm going to talk

about it a little bit more.

What I would say

is actually science

with one important

qualification,

the more we learn

about science,

the more we learn

about astronomy,

the more we learn

about biology,

the more we learn

about geology,

the more we learn

about these things,

the easier it is

and the more truthfully

we can read God's word.

I mean,

just a very,

very simple example,

like,

I don't know,

2,000,

2,500 years ago,

whenever it talks

about the sun rising,

I don't know,

they probably,

I don't know,

maybe they did think

literally the sun rose,

that the earth

was sort of static

and the sun rose

and then went

and, I don't know,

underneath it

and then came back

up the next day.

But they didn't actually

you know,

it's interesting,

in the Bible,

they don't have any

theories about how

things like that work.

They just say

the sun rises

or the sun moves

across the sky

and nothing in science

disproves the fact

that from our point of view

the sun rises,

does it?

Like,

nothing that's been

discovered scientifically

disproves that the sun

or the stars

or the moon move

from our perception,

if you think about it.

So,

when science

discovers more

and more things,

when humans

understand more

and more things,

all it means is

we can understand

a little bit more

about the Bible,

but it doesn't change

the fundamental insight,

does it,

that from our point of view

the sun rises?

That if somebody

was to,

if you were to say

the sun rose this morning

and somebody was to

beat you up scientifically

about it,

you'd just think

they were a jerk,

right?

Because it's just

the way we human beings

talk.

So,

it's,

with a qualification,

you know,

nothing in the,

that,

you know,

most of the language

in the Bible,

science doesn't disprove

any of it,

it just helps us

to understand it.

And so,

what I'm also going

to suggest is

not only if we think

for a second

that Moses probably

wasn't an idiot

and that he probably

knew a few things

about the need

for sunlight

for things to grow,

then the other thing

is that as we know

more and more

about science,

it helps us

to actually try

to figure out

some of the other

puzzles or riddles

about this text.

Because,

you know,

maybe Moses

wouldn't have understood

about things like

the sun and the stars

and the sky

because he didn't

know certain science,

but now that we

know more science,

it just helps us

to understand what's

more,

like to help to read

the text more accurately.

So,

Andrew,

if you could put

the first point up,

this is a really

important point

for us to get.

If we don't get this,

we won't understand

Genesis 1 to,

verse 1 to 2,

3.

God does not need

a process or a timeline

to create.

He speaks and what

he wills is created

with all of its heights

and depths,

fine-tuned intricacy

and backstory.

This is really important,

okay?

I mean,

you know,

God can do whatever

he wants.

He's God.

You know,

if he wants to create

the universe,

he wants to take,

you know,

1,623,000 steps,

that's fine.

He can do it.

He's a big boy.

He makes up his own mind.

He decides.

And we should just go,

wow.

Right?

But he doesn't have

to do that.

He doesn't have

to use any steps.

And he doesn't have

to rest.

And he doesn't have

to work with

certain materials

to get one thing done

before he gets

another thing done.

Like,

none of those things

apply to God

if we understand

that God can create,

just as we're going

to see in a moment,

that it says

six different times,

more than six different times

that God speaks it is.

God speaks it is.

God speaks it is.

God speaks it is.

God speaks it is.

It's all the way

through the text.

God speaks.

It is.

So God does not need

a process

or a timeline

to create like we do.

We need processes

and timelines.

But God doesn't need that.

He doesn't use it.

He just speaks

and what he wills,

there it is.

And there it is

with all of its heights

and depths

and fine-tuned intricacy

and backstory.

So,

some of you are wondering,

George,

are you trying to just

sort of make it look

like we don't have

to try to think

that there's some conflict

between evolution

and between this story?

I'm not trying

to do that at all.

Some of you,

or if you were here

last week,

you remember me

telling you the story

of Keith Booth.

This is really,

really an important thing.

I know I'm going to tell it

to you twice,

two weeks in a row.

I might even tell it

to you three weeks in a row

because next week

we're going to look

at the second creation story

in Genesis 2.

And our problem is

we say,

oh yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

that's a really good idea.

And then when it's,

then the next week comes

and we look at the story

and we forget all

about the story.

We forget all about

the point that I was

trying to make.

So here's the point

for those of you

who weren't here

and those of you

maybe don't remember.

So in 1998,

the spring of 1998,

it's the NBA playoffs.

It's the sixth game.

The Bulls have

the greatest basketball player

who's ever played basketball

in the history of the game.

His name is Michael Jordan.

He's coming up

to his mid-30s.

He is unbelievable in shape,

unbelievable in determination

and athletic ability.

He's lost none of his skills.

He's at the peak of his game.

He is the greatest player

of all time playing

at an unbelievable level.

And we're going into

the game six in Utah

against a highly ranked team,

team that many,

many people thought

that Utah would win

the basketball championship

that week.

Chicago's up three to two.

They want to put it away.

And so the coach,

Phil Jackson,

he gathers his 15 players

before the game.

I don't know what he said,

okay?

But what we know

is when he gathered

the 15 players,

he probably said,

like coaches are always

supposed to do,

it's going to be a team effort.

Everybody has to take their role.

Everybody has to play their part.

Everybody has a part

to win this game.

But we all know

whose big shoulders

the whole game depends upon.

And we need to make sure

we give that ball

to the guy

with the really broad shoulders,

Keith Booth.

Keith Booth's a real guy.

He actually was on the bench

for that game.

During the regular season,

he only played in six games.

And in the six games,

he only managed to get,

not per game,

but total,

five baskets.

Okay?

So we all know,

the coach didn't say that.

What did he say?

Give the ball to Michael.

That's what he said, right?

And so last week,

what I said is,

when we want to have

this big conflict

with how science

is understood today

and how to understand

human origins,

if we want to have a big,

if I'm going to have

an argument like that,

I don't want to give

the ball to Moses.

I want to give the ball

to Jesus.

I want to give the ball

to Jesus.

And so last week,

we talked about,

in the beginning,

God created the heavens

and the earth.

Sorry,

in the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was with God

in the beginning.

All things were made

through him,

and without him,

nothing was made

that was made.

In him was life,

and the life

was the light of men.

And we tried to unpack

the doctrine of creation,

and we showed that

from that,

we can see that

the very, very first verse

in Genesis,

we understand it

from the perspective

of Jesus.

It's just teaching

this very, very basic thing

that God creates everything.

He creates everything.

He creates everything

visible and invisible.

He creates them

out of nothing.

He creates them

by just saying,

I want this to exist,

and it exists.

And creation

is not like a stage set.

He made it real

with height and depth

and backstory.

And I shared the story

last week

about how I was watching

a Star Trek episode,

and I realized

that what Q did

helped me to understand

the Christian doctrine

of creation.

In fact,

I made a bit of a joke

using Timothy Keller language.

The Bible tells you

of a true and greater Q.

A true and greater Q.

And to illustrate it,

and I'll just switch

the image up a little bit.

Imagine for a second

that we were really,

really unbelievably

faithful in prayer,

and there was a need

for God to do this.

But we owned this land,

let's say,

but it's just

an empty lot.

And so,

one Saturday,

one of you have

a prophetic word

from God

that if we just pray,

you know how

the Bible says

mountains will move?

And so we say,

if we just pray,

God will put a building

on this spot like that.

So we actually

would convince,

I have to confess,

I do not have

the gift of faith.

I would not be

at that prayer meeting

on a Saturday

across from the lot.

In fact,

I'd probably say,

let's pray on the property,

and people with

the gift of faith

would say,

no, we can't pray

on the property.

God's going to put

a building right here.

So we do it

across the street.

We all close our eyes,

we pray,

we open our eyes,

and the Ottawa

little theater is here.

God does a work

of creation

out of nothing.

And we all come in,

and it looks

just like this.

And we know

that he made it

out of nothing.

But we come

into the building,

and we look at the seats,

and, you know,

some of you who are,

you know,

some technologically inclined,

we could say,

you know,

those look like

about 30-year-old seats.

And you'd look

at the carpet,

and you'd go,

you know,

that looks like

a 20- or 30-year-old carpet.

And then you'd look

at the curtains,

and you'd know

that some of the curtains

are brand new,

and some of the curtains

are old,

and you'd be able

to figure out

how to put the chairs

together and everything

like that.

And so that's how

God created all things.

I used the example

last week,

that if God created

everything just like that,

it doesn't matter

how long ago it is,

if you just created

it like that,

and God sent you back

in a time machine

five seconds

after he'd created

all like that,

would there be stars

in the sky?

Yes,

there would be stars

in the sky,

even though the closest star

is 4.2 light years away.

And if you took

a chainsaw

and cut a tree,

would it have rings?

Yes,

it would have a ring.

It would have rings.

God made everything

with a back story.

He made it

so that we could

take it apart,

that we could understand it,

that we could

reverse engineer it.

He made it

because as we understand

something maybe

about how things

are connected

at a,

you know,

in this back story level,

that it helps us

to understand

how light works.

It helps us

to understand

how plants develop.

It helps us

to understand

things that we can do

to make things

work in this world

better,

to develop

better farming techniques

and better vaccines.

And that's what

the doctrine of creation

out of nothing means.

And if you want

to know more about it,

you can listen

to last week's sermon.

But here's the thing.

So we sort of

get into our mind,

okay, you know what,

that actually makes sense.

And in a sense,

what I'm saying

is that if somebody

tells me,

and somebody sent me

a very helpful email

this week about

how old the Atlantic Ocean is

and how many millions

of years it is.

And on one level,

I want to say,

see, what we have

to understand

is the doctrine

of creation,

if we really grasp it,

it means that

there's a real backstory

and we can't really,

it's sort of irrelevant

whether God did it

like sped up

a long time

or out of nothing.

Like you can't actually

tell from this doctrine.

It just means

you are free

to study everything

without fear.

Study paleontology,

study astronomy,

study biology.

You are free

to do it

without any fear.

Go ahead and study.

Because the doctrine

of creation,

when it says

a backstory,

it's not an illusion,

it's not a lie,

it's the way

God made everything.

And whether or not

the ocean

is that old

or just looks

that old

or the backstory

makes it look

like it's that old,

like that's

an unimportant distinction.

It has this backstory

that we should be free

to completely

and utterly study.

And so,

you see,

we think that,

we sort of believe that,

but then

as soon as we get

to studying this text,

we want to forget

that God does it

like that

and we want to try

to figure out

what the process is.

But God doesn't,

what is it?

God does not need

a process

or a timeline

to create.

He speaks

and what he wills

is created

with all of its

heights and depths,

fine-tuned intricacy

and backstory.

And this text

is going to drive it home.

God said and it was,

God said and it was,

God said and it was,

God said and it was,

God said and it was.

If you missed it

the first time,

I'll say it again,

God said and it was.

And he doesn't say,

okay,

it's so good

that there's all this

matter and energy around,

so out of this,

I'm going to create light.

No.

We'll get to it

in a moment.

He sort of ignores

verse 2 and just says

and God said and it was.

That's what wants

to be emphasized.

You see,

it's not like

making something,

putting together

something from Ikea.

My wife

is

conservative estimate

a hundred times

more handy

than I am.

That's a conservative

estimate.

It's probably

way north

of a hundred times

more handy

than I am.

You would all be surprised

at how unhandy

I am.

But occasionally

I can put together

things from Ikea.

It's very interesting

when my wife and I,

we don't usually do it together,

but if we put things

together from Ikea,

my wife,

because she's handy,

she doesn't really look

at the directions

until she gets stuck.

She just starts putting

things together,

right?

If you came into the house

to see me put together

something from Ikea,

I open all of the packaging,

I spread it all out

in the room,

I group things together,

I open the little plastic bags,

and I make sure

that if it says

there's going to be

16 of something,

that there's 16,

and I group all the things

in the little plastic bags

together,

and then where it's well lit,

I get the distractions out,

and I start at one,

and then two,

and then three,

and I follow the directions.

Okay?

God,

is it,

when God made everything,

he didn't,

it's not like Ikea.

He doesn't have to have

a process.

Okay?

And so when we remember

last week,

okay,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

we want to give the ball

to Jesus,

not Moses.

We want to give the ball

to Michael Jordan,

not Keith Booth.

So all we have to do

is just remember that

now when we start

to read this.

The big,

broad shoulders

of understanding

how things are

and what creation is,

that's carried by Jesus,

so maybe Genesis 1

is talking about

some other types

of things

and bringing certain

other types

of truths home.

Maybe that's what's

going on with the text.

So let's look.

Get out your Bibles.

It's been a long introduction.

Genesis 1,

Genesis 1:1

verse 1.

Genesis 1,

Genesis 1:1

verse 1.

And it begins like this.

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.

Now this is a very

sort of curious text,

and if you read commentaries

like I had to this week,

they're all over the map

trying to figure this out.

I, you know,

I don't know what it is.

Maybe it's because

I'm Northern Irish,

and so I often

don't entirely go along

with what all the experts say.

You know that book,

you know,

what's that saying?

God invented whiskey

so the Irish

wouldn't take over

the world

or something like that.

I don't know.

But I'm Northern Irish stock,

Irish stock,

and so I often

don't go along

with what all the experts say.

But, you know,

you just look at,

look at verse 2 here.

It's very, very interesting.

Actually,

if you could put up

the next point.

Mere matter and energy

will never create

life for a home.

That's one of the things

that right off the bat

God just wants to say.

He says,

you have matter,

you know,

this picture of earth

and the deep,

and it's just sort of like,

it's a poetic way

of talking about chaos.

It's just,

there's matter,

there's stuff,

there's energy,

there's depths.

But you know what?

All of the matter

and all of the energy,

it's just,

it's formless.

You know,

it's like,

it's like if there's

a huge tsunami,

like when you saw

all of those pictures,

you know,

of a tsunami

or some big thing

that destroyed,

you know,

parts of the Pacific

or that destroyed

parts of Japan

and when the wave is gone,

all you have is chaos.

You have stuff

scattered all over.

There's nowhere to live.

Nothing got improved.

It's just,

it's just helter-skelter.

The laws of physics,

they all were followed.

But even though

you have all the laws

of physics

and all of the laws

of chemistry working,

it's just all chaos.

It's devoid of life.

It's empty.

And that's what it says

right here in verse 2,

that the earth

was without form

and void

and darkness

was over the face

of the deep.

There's no life.

There's no form.

There's no home.

And God

is different than chaos.

And the Spirit of God

was hovering

over the face

of the waters.

You see,

if you remember

to give the ball

to Michael Jordan

or if you remember

to give the ball

to Jesus,

Jesus,

then you can start

to read this text

without having to think

that it's having to deal,

that it's somehow

a pre-scientific way

of describing

evolutionary theory.

Like,

it's not trying

to do that.

Just remember,

if you could put up

the next point,

here's the big choice

that faces us

all of the time.

It's the thing

that secular culture

does not want

to articulate

because when it's articulated,

we realize

that there's really

only one choice.

The choice,

this is in a sense

the atheistic dream.

The atheistic dream

that somehow or another

has clothed itself

with science.

That matter,

pure chance,

and cause and effect

accounts for life

and the intricate,

fine-tuned universe.

Or,

what's the other choice?

that God designed

and created life

and the intricate,

fine-tuned universe.

And I shared last week

about an atheist philosopher

who's still an atheist

but has said

that evolution,

as it's understood right now,

cannot possibly be true.

And in fact,

he urges scientists

to stop even going down

that way

because it's playing

into the hands

of people who believe

the second choice

is the one that makes

the most sense.

And we all do.

You know,

Jeremiah,

I hope you know,

who read the text,

if you just go ahead

and ask him,

he's doing his PhD

in biochemistry,

and ask him about

genetic sequencing

and whether that could

possibly happen by chance.

I mean,

you know,

here's the thing,

you know that I love

murder mysteries,

I love books

where there's someone

who gets murdered

and I know that sounds

really bad,

but I love books like that.

And if there was a guy

who came

and he wanted to try

to make the accident,

make it look like,

you know,

it was a bit of an accident,

he wanted to have

the person suffer a bit first

and he comes up

to a deserted island

and he jabs the guy

with a needle

and says,

you're going to die

in 15 minutes

and it's on an island

where I'm sure predators

are going to eat

most of your mortal remains,

they won't know

that I've just injected you

with something

that's going to kill you

in 15 minutes,

I'm going to sink your boat,

they'll think it's an accident,

you don't have a cell phone,

you don't have nothing

and then off he goes.

And in that 15 minutes

the person goes

and as they're getting weaker

they take some driftwood

just beyond the high tide line

and they use the driftwood

to spell

George killed me

and then they die

and then eventually

they find the body,

they come and they arrest me

and if my lawyer said,

listen,

there's no way,

we all know

that George killed me

spelled by driftwood,

that was just a rogue wave

that came up

and as the wave

came back,

the wood just happened

there by chance,

nobody would believe that

and the universe

is vastly more complicated

than that

so why do we believe that?

So keep this choice

before you as you read

and understand

that it's in Genesis 1-1

and in the New Testament

that the basic doctrine

of creation is taught

and what this text

of Genesis 1 is doing

is it's helping us

to understand

even more deeply

that God creates

out of nothing

and who God is

let's continue reading

at verse 3

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

now just sort of

pause about this

you know one of the things

which is really cool

about this

go and look

at the very back

of your Bibles

to Revelation chapter 22

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

Revelation chapter 22

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

and what is the last word

describing the future

before the little ending bit

in the book of Revelation

and telling you

how important it is

to keep all the words

the last word

the last verse

is verse 5

of chapter 22

and what does it say

so here we have

almost the third

word in the Bible

the third verse

in the Bible

and what's the last verse

that talks about

the end of chapter 22

verse 5

and what does it say

and night will be no more

they will need no light

or lamp

or sun

for the Lord God

will be their light

and they will reign

forever and ever

and it's emphasized

if you go back

and read the last

that little bit of a unit

begins at the end

of chapter 21

right up to there

twice it says

that there's no need

for light

because God is the light

isn't sort of just

a bit of a cool thing

and it's interesting

because for many Christians

we read that part

and we just

we just think in awe

of what it will be like

to be where God is

in the new heaven

and the new earth

and whatever this image means

that there's no need

for a sun

or the stars

because God is our light

and that final word

is the first word

God creates light

pretty cool

eh

how the Bible

fits together

let's skip down

to verse

to verse

to verse 6

keep reading

actually before we read this

here I want to get you

if we run out of time

this is the really big point

I want to try to communicate

if we understand

that the burden

of understanding creation

that's carried on

Jesus' broad shoulders

read John 1

in the beginning

was the word

and the word

was with God

and the word

was God

he was with God

in the beginning

all things were created

through him

without him

nothing was made

that was made

and him was life

and the life

was the light

of man

should you go

put up the next point

this is what

Genesis 1

this is what the Bible

one of the two big things

that this text

is trying to communicate

to you

image bearer

that's a human being

image bearer

know your creator

the one

transcendent

omnipotent

and good God

who made the cosmos

for your home

image bearer

that's how we're

to understand

what a human being is

doesn't matter

if you're down syndrome

doesn't matter

if you're Usain Bolt

doesn't matter

if you're as brilliant

as Einstein

doesn't matter

if you have a low IQ

image bearer

image bearer

know your creator

the one

transcendent

omnipotent

and good God

who made the cosmos

for your home

and you know

if you're at all

like me

your personality

I love abstract

statements like that

I love abstract

statements like that

I really do

I love it

you know but for a lot

of people

as soon as I started

to read that

you started thinking

about your laundry list

okay

like that's just not

how your minds work

right

you know

might not even be aware

of it

that abstract language

comes

you think

what am I going to

watch on Netflix

tonight

but for other people

this language

of the text

communicates it

how do you know

that God is not light

and God said

let there be light

that's in a sense

a way to understand

transcendence

how do you know

that he's omnipotent

which means all powerful

and God said

let there be light

and there was light

how do you know

that he's good

and everything that I make

it's good

and this story

this text

uses this very

very very powerful

series of language

and images

which are all

very very simple

and are basically

using everyday

perception talk

so that even

a three year old

as they're told

this story

will understand

at a deep level

even though they

don't understand

later on in life

when they try to talk

about transcendence

the seeds of

understanding

transcendence

are planted

in this story

because of the way

their minds work

let's look at

verse 6

this is sort of

the hardest

of all the texts

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

and the second day

here's the main thing

to remember about this text

you know

from a Jewish point of view

or from the biblical point of view

this is Monday

and this second day

is the only one

of the seven days

where it doesn't

six days

where it doesn't

say it was good

even God

doesn't like Mondays

that's not the main

point of the text

sorry

that even God

doesn't like Mondays

probably the reason

it doesn't have

and it was good

is that the number

seven is really important

and there's seven goods

and you want to emphasize

the creation of human beings

by a double good

and so they have to

take one away

it's not because

Mondays suck

but here's the thing

it's a bit complicated language

and there's no real good words

in English

what this is really bringing about

is that

here's a big big big word

all of this text

uses phenomenological language

in other words

the language of appearance

and you know what

if we wanted to try to make

a creation story

that was scientific

and we did it

two thousand years ago

we would read it now

it would be so lame

if we even tried to write it

the way they wrote science

two hundred years ago

we would read it now

and we would say

it was so lame

and if we wrote it now

the way scientists

would like to write it

and if Jesus doesn't come back

in two hundred years

this is very humbling

our ancestors

two hundred years from now

would say

this is so lame

Stephen Hawking's description

this is so lame

what never gets tired

what is timeless

phenomenological language

what do they see

it's from the perception

that all of a sudden

there's space

and there's water above

like clouds

rain clouds

and water underneath

it's phenomenological language

continue on

verse six

verse nine

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

or better

actually better translation

would be land

and the waters

that were gathered together

that he called

seas

and God saw

that it was good

God saw

that it was good

now here's another thing

which shows you

that this text

is not at all

concerned

with

oh sorry

I stopped reading

too early

didn't I

verse 11

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 seed

each according

to its kind

and God saw

that it was good

I'm sort of

messing up my reading

I apologize

and there was evening

there was morning

the third day

so here's the thing

another thing about it

shows that Moses

and all

isn't an idiot

right

remember that was

one of my earlier points

just assume for a second

he's not an idiot

I'm not going to go

but if you go back

later on

with your Bibles

you look at day 1

and day 4

day 2

and day 5

day 3

and day 6

there's a pattern

and the pattern is

God makes

a series

of separations

or places

places

in days 1

2

and 3

and in days

4

5

and 6

he makes

inhabitants

for the places

so day 4

day 1

describes a certain

type of separation

day 4

describes inhabitants

and all the way

through

it's a very

very obvious

pattern

if you look at it

you see

because once again

remember one of my

earlier points

God doesn't have to

do a process

he just creates

so what's he doing

right now

he's trying to say

image bearer

know your creator

the one transcendent

omnipotent

and good God

who made the cosmos

for your home

that's why it uses

the language of days

that's why it uses

the language of 7 days

because it's all

from the perspective

of human beings

God is making us

a home

we are not an accident

we are not a tragedy

it is not

as Hindu mythology

talks about

some ancient tragedy

amongst the one God

that there's different

emanations

and now there's us

human beings

as a tragedy

and we have to get

back to the one

we are not an accident

it is not like

ancient mythology

where God is creating

the gods create

human beings

to serve them

to feed them

to wash them

and to care for them

no we are not

made as slaves

we are made as

image bearers

it is not that

we are sent here

as a punishment

this is our home

and the language

is phenomenological

language

it's the language

of human beings

looking and seeing

because God made us

to live in this place

as our home

with him

if you could put up

the next point

Andrew please

see here's the other

big thing

that the text

wants to tell us

every claimant

to be a rival

to God

is unmasked

as a fraud

every claimant

to be a rival

to God

is unmasked

as a fraud

this is really

seen very clearly

in the very next word

the very next day

which begins

on verses 14

and 14

and God said

let there be lights

this is the fourth day

let there be lights

in the expanse

of the heavens

to separate

the day

from the night

let them be

for signs

and for seasons

and for days

and years

and let them be

lights in the expanse

of the heavens

to give light

upon the earth

and it was so

see this thing

about God

being all powerful

let

it was so

let

it was so

speak

it is so

he's

and you know what

it's not that

it's coming out of it

it's not like a mythology

where God gives birth

to us

and we are the same

stuff of God

the myth of pantheism

and panentheism

no God is separate

from his created order

he speaks

and it is

and he's all powerfully

speaks and it is

and he's good

because what he makes

is good

verse 16

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 the 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

now did Moses

not know

to call one thing

the sun

and the other thing

the moon