Genesis 1:14-23 - ”What Sign Are You?” - Who Are We Series

good morning our scripture reading from

the new Old Testament this morning is

from Genesis chapter 1 veres 14-

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

23 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 years and let them be lights in the

expanse of the heavens to give light

upon the Earth and so it

was and God made the two great lights

the greater 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 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 night 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 water 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 our new testament reading today is

Luke from Luke 21: 25-

28 and there will be signs in heaven and

moon excuse me and there will be signs

in sun and moon and stars and on the

earth distress of nations in perplexity

because of the Roaring of the Sea and

the waves people fainting with fear and

with for boing and what is coming on the

world

for the powers of the heavens will be

shaken and then they will see the son of

man coming in a cloud with power and

great

Glory now when these things begin to

take place straighten up raise your

heads because your

Redemption is Drawing

Near this is the word of the Lord

[Music]

am I

okay awesome thanks be to God for sure

so um as I was prepping this serman uh

I'm getting feedback is anybody else

hearing that yeah we don't want that all

day wondering if we can turn off other

mics around

me it's not so

bad okay okay I sound like I sound like

one of those old baseball players

players it's a day of my

life that's what it sounds like to me

anyways um so I was prepping the sermon

and I couldn't figure out what what how

to describe what's going on in this

Genesis account best to describe it and

um and then a story came up and I have

to share it um there's a I don't know

how many you guys heard about the zoo in

China that had the big Panda exhibit

recently you heard about that so A bunch

of people paid pretty good money a lot

of tourist came to this thing from other

countries and they went to go see some

pandas and it was going really well

apparently the pandas were running

around playing they seemed really active

for pandas really really active but no

one was questioning anything until the

pandas started to

bark see that was our first hint that

these actually were not

pandas they were

Chows the dogs

and So what had happened is they had

tried to sell off these Chows because I

don't know if you know this pandas don't

like to procreate very much so there's

not a lot of pandas in the world but

dogs seem to have no trouble with that

and they figured they'd trick

you now that's funny enough and people

were upset and it defeated the whole

purpose of going to see the play or the

show right well the Genesis account is

telling you something very important now

I want to remind you cuz we're going to

hear this again and again the Genesis

account is not about the

how Genesis account is not telling you

how DNA came together how things were

formed it's not a

materialistic story nobody wrote that

way in the ancient world there were lots

of creation stories it had a far what it

would have said is a far higher purpose

its far higher purpose was the why

okay and the why is the whole principle

of what this is all being discussed what

is the function of things not what's the

formula of things as it were and so when

we get to this what this part in Genesis

that we're about to look at is so

important is they're taking on a world

that's full of chows pretending to be

pandas and it comes in this story in

creation and says no I'm going to show

you what a panda really

is and that's the power of the creation

story against its pagan neighbors it

says no you're wrong yours are

Chows and this the metaphor don't

stretch it too far but God's a panda now

I'm going to show you who he is do you

see all right let's

pray Heavenly Father we thank you for

your gift that you would reveal to us

where our false gods are false so that

we can know you the true God and so that

we can be set free

amen now before I get into this context

this particular area would have been the

most profound part of the Genesis story

to those ancient Minds I don't think it

will be today because we've changed but

in the ancient world you must understand

one thing what drove them

more than anything else was

astrology

astrology or is a yeah astrology is the

belief that the

celestial events affect your life now

what is Astrology today well has anybody

picked up a a newspaper and saw what

sign they are have you ever seen that

right that's astrology it tells you that

when the certain Moons and stars and

stuff were in place you were born in

this this time you're a Tarsus or a

cancer or a Libra or

whatever but in the ancient world today

that's kind of played about you look at

it people will look at it lightly in

this world they lived their lives

looking at the stars for directions for

their lives because they believed that

these sun and moon which were names of

gods had control over their lives they

were the ones they were the gods that

manipulated everything that went around

them and everyone did in the ancient

world and these were very fickle Gods

because they only did give you sometimes

what you wanted and maybe not at other

times that's the world they lived in

everyone looked for signs and portance

in the sky remember the three Pagan we

call them wise men but they were Magi

who found Jesus what were they looking

at the stars that's the way it was again

and again and again so then we get to

this part of the Genesis account and we

find a very very very different telling

of the celestial world it's starts off

and God said let there be lights in the

expanse of Heavens hold on these don't

have power in and of themselves right

there that's a shock the gods just

decided to put them there boom there you

go their purpose is not to be Gods but

to be lights for

people that's

it the let there be lights in the

expanse of the Heavens to separate the

day from the night and let them be for

Signs Now listen to this it's for God's

signs it still means signs he's still

going to use signs remember Jesus just

said on that day what did he

say stars and the moons were going to

because these signs are his signs but

they're not signs in of themselves

they're tools for God he can use them

any way he wants he can give them the

signs but they're not signs in and of

themselves let them be for signs and for

Seasons Seasons meant for the original

here worship Seasons they worshiped

around certain times of the year the

Jewish people to celebrate God's Gift of

the Harvest for SE and for days and

years and he's also saying well I'm

given these lights for the purpose the

why of having a calendar to having time

moving on do you see that that's the

purpose of these things and for days and

years and let them and let them be

lights in the expanse of the Heavens to

give light upon the Earth that's all

they're there

for they're not to be looked upon and

say what should I do should I date Bobby

down the street oh I saw a shooting star

no

no people still believe this stuff by

the

way they're God's gift for this Earth

because it

functions that's the

why and it was so

and God made the two great lights these

were the most two worship lights the Sun

and the Moon I want you to notice

something he refuses to call them by

their

name why because the names were

Gods he doesn't even give them the power

that they have at their gods at all he

says 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 day and over the

night and to separate the light from the

darkness it's all functional about how

he wants his world so that you can have

a functional world where crops can grow

and all of these things can happen it

has nothing to do with power in and of

itself nothing it serves God for the

function of him creating and when he

says it's good it means it's

functional right remind yourself again

when is the thing that isn't good man

being alone there's nothing moral about

that is

it means functionally it's not good for

man to be alone though it sometimes my

wife argues that with me but I'm telling

you and to separate the light from the

darkness and God saw that it was

functional or

good and there in the evening and the

morning the fourth day and the fourth

day and God said let the water swarm

with swarms of living creatures because

now the light has the darkness and the

day now this and remember the land had

been separated from the Seas remember

that all of these things are happening

but remind yourself this isn't the how

he's telling us about the function and

His function of why these things are

there is what he's saying not how they

got there and they're there so that we

can have things like living water swarm

with swarms of living creatures and let

birds fly above the Earth across the

expanse of the heaven this is all good

because that was his purpose so God

created the great sea creatures

Leviathan and it's funny Leviathan was a

scary monster to the pagans in this

creation story he's just playing in

God's world totally under God's

control and every little creature that

and every living creature that moves

with which the waters swarm according to

their kinds and every wing bird

according to its kind and God saw that

it was functional it was good this is

what should

happen and then God blessed them which

is funny eh how does he bless them this

is so powerful he'll bless Humanity the

same way way the word blessed means

giving something out of

graciousness he blessed them by seeing

be fruitful and multiply and fill the

waters of the sea and let the birds

multiply on Earth he allows them in this

blessing to be in a form creators

themselves that's a generous God under

God he allows that gift to happen they

get to be part of the good you see the

blessing he really does God by the way

care about our

Earth he really really does he spends a

lot of time on it pagans don't he

does and there was evening and there was

morning the fifth

day so why did I stop

here because I'm going to tell you

something that I believe in my heart of

hearts this world has since day one

tried to get us to believe that Chows

are pandas

they have again and again and again and

they are called false

gods and these false gods are actually

really

dangerous you know why because they

destroy the

good they're actually and I take this

from Avengers puny Gods remember

that if you haven't seen it well I don't

know I don't know if I'd say go rent it

for one scene

um but they're puny

Gods they're these gods that have no

power these gods that Humanity create

these Gods called The Man Sun and the

Moon and then we we put in them all

kinds of power that they don't have and

the best part about it is we make them

humanlike and what happens in the

ancient world in their belief system is

these gods

exist and then they exist and they

create Humanity as slaves that's their

creation story you'll hear about that

next week and then we're supposed to

feed them and if we feed them and

worship them right then they'll send

down rain for our crops there's no love

relationship between Gods these gods and

Humanity there is a contract they've

made that if you make me feel good

enough as a God I will make good things

happen to you by the way may I say that

you will find forms of Christianity that

sound exactly like that that if you

believe enough or if you show enough

this and that then God will do good

things that's paganism 101 that's a

contract not a relationship okay and

these Gods existed and they had this

contract but they're always fickle and

if you read about the lives of these

pagans they would sacrifice they would

give their meat they would worship they

would bow down before the Moon and the

Stars days after days and if chance

which is what it was happened then they

believe the God blessed them and if it

didn't the god cursed them and who know

why there was no revelation of a

consistent God because they were all

different and they all looked like human

beings they had lust as you know the

gods would come and have sexual

relations with human beings on the earth

they were very un sadly Too

Human they looked like little humans

with big

egos that's what what they were and in

that midst of anxiety God writes this

story and says no no no no

no I'm in

charge and I'm willing to I'm worthy to

be

trusted I want to tell you just exactly

give you an example of exactly what

these people thought of these

gods they believed in Gods plural

multiple gods rather than singular and

these gods did not create the cost MOS

like we he God does but came into being

along with it and embodied various

aspects of it the birth of the Moon God

coincides with the origin of the moon

for example Divinity was made of the

same stuff as the remainder of the

cosmos there was continuity between

Divinity and nature and played out its

role in the cosmos by ways of aspects of

nature these Gods didn't transcend

anything these gods were a part and the

moon God had to stay with the moon and

the sun god with the sky and and this

the the Egyptian god of the sky had to

stay together not she was

nutty

sorry all these gods were very very

bound and in this story I want you to

understand the creation story was so

radical to them that it said something

that transcends that's not bound by

these forces that is not wrapped up by

this physical

world has opened all this for him and

for a place for

creation now you don't have to go and

Trust in all your Omens in all your

sacrifices because this God has made

himself known in ways that is nothing to

do with the things of this world but

because of

himself today

we're just as Pagan as them Noe we don't

worship the Moon and the

Sun but we worship the same things that

they worshiped for money power and

wealth that's the only reason you had

these Gods so they would give you

something and people are just as

spiritual today as they've ever been for

example I went to the lawyers we were

going to do my wife and I uh a will

and this fine young gentleman every time

he would bring up the fact that we might

die and I kept mentioning to him well we

will

um but he he almost like and and he

would

go every time and he would go on in

another sentence later he

go and and he didn't even know he was

doing it by about the fourth time I said

well did it wake up and he goes what I

said ' the god you're trying to wake up'

because knocking on wood comes from the

Pagan culture where they had wooden

images of the god in their houses and

they would knock on him say Hey listen

to this cuz I don't want something bad

to happen that's where that comes

from now of course he had no idea and he

goes well no and then a that I guess

you're right that is kind of silly but

you can't stop he said it and I did it

again he knocked

again and when you think about about

these things and before I judge by the

way I still wear a certain Jersey when

my Calgary Flames are in the playoffs so

I mean there's a little paganism in

here but all joking aside this stuff

makes it seem like we're in control

doesn't

it but I tell you what this story tells

us he's in control he's Sovereign and

thank God he's

good I love what uh one commentator said

about today's world of idolatry today we

might say that humans have made

themselves Gods this is so true so that

God may be reduced to Mere

man more than that that he might become

a childish construct whose concerns

never move beyond the immediate needs of

The Human Condition whether these be

entertainment politics or simply feeling

good about

ourselves isn't that

true we have a culture of people who if

they have a god he's just a really nice

Grandpa figure up in the sky but it

really is all about getting what we

want not a Transcendent God that says I

am the good one follow

me

H well why does it matter I've heard a

lot of people over the years tell me

about why astronomy or astrology or

whatever not astronomy astrology so evil

because it's got demonic forces I'm not

disputing the spirituality of this

please believe me

what I am saying is there's something

much more profound of why God came and

avoided paganism because paganism leads

to

death because there is only one true God

that can give life and can show us what

life is and paganism has this incredible

ability to suck it dry and make us

anxious to try and fulfill whatever

small God we have rather than being able

to trust in a God who has controlled day

one

and will control the last

day our Temptation by the way to be idol

worship comes from that moment that why

question of where we're at when that

little serpent said you can be like

God that broke the world open that we

could take over and then we started

making gods in our image and everything

fell apart and God's in the business cuz

he loves us is Wrecking them them not

because he doesn't want us to have some

fun now why I mention this is I like

this cartoon that showed up it says uh

well well well someone didn't read their

horoscope this

morning as the guy comes to the Pearly

Gates that's the spirituality of a lot

of

Christians a lot of that comes from the

fact that yeah well I'm just watching

this and I'm really just I'm I'm not

that into it cuz I know I have Jesus but

I'm going to oh geez Libra's going to

I'm going to meet someone

today we mix it's called

syncretism and here's the problem of

syncretism you always end up worshiping

the god that doesn't look like Jesus

more and it kills us you see because

idolatry sucks you dry because you no

longer have the Living God to trust you

have to trust in gods that aren't there

and people who pedal them and your

constantly in

anxiety and you never know is this the

Good an idol is anything we want more

than God anything we rely on more than

God anything we look for to for greater

fulfillment than God idolatry is thus

the hidden sin driving all other sins

amen I

agree thank you Henry

you know we're we're Presbyterian

background so we don't get a lot of that

so I take it when I can even it is from

an 8-month-old

this is

the this is the thing that causes all

the other sin because we put a false god

and we no longer how to live as True

Image bears and we begin to become

anxious and it begins to destroy our

lives God came and gave us this Genesis

account because he loves humans and it's

an actual Outreach document this

creation story CU it every way takes

apart the idolatry of the other nations

and it gives them another

option because he's actually for us do

you know that he actually likes us and

he doesn't like us just because like oh

if you're good enough he really likes us

and he wants the good to come this is a

God who created Us in His image and he

wants it to be

good and so he tells us these stories

these things that they call Gods they're

not Gods at

all come to the one true God for he

knows this is true the enemy of joy is

not suffering it is

idolatry because idolatry will never

give you the peace inside because you

are not right with the right God and

those gods are fickle trust me I told

you I wore a jur

Jersey when my Flames played and my

false God has made it so that we haven't

won a cup in 2031

years by some point now again I joke a

little but let's say we did win if you

believed it you'd really believe that

Jersey had power

right next thing you know you're saying

to your wife don't wash it

right I mean it sounds funny but this is

how Idol slips in and then idolatry gets

so much worse when it's about what power

and wealth and money and then pretty

soon to get our Gods on our side we

start stepping on others that are in our

way you see I want to tell you something

and that is what is salvation all

about salvation ultimately is about one

thing it's about being right with

him okay

yes there's the Forgiveness of sins

absolutely he paid for that on the

cross but it's about getting right with

him and that means he has to destroy our

Idols including

ourselves and that's why our Lord and

savior came in because he loves the

cosmos he created the cosmos salvation

isn't just about your spirit being saved

so you can fly off to Heaven God loves

this world this Cosmos and plans to set

it to rights how do I know I'm going to

read a probably a verse you've never

heard of I say

sarcastically for God so loved the world

that he gave his only son for God so

loved

the you know what that word means in

Greek

Cosmos he

loves everything he

created so that he gave his only son

that whoever believes in Him should not

perish but have eternal

life why does that being that he gave

his son so that we may not perish

because his son showed us who God is and

when Jesus came it shows who the false

gods aren't and Jesus not only took our

sin he destroyed all those idols on the

way and showed us what it means to be

human salvation is the greatest gift to

us it shows us who God is this good god

of creation not the star not the moon

and the only God I know of that's

willing to carry a cross for

you that's a god worth

following right and that's a god who's

going to set all of this stuff to

rights so what about

us well now we get to this part where

we're

in we're called as the church and I'm

talking to the church here now God Gods

Loves the world but he has called us

something special to be the light

doesn't he you're were the light on the

hill right you're to

shine well the first thing you can do to

be the light is not ah you're stupid

religion stupid but rather saying I've

got a amazing God who's created

everything and this other stuff fails in

comparison I like what this came out

this was today's horoscope written by a

Christian Aries and it says the stars

and planets will not afflect your day in

life in any way Taurus the stars and

planets will not affect your life in any

way and it goes down to Pisces and says

the same

thing that's good news by the

way because wouldn't it be awful if you

were born on the wrong moon lunar

eclipse like oh okay you're going to be

like a devil kid or something like they

believe that

stuff oh God's good and he's in

control so how do we live the light well

first of all we have to come to the

light the one true light that drives the

one true one that gives signs the one

true one and that is Jesus

Christ I am the light of the world

whoever follows me will not walk in

darkness but will have the light of Life

the first thing we have to do is go to

to the true God so that the other gods

have no

power we've got to go to his light so

that the other lights of the false gods

disappear we got to go to the panda and

then the Chows are going to stand out

cuz once you see the panda the Chows

look

stupid I'm going to end that

metaphor and then we come together and

this is where Christians sometimes

misunderstand this we tend to think well

I got to go out and carry my light by

myself to all these people but it's

actually biblically y'all are the light

of the

world y'all means you together living

together being together and Shining

Jesus to a world full of people wrapped

in

paganism and by bringing that light you

shine to people who are desperately

blind right now and offer them something

so much greater a God that died for you

that Rose for you and is alive inside

you I'm going to tell you something that

sometimes you won't believe because

you're going to have bad days you are

the light of the world cuz Jesus Christ

has put his spirit in

you not cuz you and yourself are the

light but he's chosen to put his spirit

in you and you're to reflect that light

to the world and whether you're having a

good day or a bad day let me tell you

something

you are his representative right now and

he's chosen it this way and we together

as the church are the people of

God who are to shine that light to the

people around us that's incredible don't

you

agree that's better than anything else

that's what he wants us to do is to take

that serious and live it first by loving

one another and then loving a world

who's unlovable

and the greatest gift in the

end is in the end we get to live

continuously in the light the end of

Revelation tells us a lot of stories

there won't be a sea there'll be trees D

D D D D but what it doesn't

mention are the lights in the

sky and it stands out that it doesn't

because it mentions a lot of creation

stuff and it finally hit me it's because

the light is Jesus Christ and we're

living with

him that means we get eternal life isn't

that

amazing none of those false gods will

offer you anything like that maybe peace

for a couple days maybe a break here or

there they'll offer you but we have one

true

gift Oswald Chambers said at the best

eternal life is not a gift for from God

eternal life is the gift from

God this Creator God came and he said

through this story don't worship the

false gods I'm in charge and we know

what they didn't know this guy in charge

died for us and live lived again and

today we should be the most excited

joyfill people cuz we're not bound by

gods that are

fickle but by a God who

guaranteed for those who believe in me

have eternal

life let's shine that

out so that people will

see and be

changed and the blinders and the

Darkness will lift and they'll walk in

the

light let's

pray Heavenly Father you are

good you have poured yourself upon

us none of us can

express our deep

gratitude to what you've

done we pray father that you would help

us to see idolatry in our

lives and help us to break free of that

and put our trust more in

you and may you breathe upon us your

holy spirit so that we may be the light

in this world may Me Shine with our

neighbors with our enemies with our

family members often the same

people may we be given the grace to

shine you to your

light so that others who are bound in

the darkness might come to the

truth in jesus' name

amen