The entire story of the Bible from the Israelites as God’s chosen people, to the Christian church, is about not being the same as the rest of the culture. God has always asked us to be different from the majority culture that we live in. Toward the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century now, the North American church seems to be trying to become more like our culture in an effort to draw more people. But my friends, God never said to fill seats, He said to make disciples. Even Jesus didn’t convert everybody. A disciple is a true follower of Jesus Christ.
When we lure people by being seeker-sensitive it’s in a sense like being a dishonest salesperson. We lure them in the door then we wack them with the truth. But we don’t even do this well. The problem is, in order to keep these people, we have to continue watering down the message and make it relevant so we don’t offend anyone. Offending people takes more courage, we just need to make sure we are not offending them with our behaviour, but we let Jesus offend them with His word.
Church growth people argue that the church became unpopular so it had to change to be more compatible with the culture. Is the church more popular now than in the 50’s? Well there are more churches with over 5000 people, more pastors driving Mercedes, but the reality is that there are fewer people attending church and reading the Bible than ever. One has to question the motives of the church growth movement. I personally don’t see it being based in Scripture.
Mark Dever is one of the most respected writers on church health, not growth, but health. He pastors a large church in the cesspool that is Washington, DC. He believes that we need to return to a model of church that makes us look different from the culture not more like it, just like in the early church. In Romans, Paul said not to be conformed to the world, that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ. Why do we feel like we have the best ideas on how to run church, when it is so clearly laid out for us in the Bible? The way God intended it to be. Remember whose church it is?
Well folks that is why I am committed to expository preaching of the Bible. Here’s what Dever says in his recent book “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church”:
I don’t have time to get into a detailed discussion of what expository or expositional preaching is, but basically it is preaching from the Bible text itself and choosing the theme of the sermon based on what the original writer in the Bible intended it to be. Not picking a topic and finding some scripture to back up our own ideas.
Listen to what Colossians and 2Timothy have to say about what we need to be focused on as Christian leaders: read Col 2:8, 2Tim 4:1-4 … That’s not good.
In the Christian church we are not just dealing with ideas about God, which is what a lot of preaching is these days, and I must admit it’s tempting. Yes we get more understandings and ideas about how we are to be, but the core of our faith is to find ourselves experientially in the story of what God has said and done through history. Apart from this real history that we read in the OT, there is no Christian faith. Yet some modern Christian churches call the OT the “Hebrew Bible” and all but ignore it.
If we simplify the story, it’s about God’s creation of a world, and a human race that He created in His image, to oversee His creation with the Creator’s instructions. But human beings did not and do not want to be servants of anyone, and therefore have from the earliest, disobeyed the God who ultimately only ever wanted us to live in the kind of bliss that the Trinity enjoys. Since the Garden of Eden, God has forever tried to show us that following Him is the way to life abundant, even through allowing horrible punishment towards His people and ultimately to His son, so we could experience what it is like to be where He is.
The goal of the Bible is not to simply distill out of it themes and principles from another time and try to apply them to our situation. It is to help us see that we are these people, and that we are part of the story that is not yet complete. The book of Acts ends very abruptly and I wonder if after Jesus comes and brings the book of Revelation to pass, if there won’t be an expanded version of the book of Acts, or an Acts 2 for us to read in heaven. This book would be about us!
So, with this in mind we are going to start at the beginning of the story, for the instructions we need are there right from the start.
Before we get into the text, for those of you who don’t know, it is generally agreed that Moses wrote the book of Genesis, most likely during the 40 years in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. We can then estimate that what we are reading was written in the early 1400’s BC, about 3400 years ago. If we didn’t have the book of Genesis we would be without the basic foundation for the Bible and the rest of it would make little sense. No other book is referred to as much.
So let’s begin in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. “In the beginning.” Oh boy! Let’s stop there. The beginning of what, does God have a beginning, is this the “big bang”? Right away we are forced to think about the concept of eternity and what it means to be an eternal God with no beginning and no end.
This is not going to be a debate about creation or evolution, but I do want to share a quote from a well known pastor named Randy Croft:
Astrophysicists have found that there are over 60 criteria that are necessary for life on earth. For you and me to live. Life could not exist or form if any one of the following were true:
Earth’s rotation was slower, or faster
We were 2% closer or further from the sun.
Earth had a 1% change in sunlight.
Earth was smaller or larger
Taco Bell closed at 3 p.m.
The moon was smaller or larger
We had more than one moon
Earth’s crust was thinner or thicker
Pizza Hut only served thin crust
The Oxygen/Nitrogen ratio was greater or less
Ozone layer was greater or less
This creates a dilemna. To believe that life spontaneously emerged without a creator requires great faith in the impossible-- no evidence-- the same accusation hurled at those who believe the world was created by an intelligent God. Dr. George Wald, Nobel Prize winner of Harvard University, states it as clearly and honestly as an evolutionist can: "One has only to contemplate the magnitude of this task to concede that the spontaneous generation of a living organism is impossible. Yet here we are - as a result, I believe, of spontaneous generation." That statement by Dr. Wald demonstrates a much greater faith than a religious creationist can muster. Notice that this great evolutionary scientist says it could not have happened. It was impossible. Yet he believes it anyway.
As I said last week, there is no good evidence to prove that we cannot take the Biblical account of creation literally.
Most of us know the rest of the story of the first seven days of creation and we will look more closely in week’s to come. Today we are just going to focus on Day One. Before we do I just want to make one more comment about the word used here for God. Elohim is the Hebrew word used in this chapter of Genesis and it is plural. This does not mean there was more than one god, it is to emphasize the majesty of God and also suggests that the Trinity was complete at the beginning of creation.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit were not created. Later on in verse 26 we will see God say “let us make man in our image”. Who’s he talking to?
Let’s look at seven points that you can find in your bulletin from the first five verses of chapter 1:
I. The Condition of the Earth (v. 2a)
The earth was empty and formless and apparently completely covered with water as we will see more clearly next week. It was basically a lump of clay that God fills, forms, gathers and separates. We already start wondering why God is making this earth, and we will find out that it is specifically for human beings.
Let me remind you that this was an extremely radical view of creation. At the time the prevalent theory of creation was that there was a battle between “one of the gods” they believed there were many, and that this god triumphed over a fierce beast that represented disorder, but that he would be forever challenged by the forces of disorder.
Some have also suggested that there may be a gap between verse 1 and 2 where we would have seen the creation of angels and the fall of Satan. This is impossible to confirm, but it would make sense if Satan was in some way jealous of the creation that was to come, and the lofty position that humans would have even over angels like him. After all the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:3, “do you not know that we (humans/saints) will judge angels?” Satan was peeved because he held such a high status before this.
II. The Participation of the Spirit (v.2b)
Back in verse 1 we see that the Spirit of God is hovering over the water much like I would imagine a sculpter moving around his formless creation only on a much larger scale. We may want to remember that the word for spirit in Hebrew means wind, breath, divine power. It is the breath of life that God blew into Adam to give him life. The best translation here might be “an invisible mighty force”. So, we get the image of this spirit hovering over the entire earth at once ready to create and breathe life into it.
This is how Matthew Henry puts it in his commentary on Genesis 1: “He moved upon the face of the deep, as Elijah stretched himself upon the dead child,—as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and hovers over them, to warm and cherish them, —as the eagle stirs up her nest, and flutters over her young. Learn hence, That God is not only the author of all being, but the fountain of life and spring of motion.
Dead matter would be for ever dead if he did not quicken it. And this makes it credible to us that God should raise the dead. That power which brought such a world as this out of confusion, emptiness, and darkness, at the beginning of time, can, at the end of time, bring our vile bodies out of the grave, though it is a land of darkness as darkness itself, and without any order, and can make them glorious bodies”.
III. The Declaration of God (v. 3a)
How does God create? He speaks things into existence instantly, “God said”. Is this not one of the abilities we also have? We are able to think things into existence but we have to go through a much larger process to get to the finished product. I think the limitations that clog up the process between an idea and its creation will be removed in heaven and our thoughts, and words will have the same instant creative power as God’s.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to also see that God speaks his Word. This is very likely Jesus who is the Word as we see at the beginning of the book of John. In fact John starts his book with the exact phrase that starts Genesis “In the beginning”, there was the word and the Word was with God and was God, and through him all things were made”. Jesus is the form of God (God’s Son) able to interact with the material world as we will see throughout Genesis. He is the visible manifestation of God on earth, just as the Holy Spirit is the invisible manifestation of God in the material world.
IV. The Creation of Light (v. 3b)
The sun, moon and stars are created later so this is the light of God. In Revelation 21:23 we read: “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” Now we may have a problem if we say God created the light and we also hear in many places that Jesus is the light, so was Jesus created? Absolutely not. I think we may be talking about double meaning for light and darkness where light is the “good, true, and holy” and the dark being “evil, and false”. Here is why I believe this may be so. As we see:
V. The Evaluation of the Light (v.4a)
God says the light was good, and he separated it from the darkness. Could this be the creation/separation of good and evil? In 1 John 1:5 he says that God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all. John talks more about light and darkness in chapter 2 as well. God is only good, so how could evil arise if it was not brought about by Him, perhaps in the form of Satan whom he must also have known would rebel. At the very least I think there is double meaning here. That this was indeed the creation of day and night, but also the beginning of good and evil and the separation is potentially symbolic of Satan’s fall. Notice how he says there was evening before there was morning. In the Hebrew language this is consistent with the ordering from the less to the more perfect. With the night being less perfect than the day. One might ask again, why would God create something imperfect? Because He had and has a plan, and we’ll never fully understand it until we meet Him.
In Revelation 21:25, and 22:5 it says there will be no more night there, referring to heaven or the New Jerusalem. Clearly God implies that light and day are superior to night and darkness. There will be no more night (we won’t need to sleep), and at the same time, there will be no more evil. Praise God.
So let’s look at:
VI. The Separation of the Light from the Darkness (vv 4b-5a)
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 that the god of this age (referring to Satan) has blinded or veiled the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light (goodness and truth) of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (His nature as light, good, truth, holiness etc.). For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness”, made His light (Jesus, good, truth) shine in our hearts (our being) to give us the light (truth) of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Remember how his face shone when he came from the presence of God at the transfiguration. It’s also important to remember that when Jesus came from the presence of God he did not cover His face, but when Moses came from the presence of God and his face was shining, he had to wear a veil because no one was permitted to see the glory of God. This is the difference between the Old Testament relationship with God and the New Testament relationship where there is no middle-man, an idea that I hope our Catholic brothers and sisters realize soon. When Christ died, the veil between God and Man was torn. We now have full access through Jesus Christ.
Anyway, I think the main point here is that God has complete authority over night and day or time. We see him alter time in a couple places in the Bible, and this is also his complete dominion over good and evil.
VII. The Designation of the Day (v.5b)
Here God declares that this was the first day. Is this a literal day? Argument will probably never stop about this. Are the days actually ages that we can use to get around the scientific argument against a young earth? Why would God need to do that? Everywhere else in the Bible days and years are used as days and years, and the chronology can be confirmed, so why would he make an exception here. If he had an ego and really wanted to glorify himself wouldn’t he just say that he snapped his fingers and it all appeared at once? Could he have created gaps between days? Why?
Evidence favors a literal interpretation and if we can’t believe that He did it this way, we are really questioning the nature of God and his omnipotence. Of course it is possible for God to create everything in six days, and why he did it this way we will probably never know this side of heaven.
If you ever doubt that God created the universe I encourage you to read Job chapters 38 and 39 where God answers Job and describes in such detail what he has done in creation. If you read these chapters (there is no way Job could have made this stuff up) I don’t think you, like Job will have any doubt that God made it all.
As God created the world and specifically here the Light, he said it was good. When this word is applied to God’s judgment, it means in conformity to His will. The light was exactly as He intended it to be. And when Jesus is referred to as the light and we are called to be the light of the world, God is saying that Jesus perfectly conformed to His will and we are called to conform perfectly to His will through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Interestingly, we will see that God called all his creation very good, after he created man, yet of all his creation we people have seemingly been the least conformed to His will.
But we don’t understand completely what his will for the human race on earth is, so I wonder if we aren’t doing exactly what he willed us to do for his great plan? He is basically saying that He created us exactly as He intended us to be – very good. Isn’t this a great encouragement? That we were never created to be perfect in this life, but here already we see the implication that he was going to send His Son to make us perfect in His sight and give us a model of how to be what He created us to be? How else could He call us Very Good? Having said that, wouldn’t you like to strive to be the “very good” that he wants us to be. We’ll never get all the way there is this life, but what a great goal to shoot for.
Will you join me in daring to be different? This doesn’t mean to separate from the culture or be antagonistic to it, in fact if we did that we would not look Christlike either. It will take even more courage to be different while being a loving part of our culture than to look the same but have different silent beliefs where we are embarrassed to express the truth we claim to believe.
Let’s pray.
