Where Did You Come From?

(This lesson is bare bones. You will need to add illustration and flesh to it. God bless the presentation of His Word.)

Where did you come from? The answer to this question determines to a large degree the answer to other questions such as:

Why are you here? What is your purpose?

Where are you going?

Genesis 1 begins the story of man. Here God tells us where we came from, how we, and everything else for that matter, got here. You probably know the words…

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth… (say the first two verses together)

What follows verse 2 tells of creation with three themes: God said, God saw, and God separated. Everything is organized according to God’s plan, even the days of the week.

God prepares an environment for life, and then he speaks living things into being. It’s beautiful! God said, God saw, and God separated. Let’s look at it in verses 3-25.

(Go through each day pointing out God’s amazing creative work and imagining the host of heaven rejoicing in each day’s design and good job.)

Illustration: One class I took at Harding was Art appreciation. I remember that we had to study several works of art and be able to recognize the style of certain artists. You can often tell who did a piece of art by simply being familiar with other works that they do. Their style shows in their work. I remember a guy being able to tell that a song was by the Beatles simply by hearing it, even though it was performed by a different band.

The creative work of a person tells you something about the person. This is also true of God and his creation. We can see God’s character in his creation. (That is part of why Satan wants to destroy and distort it. But we will look at that later.)

Now look with me at Psalms 19:1-4 and Romans 1:20-25

What are some things the creation reveals about God?

(List the things the scriptures say creation tells us about the God who made it.)

Another surprising thing about creation is that while the Father planned it, the Son executed and performed the plan.

John 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15-20

(Reflect on Jesus who created us and then entered creation as one of us.)

Finally, we accept creation as an act of faith. While there is plenty of evidence that points to God as the creator, we must accept that evidence. God’s word speaks of those who reject that evidence and what it does to them back in Romans 1.

Hebrews 11:1-3

(Turning point of sermon here. Now we look at humanity and what makes us unique in the created order.)

We have looked at the first 25 verses of Genesis 1.

Then in verse 26 God has a conversation with himself:

Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over all other living things. Verse 27 says: 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.

Do you believe this? Is this really true, or is it just a legendary mythical account from the fertile imagination of some religious story teller of the past? If it is true, and I believe it is, then you and I are more fearfully and wonderfully made than we can begin to imagine.

Where did you come from? God! But, you didn’t just come from God, you are unique among the creatures God made, you are made to be like Him! This is what gives us our dignity. This is why it is ok to kill a cow and have hamburger, but to kill a human and have him for dinner is… not ok.

You and I are made in God’s image, after God’s likeness, made to be like God. Did you get that? Don’t yawn. Let it sink in a minute. If you came from God and are made like God, how should I treat you? How should we treat one another? When you look at me, what should you be able to see? When we look at one another, what image should stand out? Is it any wonder that the Bible also says, “If you do not love your brother whom you have seen, you cannot love God whom you have not seen,” And that the greatest commandment is to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves?

Adam and Eve were like God. They were blessed by God. They enjoyed the close company of God’s presence without fear or shame.

A song by Glad says it well: “In the garden long ago, love was all there was to know. Pure innocent and free, like we were meant to be, long ago.”