3. Christ or Chaos!

Christ and Chaos in Genesis 1:2

Welcome to the prod cast where we prod the sheep and feed the wolf. This is episode 3. Christ or chaos. Introduction. Christ or chaos. Genesis 1 2 says the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God Was moving over the surface of the waters.

For the Christian one of the surest ways to develop an unwanted migraine is to try to imagine what things were like. Just before creation, you know that time where there was no time or the space where there was no space.

Just nothingness. No light. No dark. No material. No time nothing. And the reason that this is such an impossible task for us to consider is because our material minds attempt to rationalize our world by finding material meaning.

When we see problems our brains are designed by God to combat confusion by applying orderly and logical solutions. But when we impose that kind of material ordered thinking upon an immaterial state such as the reality that existed before Creation then what we attempt to do is impose Categories onto things that had no category.

We're attempting to think of a thing like nothingness in the same logical categories that we would use to interpret somethingness and That sort of madness devolves immediately into the kind of heart Smashing befuddlement that gave you the headache in the first place.

Let me say it a little bit more plainly. Your mind can only think about some things you cannot and were never meant to be able to comprehend a nothing. And yet this actually does get at what I'm hoping to talk about in today's episode you see while we cannot possibly conceive of a thing like a nothing no pun intended and While we cannot travel back to see God's unique and try an existence that he had in Eternity we can observe the things that God did after that.

He made space and time and the very first thing that God did was to kick-start the entire creation Project by creating a formless and void kind of pre-matter Substance that he could use to craft and design all created reality.

Now while being very careful not to venture too far down speculation road It seems clear enough that Genesis 1 to describes a pre creation material That God would use to shape all created reality. It was this material that he used to make atoms and light waves Compounds galaxies beasts and man.

It was the material before the material if you will now. While we do not know what this matter consisted of we do know some of its properties from Scripture According to this particular text. It says this material was formless and void.

It was cloaked in a kind of impenetrable darkness. It had a surface of sorts that has significant and immeasurable depths and Was filled with the kind of primordial water that the Spirit decided to hover over this Obviously could use some more explanation, but this is what it is.

This is the material that existed before creation. Now the word that is used for this material this formless substance comes from a Hebrew word tohu, which means Unreality and confusion. It's the kind of word that you might expect in Lewis Carroll's poem Jabberwocky and On the same philosophical playing field as something like a square circle.

It's difficult to understand what unreality is and it's difficult to understand what pure confusion is. But idiomatically speaking tohu means non-material material or you could say it that it means a Shapeless shape or you could maybe even say that it means an unformed form.

Which is not confusing at all. It is a material that looks and acts a lot like liquid chaos. It is a wild untamed unformed mass of potential energy that God immediately set about the work of subduing and taming and forming.

In Fact the Bible is not the only ancient book that describes creation in these terms. As you look across the ancient world the majority of creation mythology begins with a watery chaos that the gods get together and endeavor to entame and subdue.

And While we know that these myths are not true in the same sense that the Bible is true. They do show us a wonderful oral tradition of how the ancient peoples viewed creation i .e God's war against the chaos.

The Spirit’s Rule Over the Waters

Section 2 the subduing of chaos. Chaos may have been how reality began but God had no intention to keep it in that unkempt and unseemly state. For as soon as formlessness and voided material existed the Spirit of God was said to be hovering like an avian Hovering which is a sign of rule and dominion over the waters.

Take for instance Deuteronomy 32 11. Which I think makes this a lot more clear. It says like an eagle that stirs up its nest that hovers over its young. That's the same word that's used in Genesis 1 to the hovering you see the Spirit was hovering over and Exercising rule dominion and authority over the materials that belong to him.

Like an eagle that keeps its chicks from accidentally bumbling flightless out of the nest the Spirit was holding chaos in bounds. Like a prison subdues criminals from escaping. So the Spirit of God had chaos on lockdown.

Which ushered in the next phase of creation, which is the shaping of creation. The forming of creation. The days of creation. Section 3 the shaping of creation as. The spirit held the chaos in check. God said let there be light and good light was formed.

He said let there be good skies with good planets and good suns moons and stars. Good gases and minerals and waters and birds and good animals. And in the end He said let there be man, which alone he used the adjective very good.

God was not only subduing the chaos in creation. He was pushing it back like an advancing King. He was Universally extending his kingdom of ordered and good reality to the point to where chaos no longer had a place.

So that by the time you get to Genesis 128 when creation has been finished and God is now speaking over his creation. There was no more formlessness in it. There was no more void in it, and there was no more chaos in his creation.

The enemy was vanquished. God began a war that he himself won all that remained. Afterwards was God's perfect reign over an orderly creation. That was God's work and it became the paradigm for human work as well.

Humanity Made in the Image of God

Section 4 made to vanquish chaos. Simply put God made human beings to be like him. Genesis 128 tells us that we were made in the image and likeness of God. Which means that we were made to resemble him and by resemble I don't mean that labored stare when Graham Opert looks at a particular child determining which parent that it looks most like.

I mean Resemble in a small but pure way. We look like him in his character. We think thoughts like him because he's given us minds. We end up doing the kinds of things that God does by design it is Exactly how we were programmed and since God began creation with a war on chaos.

Humans made in his image will find their meaning and their purpose in Joining in the fight. We were made for the fight quite literally in Genesis 2. God reenacts his cosmic war on chaos on a local Earthly scale he first makes a world filled with void.

It harkens back to Genesis 1 where he made the first thing was formless and void material. And then like a blank canvas before a master artist the world was eager and ready to be decorated by God. The Bible tells us that there was no shrub.

No plant. No tree. No, just a dusty ball of spinning dirt orbiting around the Sun. The text also tells us that there was a watery mist Surrounding that void which reminds us an awful lot again of Genesis 1 where the Spirit is hovering over the untamed waters in Genesis 1 2.

And it was at this point In Genesis 2 that God began the process of bringing order to the voided world. Just like he had bring brought order to the voided cosmos for instance the Lord took the dust of the ground and he fashioned the man and then the Lord took the man and he fashioned the woman and The Lord put the two lovebirds in the best garden penthouse suite that he had himself fully decorated.

The rest of the earth still looked like a wilderness and that's kind of important because think about it this way God put Adam and Eve into a well-ordered and beautiful decorated garden, but he did not put them into a well-ordered decorated earth.

He did not start them off in the same murky chaos that he began in but he also Doesn't start them off with a completed project. He starts them off at the purpose. Their purpose was to be a blessed people who knew this chaos crushing glorified God and Because they were made in his image.

They were called to imitate him and subduing the formless void and they were given an opportunity in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were put into a garden in order to fill it up full of people. When it became full with human life, they were to extend that gardens borders.

Like God stretched out creation across the cosmos they were to grab the hoe the rake the shovel the seeds and cultivate life and Order and bring God's life all across a barren world. They were to chase away The chaos the formlessness the void and they were to bring order to all of the parts of the world that still remained.

Disordered they were made to imitate their God in this way. Section 5 the unleashing of chaos. But sadly the campaign on chaos got as far off the ground as an angry peacock. Maybe less so Satan with the exact opposite aims as God slithered into the garden before there was a platoon of humans and Got to them when there were only two vulnerable Like God they were supposed to see the chaos Inducing serpent as a threat to be chased instead of a friend to be embraced.

But his life fooled them and he became their new king. He divided them up along gender factions. He separated the woman from the man and by getting them to defy their God and their God-ordained purpose.

He tore down the levy of protection that God had provided and he broke down the bulwarks that were keeping them safe. Which brought a tsunami of chaos called sin on top of their heads. Instead of a soul beautifully formed and ordered into the image of God Sin caused it to be mangled and twisted a mess of confusion and formlessness.

Sin became the chaos That was unleashed upon this earth. Instead of a heart that was filled with the knowledge of God sin plunged the heart back into an empty Void that was barren. Like the original tohu Pre-creation material depths of darkness descended upon the surface of the human conscience.

But this time God the Holy Spirit was no longer hovering over these sinful people. They were under Satan's charge now who was known as the author of confusion ie chaos in Their sin chaos rose up against them and consumed them in spiritual confusion.

And that is what sin is. Sin is the unleashing of chaos upon your soul Leaves you permanently disoriented and disfigured wherever and whenever we sin. We do not simply gratify the unholy desires of our heart.

We invite emptiness despair Confusion willingly into the very core of our being. The earth became a domain of deep voided darkness and Everyone born under Adam was born subject to the author of confusion and deep inextricably bound to their sin.

Thank God That chaos was not going to win. Section 6 the death of chaos. Adam and Eve were condemned at the tree. They were marched out of the garden like POW soldiers from a captured city with no hope of return the earth and every living thing In it was subjected to futility and chaos.

The human story that began with such high hopes with such wonderful people like Adam and Eve who were gonna raise up an army that was gonna subdue the earth rule over it spread out the Glory of God to the every square inch of the planet.

All of that looked like it was now redeemably irredeemably broken. But God had a plan. You see littered throughout the story. The Old Testament is the promise that God is going to come and make war with the chaos.

Since chaos and sin have plunged our world back into deep darkness. Is it any coincidence that he is the one who came bringing light? Since chaos and sin brought an empty void to the heart of man. Is it any wonder why he came as a man and then filled our empty hearts with a new hovering spirit?

Since chaos and sin bring manglement and disfigurement to the soul. Is it any surprise that? Our Savior Jesus Christ would come and be mangled and disfigured for us so that we could be made well. He came imitating God.

Perfectly as Adam should have done. He came chasing away the chaos and bringing order and beauty and life. Back to the soul of man and back to the world. When Jesus died he delivered the death knell to Satan.

When he rose again he ended the tyranny and the power of sin and brought about the power of a new creation and. Because every good story needs a redemption He rescued those of us who were lost and elevated or lost and enslaved to Satan and Elevated us back to our God-ordained purpose.

Jesus did not die and suffer on the cross to fix the entire world. Jesus came to redeem us and put us back into our God-ordained purpose. Like Adam we have now been restored to be a blessed people the church.

We have been restored to be a fruitful people multiplying disciples. Winning converts and extending the kingdom of God all across the world. When you read in Genesis 128 the blessing that God spoke over Adam that you will be fruitful and multiply and spread out to the ends of the earth.

That blessing is now true for us in Jesus Christ who has made us fruitful. He will multiply us and he will cause us to spread out to the ends of the earth. Ruling over it and subduing it and extending his dominion as the church.

Like Adam Jesus began this work in a garden. But unlike Adam Jesus actually multiplied. He began with 12 and then he sent them out together others and then he formed a church and as soon as that little church Began doing what Jesus told them to do.

They filled Jerusalem full of the gospel. 3 ,000 people came to know Jesus in that city. They were reclaiming the earth. They were chasing away the chaos and they did that in the city of Jerusalem like Adam should have done.

But then they didn't stop they filled Jerusalem like this garden city that it was and then they went to Judah and they filled that and then they went to Samaria and they filled that and after they went to Samaria.

They went to the Roman Empire and after the Roman Empire they spread out into the ends of the earth. This is all by design. Jesus came as the true and better Adam to do what Adam should have done by multiplying a family in a garden who would advance upon a barren world.

That was lost in sin and void in depravity in order to subdue and chase away the chaos and reclaim a world for God. That is what the church is for. Section 6 the church as Christ or chaos. Our role as freed redeemed people is to get back into the fight.

We were not made to sit on our jolly singing Christian boy band songs disguised as worship music. And we certainly weren't weren't meant to go every Sunday and listen to self-help garbage from a smiling toothy wolf.

And then go home like nothing at all is different. The church is not an event. The church is not for you. The church is not about you. The church was not designed to meet your needs or your wants or your desires.

The church is not about you. The church is the family that Jesus chose to go to war against the chaos with. The church is the ever multiplying army of a king who has every intention on Advancing. The church is the lion-hearted bride who will advance upon the territory of hell.

Who will not be able to stop it? The church is the blood-bought spirit-filled bride Who will chase away the chaos until this earth is fully reclaimed for God. This means that the church is not a safe haven for cowards and it's not an ivory tower.

Gathering of snobs who thumb their noses at the world. It is not a gathering of believers who are waiting on Jesus to come and rescue us from this Really bad wicked bad world. It is the Adam like Christ empowered servant of God who is advancing.

How do we do this? Well not with weapons swords or angry tweets. We advance with the gospel. We take back territory inch by inch until this entire world has been reclaimed for Christ to do this. We do things like plant churches and cities where there are no churches.

That's taking back territory. We start Bible studies at our jobs where there are few if any Christians that's taking back territory. We go on college campuses and herald Christ that's taking back territory.

We go outside of abortion clinics and we plead for life. We have lots of children and we raise them up as fiercely loyal Christians. We adopt children from the world and we show them what God's redemption is and how we've all been adopted in the family of God.

That's taking back territory. We identify Every area of brokenness and sin in our world in our city on our street in our neighborhood and we look and we see where this where sin and chaos is raining and we go there and We do work there and we reclaim territory there.

The purpose of the Church of Christ is to chase chaos. The purpose of the church is Christ or chaos. Section 7. What is Christ or chaos. When we say Christ or chaos you may be wondering what we mean. We're issuing a battle cry.

We are calling all Christians to make a choice. We're drawing a line in the sand and we're saying which side are you gonna choose? Are you gonna live in your sin? Are you gonna wallow in the muck of confusion and despair?

Are you gonna sit idly by while Satan slaps you around for a lifetime and you're totally ineffective for Jesus? Or are you gonna join the army? Are you gonna join King Jesus? When Christ is firmly held the darkness flees.

The Bible tells us this. And it flees by the power of his gospel the death burial resurrection ascension and reign of Christ. When Christ is firmly held chaos is chased away. When Christ is firmly held families thrive and children grow up catechized.

Discipled loving Jesus. When Christ is firmly held lost people are found. Churches are planted. Christian entrepreneurs start God honoring businesses in godless cities. Abortion is abolished. Godless politicians lose their jobs because there's no longer anyone depraved enough to vote for them.

Missionaries get sent to remote regions of the world. Bible translators translate moms. Act like mothers fathers act like fathers and the world gets to see a holistic picture of Who our King really is and he is a victorious King.

But whenever Christ is not firmly held we get what we have today. The America that you can see and look at today is an America where Christ has not been firmly held by the church for a really long time.

When Christ is not firmly held chaos Creeps in. When Christ is not firmly held in families children grow up to be alphabet warriors or bow down and to marks instead of Jesus. When Christ is not firmly held in our colleges.

Social justice and CRT and everything else become curriculum instead of logic and how to think. When Christ is not firmly held evangelical zeal. Not only Wayne's but Christians stop sharing the gospel altogether we become cowards and we hide instead of Soldiers who are ready to die for our Lord.

When Christ is not firmly held new churches are not planted. Old churches abandon the gospel for social activism and conclusion. When Christ is not held godless companies like Apple Amazon and Facebook have a stranglehold on Information and get to ramrod their chaos down our throats when Christ is not firmly held.

More children are going to be killed in the womb more and lawlessness is going to be alive on the streets. More darkness is going to envelop this nation until it ultimately Collapses into utter chaos.

It really is Christ or chaos. Either we will choose Christ or we will damn this world to experience the chaos that sin will bring either we choose Christ or Formlessness and void will envelop this nation.

We have a choice and the only choice for me and my family is that we will choose Christ and We will move forward. Thank you so much for listening to the broadcast. If you like what you've heard I would ask you to share it subscribe to it follow it and just Get it out to as many people as you can.

Our goal is not to build a big platform for us. Our goal is to build a big platform for Jesus. Our goal is Christ or chaos we want to see his message of the gospel Reclaimed territory on this earth and one of the ways that you can do that is by sharing this podcast with someone else.

God bless you. I'll see you next time on the broadcast.