Genesis 1:1-2:4 Beginning with God

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan, where you can grow in faith, community, and service.

This is a message from the series Beginning with God, Walking Through the Book of Genesis by Pastor of Teaching and Vision, Don Filsack.

If you'd like to learn more about Recast or access our sermon archive, please visit us at recastchurch .com.

Here's Pastor Don. This morning we're going to be kicking off a new study in the book of Genesis.

I figured why not start a new beginning at the beginning of a year in the beginning.

That's where we're going to be, a sermon series entitled Beginning with God in the book of Genesis. That really is, as we're going to see in our text here in Genesis chapter 1, the place where we start.

We start with God. I thought that would be a good thing for this year. Some people have asked me why Genesis.

You can ask that about any book of the Bible that I'm going to preach through. Why choose that one? The honest answer is that we're due for a trip in the

Old Testament and I selected Genesis. I don't know if I could have gone wrong, to be honest, because one of our core understandings here is that all of Scripture is

God -breathed. It's all inspired by Him. So it could have been Malachi, it could have been Isaiah, it could have been

Ezekiel or any one of the Old Testament prophets or Leviticus or whatever. But I wanted to start in Genesis and I thought that this idea of starting there in a new year was a good thing.

Here at Recast, this idea that all Scripture is God -breathed, that therefore it is able to help us to grow in our faith.

And you'll see the word simplicity on the wall and that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. What the word simplicity as a core value here at Recast means is that we have a,

I hate to call it streamlined, but we have a specific method for you to grow in your understanding and your faith and your relationship to God.

And it's just simply this, that our desire is that everybody who is here, that calls Recast Church their home, is growing in three areas, three arenas of your life.

That you are growing in faith, you are growing in community, and you are growing in service.

And we believe that if you take those three areas of growth seriously, then you are on the correct road towards a deeper relationship with God.

Now how many of you know that growing, anybody can grow, right, from any point where you're at. So some might have been

Christians here for years and years and years. Can you still grow? Yeah. Some of you here are just barely scratching the surface of who

God is and trying to figure out what is this whole Jesus thing about and what is all that. Can you grow?

Grow in faith, grow in community, grow in service. And that's our desire. And specifically in this area of faith, I believe that we grow in faith primarily by taking in God's word, hearing it, listening to it, believing it, and then applying it to our lives.

And that is the method, the primary way that we grow in our faith is by coming in contact with God through the pages of scripture and allowing that to transform us and change us from the inside out.

We're going to sing a song called Inside Out here in a few minutes. But that idea that we're changed by coming in contact with God's word.

Our text is the first revelation of God given to humanity. And I really fear that the view of God can get lost to us in Genesis 1 because of the tussle about science and creation and evolution.

How many of you would agree with me that this first chapter of the book, really of the Bible, the book of Genesis, can be somewhat controversial?

Anybody? Raise your hand if you agree with me on that, that it tends to be a little bit controversial. This idea of God the creator and all the way that he sets it out.

So let me set the stage and just stay up front in my introduction that Genesis is not a science manual.

Okay? It does, however, claim to be putting forward the stages of creation as a historical account.

But if you are primarily coming to this text to understand science, then you're missing the point of what is recorded for us here.

As a matter of fact, if you're approaching this text from a scientific standpoint, it's going to leave you with more questions than answers.

Would you agree with me on that? Because this is not a recipe for how to create a universe. Okay? It's not like you throw these things together, you follow what

God did, and you get a universe. Okay? It's not a science manual. It's not a recipe. That's not the point of this text.

That's not why it is here. The entire text is here and meant to focus us on our attention to who

God is. That's the point. We will see God, for example, create light in this text.

And as many questions as we want to ask about the creation of light. Any of you kind of curious about how light was created?

The text isn't going to answer that question for us, but it is going to show us a Creator God who created light.

And that ought to produce awe and wonder in us.

That is what the text is supposed to do. My prayer and my hope is that by the end of this text, regardless of where we land on different views of the way to understand this text, that ultimately it produces within us awe and wonder, which leads to worship and praise to the

Creator of all things. Ultimately this is an introduction to God.

We're going to meet Him here in this text. To know Him as Almighty Creator. And as I said, we might disagree on some things that I say this morning.

As a matter of fact, there may be some in the room that are so far into the scientific understanding of things and so far down that road that I might appear like a caveman to you.

By just explaining what this text means at face value, you might say, Don just has not addressed modern science.

And I'm not here to give you a science lesson this morning. That's not the purpose of a pastor.

I don't come to this text and go, Well, here, let me explain the science of the text. What do I want to do? I want us to understand what

Scripture says here. So that's what I'm going to try to do this morning. And like I said, I might be a caveman to some of you by the end.

But I hope that all of us will come to deal with the text in such a way that we will at least leave here with an understanding of what

Genesis 1 has to say about God and about the way that history began. That you will know what

Scripture says about those things. So let's open our Bibles to Genesis 1.

It's going to be a longer Bible reading. Settle in. Turn in the Bible. Go ahead and pull the Bible in the seat back in front of you out.

And you get to turn to page 1. Turn to page 1 in that Bible.

And if you don't own a Bible, you can take that one with you. It's our desire for everybody to have a copy of God's Word. So we've got boxes of those in the back room ready to replace any that are taken this morning.

Just don't take a bunch and sell them on eBay, please. If you take it, just read it for yourself. But follow along as I read

Genesis 1. And we'll read all the way through chapter 2, verse 4, to get all seven days in. 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. 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. And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let us 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 He called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day. And God said,

Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let dry land appear. And it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the waters that were gathered together

He called seas, and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seeds, 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 their seed, each according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 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.

Let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light 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 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 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 water 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 sea and let birds multiply on the earth and there was evening and there was morning the fifth day and God said let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds and it was so and God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds and everything that creeps on the ground

According to its kind and God saw that it was good. Then God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the

Livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth So God made man created man in his own image in the image of God.

He created him male and female he created them and God blessed them and God said be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and Subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth and God said behold

I have given you every plant Yielding seed that is on the face of the year of all the earth and every tree with seed and its fruit

You shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on The earth everything that has the breath of life

I've given every green plant for food and it was so and God saw everything that he had made and behold

It was very good and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them and on the seventh day

God Finished his work that that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done

So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created in the day that the

Lord God made the heavens Are the earth and the heavens let's pray Father I thank you.

I thank you for this text for the opportunity to talk about you as creator and Father I ask that you would fill our hearts with wonder with awe with amazement with wonder at This text of your creation father.

We look out at the world that you have created We have now for millennia studied This earth by science and by all of these means and father all of that ought to lead us to a deeper wonder a deeper

Amazement a deeper awe in you and your creativity and your ability Father I ask that you would move in our hearts to produce worship in us

And even as we have an opportunity to sing these songs that they would be lifted up from hearts given over to you

Rejoicing in you as our creator as the one who can take that which is in the text chaos and to Restructure it and order it into something that is good and not just good but something that is very good

We praise you and lift you high in Jesus name. Amen Think about the fundamental question that we have to really ask anytime we encounter scripture

And it really this question should set the tone for what is a highly controversial First chapter of the entire

Bible and that is why is it here? I think it's a valuable first question whenever you come to a text you read it and you kind of go well, okay

I can understand the nuances. I can understand how this verse relates to this verse or the grammar of it But why does it exist?

What is it therefore and I propose to you that despite a variety of things that Genesis 1?

Accomplishes would you agree with me that there's a lot of different things that it has to say a lot of different components and pieces and working parts

It fundamentally exists to introduce us to God as the creator of all things.

That's fundamentally why it is there That's why we have Genesis chapter 1 It's really as an introduction and as an introduction it possesses accurate and intentional detail

That is necessary to know something about the one it is introducing So if it proposes to introduce somebody to us

Then what it says must be true of that person that that one that it is introducing to us

Like let me give you an illustration. Let me state this in a different way If I was meeting you for the first time and I told you about my

NCAA basketball career playing for University of Michigan I told you about my

PhD in astrophysics and then I walked you through how in the last Olympics I edged out

Usain Bolt by fractions of a second in the hundred yard or the hundred meter Now that would be how many of you would admit that be an awesome introduction.

Would that be a stellar introduction? Okay, but would it be accurate is it is it you're not meeting me, right?

You're meeting something something other than me I'm just faking it. I'm just putting a bunch of things out there to make myself look good

And hopefully you'd catch on pretty quick that that wasn't really true, right? If the text says things like God created fish by speech in a day

Then that says something about God, right? Would you agree with me on that?

That we are it's not just the notion that God created that we're trying to get at but we're actually learning something about God by The method of his creation by the the way that he chose to create all of the stuff that we see

If what the text really means is that God created some primordial soup Struck it with lightning forming single -cell organisms that evolved into higher life forms

Then I'm reading a different text than you Okay, are you gonna get there by starting with what we what we read earlier this morning?

Are you is that where you're is that gonna be a logical conclusion to what we've read about the way that things came to be?

No, you're going to have to start someplace else to get to that conclusion. Would you agree with me?

So that what we're gonna deal with as we look through this text is a little different than what the world might tell us

About the way that things came to be But again, I want to highlight I'm probably gonna say this a half a dozen times during this message

This text is not science. It is not purporting to give us a loctite every question answered kind of Account of the creation.

Do you understand what I mean by that? Now? Is there some kind of scientific notions in here? Sure, and I mean it certainly leads us down the road of contemplating and considering science to some degree

But it's not a manufacturing textbook about how to create a universe. It's not a recipe

Giving every detail in the method that God employed We're not looking at God as a manufacturer here in this text

But God enters into relationship with his creation from the very beginning

The picture of Genesis 1 is less like a factory and more like a maternity ward

Where the thing that comes into existence the thing that is created is precious is Valued is is considered dear to the one who created it

Creation is delighted in by God and is related to by God and the one who made it

Values it as good and we will see by the end of the text very good as a matter of fact

We might get tired of hearing God declare that it's good because he's so Engaged and so enthusiastic and so into this creation that he's making that he says at every turn it was good

It was good. It was good and it's repeated over and over in the text in Verse 1 we start with who?

with God God is the first grammatical subject of the entire

Bible if you studied English the very first sentence of Scripture the subject of that sentence is who?

God He's the one that we start with The first subject and in the beginning

God did something what we really find in verses 1 & 2 is introductory It's kind of a summary of the whole thing so that it's not step 1 in the creation process

It's summarizing the entirety of what comes after So verse 1 simply states that in the beginning

God created the heavens and the earth the heavens and the earth being a euphemism for everything that exists Everything when you look down below your feet everything created by God when you look up above your head everything

Created by God and then everything in between Created by God the heavens and the earth everything was created by God verse 2 states something that maybe we haven't considered before but God initially created the earth without distinguishing structure and Empty as the text sells as a matter of fact it says at the beginning of verse 2 the earth was without form and void

And those two words without form and void in Hebrew are the framework upon which the entirety of chapter 1 exists

It hangs on those two concepts because throughout this we're gonna basically see that it's without structure

He creates it without structure at the beginning So then he proceeds to add structure to it

He creates it void and empty and he begins to fill it with things So all of the verses all of the days of creation are either or are organized basically either as structure

I'm he's forming things and creating structures, or he's filling the space that he's created does that make sense

So that's kind of the way that things tend to be organized in in this account but also consider that God is a

God of organization and structure could he have snapped his fingers and Created it all at one time.

He could have just spoken and spring. That's all there So I think we learned something by God about God by the way that he creates that he he likes steps

He likes organization. He likes to do things in an orderly fashion and He begins with a blank black canvas and shows us what he can do when given nothing to work with but himself

And he's going to create everything At this point in the text at least coming from verse 2 at the end of verse 2

There's a suspense that's supposed to be there and we miss it a little bit all is darkness and empty

But the Spirit of God is there hovering signaling that something is about to change in the times of Moses Seas and deep water and darkness symbolized chaos and fear and although I believe that this is literal water

The earth was completely encapsulated by water at this time in ancient history

The notion of chaos evokes fear and I think Moses the people who read this in Moses time as he was writing

It would have evoked fear in them this notion of the world being filled with darkness and deep water over the face of the earth

But the presence of the Spirit shows that God is going to make good out of that which appears to be chaos the

God who fashions good out of chaos as we see in the text very good things out of Dark nothingness have you met that God?

Have you met the one who was able to take nothing and form good out of it? What about your circumstances?

What about your situation? What about where you live? What about your upbringing? But what about all the all the baggage in the crud that you bring into life or that you have it had?

encountered in life Can God work in your chaos? Can he fix the darkness that you see in your own heart and in you this one who has created?

Everything that exists as we're gonna see by just speaking it happens Have you met that God?

The first act of creation comes by a powerful spoken word from God himself. Let there be light and There was light

Very straightforward, right? How does that work for you? When you speak God lets his will be known he says

I want there to be light and there then light happens Now if any of you studied any physics at all or to the level of at least learning something about light and how light works and how little we

Understand how light works And he speaks it and it comes to pass You know,

I'm I'd like to just sit in front of the TV and say sandwich chips and salsa

We might abuse that power a little bit right but um, that doesn't work for us does it you don't just speak and it happens

Okay, you got to get up go get the chips go make me go buy the chips. Oh, no, we're out of salsa

What are we gonna do now? He just speaks and it occurs it happens the power of God That he creates with speech shows both a demonstration of his divine will he wants you to know that he wanted light to happen and Then it happened subsequent to him speaking it

So he lets his intention be known first and then it comes to pass But also there's something fundamental that we learn about our

God here. He's a God who speaks He's a God who communicates he values communication and speech and he chooses to use that as the mode of Creation and God saw that the light was good

Now some have translated this word good as beautiful But either way, whatever whatever way you want to translate it.

This is God Placing judgment on the creation and saying I'm going to discern creation.

This is good. I like this This is beautiful It's a value word he's valuing creation

And it's apparent that God is pleased He's enjoying the act of creation have you ever watched a little kid play with blocks or Legos and build a tower as tall as they can and Their brother or sister comes and knocks it down and they cry about it or whatever

But you know what? I mean, there's delight and there's joy in creating something, right? You see that I mean that's kind of the picture of what we have here with God creating and he's like I like this

He's into it Okay. Do you think about God that way or do you think of him as kind of just stoic and standing there?

Check it. This is good. This is good more more of this. I like this

And God separates day and night light and darkness and he names the light day and the darkness night and After his work day is over.

He concludes with evening and then arrives the morning. The first day was done Now the first day proceeds the creation of the

Sun and the stars So many have taken this as a chance to attack the concept of day in the text

Like how could there be a day without the Sun and the moon and the stars? But I want to point out that it would have been very obvious to people of Moses's day that he was writing about a day

That's the way they would have understood the word in Hebrew I do not doubt for a moment that Moses had in mind here a literal day.

I really believe that firmly That's what he was thinking when he wrote this He's thinking about a day

Even the way we divide up our work week comes from this account it's been understood all the way back to ancient times as a day

But many who are scientifically minded have already begun to turn to the question. How do we have light without the

Sun and the stars? How is all of this going on and that you turn to these scientific questions in your mind that the text is not going to answer

So there's an element of faith in this would you agree with me on all of this? There's going to be an element of faith.

We're talking about scripture here This isn't a scientific account and any attempt to explain

How there can be Sun or how there can be light without the Sun and the stars? You try to explain that with photons or wave particle theory or you know?

You can just geek out on astrophysics all you want and try to come up with an explanation for house

How light exists without the sources that misses the point the point of the text?

Is that God is the source of light? He's the creator of it. He dictates how it works and where it goes.

He's creating the physics of it even in our text The Sun is not the source of light

The stars are not the source of light fire is not the source of light God is the one who in the text on day one says what?

Let there be light he is the source of Light as a matter of fact we even know that in the end

God's going to remake this earth and there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and It says in the book of Revelation and there will be no

Sun For he the Lamb of God will be the source of its light

God himself will be the source of light on the new earth That's where it's all going

And we're getting a very basic introduction to the creation of stuff here and science is going to take

Millennia to try to figure some of these things out and even now we don't have it figured out We don't even really understand if light is a particle is light a wave is it both?

We just try to figure that out and Einstein helped us to understand some things and now they're trying to rework Einstein and trying to figure other things out

I'm quite confident that God did not need to follow the laws of physics in the process of creating the laws of physics

He didn't he didn't he wasn't constrained to that Day two is a day of forming structures.

We're going to see in some cryptic language It can be difficult for us to discern and I'm not going to get into all the nuances of it

But water below separated from water above what we ultimately have here is the the development of atmosphere

Climate weather patterns all of that stuff is being formed on day two This is where the natural

Evaporation cycle and the climates came into being and his spoken word the powerful forces of weather sprang into existence he speaks and The waters above separate from the waters below evaporation begins in this entire cycle of how many of you are grateful

We have an atmosphere Anybody glad for that some oxygen to breathe and some stuff going on between the waters above and the waters below I'm glad for that.

I'm gonna be like rain from time to time What are you like snow snow, okay, okay a couple couple people like snow

I didn't know if I was gonna get anybody on that one. Of course if you don't like snow What are you doing in Michigan people?

There's other places to be There we go

What snow we don't we don't have snow yet, that's right God named the expanse above Heaven and the second day ended but let me just say

I mean, let me point out to you something That's just a very critical part of our worldview in our understanding Are we able to control the weather?

When when when Sandy comes and hits shore in the Northeast What do we what is our recourse?

What do we do? Hide we run we hide we board things up and we run because we don't even know where it's gonna land

We take some guesses. I mean if you I mean you live in Michigan So, you know that they're really uneducated guesses when it comes to the weather

I mean you can pretty much count on it being the opposite of whatever they tell us it's gonna be so I'm expecting a snowstorm tonight or something, but We can't control the weather right we don't we don't have control over this

This is this is an area where God has created this with the spoken word and and these things come into being

Day three is split between forming and filling so it's gonna have both components in it again God speaks in the waters waters and dry land separate

He declares it and it was so seas form the

Mountains raise mountains deserts tundra plateaus foothills underwater trenches lakes rivers

Ponds streams all of those features come at the spoken word of God And God saw that it was good.

He tells us. I'm still enjoying this still valuing this still like this and Then now in on day three in the two short verses of 11 and 12 now

They're not super short as far as verses in Scripture goes But when you think about plants

When you think about botany when you think about all that is in the plant kingdom on this planet Two verses dedicated to their creation boom.

They're there He speaks plants sprout up from the ground I'm gonna geek out on you for just a minute a few times during this during this sermon

I took a botany class and in In high school, and I really I really love plants, and I enjoyed that I took an astronomy class.

I enjoy astronomy I kind of like science I get into that But think about the complexity some of you maybe you understand plants some of you understand plants better than I do

But but the components of flowers pistil stamen roots leaves xylem floam creeping ivies the great sequoia trees out west cacti bananas

Almonds tomatoes Kiwi he speaks and they're there He speaks and they come up and they form

This is our God this is a God who speaks and it happens and Anybody impressed by that?

Anybody kind of moved a little bit to awe it it he speaks and cells form and nuclei and by the way on day

Three, what did we see the first time? DNA Plants have DNA We actually see the ability to replicate we see reproduction for the first time where something unique that God creates is able to take from the earth

Components and form another one of itself Is that amazing? Any of you ever look at an acorn and go oh my goodness.

There's an oak tree in here somewhere That's pretty amazing. Would you agree with me on that? Do you understand how a seed works?

I? Don't I'm not sure that scientists really get a seed. Otherwise, we'd be building them

Right, we can reorganize them and retool them and restructure them and get all kinds of genetically modified food

I don't want to go there, but we can get all kinds of stuff But we can we can retool those things, but we don't invent new plants.

God speaks and there they all are It's amazing And as incredible as it sounds

I believe it and I don't only believe it But I believe it's the main point of the text.

We are meeting the God who creates all of this with speech By an act of his will and he does so in one day.

He creates the plant kingdom God was delighted in it. The text tells us it was good.

He admires his work and the third day is done Now a side note here If I were making up if I were

Moses and I was inventing the way that God created the world So I'm gonna just say I'm gonna fictionalize this and I'm gonna just sit down with a pen in my hand and I'm gonna invent

A way that God created. I might tweak Moses's account here about right here. I Might make the

Sun before the plants would any of you agree with me on that? If you were if you were kind of just inventing this and making it up But day four is when we get the

Sun day three is when we get the plants. So which came first plants or the Sun?

according to the account Plants, but don't worry because God had already created light.

So they're gonna be okay. Okay, we created light on what day? Day one. Okay, so don't stress about the plants.

I know some of you are getting worried about them How are they gonna last in the darkness until the Sun is created?

They're gonna be okay All right, and on the fourth day he continues

Filling by filling the heavens with lights now the purpose of the lights in the heavens the greater by day the lesser by night and the stars and all that the purpose of those lights in the heavens is for Light yeah, the purpose is for light.

That's what the text tells us also though for marking time festivals seasons For our ability to keep a calendar.

They're structured in that way with order So what we have on day four is

God igniting the nuclear reaction at the heart of every star with the word of his mouth

We don't comprehend the power output our Sun is a is a meager star by astronomical units

Okay by astronomical understanding. It's it's a meager one. It's not not huge Okay, it's

Medium size. There's some that are smaller and more dense that put out more power

There's some that are large that are consuming themselves and there's all different kinds of crazy There are some that are just just gigantic huge We cannot comprehend the amount of power required to run the

Sun for one second We don't have terms for that kind of power output it's one second and God ignites him

One day with the word of his mouth And look at how flippantly verse 16 carries itself look down at the text at verse 16

I want you to see it and God made the two great lights The greater light to rule the day.

What are we talking about when we're talking about the greater light? The lesser light to rule the night the moon and the stars

Just a little side note. Oh, I didn't want to leave out the stars and he created the stars, too Okay, it's kind of it's almost kind of flippant the way that it addresses the star

So I want to I want to give you I'm gonna call this I'm gonna say this is a stupid illustration before I even give it because it just it's it's hard to even

I'm gonna try something here and it's probably not gonna work. But You might get the point. We've estimated that the number of stars that human eyes have seen

Okay, how many how many stars have we seen as a human race including telescopes and all that? So the estimate we have to estimate it because we don't you know, nobody can count

But we've estimated is we kind of haven't, you know can count in a certain section and then kind of go from there

We estimate that we have seen as the human race approximately 10 billion trillion stars

Get it invent, you know 10 billion trillion. That's not no, that's not 10 quadrillion or something like that.

It's 10 million 10 billion trillion stars Now to try to explain this is just kind of you have to bear with me for a second

But if every person on this planet Take the entire population of planet Earth and we're gonna share the task of naming the stars that we know exist

By the way, scientists say that there are probably more stars. We haven't seen than the ones that we have seen

So we're just talking about the ones that we can take in with our eyes If every single person on this planet was given an equal number of Stars to name each one of us would have more than a trillion stars to name

So you have a trillion you have a trillion you have a trillion a trillion now We're talking about deficit kind of numbers here.

Um, and and and so just let me give you No Let me give it.

Let me give you how what's a trillion? I think we have a hard time conceiving of even a trillion That's a hard. That's a hard thing to get our wrap our minds around Okay So let me tell you that if each one of us then were to name

Every star that's been given to us and it was only gonna take us one second to name every star

Are you bearing with it you get in the illustration so far it would take the human race 31 ,000 years to name the stars that we know exist

With all seven billion of us naming one per second for thirty one thousand years

Stupid illustration. I know I mean it is How many you get, you know, thirty one thousand years.

Okay, that's that's in the ballpark. No a hundred years is a long time for a life right thirty one thousand years to There's a lot of stars.

That's the point. I mean I could have just said that right Moses was writing this account of creation at a time where the common culture

Worshiped the Sun and the moon and in the stars and as a matter of fact There's not a language on the face of this planet that uses a word for Sun and Moon that are not deity

Or that don't come from the name of a god or a goddess Every single human language.

So when you see Moses refer to them as the greater light and the lesser light, what's he doing? he's avoiding the evoking of the names of Pagan deities say no no

No, you you guys worship all of my culture around me worships this light in the sky and this light in the night

And you know what? I'm trying to talk to you about the God who created them with the words of his mouth

He spoke and they came into being these are not to be worshipped That's just that's a ball of fire in the sky.

That's a rock in the in the night sky God Created these things with the word of his mouth

God gets into the stars. He's pretty excited about him and the fourth day comes to an end Verses 20 through 22 with the

Word of God with the Word of God He created the fish and the birds Fortunately, he did both on the same day.

So you don't all come up to me and afterwards and ask what about the penguins? Were they the sea creatures were they birds up same day?

Don't worry about it. They were created on the same day. Okay, um Think of the diversity of birds and aquatic life

Is there some diversity there? birds with their hollow bones feathers and wings anybody

You haven't been impressed watching a bird You just just sit and watch a bird sometime this week out your window.

Maybe it's at your office in your daydreaming anyways So watch it watch birds watch them and watch what they're able to do.

They are adjusting their little how big are their brains? It's tiny and they're able to process wind speed and all that to just land on a branch

Just fly up laying on a branch. Have you ever seen that deceleration all of that stuff? Here's what impressed me this week just this week

I was thinking about this kind of watching birds thinking about creation and stuff. I saw a bird fly right through a bush

Have you ever seen that? You could give me wings and the ability to fly and I guarantee

I would clothesline myself trying to fly through a bush I would You know ducking we try to get through and I would

I'd end up on the ground I mean just the ability for them to process that kind of information that quickly the birds are it's impressive to me

How about all the deep sea life that we see from the fish the sharks the octopus the all of the stuff?

That's down there Some things we're just now discovering every year We uncover new species on our on this planet like we live on this planet, right?

And there are things that we've never seen yet We find new species every year.

Is that crazy to some of you? I mean you think well boy, we're overpopulating this place and then you realize I mean there's places.

We've never been estimates Say that we've mapped about five five percent of the oceans bottom

Did you hear that about five how big is the how big are the oceans how much water is there on this planet?

About 5 % of the oceans bottom we know what's there Which think about that the next time you're in Florida swimming at the beach.

You don't know what's in there. I Mean even the things that you know are in there can be scary, but you don't know what's in there

There could be some things down there that we uncover that I mean and you ever seen a goblin shark or some of these kind of like Megamouth sharks or some of these things that we've uncovered

I just recently we're finding and I'm not talking about you know all we found a new speed. I was we found a new species

Just in the last few years. We found some big ones pretty crazy stuff But it scared you all from your

Florida vacation in there. God is

Again Calling it good. He gives these the ability to multiply

Commands them to multiply which is a unique characteristic of life again. It's ability to reproduce and Then he says it's good and again anytime we step back

I want to say this and kind of apply it to us so God is creating and he steps back and he says this is Good Have any of you ever done that?

Just you're just being honest not talking about in a prideful arrogant kind of way But you did something you got a project done. You made something you create something.

You're like that's good. That's cool I like that You're reflecting God when you do that That's not a bad thing

But it would only be a fool who as a human would create something and think they are the end

Cause of that thing why? Because God has created the medium by which we

Create and again the Hebrew language reserves the word create for only God we retool stuff

We reshape it We take the raw materials that are here and build cars and computers and iPads and cool stuff with it, right?

But it's God stuff. He created it. We reshape it and retool it, right? so it's okay for you to delight and to rejoice when a

Project at work has gone well or when things are going good in your job Or when you've you've made something for your yard, or you've done something cool like that Or you made a piece of furniture or all these kinds of things

But give glory where it belongs Make sure that you say thank you God for the skills the abilities the gifts and the stuff that you've given me to be able

To do this with does that make sense? But you can reflect God in rejoicing over the product of your hand

Day five comes to an end and on day six everything comes to a head everything really in the text points to everything the

Accounts of creation get longer from let there be light and it was so To all the way up to day six where we get a lot more detail everything focuses its attention towards day six

Land animals are made from the tiniest shrew to the elephant from the insects to the reptiles and the amphibians

All the creeping things that live on the solid surfaces of the earth and notice that God commanded the earth to bring them forth

I don't believe that that's evidence for evolution I still believe we're talking about this all occurring within a literal day

But he does command the earth to bring them forth commands the water to bring them forth With the plants and animals

God passively tells the earth in the water to form them He speaks it and it comes to pass but look at the shift in verse 26

Now God speaks to himself He's been commanding all of these other things, but now he says let us make

Some things changed and as we're gonna see at the beginning of chapter 2 and throughout chapter 2 next next week that God is

Intimately involved in the formation of humanity He takes of the dust of the ground and forms and fashions humanity

That a little different than what's happened so far Speaks and it comes into being speaks and it comes into being speaks and it comes into being and all of a sudden a shift

Let us make Not speech and it's done but a

Trinitarian conference what I believe is a Trinitarian conference father -son Holy Spirit Together at the start with intent to create a creature in their image

In a survey on the book of Genesis I'm not going to be able to delve super deep into the concept of image of God But let me just say that I think we've misunderstood that to some degree.

What is the image of God? What does it mean to be created in the image of God some people have said well, it's intellect. It's morality

It's our ability to create it's all of these things and it's some the summary of it is that it's in our abilities

We're able to do things that animals aren't I don't think so I think that the image of God is a calling to a responsibility for humanity to reflect

God That's what it means to be a bearer of the image of God It's like we've been made to be mirrors to reflect him to the rest of creation now

He's given us some abilities in that that help us to do that So we're gonna see he's gonna tell us to subdue and to control this planet to take care of it

Basically, we're giving his caretakers to it And so he gives us I think that Back up now some of the abilities that he's given us are for the purpose

So if God gives you a task to accomplish does he not also empower you to get it done?

So he's called us as a people as a race to be his

Benevolent ambassadors to this place and then he's given us the abilities to do that But the image of God strictly speaking is a calling on our lives

It's something he's made us to do to reflect him to the rest of creation and it's important to understand that humanity created as both male and female is the representative of God to this world each gender has a unique ability to reflect the rule and reign of God on this planet

So we are to exercise God's control and his reign Again as benevolent ambassadors to this creation and in verse 28

We see what's been often called the creation mandate if you're taking notes You can write that down and you'll see it in writing from time to time verse 28 is called the creation mandate

Here we see God the call of God on humanity really one of the first commands in Scripture To be fruitful and multiply and subdue and have dominion over the rest of creation as those made in the image of God We are able to execute his will in reigning over creation with the same delight

However that he expressed throughout this chapter So are we to control and rule in this over this world in a way that is detrimental to this world?

We should not We should be benevolent towards this world that God has created to be very good

I'm not going to get into Environmentalism here or global warming or any of that? I'll leave that up to you to discern and to figure out but should we be responsible?

We should Even if it's just simply not throwing your McDonald's cup out the window when you're driving down the road

Not just merely because there's a $300 fine attached to that, you know They see that sign once in a while, but more than that, right we are responsible and we should be responsible

Because we've been created that way And in a culture where the expectation was that the gods had created

Humanity to meet their needs That's the way it was in Moses's time that the general belief was that the gods in heaven said, you know what?

We need food. Let's create humanity and provide us with it The exact opposite is here in this account

God meets their needs by providing food for them and all the animals All the animals were vegetarians up to this point

You see that in verse 29 very very clearly and God said behold I've given to you every plant yielding fruit that is on the face of the earth to be your food

Which means ultimately the animals were all vegetarians at the beginning But it takes a little bit of faith to get your mind around doesn't it?

I mean you all of a sudden science and sharp teeth and carnivores and all that stuff. How does that all work out?

You'll have to wrestle with that. The text isn't going to be explicit on some of these things but take it face value and another thing that I just Just a little point of issue here

There's indications that on the new earth. It will be rolled back to that Where we won't eat a lot of meat.

So go get some bacon for lunch Okay, and I'm getting you know, some steak wrapped in bacon or something like that.

I don't really know I mean, I'm not stating definitively I don't have the whole inside scoop, but definitely scripture seems to indicate that on a new earth

We won't kill animals and eat them. Okay, so we are given that we are given that freedom now

And I want to be clear that this is not a call for all of you to become vegans or vegetarians That's not in the text.

As a matter of fact, we're gonna see after Noah an actual Definitive statement from God in the book of Genesis.

It's okay to eat meat. That's acceptable But I do think that things are gonna change in the end.

So Get your bacon fix now Maybe he'll make something that tastes like bacon.

I don't know still sizzles I don't know The the six -day ends the heavens and the earth were finished the laws of physics were put in place

That which was originally formless now has form and that which was originally void Has now been filled and God declared it not just good.

He declared it Very good He has not removed from his creation.

He has not manufactured a widget with disinterest standing off at a distance. Look at this

He has birthed the creation he treasures it he likes it he thinks it's pretty neat God created a day of rest by example day seven is to be an example to us

God did not get tired and was in need of a hammock But more so this rest reflects a satisfied pleasure in the completion of creation.

It's not a weary rest like boy I'm exhausted. I need a nap. It's the rest of an artist who sits back admiring his finished work and God made the seventh day holy and This concludes the creation of the world according to Genesis chapter 1

Consider that in the text we've met God The Creator and we've also met ourselves in the text

God the Creator The Almighty who speaks and it is accomplished the one whom we ought to fall to our knees before in awe and wonder at his immense power but We also meet ourselves in the text

And let me state very clearly that we are not creator we are the created

But we do have intrinsic worth To be a human on planet earth is declared to be very good now the fall is coming and we're gonna mess that up and We're gonna break it, but this creation is not the problem

I think some people fall into that notion that boy if we could just get more Spiritual and get away from stuff the stuff is what's evil and boy if we could just get rid of stuff

We'd be okay and get up there where the harps are and we could just pass through walls and just be like ethereal floating

This is this is not an evil table. Okay. There's no such thing as an evil table and be clear about that There's no such thing as evil material stuff

God created it good now is it can be corrupted Can it be used for evil?

Yes, absolutely But we meet ourselves here, and we are the created we have intrinsic worth

It is good to be here, but we were made to be made to be mirrors to shine and to reflect the

Creator God But we broke ourselves The fall by disobeying him and so have any of you ever looked at your reflection in a mirror a broken mirror

We ever seen have you ever any raise your hand if you've seen a broken mirror before that was still intact Can you picture it?

Can you at least picture what it's like to look into a a broken mirror? You can't quite make out the reflection the image is unclear.

That's the way we are now because of the fall So we are meant to image God to reflect him to others

That when they look at our lives they see something of God in there But we're shattered and we're broken and we don't reflect him very well, and that's not super encouraging, right?

But that makes sense of why the Apostle Paul spoke of Jesus Christ as the

Image of God not a image of God the image of God For he is the one who accurately

Correctly portrays shows us the image the reflection of the Creator God himself Jesus Christ in flesh showing us what it means to be an accurate reflector of God.

That's why we ought to get to know him We had a walk with him. We ought to talk with him. We ought to read about him.

We ought to worship him we ought to emulate him Be like him

Because he is the one who is the image of the Creator God he shows us what it means to be like that and Anybody who would give their life over to him and accept his forgiveness because he died on the cross for you

He will pick up the pieces of the broken mirror and melt them back together again and bring you to a place

Where one day on the other side of this life you will be able to accurately reflect your father and even in this life

He'll still pick up those pieces and make it more like the image of his father

Does that make sense? We are meant to be image bearers We are meant to shine

God to this creation and to each other and we do a very poor job of that Would you agree with me on that?

But that is the calling The powerful God who makes order out of emptiness is the one who sent

Jesus Christ his son to the world to die for our sins As we come to communion this week, please reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for your sins

Think on the cross Think on the perfect creation that so delighted the father. He was stating at every turn.

It's good. It's good. It's good And then we then we broke it It's now been stained and broken by sin.

Don't end there Don't don't end with that being your meditation during communion But think about the delight of the father who is in the process of restoring all things through his son

Jesus If you're here this morning and you haven't met this God through his son Jesus Then I'd ask you to please pass the bread and the juice

This is an opportunity for us to remember what Jesus has done for us If you don't believe Jesus has done that for you, then it doesn't make sense for you to remember it, right?

But what I would encourage you to do is to think and to contemplate and to consider the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for you

That can make you whole if you will give yourself over to him by faith if you have

Recognized Jesus Christ as the Savior and the Lord and the one who bears the image of God Then please join in the celebration of sacrifice

By which God is making us whole and complete once again. Let's pray father,

I thank you for The opportunity to just contemplate and consider the awe of who you are.

You are creator God And that you would even now be listening to us is just a mystery to me as as I've been so far beyond me, but you are the one who spoke and the sea separated from the dry land and light came into being and the plants and the animals and the birds and the fish and You even fashioned us for a purpose for a reason

Father I pray as we get an opportunity to take this Cracker take this little cup of juice and to think about The body of Jesus that was broken for us that we might be made whole that we might more accurately and correctly reflect you

Day by day month by month year by year that we're being put back together again because Jesus Christ has promised to do so And father we think about the juice and the blood that covers our sins and washes us clean the blood of a perfect sacrifice your son

Jesus Christ I ask that you would move our hearts to rejoice and let us walk through this next week with joy and gratitude

And awe and wonder as we get an opportunity to be in this creation Help us to reflect you to others around us and help us to also recognize that when we see others

We are looking at an image bearer of you that you would help that to Keep us from harsh words keep us from violence keep us from Being rude and mean

Help it to move us on to love and towards kindness for those who bear your image even if they're very broken