Genesis #6 - Foundations #6 - The Search for Significance in a Fallen World (Genesis 5)

The Search for Significance in Genesis 5

Just buy one, it'll be good for you anyway. But we do have five copies on the back table there. Hope that those will be a blessing to you. All right, I think those are all the announcements I have. So if you have your Bible, and I hope you do, take it in turn with me to Genesis chapter five.

Genesis chapter five is we return to our sermon series that we've entitled Foundations, the story of Genesis one through 11. Well, Genesis one through 11 and the story of everything.

There we go.

Genesis chapter five. And as you're turning there, let's just say a few words before we come to the text that we're going to read. As we come to Genesis chapter five, I will appreciate that these are not the most scintillating words in all the Bible.

If you've been reading ahead in our sermon series, which I would happily encourage you to do. We have bookmarks on the greeting table out there. Grab one and you'll be able to basically figure out where I'm going each week.

If you've been reading ahead and you read Genesis chapter five you encountered a list of names. As much as I love the scriptures and I love teaching them, I will be the first to appreciate that as engagement goes, this is a pretty challenging portion of God's word.

It seems somewhat monotonous with just mentioning this person was born, had this many kids, they died, this person. It may seem like that. But if we believe, as we said last week, and if you weren't here last week, I encourage you to watch the message on our YouTube channel from last week.

If we are convinced that every word of God is inspired, and if we're convinced that every word of God is here to do something in the lives of God's people, and if we're convinced that every word of this scripture is given to exhort Christ in his fullness, if we believe that to be true, then one, we can't help but preach this, and two, we can't help but understand that there is something that our gracious God desires us to learn from, be comforted by, and equipped by from even this text.

And so I'd encourage you, as much as the temptation might be there to switch off and say, I have no idea what he's gonna pull from this chapter, may I encourage you to dial in because there may be something here that you haven't thought about.

So with that in mind, if you have your Bibles, and I hope you're there in Genesis chapter five, and we are going to read not the entire chapter, we're gonna read verses one and two, and then we'll skip down to verses 21 to 24.

So Genesis chapter five, verses one and two, and then 21 to 24, we will study the whole chapter, but we'll just read those few verses. So Genesis chapter five, from verse one through to verse two and then 21 to 24, it's our habit here at Redeemer that for the text that we read for the sermon, we read responsibly, so if I can invite you to stand with me one last time, out of reverence for God's word.

Genesis chapter five, and verses one and two, I will read the odd-numbered verses, I'll invite you to read the even-numbered verses. So Genesis chapter five, from verse one, brothers and sisters, these are God's words.

This is the document containing the family records of Adam. On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them, male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind.

Come down to verse 21 with me. Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. And after he fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. So Enoch's life lasted 365 years.

Enoch walked with God, then he was not there because God took him. The gospel is the flower fades, but this word of God will not pass away. So let's pray with me, let's ask for the Spirit's help and then we'll come to this text.

Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for the truth that it proclaims. We pray that even as we come to this portion of your word, that on the surface, it doesn't seem to be saying so much, we pray that your Spirit would grant us insights and understanding.

May he open our eyes, as the psalmist said, that we would hear wonderful things out of your law. And Father, as it's our custom, we like to pray for churches in our area and in our region. I wanna pray for my friend, Pastor Gordon Broadbent and his congregation, Emmanuel Baptist, over there in Klamath Falls.

Pray that as their church is experiencing a season of growth and a season of all the challenges that come with that, that you would bless them, you would help them. Be with Pastor Gordon and his elders as they deal with the challenges of shepherding the flock.

May Jesus be lifted up through the witness of that church there in Klamath, and may he be lifted up even now as we proclaim your word here. We ask these things in Jesus' name and for his sake, amen. Please be seated.

The Reality of God as the Foundation of Human Meaning

I don't think I'm saying anything that's out of the ordinary when I say that human beings, as human beings, crave significance. None of us want to, if we're honest in ourselves and the quietness of our hearts, none of us want to believe that even in a fallen world, we're here for just an ordinary life as it were.

But if we're also honest with ourselves, what we desire and what we experience in life doesn't always match. We live, we go to work, we raise our families the same as everyone else. But even with the satisfaction, at least some of us get out of work, and even with the joy of raising our families, seeing generations arise where once upon a time there was just us, we still struggle.

Even with all of that, with the question, what am I here for? I've titled our message this afternoon, The Search for Significance in a Fallen World, The Search for Significance in a Fallen World, because I think that in Genesis chapter five, even with the monotonous feel that it has as you read the whole chapter, there's something here about the search for significance that we have as human beings.

And I think that God answers that question for us as to why we are here. Now, like I said, I'm honest enough and aware enough to know that for most people, Genesis five is not top of their favorite chapters.

In all of the Bible.

But I've made this point a few times in our study of Genesis, and I want to make it again this afternoon. When you read Genesis, you are reading a highly well-thought-out document with a strategy to it.

Nothing in Genesis, as with all the Word of God, but especially these first five books of the Old Testament, and Genesis in particular, these books testify to a structure, a strategy that is taking place.

The author is trying to communicate something. And so with every type of literature he uses, he's trying to make a point. When you see something in the book of Genesis, you have got to ask yourself, why is it here?

And what is Moses, and more importantly, the Spirit of God, through Moses, trying to teach us through this section of his Word? Genesis chapter five is the beginning of yet another major section in Genesis.

You know, we've called these these Toledot sections, because that's what the original word is in Hebrew, these record sections, as it were. So far, we've seen in Genesis chapter one and the beginning of chapter two, the foundation was laid in creation.

Chapter two through to the end of chapter four dealt with the beginnings of the world and the effects of the fall, as we see in chapter three. And as you come to this new section in chapter five, really through to the beginning of chapter six, you've got a focus on Adam and his descendants.

And the focus here is especially on what happens to Adam and his descendants in light of their fallenness. Our chapter this afternoon sets up this new record with a focus, you remember from our last study in chapter four, we ended with these two bloodlines, the line that came from Cain and then the line that comes from Seth.

Well, as we come to chapter five, we kind of zoom in on the line that came from Seth. You remember the end of chapter four, we saw this wonderful phrase that comes up right at the end, that at that time, men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

This line of Seth gets highlighted for us. And if you didn't hear that message again on our YouTube channel, you can go back and hear that message from chapter four. In chapter five, the zoom light comes on this line and we're going to learn what becomes of this line.

This line that's ultimately through whom the promise of Genesis chapter three in verse 16 would ultimately be fulfilled. As we move through this chapter, one truth above all of them is gonna become very apparent, I should say.

That truth is this, that the eternal triune God alone gives meaning and significance to life in a fallen world. Therefore, we should walk with Him in humble faith. Let me say that again. The eternal triune God alone gives meaning and significance to life in a fallen world.

Therefore, we should walk with Him in humble faith. You see, as you read this chapter, it becomes very apparent that the key to the significance of man in any way, shape or form can't be divorced from who God is.

And therefore, if man desires to find meaning and significance to life in this world, he has to walk with God in humble faith. For the rest of our time this afternoon, I want to consider four eternal realities that give significance to life in a fallen world.

If we are, as all human beings, searching for significance, searching for meaning, what does Genesis chapter five have to teach us about that? Well, as I said, there are four eternal realities that spring up from this text that I believe gives significance to life in a fallen world.

Consider with me, first of all, then, the reality of God, the reality of God in verses one and two, the reality of God. The technical term for what you see here in Genesis chapter five is that it's a genealogy.

It's a listing of a family line. And this genealogy opens up with a prologue. It opens up with some explanation, some explanatory material that helps us to make sense of what we're reading. So in chapter five, verses one and two, we read, this is the document containing the family records of Adam.

On the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and called them mankind. As you remember from our very first exposition in Genesis, the pinnacle of creation week was the creation of man and woman in the image of God.

And once again, the author wants to highlight that unique creation by focusing particularly on four acts of God, all of which have a relationship to man. So you catch that there in the end of verse one.

It says, first of all, God made him in the likeness of God. Man, first of all, is created in the image of God. Secondly, the text notes that God created mankind both male and female. It's not that just man bears the image of God.

No, it is male and female together that man bears the image of God.

Thirdly, God blessed them.

God didn't just create them and send them off into the world, but he sends them into this world he's created with his blessing. And finally, God names them. He gives them their identity. He is the one who names them mankind.

But here's the thing. If you've been reading Genesis up to this point, and the author assumes you have, this isn't new information. He's already told us all of this. So why does he feel the need to mention it again?

Well, brothers and sisters,.

Can I put it to you that this is here to highlight the fact that God is the first and highest reality of all? That before we talk about anything else in relation to man, we need to get straight who God is and what he has done.

Before we talk about anything else, we have to make sense of God and his actions in the world. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion. His first sentence in that book, it's actually not as hard a book as it might sound.

His first sentence in the book is this. Quote, nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts, the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. Can I put it to you that that's the writing of a wise man who's read his Bible?

That for us to make sense of anything in this world, there's two things we need to understand, who God is and who we are. And might I put it to you that we need to know both of those in that order? You see, before we even try and make sense of the world, the author of Genesis would have us to, as it were, look at God and what he has done.

Because in understanding each of those four actions of God, that he created man in his image, that he made man both male and female, that he blessed them and that he named them mankind, in each of those actions, we learn something about God and we learn something about who we are.

So because man is created in the image of God, he's created with the capacity to know and to serve God. You wanna know more about that, I invite you to go back to the message from Genesis 1, 1 to 2, 3, where we talked about the image of God in some detail.

Secondly, if man is created male and female, it is only in conformity to God's design that man can truly thrive and flourish. I feel that this needs to be said, especially in 2022, where our society has, as it were, fallen and bumped its head and seems to have forgotten how it is that God created the world.

And then we wonder why the world is falling apart when we have rejected God's design for creation. No, it's only in conformity to the design of God.

As he made it.

God created men, male and female, to complement one another. It's only in conformity to that good design that man can truly thrive and flourish. Thirdly, the fact that God blesses man helps us to know that outside of the blessing of God, man is doomed to futility.

Man can't basically say, well, if I reject God, everything's going to be fine. Reject God and everything starts to fall off. And finally, because man derives his name, and you have to understand for people in the ancient world, a man's name wasn't just what you called him.

It was his identity.

It was who he was.

In other words, because man derives his name, his identity from God himself, disconnected from God, man is truly nothing. And the author of Genesis would have us to understand this very simple truth as we get started, that without God, there truly is nothing.

This year, man's search for significance proves this. You look at the great philosophers and all the ones that rejected the idea of God. They eventually get to the point where there's no purpose to life.

There's no significance. Man is just a futile being. He's here, he's born, he dies. There's no value whatsoever.

Why?

Because you rejected that which gives man value, which is the triune God of scripture. That's what Paul could say in Romans 11, verses 33 to 36. Oh, the depths of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways.

For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Or who has ever given to God that he should be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. Those words are important.

From him, all things find their origin from him. Through him, he is a sustainer of life. And to him, he's the ultimate goal of life. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen.

This is the foundation of foundations. And in a culture where we say that human identity and human significance stems from a strong belief in self, the Bible comes crashing in like the Kool-Aid guy through the wall and says, no, not quite.

Actually, your identity flows from knowing who God is. And so that's the first, the most foundational reality we see in this text. The most foundational thing we learn about life in this world, that before us, there was the almighty God.

And without the almighty God, we don't make sense. So that's the first reality we see, the reality of God. But secondly, will you note with me the reality of life and death? The reality of life and death versus three through 20.

Okay, so far so good. Okay, one and two, there's some value there. What do we do with three through 20? It's literally just a list of names. You look at it and there's a, I'm gonna say repetition, there's a cadence to it.

It just kind of repeats itself.

You have a father.

You have the age when he had his firstborn son. You have the name of the firstborn. You have the remaining years of his life. And then you have a statement that he died and how old he was when he died.

And it just repeats itself over and over and over. Six times actually. Six cycles of this. You have Adam, Adam gives birth to Seth. Seth gives birth to a son called Enosh. Enosh gives birth to a son called Kenan.

Kenan gives birth to a son called Mahalalel. And then Mahalalel gives birth to a son called Jared. Now you may read that and think, okay, seems straightforward. Nothing to see here, can we just move on?

But might I encourage you to slow down. Because you see, again, this is a narrative. Genesis primarily is a narrative. And with narratives, it's as much about what is behind the text as much as what you can see in the text in front of you.

As you look behind this text, can I point out two lessons that we learned from this? First of all, in the midst, even in a fallen world, man still fills the earth. Man still fills the earth. Do you remember back in Genesis 1, 26 to 28, what God's blessing over man and woman was?

If you forgot it, let me read it to you. Genesis 1, 26 to 28. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness.

They will rule the fish of the sea,.

The birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth. So God created man in his own image. He created him in the image of God. He created the male and female.

God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth. But that was before the fall.

But before you're tempted to think, well, that was before the fall of man, and that's not the case now. This is after the fall. And yet you see, God is still faithful to the blessing that he gave. People are still having children, and slowly but surely, they are filling the earth as God intended.

That you have the reality of life here, that even in a fallen world, God still sees fit that man should fill the earth, that he should multiply as he commanded. It's interesting to note that, though it mentions the firstborn son, it goes on all six times, if you read verses three through 20, and notes that each of these fathers had other sons and daughters, that they filled the earth and they multiply just as God had commanded.

So that's the good news.

But remember, this is after the fall. And so since this is after the fall, secondly, we learn that man still lives under the curse. Because just as you see a repetition of life.

And multiplication,.

You also see the repetition of the fact that each of these men died. So-and-so was born, had kids, died. So-and-so was born, had kids, died. The recurring mention of death, as it were, haunts this genealogy, that drumbeat of death and passing.

It's supposed to clue you into the fact that no matter who it is, death will come knocking for all of us. As I'm fond of reminding you all with great regularity, I'm from England. Historically speaking, there's an argument to be had, but generally speaking, most people would agree that one of England's best periods, Britain's greatest periods as a historical nation, was Victorian England, the period under Queen Victoria.

British Empire was arguably at its height. It was said about Victorian England, which was an interesting place from a historical perspective, that Victorian England was ashamed of discussing sex and obsessed with death.

You read a lot of the poetry.

That comes out of Victorian England, they're always talking about people dying. It's quite fascinating. A lot of the philosophers of the age were fascinated with this question of death. What's death like?

What's the end of death? They seem to be quite fascinated with it. It's quite fascinating. But it's interesting, because as much as I think about Victorian England and its sort of shame regarding the subject of sex and its obsession with death, can I put it to you that our culture has it the other way around?

That we're obsessed with sex in our culture and terrified of death. Don't believe me? I've often said that you get an insight into a culture through the stuff that it puts out. In our case, in the West, it's our media.

It was interesting to me. This week, I was putting this message together. I'd seen ads for a while when I first got here, back in 2017, for a TV show called, some of you may have heard of it, The Good Place.

I think it stars Ted Danson and Kristen Bell,.

If I remember correctly.

Okay, someone's nodding, so I had that right. Never watched an episode of the show in my life until this week. From what I understand as I digged into this show, or dug into this show, I should say, apparently, this was one of the top rated shows on TV.

In fact, won a bunch of awards, nominated for a few more. Like I said, in prep for this week, I was like, as I thought about this problem, isn't that show about the author? I decided, let me watch an episode.

I picked one at random and watched it. From what I understand, the basic premise of the show revolves around a woman who is welcomed into this sort of heaven-like existence called The Good Place. And apparently, it's for good people.

Only problem is, she's not exactly a good person. And so the show, from what I understand, at least this one episode seemed to give this impression, and I looked it up online and it confirmed, this show seems to be about her basically trying to hide that she's a bad person, and also trying to morally improve while she's on the other side.

As I said, the show was incredibly popular from what I'm told. But I thought it was interesting that a show that seemed to devote itself to talking about the afterlife, the only way that that show could work is if the show was a comedy, which is what it is.

We can't even approach death as a culture without making light of it. The only way in which we can deal with this as human beings is to kind of trivialize it. But here's the thing, when we come before God and we come before his word, God doesn't trivialize death.

His word, as it were, cuts it straight with us. Tells us where death comes from. Romans chapter five, verse 12. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, in this way, death spread to all people because all sin.

And it tells us that death is inevitable, that all of us will experience it. Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27. Just as it is appointed once for man to die, and after this, the judgment. We all know the reality of death.

We might try to block it out and not think about it. You know, if I don't think about my death, then it's probably not gonna happen. Well, try that as much as you want. Death is coming for you. We might try to ward it off by being healthier and doing the work, hoping to buy us more time.

And that's not to say taking care of your health and what have you is not important. We're not saying that. But the reality is that if we think long and hard about this, the ultimate statistic holds true.

10 out of 10 people die. And if that is true, if it is that we all have an appointment before the day of death, as it were, if it's true that death will come knocking for all of us, unless Jesus comes back and we go with him before that, if all that is true, is there a way for us to beat the specter of death?

Is there a way for us to escape its cold clutches,.

As it were?

Are we simply condemned to a cycle of living and then dying and not knowing what happens on the other side? Well, can I put it to you that I think the author of Genesis answers that question for us. I think he answers it in this very text.

And I will put it to you that he answers it in an unconventional, but very clever way. We've seen the highest reality, that of God himself. We've seen the reality of life and death that God grants life and the multiplication of life.

And yet in a fallen world, we will all die. But there's a third reality I wanna bring your attention to. A third reality. And it's what we should call, excuse me, the reality of grace. The reality of grace.

The Grace of Walking With God

Verses 21 through 24. Like I said, there are six entries in this genealogy before you come to verse 21. And on first consideration, the seventh entry in this family record starts out like just any other one.

So Genesis 5 .21, Enoch was 65 years old when he fathered Methuselah. By all accounts, Enoch is a regular guy. Clearly he's married, he has a son. But that repetitive cycle that you see in verses three through 20 gets broken with the next words.

Verse 22, and after he had fathered Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. So Enoch's life lasted 365 years. What breaks the monotony of this cycle of living and dying, of life and death, is the reality of a son of Adam walking with God.

When you hear that phrase, walking with God, you're supposed to remember that because we've heard that phrase, haven't we? Back in Genesis chapter three in verse eight. Remember, God would come down and it seems to be a regular occurrence that he would walk with Adam and Eve in the garden.

We haven't heard anything about walking with God up to this point, have we? It's almost as though up to this point, man's walk with God seems to be almost nonexistent. And then here comes Enoch, almost out of nowhere.

And he's said to walk with God for 300 years. What seems to be a lost reality in the fall isn't entirely lost here. Here's a man who is in communion and with intimacy with God. That's the idea of walking with God, that there is an intimacy, that there is a relationship, that they know one another.

But there's more to this than just the story of a righteous man when you come to Genesis chapter five. This isn't just a story of a really good guy who then cultivated a relationship with God. Remember, Genesis is told to an audience.

There's a context to this book. There's a specific audience to whom Genesis was written. If you were here in the very first message in our study in Genesis, you remember my phrase for this audience? The generation of Israelites on the plains of Moab waiting to enter the promised land.

What would these words have to say to that particular generation? Put yourself in their shoes for just a moment. This is a generation who've heard the law of God multiple times. I put it to you that you look at Israel's history and it starts, I would argue, even in the wilderness.

The temptation is to think that their favor with God was on the basis of obedience to the law that God gave them. God loves us because we keep his law. God is, we have the presence of God because we keep his law.

But here's Enoch. Enoch has no law, as far as we can tell. And yet here is God walking with this imperfect man. Whatever it takes to walk with God, it is not just mere obedience to the law that does it.

And this man does more than walk with God. You see that there in verse 24? Enoch walked with God and then he was not there. Literally in the original language, he was not because God took him. The end result of Enoch's walk with God is that rather than dying with everybody else like we read in this text, the text seems to tell us that Enoch was there one minute and then he wasn't.

The only other time this language is used of someone being taken or that God took them, anybody wanna guess the only other time we hear this language? Elijah the prophet. 2 Kings chapter two, verses 10 and 11, Elijah replied, this is speaking to Elisha, you have asked for something difficult.

If you see me being taken from you, you will have it. If not, you won't. As they continued walking and talking, oh, there's that language of walking and talking in relation to someone who knows God. As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire with horses of fire suddenly appeared and separated the two of them.

Then Elijah went up into heaven in the whirlwind. That word for taken here in 2 Kings chapter two, same word here in Genesis five. It appears one other place. Psalm 73, verse 24, the psalmist says, you guide me with your counsel and afterward, you will take me up in glory.

The Bible wants us to make a logical connection here that it is those who walk with God by grace who escape the ultimate effects of the fall. Yes, Enoch escapes the effects of the fall by not dying at all.

We recognize that, but the reality isn't unless Jesus comes back for us anytime soon, which I pray he does. Unless he does, we're all going to die. But here's the good news. Enoch's life points to the grace of God in walking with falling sinners and then receiving them into his presence.

In the example of Enoch, we learned that separation from God that took place because of the fall and the death that follows, that doesn't have to be the end of the story. I cited Hebrews 9 .27 earlier.

Tell me Hebrews 9 .27, because I want to read the rest of that section. Hebrews chapter nine. So I read verse 27, I'll quote it to you. And just as it is appointed for people once to die and after this judgment, here's how the rest of that sentence ends.

Verse 28, so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. If we ultimately want to understand how it is that fallen human beings can escape the curse of the fall, it is through Jesus Christ.

It's Jesus who frees us from the curse of death. It's Jesus who brings us back into relationship with God. It's not because we do something. I mean, look back at Genesis five with me. Do you see Enoch doing anything?

Only thing it tells us that he walked with God. Doesn't say that he kept the law, doesn't say he offered sacrifices, doesn't say any of that. And in fact, that's not by accident, because again, the author of Genesis, Moses, assumes you've read everything that came before this.

In the narrative of Genesis so far, who is it that comes off the fallen man? It's God who goes off the fallen man. All the way back in the garden, God. It's clear that Cain and Abel learned how to sacrifice to the Lord because God seems to have revealed it to them.

And now we come to chapter five, and we see a man walking with God. Again, the narrative is trying to clue you into the fact that the only way this happens is by God's grace in revealing himself to fallen men.

And that's the beauty of grace in full display as we read this section, that this monotony of living and dying need not be the end of the story, that there is actually a hope on the other side. And in fact, actually, that's the last reality we see in this text.

We've seen the reality of God, the reality of life and death. We've seen the grace of God. Finally, there's the reality of hope, verses 25 to 32. The reality of hope. This final section in this listing of names kind of returns to that familiar cadence from verses 25 to 28.

People live, they have children, they die. But just before you get too comfortable, verse 28 and 29 happens. So look with me at verse 28. Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered a son, and he named him Noah, saying, this one will bring us relief from the agonizing labor of our hands, caused by the Lord, caused by the ground, excuse me, the Lord has cursed.

By the way, it's worth noting that the lamech here in chapter five is not the same one who had the terrible song in chapter four. Totally different guy. This man still has hope in God's promise of a deliverer.

He names his son Noah. Noah means comfort or rest or quiet. Even in a fallen world, there are still those who hold to God's promise, the promise that one would come who would ultimately crush the head of the serpent, the promise that one would come who would reverse the curse that was laid upon the ground, who would ultimately rule over the earth that had been cursed.

This is actually the final entry in this list, and it's open-ended compared to the rest. It's open-ended because there's meant to be a sense of there's still an awaiting of the promise and the hope that maybe, just maybe, maybe this one called Noah might be the one.