Creation

The Bridge                                                                                                                                                          June 22, 2012

Notes and Sermon By Tim Griffin

Genesis 1-2 – Beginning with the Beginning (God the Creator)

Ø  Introductory Thoughts

o   Welcome to “The Bridge”

§  Believers & non-believers in a weekly gathering that incorporates passionate worship & Christ-centered preaching in the context of an authentic community.

·         Believers & Non-Believers –

o   This is a time of investigation, wrestling, searching honestly, & considering the implications of what the Bible has to say about Who God is & What He’s about in this world.

o   Whether you claim Christ as Lord or haven’t come to that point yet, but are interested to know what real Christianity might look like in Rocky Mount in the 21^st century, this is the place for you.

o   That said, can we pray before we start, acknowledging our need for God to help us share (to be true to what the Bible actually says, not what we want it to say) & to help us hear & see what is real & true through the gift of the Scripture.

·         Weekly Gathering –

o   Friday Nights at 7pm.

o   People are busy & mobile (especially in the summer).  If you miss a week, come the next.

o   Good conversation before the gathering time & afterwards will catch you up on where we are in the context of where we’ve been.

·         Authentic Community – Said last week, but bears repeating.

o   No plastic people allowed!  We aren’t perfect.  If someone presents himself to you as though he were, he’s a poser (cover blown – join all the imperfect people).

o   There is nothing more refreshing than to be around people that are real/transparent/genuine/what you see is what you get.

o   There’s nothing more freeing than being one of those people.  That said, come with real questions/ real problems & hear real solutions to all that life is.

o   It won’t make life superficially easy (maybe harder by some standards).  But it will give bedrock peace & ease of heart when life does suck.

§  So, you ready to go?  Let’s do this – together with a heart to know God & live life together to His glory & our good.

Ø  Every Story has a Beginning

o   Beginning, Plot Line, Conclusion/Resolution

o   Miss the beginning & you miss it all!

§  Ever come into a movie halfway.

·         At the end, you may conclude that makes no sense.

·         Or throughout the movie, you become “that guy” who’s constantly elbowing (& annoying, I might add)the person next to you asking “beginning” type questions.

o   Kind of like watching the NBA finals last night with someone who knows nothing about the rules of basketball (“He tried to make that ball go in the basket & that other player knocked it away.  How mean!”  Get it?)

o   Think you already know the ending & you’re constantly jumping ahead to the conclusion/resolution.

§  Watching a movie with Graham

·         Excited about the outcome & wants to tell you who matters & what they are doing that you don’t see yet (which might have been the directors intention!).

§  Christian Pitfall – OT is out of date.  It’s got a few stories of how God worked in another time with another group of people.  It may give us some stories about good behavior & bad consequences if I don’t keep God’s rules.  We have the NT! We know about Jesus – so don’t waste time on that other OT stuff.  Just tell people about their sin & what Jesus can do for them.

§  Seeing the whole story is helpful in understanding, after the fact, the start.

·         E.g.- “The Notebook” – Old man reading a story to his wife with Alzheimer’s, only to find out that the story that she is hearing as if it is new is actually their story.  Not knowing that at first actually draws you into the drama & gives a shocking & beautiful picture at the end.  Instead of “Ah, bless their hearts,” you walk away with “Wow, that was cool.”

§  Don’t negate the start because you think you know the end.

·         Foundations are laid in the beginning that are crucial in understanding the reason for & the magnitude of the resolution to the story.

o   Main Characters / Focal Points / “First Things” (Presuppositions upon which everything else that you conclude or draw from the story are based.)

·         This is especially crucial in the Biblical Story.

o   Wellington Boone – “If you get Genesis 1-3 right, you get the rest of the Bible right. If you get Genesis 1-3 wrong, you get the rest of the Bible wrong.”

o   Missing the foundational trajectories of the Biblical story leads to more than just a little mistake – it leads to “heresy!”

§  “In the Beginning” – a statement of a definite beginning of all that is. Only “God” pre-exists & is outside of this Created Order.

§  To ignore this “first thing” is to lead us down the path of all kinds of wrong conclusions:

1.       Belief in some sinister (evil) Demiurge that pre-existed creation & fashioned this world contrary to God’s better intention, setting up an eternal evil “deity” of sorts.

2.       God’s use of eternally pre-existing material to form the universe.

3.       Creation being just a spill over (emanation) of the Divine being, making us (created order)a part of the eternal One.

o   So let’s begin at the Beginning. The place where the story of the Bible begins.

§  First, let’s think through what are the primary elements of the Biblical narrative that are laid out here in Genesis 1-2 that will be the filter through which the rest of the Scripture will be understood?

§  After that, let’s consider some of the implications of the “Beginnings” discovered here at the opening of the greatest book ever – God’s Word to us, the Bible.

Ø  Primary Elements of the Biblical Narrative

o   A Quick Caveat

§  If you thought this text would turn into an argument for creation over evolution, I hate to disappoint you.

·         This is the story of Creation, so clearly that’s the perspective that we will walk away with tonight.

·         But is the winning of an argument the point of the text?  Especially some of the arguing over the specifics of the creative process that are good & fine, but the history of the beginning is NOT the focal point of the beginning of the Biblical narrative.

·         So we’ll hold those arguments for another day.  For tonight, let’s see what that focal point is & how it’s going impact everything.

o   Opening Salvo – GOD!

§  An abrupt announcement

·         No introduction, no justification or verification, no permission seeking, no “hook,” & (strange to some of us) no proof – just a bold assertion – God.

·         In Scripture, God is simply the “Great Presuppositional Person” (i.e.- that which is posited underneath in advance)

·         Let me read this statement regarding this bold assertion that I believe capture the gravity of this bomb dropped on our worldview: “This opening line…reminds us once again to start where the Bible starts, with God, and then move out from there.  Otherwise we are unable to get started at all, or we get off on the wrong foot.  In Scripture the existence, reality, & presence of God are assumed to be utterly self-evident. Accordingly it arrests us at the very beginning with its most fundamental affirmation: God is the absolutely Prior, the wholly Other, the Source & Origin of all that is.” – Spykman

·         At the definitive beginning, God is. When time passes, God is. When time is or when it will be, God is. He is the “first thing.” He is the given. There is no source or origin for Him, God is. There is no thing or cause prior to Him, God is.

·         As such, God becomes the main character of the story of Scripture.

o   Remember English grammar. Deconstructing a paragraph meant finding the main idea or theme statement.

o   Here’s the Main Idea – Subject of the Whole Narrative – GOD! (Not you, not me, not “mother earth,” not the beluga whale or endangered species of the world)

o   Opening Act – CREATION

§  Heavens & the Earth

·         All of the Universe is seen here as the Created Order. There is nothing that is other than God Himself which is not under this dimension.

·         What did God make all that is out of?

o   Latin – “Creatio ex nihilo” i.e.- to create out of nothing

o   Not explicitly, verbally expressed, but it is everywhere present in the Scripture.

§  e.g.- Heb.11:3 – “By faith we understand the world was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.”

o   All that exists has a definitive beginning. It is not made of pre-existing material. This is absolute creation, not a new form made via precursors. It was not, then it was.

o   Note that it was, & the Spirit of God was over it (v.2). Implications made in a moment.

·         How did God make all that is?

o   The creating & shaping process was brought about by the spoken Word of God.

o   “Let there be light,” & there was light. “Let there be an expanse…” & there was. “Let the waters be gathered unto one place…” & there were seas.

o   Creation, made by the God who is, submits to His spoken Word, which embodies the goodwill of His pleasure.

o   Spoken Word Poet “Propoganda” says it this way: “The greatest story ever told that’s hardly ever told – God, yes God. / The maker & giver of life, & by life I mean any & all manner & substance. / Seen & Unseen, what can & can’t be touched. / Thoughts, Image, Emotion, It’s Love, Atoms, & Oceans – God. / All of it His handiwork…”

·         What implication does God’s creating of all that is have upon all that is?

o   If God, out of nothing & for His own good pleasure, created all that is, then He by Creative Right Rules & Reigns as Sovereign over all that is.

§  He speaks, & whatever He speaks is.

§  He declares whatever He declares to be good, & it is good.

§  He determines the order of all that is created

1.       Cosmically – e.g.- Day 4 - sun, moon, & stars for times & for seasons, for days & for years

2.       Hierarchically – e.g.-man as the image-bearer to rule & have dominion (Let us make…let them have…v.26)

o   If God declared that it was good, then that which He created is intrinsically “good.” Distortion of function/use cannot erase essential God-declared “good” structure.

o   Ultimate Moment in the Act – MAN AS IMAGE-BEARER

§  The creation of man is the apex of the creation story.  Man is not the point (that is God, as seen in v.1), but he is penultimate & is the aspect of creation to which all other parts relate.

·         Note v.1 – Created “heavens & earth.”  Of all the galaxies & planets, systems & stars, the earth is the focal point of the created entity.

·         Note v.26-28 – Man is made as the dominion taker & governor of the created order. His image-bearing is not to point to the autonomy or grandeur of man, but to reflect the sovereign rule & grandeur of God Himself.

·         Spoken Word would put it, “… All of it His handiwork, one of which His masterpiece made so uniquely that angels look curiously. / The one thing in creation that was made in His imagery. / A concept so cold, it’s the reason I stay bold. / How God breathed into man & He became a living soul. / Formed with the intent of being infinitely, intimately fond. / Creator & Creation held in eternal bond. / And it was placed in Perfect Paradise…”

o   Ultimate Purpose in the Act – CREATOR (GOD)/CREATURE(MAN) TO LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP TO GOD’S GLORY & MAN’S GOOD

§  Relationship to the Created Order (1:26-28) – “Man is to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, & have dominion… (specifically over living beasts).”

·         Vice-Regency is on behalf of & in accordance with the goodwill of the God who made it all. Man administers his own life & his creational stewardship for the God of Creation, for the God of Creation.

§  Relationship Mirrored in Male / Female “Oneness” (2:20-25)

·         Man, the Relational Being of God’s created order, finds himself “alone” (v.20).

·         God, of His own initiative, provides another out of the man (v.21-22).

o   Taken literally out of Adam (rib) & fashioned for him

o   By application, every husband/wife from that day on are to forsake all others for a relationship of “oneness” (i.e.- identity in one another, transparency before one another, acceptance of one another)

Ø  Primary Implications of the “Beginnings” of Genesis 1-2

o   God is distinct from His Creation

§  Not just the good ol’ boy around the corner or the grandfatherly figure on the front porch. He’s not one of us, just maybe a little smarter & a little wiser.

§  He is the transcendent One. All things owe their existence in a dependent state to Him. He alone is self-sufficient.

§  Our response – Awe, Reverential Fear, Worship

o   God is Ruler over His Creation

§  He made it all by, through, & for His own good pleasure.

§  As a result of such, He is in fact the ruler over it by Creative Right.

·         e.g. – Kids making boats into armies in the bathtub. Kid decides that the red ships will sink the blue ships. Or he decides to play with the ships one night but not another. Or he decides to share his ships with his friend. Or he chooses to… you get the picture.

·         If this is reasonable for a kid with bathtub toys, how much more for the God who called the very material out of which the child’s toys are made into being with His spoken Word?

§  Who is there to challenge Him? To question Him? To establish what is right or fair or worthwhile or common?

o   God Created You & Me (Huge Applications to Think through)

§  I am not my own, He is Sovereign over every man by Creative Right.

·         Defy as you may, His autonomous control & reign cannot be thwarted. (e.g.- Night at the Museum” – Jedediah, tiny cowboy threatening Ka-mun-ra. Scream all he wants, it makes no difference.

§  I am not Random, Meaningless, Worthless, Purposeless.

·         The God who called all that He created “good” created you.

·         The God who called the conclusion of the creation in an image bearer commissioned to rule under Him created you.

§  I am not an Island to Myself.

·         I must relate to God.

o   He is my Sovereign by Creative Order. I cannot change that relationship by speaking it away or wishing it away or ignoring Him. He is there. I am here. I must relate to the Sovereign of the Universe.

·         I must relate to Men.

o   As fellow vice-regents, I must engage mankind.

§  To seclude myself is to defy the mandate to fill, subdue, & have dominion over the earth.

§   To use others for reasons other than God-directed ambassadorship is not an option.