History is "His Story"
Article 1
Genesis 1:1-2:18
We’re talking about God today – a rather daunting subject! People have always been fascinated with God – and have sought to depict what God might be like. I’m among those who believe that visual art or music or poetry can help us know and describe God in ways that the kind of prose that I use in preaching. But, even with the use of the creative arts (a gift from our creative God to us), we struggle to communicate adequately who God is. Let me show you how gifted people have tried. In the history of art, traditionally there have three main ways that God has been depicted:
*He's a figure often taking on a Zeus-like appearance (Ancient of Days by William Blake),
*His presence is shown as a ray of light (Ecstasy of St. Teresa by Bernini); or
*God is simply a hand reaching down (Apse Mosaic at San Clemente)...
And, the interest in God continues into the more contemporary art world. For example, there is Mary McCleary who puts images of eyes all over her work to represent God's omnipresence omniscience in the world. There is also the Baldessari piece "God knows".
Music historians could do the same showing the interest in deity in music – or in literature… I show you these works of art for many reasons. One is to show how the world has been, is, and always will be interested in whether there actually is a God – and, if so, how are we to understand him. I’m guessing that most of us would say that the attempts to portray God are inadequate to depict his fullness of God. I also imagine the most of the artists would say the same.
So, here I am today, wanting to use my feeble words to talk to you about God. I will not even pretend that I can capture even .001% of all God is in my message. I can only tell you that I have two things going for me: 1) God has revealed himself through words in his Word and we’re going to look at what he says; and 2) the God I tell you about is my Father and I’m growing to know him better (though I will confess today that I am still very much in process of learning to know him).
So, let me show you how we have sought describe the God who has revealed himself in the Bible in our proposed SOF:
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in a unity of love in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to establish a redeemed family from among all peoples and to make all things new for His own glory.
God’s gospel originates in and manifests the holy love of the eternal, triune God.
So, what is God like? When we open up the Word of God, and turn to its opening overture in Genesis 1, what we find is God making himself known. And yet, our tendency, even as we open up Genesis 1, is to turn immediately to things other than what God says about himself. We want to study the details of how God did what he did. We want to nail down all the elements of the origins of our world with precision. And that is important – but it is secondary to the main point of the Bible.
Above anything else, Scriptures open with an overture about God. God is the subject of the first and the last sentences in Genesis 1. Indeed, he is the only character. God is the enactor of all the action throughout the chapter. God is mentioned 35 times in 34 verses. God is declaring to us, “You have been made to know me. Now, I will make myself known.”
Today, we will look at two aspects of what God tells us about himself in Genesis 1-2. In coming weeks, we will constantly see more of how God introduces himself to us in his Word. But, today, we will start with where God starts: 1)his infinite perfection and sovereign power and 2)his relational nature.
I. God is, always has been, and always will be a God of infinite perfection and sovereign power
*First, God says, “I Am!”
You may know that when Moses later would ask God to reveal his name, God said that his covenant name, the name his people should know him by, is YHWH – I am who I am.
But even in the creation account, this is what God is declaring. Before time was, “I already am. When history as we know it is completed, I am. When you need to know me, I am.”
Look at v. 1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Who made God? That's the question children often ask. The answer, of course, is "No one." He is eternal, the first cause. With his first creative act, the flux of change we call time starts to flow. There is a beginning to time, material and space.
In debates about origins of the universe, one point so often probed is how all that is actually started. We see complexity in the universe that scientists have been called to investigate. It doesn’t seem to be haphazard. And most people – not all but most – think that there must be some sort of uncaused cause. I know that we human beings have our finite minds boggle at this.. However, we must see that the problem in this is our limitation; not God's revelation. Genesis 1 is like the last chapter of Revelation. They both lie beyond the horizon of our present experience. Both stand at the transition point of time and eternity and we finite people cannot fathom infinity.
And God is opening his book by saying, “That uncaused cause that you intuitively think must exist – I am! You sense that there must be a God greater than yourself? I am and I am ready to tell you what I am like.”
And please don't be fooled by those who say that all religions say that an uncaused God started the world. Some scholars have been passing that down for a long time. This creation account in Genesis is unique. Others without fail begin with an original substance already in existence before any gods. The creation stories of the Babylonians and Egyptians and Acadians are not creation stories at all but “theoganies”-- stories of how the gods came into existence. But not Genesis 1. Here, God is and always has been and always will be.
Second, God says, “I am the Maker; not the made.”
1:2: Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
According to most ancient Western religions, something in the material world was god – the sun, the ocean, the wind… This has been called polytheism. According to most Eastern religions, the universe is in some sense deity. The material world is some sort of manifestation of the divine. We call that religion pantheism. And in 21st century Southern California so many believe… Well, what do we believe? Some of us live as if our money or our career or our pleasure is the ultimate thing. I suppose most in our day live as if each one of us personally is the center of the universe. But this Genesis 1 will not allow for any of that.
God is spirit and as such He is separate from the material world. Though He is very concerned about the world, notice that He's pictured here as one who hovers over it as a mother bird hovers over her young ones. But God is not a part of the world. If we will know God we will not do it by focusing on anything in this material world. Nor, will we find him by looking in the mirror.
I am not god‑‑nor are you. No, God creates the world. He is the Maker – not the made.
Third, God says, “I am a who – not a what.”
This may be the most striking part of Genesis 1. The verbs of the chapter express a person who possesses mind, will and intellect. It’s clear that this God is not an it but a "You." The words, "And God said", are repeated again and again. God is a God who speaks.
Genesis 1 is the story of a creative person creating like a poet or musician creates. God creates the world by the power of His words. But there is an important difference about God’s creating from ours, i.e., God creates “ex nihilo”, out of nothing. God is the ultimate creative person as he says, "Let there be light.” It’s not a wish, it’s a command‑‑"And there was light."
Just look at how the Bible at the end of the creation account pictures God as an artist who stands separate from that which he has made and passes His judgment on it‑‑"Its good," He says.
Creation then is no random event. The beginning of Genesis tells us that this world is the purposed product of a God who knew what He was doing ‑‑ a personal God.
Now, I say that all this so clearly contradicts the modern philosophies and religions that are so prevalent today. Modern philosophers tell us that matter is eternal, and that the ultimate truth behind our universe is the scientific laws that govern the interaction of radiation and atoms. Atheism searches for a way to understand our universe by telling us of a world that has emerged by a chance collision of particles ‑‑ a random event in a meaningless universe. And we live baffled lives knowing that there must be more to it than that but not knowing where to turn.
And Genesis 1 says no to it all. It says, "In the beginning, God..." The ultimate truth behind the universe is not impersonal energy but a powerful Person.
Fourth, God says, “I am a God of order, and purpose and beauty.
My friends who are scientists love this part of Genesis 1-2. It gives them the freedom – no, more than that, the motivation – to explore, and study, and discover what is in the world that our Father has made. Just notice how God does His work throughout the chapter. Creation is taken:
*from chaos to order,
*from utter darkness to the separation of darkness and light,
*from a disordered "expanse" to the distinction of sky and water and dry ground,
*from barrenness to life,
*from unintelligent life to intelligent life made in God’s image.
God is telling us he is both creator and craftsman -‑ giving things a beautiful form. And all that He does is good. It is very clear that, throughout the process, God knows what He is doing.
And, of course, that is still true. This God “who is” is still ordering ‑‑ turning chaos into beauty, sinful people into whole people. In heaven we will see it perfectly but now we must believe that He is working all things, as in creation, for the good.
Do you see how this is THE essential truth that makes the gospel “good news.” This kind of God can give you consolation and hope when your family, your career, and your whole life sees to be chaotic? God is! He is still at work bringing about order and beauty. It’s all grounded in Genesis 1.
Fifth, God says, “I am in control – of everything.”
This is what theologians have meant by, “God is sovereign.” Do you see it? God calls us to picture him as standing outside the universe and controlling all simply by His mighty word. Notice that all his speeches are commands followed by the obedience of the various forces of nature. Thereby, an important theme to found throughout the Bible is introduced, i.e., obedience to God's will results in what is good. But, God must be in control for beauty to happen. So, God is powerful and…
II. God is, and always has been, and always will be a relational God
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground…” God saw all that he had made, and it was very good (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 1:31).
Notice how this one creator-God here, on day 6, describes himself in plural terms – “us” and “our”. Scholars have debated about this endlessly but, I will tell you, I find here an indication of what is revealed much more fully when Jesus comes, i.e., that God is both one and, at the same time, somehow more than one. In our SOF, we have put it, We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in a unity of love in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The God of the Bible has always lived in relationship – always flourished in community. Immediately after that description of himself in v. 26, the creation of human beings is described with the specific emphasis in v. 27 that “male and female man” together reflects the image of God – a plurality that lives in unity -- so that by the end of creation, all God had made is said to be very good.
Then, In Genesis 2:7, we are pulled back into looking at the sixth day of creation to see how God deals with this one created in his image and in v. 18, we see for the first time that before God had completed his creation, he saw one thing that was not good: The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). Other parts of creation might experience “good” if they are alone but not those made in God’s image. Notice several implications of this:
#1: God has always existed in relationship and, therefore, human beings made in his image are made for relationship – both with God as we see in chs. 2-3 and one another.
#2: We are whole – we experience shalom – only when we live in healthy relationship with one another with God “dwelling among us.”
#3: This powerful God who brings everything into being out of nothing notices that the man is alone and cares that he is experiencing an existence that is not good.
#4: God acts to bring “good news” to the man. God creates a helper suitable for him.
In the very next chapter, Genesis 3, we find both the man and woman putting themselves into God’s place and then hiding from him (rather silly after we’ve read what God is like in Genesis 1-2). This break in relationship with God brings brokenness to their own lives (shame and hiding), brokenness in their personal relationships (blaming starts to take place, and brokenness in their relationship to the world.
We will talk about all this much more when we get to other articles in our SOF. But, we cannot leave our thoughts about God without taking time to see how God being both powerful and relational transforms our own understanding of our world and of ourselves. This God who cared about Adam in Genesis 2:18 still cares about Adam and all Adam’s offspring even after we have sinned. This God who had always existed in relationship himself comes to us so that we might live. He came to this world and “lived the life we should have lived and then died the death we should have to die” so that we can be made right with him. Then, he provides his church – the “temple of God” – so that we might have a fellowship with brothers and sisters who also walk with God. That’s what we were made for.
So: How is this powerful creator God using his power? His main work, his grand “masterpiece” (Ephesians 2:10), is that, as we put it in the SOF, “Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to establish a redeemed family from among all peoples and to make all things new for His own glory.” Thank you, Maker of the Universe and “Our Father”.
What does this say to us?
First, if God exists in community and we are in his likeness, then we will only have lives that are “very good” when we are living in the community he has made for us through the work of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The church is to glorify God – to reflect what he is like – to the world according to the book of Ephesians. This is why a church of people who lovingly worship and serve together will declare to the world the truth of Jesus: “By this will they know that you are my disciples – if you have love one for another… (John 13) Father, my one prayer for those who will believe in me is that they may be one Father just as you are in me and I am in you…(John 17).”
Do you see why it is so important to me as you pastor that we all worship together, that we are involved in fellowship together and that we serve alongside one another. This “life together” is how we know God – and this is how we live as God made us to live. This is why we have Pathways – our program to help you connect. This is why I urge you to make a commitment to one church family and stick with it.
Second, God is always the one who takes the initiative to come to us when we are brokenbut we must respond in faith and obedience to his coming. When Adam was alone, God acted. When Adam and Eve walked away, God came seeking. While we were at enmity with God, Jesus came. While we were sinners, Christ died. When our lives are forgiven and restored, it is not because we first loved God. It is because he first loved us.
God cared about Adam’s loneliness and he acted to make things different for Adam. But, Adam had to respond to God. God remained God even though Adam was made in his image. We human beings are also a part of that creation and needs to obey God if our world is going to be in order. Sadly, most people don’t want to be in relationship to this kind of God. We prefer a religion where we can have more control.
We do not like a world that begins with the voice of a sovereign God speaking into the darkness. And the reason is simple, i.e., a God who commands the light to shine is a God who can command us too. A God who can distinguish good from evil in a world He has made is a God who can evaluate us. And we do not want to be commanded. We do not want to be evaluated. This, I say to you, is the primary reason why people reject the idea of God as He reveals Himself in Genesis 1. It is not because of scientific evidence but because we want to stay in control. My word to us all is the same one that fills Scripture: God is ready to come to you and to begin to make things new in your life. But when we invite him in, we will find that this God who spoke the world into being will and must be God.
Third, when we are made right with God because of his gracious love and through his power, we are entrusted with a message and mission of furthering God’s offer of reconciliation to the world. Our powerful God is using his power “to establish a redeemed family from among all peoples” – and, amazingly, he uses us to carry that message out. As Paul declared in 2 Corinthians 5, “God, who has made us right with himself through his son, has entrusted to us the message and ministry of reconciliation.” But, just as God has done it, we need to be the ones who go to those broken from God and from us. Even if we feel the others are 98% in the wrong, we remember that in our relationship with God, we were 100% in the wrong and God still loved and came to us. We who have received grace and mercy from our powerful and relational God must offer it to others in his name so that they too might believe and live.
"In the beginning, God created"‑‑and that work is still going on. He will re‑create you...if you will receive him and respond to him as the powerful and relational God he is.
To His glory alone,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2011, Lake Avenue Church