God's Good World
The Gospel Project • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
Introduction
Some people say that the beginning of a story is the most important part…would you agree?
I remember in high school, and I probably told you guys this, but we had to give an oral book report our first week back on a book we read over the summer. Long story short, I read the opening chapter, read the back of the book, and made up the middle.....so in my opinion, the middle of the book is the most important part!!! I got an F....nothing like starting a school year off failing!
But, in all reality, the truth is that without a good beginning, without a beginning that makes sense, the whole story line is thrown off right?
If you don’t understand the beginning, you’re gonna be lost!
Like when you turn on a movie on t.v. and it’s halfway through…and you spend the entire movie trying to figure out what is happening!!!!
Opening Line Examples:
Opening Line Examples:
Here’s a smattering of 4 opening lines from books. See, opening lines are meant to draw us in, to give us context, to give us a snapshot of the book if you will.
I want you to tell me which one or ones stands out to you:
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” - C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is happy in its own way.” - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” - Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
“I am an invisible man.” - Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Now, which of these lines stands out to you?
The first line is a bit of a cliff hanger right?
The second one tells you that this book will be about families
The third one tells you what the period of time was like
And the fourth one indicates that the book will be about a man who felt invisible
Now, can any of you tell me what the opening line of the Bible says?
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
How does that draw you in?
It tells us who created, what He created, when He created.
It provides us a basis for the entire storyline of the Bible, doesn’t it?
Creation
Creation
- 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 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.
- 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 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.
Every world religion, and in all reality, every single person in the world…has a belief system, a viewpoint, or an idea of how the universe and everything came to be.
For a lot of us in here, we believe in this account, but maybe for some of us, we don’t
And for a lot of people in the world…they don’t believe in this account
But the truth of the matter is this…the Biblical creation account stands out in one major way: God created everything out of nothing.
Other creation accounts always have something coming from something. For instance, in one account:
a “god” gives birth to the physical universe
or the world comes from a cosmic battle
in another myth, the human race arises from the blood of one of the slain gods.
in yet another, we were created from the remains of a dead sea monster
These all point us to an idea that we were an accident, that this was an accident, and that our creation or our destiny was not cared about by whatever “divine force” was involved.
But in Genesis, we read that everything started with God himself, who created everything out of nothing.
told us that the earth was without form and void, and that there was just darkness.
It all came from Him, and He made it out of nothing
The word for this in Latin is ex nihilo, which means “out of nothing”
Therefore, God alone is eternal…He’s the only thing that existed before everything, and that’s HUGE for us.
How does God being Creator influence the way you understand who He is, who we are, and why we obey Him?
How does the truth that God created all things from nothing increase your confidence and trust in Him?
How does the truth that God created all things from nothing increase your con dence and trust in Him?
There’s something else here for us to see and think about too though
God is the only one who can bring life, order, beauty, and peace into existence.
It all stemmed from Him
And so if you trace that idea all the way to us today, and to your own individual life…if God is the only one who can bring those things, can He not bring life, order, beauty, and peace to your life too?
We can come to Him for peace and joy
And He will then begin to bring order and beauty to our lives
But sometimes that takes time
Is there anywhere in your life where you wish God would work faster?
Or are there processes or things you are going through today that God might be using to shape you into a more beautiful picture of Jesus?
What we do see though is that God is a very personal being who created. There wasn’t some cosmic blast or evolutionary process that we accidentally came from.
He intimately created everything
And believing in this account will alter how you look at the world and how you look at everything.
- 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 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. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 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. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
- 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 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. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 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. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
What stands out to you in these verses? Are there any patterns?
What does this make you think about God?
That He’s a BIG GOD? He is…that’s true, but the truth is there really is no word in any earthly language that does justice to who God really is
He’s not just big, wonderful, amazing, powerful
Think about it..how do you describe someone who has to simply say “Let it be” and then shazam....it is!
Don’t miss the incredible, awe-inspiring thought about who God really is!!!!
And as you think about that......
What ideas come to your mind when you think of God’s greatness? Do these ideas make you confident or fearful? Why?
But don’t just focus on his greatness…if that’s all you focus on you’re missing something even more awesome.
Think about His goodness
Look back through the passage, what’s a recurring phrase we see?
“God saw that it was good”
And keep tracking with me here......if nothing existed before God, and He created and saw that it was good, then we can logically infer that all goodness comes from God!
What does “good” mean? Why did God call each step of His creation good?
(pleasant, agreeable)
God chose to create a “good” world, a world that, as we’ll see next week, we as humans were tasked with caring for and improving upon by doing so.
God is perfect, there is no doubt about it…He’s the eternal one who defines what that even is, and He created the world to be good, and He tasked us with caring for it and improving upon it....
For the glory of God…so that others would see Him
See, out of all of creation, humans, you and me, were created with the task to cultivate, modify, and grow creation into a God-glorifying spectacle.
We were tasked with working and serving and loving God in order to bring glory to Himself
And so even here in the first chapter of the Bible…we see the call to believers today…and that is to bring glory to Him
And we do that by living for Him, serving Him, being good stewards for Him
Where has God gifted you? What might it mean for you to use your talents for God’s mission?
So what you have to ask yourself is this:
Do you believe in the Biblical account of creation?
Why is belief in creation important?
What are the implications if God didn’t create?
What you decide you believe within this first chapter of the Bible will determine everything
Why is belief in creation important? What are the implications if God didn’t create?
What say you?
Questions, comments, arguments?