Sermon Tone Analysis

That is one meaningful sentence.

It’s full of truth and wonder.

It’s full of significance for me and for you.

That first sentence and the rest of the creation account are foundational for us individually and corporately as a church family.

As we start our study in Genesis, it’s important to note that Genesis 1 is not seeking to make a scientific point.

There is very little discussion in church history about the age of the earth and creationism vs. evolution, because these are primarily (really, only) modernistic concerns.

The age of the earth/universe and the debate over evolution/creationism are not the point of Genesis.

Genesis is an historical narrative with theological and literary (even poetic) wrinkles; this is not a science book (I repeat: it is not a science book), nor was it ever intended to be.

Genesis tells us a story of events that actually took place—this really happened—but it’s structured in such a way to make us sit up and take notice; we are meant to pay attention to the beginning of the story, a story of creation and the fall of man.

The point of the text, then, is this: God created ALL things, that He created mankind uniquely in His image and gave mankind a task: to carry His authority into creation and to fill His earthly tabernacle with God-worshippers; and that Adam and Eve failed at this task.

Textually speaking—meaning, from the plain reading of the Bible—we cannot know how old the universe actually is.

There’s nothing in the text of the Bible that makes any mention or any case for the age of of the earth (either young or old).

You are well within your rights to believe the earth is 6,000-8,000 years old or to believe it’s much, much older.

But realize, the Bible isn’t explicitly informing whichever view you might hold.

And, no matter how much you’d like, you cannot foist said opinion on anyone else.

There are many men and women, scholars of the highest order, who diverge on this.

I had three OT professors in college who took different views: Drs.

Caulley, Paddock, and Alterman who have 20 advanced degrees between them.

Some pastors and scholars take a very dogmatic view of the age of the earth/universe, and they’re certainly welcome to do so, as are you.

But please don’t confuse or conflate dogma with biblicism.

The Bible DOES NOT make clear (or make any mention whatsoever about) the age of the earth/universe.

And so we—Bible people—should not force the issue or make it a test of fellowship.

Almost 20 years ago, an adjunct professor at Manhattan Christian College suggested MCC adopt a “Young Earth Creationism” policy, even though it’s an extreme minority view among evangelicals.

The professors, staff, and administration dismissed the proposed policy outright because the Bible does not speak to it.

It’s a secondary, even tertiary issue.

What’s more, it goes completely against the ideals of the Restoration movement, namely: “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we are silent.”

To put my cards on the table, I don’t know what I believe about the age of the earth/universe.

I’m no scientist; I’m a student of the Bible and the Bible doesn’t tell me.

How long ago God created, I do not know.

I believe that God spent six actual days preparing the earth for life and the mission He had for Adam and Eve, et al.

However, I also know that the Hebrew word for “day” (Hebrew: Yom) can mean one literal, solar day; and it can also mean an age, a span of time.

It’s also the case that Genesis was written for an ancient, pre-scientific people and was composed, in part, as an argument against the paganism of the day.

In a very clever move, the Holy Spirit led author of Genesis doesn’t mention the creation of the sun, moon, or stars until the 4th day.

And then, when he does, he doesn’t call the sun “sun” or the moon “moon”.

He merely calls them the greater light and the lesser light.

Why doesn’t he name them?

Well, because these were the names of the pagan gods of Israel’s neighbors.

He’s making a not-so-subtle argument against the pagan worldview which believed the sun and the moon and the stars to be gods.

Israel’s God, the One True and only God, created these so-called gods, but not until the 4th day, after even the plants of the 3rd day.

They are not gods.

They are not all-important.

They are only lights.

The creation account in Genesis is gloriously true, but it’s not without its mystery.

There is much about the world we live in which we do not and cannot understand.

Genesis doesn’t attempt, or want, to explain creation.

With reverence, Genesis wants to catch us up into its wonder.

When we look to Genesis to answer questions it wasn’t intended to answer, we will be disappointed.

We might want to know how it is the sun and the moon are created after the light.

The writer isn’t stupid; he knows there is a logical problem there.

But he leaves us with the mystery.

He simply tells us the divine light is not dependent on the luminaries of the sun and moon.

Did God create the darkness as well as the light?

We want to know.

The author does not say.

I believe it’s deliberate.

Genesis doesn’t get into the “how to” questions.

The author of this book is concerned with safeguarding and proclaiming something of the unsearchable mystery of God.

There is no conflict between theology and science; they are just after different things.

There is a whole mess of stuff science can’t observe or quantify, and certainly where God is concerned.

And there are many science questions the Bible will not, and never set out to, answer.

There’s much that isn’t clear here, as much as we wish it was.

Godly humility would have us say, from time to time, “I don’t know.”

I’ve come to place where I like not knowing for certain anything beyond “God is Creator.”

That which is abundantly clear should be our focus.

To begin with, Genesis 1 teaches us right from the get-go that:

God is Supreme

Genesis 1:1 is the breathtaking declaration that all things begin with God and that God had no beginning.

We can’t wrap our heads around this.

More than once, I’ve had people ask me to explain the fact that God has always existed.

The Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—have no beginning and no end.

They created all things, but they were not created.

There’s never a time when they weren’t; in fact, they are completely outside our conception of time.

The Triune God is Supreme—higher, greater, stronger, more powerful, more majestic than we can even begin to imagine.

It’s mind-boggling.

Our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite.

You’ll never make sense of this, and I think that’s kind of the point.

I love not knowing.

I love the limitation.

I love that His ways are higher than my ways.

I love that He is beyond my comprehension.

I think the not knowing is part of the point and purpose of Genesis 1.

The wonder of it all leads us to worship.

The author of Genesis doesn’t want us stuck in the muck and the mire of scientific debate; the author of Genesis wants us to wade deeply into the glory and the mystery and the wonder of the Creator and His creation.

The author of Genesis wants us worshipping:

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

God is Supreme and Sovereign

God exercises authority and reign over creation.

That is clear as we read Genesis 1.

There is nothing, nothing, absolutely nothin’ going on in Genesis 1 that is outside His control.

Nothing in creation is the result of some big, cosmic accident.

It’s not “Whoops!

There’s a solar system.”

Creation is the intentional, authoritative, sovereign work of God.