Order From Chaos

Pastor A. Evan Westburg

Genesis: Stories that Define • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

Genesis 1:1–2:3

Trust

Bless

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It is God's nature to bless. God blesses by making order from chaos and inviting us into His order out of our chaos.

Notes

Transcript

Handout

Beginnings and Blessings

Video: Apollo 8 astronauts reading Genesis 1 (1968 orbit of moon)

Genesis: Stories that Define

Stories ≠ make-believe. True & explanatory stories, relevant (and return to them much)

In Genesis we have a story of beginnings, blessing, and promise

Genesis 1:1-5.

God makes order out of chaos.

God makes the world. God makes humans & calls them good —> That is God’s initial blessing - life!

Consider the Apollo 8 clip...

Q: What is your best memory of humans going into space?

A desire to grow in knowledge, distance, challenge to be more

God created Eden (“delight”) placed Adam & Eve there - there was more in store - but let’s start at the beginning...

Some truths to know

God’s nature is to bless. He did so from the beginning of Creation

What God has given is to be cared for and enjoyed

We don’t deserve what God has given

God deserves our praise & worship (though He doesn’t need it)

God created b/c God wanted to - not because God needed anything

God bestowed humans with his image

God trusted humans

Genesis 1:27-2:3. What kind of trust?

Be fruitful and multiply! Create, make more good, new, exciting things - especially more humans, the capstone of creation

Take care of this place! I created with care - you live here with ownership as my stewards

Better. Genesis 2:19. Name everything: “...whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.”

Genesis 2:19 NIV

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Q: What is your favorite animal (and what would you rename it)?

That trust was broken. God gave order from chaos - humans thought they could make order as well - only with God’s power

What does broken trust look like?

We are created by a God who blesses - gives life because he loves.

We turn that break the blessing & God’s trust through selfishness, entitlement, greed, destructive behavior towards God’s creation - humans, trees, animals, etc.

And broken trust is on display when we do all of that and then blame others for the curse of sin...

If Eve would have just left the apple on the tree - If Adam would have just done… - If those people would just stop doing that thing...

Blessings and Promise

Blessings

Life. God gave it and it is to be cherished and valued as a gift, not a right.

Image of God (value and intent).

Within humanity is something about God’s character built-in. Male & female matter (God is neither nor both but transcends). Human skin colors, hair, etc. reveal God’s character together.

Incident with George Floyd was wrong & one of many tragedies that reveal tensions around race. We should grieve and lament. We don’t need to vilify or convey sainthood on Mr. Floyd to know this was a tragedy. We certainly need to discuss legislative changes, protocols, discuss #BLM, discuss #bluelivesmatter, discuss uneven & broken systems. But at the heart the fix is a Kingdom of God fix, and Genesis sets up the starting point for all of those conversations.

Mr. Floyd had a mixed record or helping at risk youth in gangs in Houston as well as some criminal activity. But a quote from George Floyd’s pastor gives us the right place to begin our reflection on what matters here: “The fact that you have to build a narrative for a man to be loved and given justice is repulsive to me. Even if he was a capital criminal he deserved to be treated as someone created in his image. I’m done coddling Christians that can only love ppl they deem to be lovable.” -Pastor Patrick Ngwolo

We can’t even approach a fix, let alone have a productive conversation about race or any other injustice, without the foundation of Genesis 1, God creating humans in his image.

Promise. Eden wasn’t the end result.

The very fact that God said populate this planet & enjoy/care for it means there was always more in God’s intent than Eden.

We were not intended to sin, but we were to grow into the fullness of God’s image - that is best exemplified through Jesus & only possible through Jesus

From image of God to fullness of Christ. Colossians 3:12-14.

In a moment. Confirmation video. Choosing to grow to become like Jesus. Intentional, over time.

When we choose Jesus, to become like Jesus - we start to see the value of humans created in God’s image, but also the need to do away with sin, the effects of sin, the sometime accidental/ sometimes intentional act of not trusting God with our actions

Before the table.

How will you thank God for his blessing of Creation today?