New Beginnings Part 1

2021 is here. For many of us, if not all of us, are looking for a fresh start. A restart. A new beginning. This is the time of year where we join the gym and start eating healthy. We become frugal with our money and rigid with our plans. We start new exciting things and we get rid of old unhealthy habits. We have an entire, brand new year in front of us so what better time to begin something new and chase our dreams and desires.

Something similar could be said for us as a church. We are in a new year. Ready to see what God has in store for Cornerstone in 2021. We are ready for a new season. A new start. A new beginning. So, what better way to kick off this new year than in the place where it really all began…Genesis.

Set up to Genesis

Genesis can appear simple. It has many stories that you will probably be familiar with

But upon really studying Genesis we find the complexities and depths of a God who created all things

Genesis is foundational to our faith. It’s where it all begins.

We see many NT authors recite and refer back to Genesis

Genesis means the origin or beginning

So in Genesis we will see lots of new. A new

Creation

family

people

covenant

fall

plan

But the thing that we see that shines brightest, through all the ups and downs, through all the triumphs and defeats, through all the extraordinary details and the magnificent creations is the one thing that has no beginning, that has no Genesis. GOD!

Background - before we dive into this series and book lets’s address a few things to help us better understand the goal and purpose of why it was written and to whom it was written to.

We should first understand that Genesis, like the rest of Scripture, should be part of a canonical reading.

Genesis is the first book in the pentateuch (penta “five”, teuch “book”)

The first several chapters will serve as a cosmology (study of the cosmos/world)

It was given specifically to the Israelite people for what some have called “roots and shoots.” So that they could understand their roots (where they came from) and give them some shoots (understanding of where God calls them to be)

With that perspective in mind, when we come to Genesis today in our culture most of the time we read the creation account in light of theories such as “the big bang theory” or “evolution” or “naturalism”

During this time and culture there was never a struggle with the existence of god it was only a matter of which god.

Egyptians had a god made out of the waters of nun who created other gods of nature.

Babylonias and Assyrians had a theory called enum elish where two gods created more gods and the father god got sick of the children gods so he planned to kill them and Ea, god of wisdom, cast a spell. Marduk became the hero god

Canaan had baal, el, asherah, and Anat

So Genesis was not written with the sole purpose of debating all worldviews we hold today, although it does answer many of those questions.

Most people come Genesis looking to answer two questions. When and How

When was the earth created?

How was the earth created?

Genesis sole purpose is to answer two different questions. Who and Why

Who is the creator?

And why did He create?

But, the big idea that we are going to find in the whole of Genesis and the pentatuech and not just there but throughout the entirety of Scripture and all of creation is this

Everything is about God

Something seemingly so simple can lead to something so devastating if it is not properly understood and accepted.

It’s the reason people choose not to believe

It’s the reason people walk away

If this is true, that everything is about God, then that means that everything is not about you

But listen, this is good news

This should give us hope

It is the very thing that our hope is built on

The fact that everything is about God and God alone

Doesn't this make Him selfish?

Who would you rather God be completely about?

The moment God is completely about something else is the moment He is no longer God

The only thing that deserves God’s full attention, glory, and worship is Himself

If we can’t understand this then all of Scripture will be fleeting

Your whole life will feel void of purpose

Everything is made by God, for God, so that we might give glory to God

Everything begins and end with Him. (alpha and omega)

He is the sole purpose the sole focus of our worship

The earth groans and longs to be with Him and that’s what we see from the very beginning of Scripture here in Genesis and what we see till the very end found in Revelation.

Ok so with that framework in mind let’s jump in

Genesis 1:1 NIV

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning marks inauguration with an anticipation of an end.

This word for beginning in the the OT is often paired with it’s antonym “end.”

So, the author has at the very outset shown that creation’s beginnings were initiated with a future goal intended, a purpose

Isaiah 46:10 NIV

10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

In the beginning God

Before time began there was God

Before earth was formed there was God

Before man and creatures were created there was God

So if in the beginning there was God and nothing else that means that before the beginning there was God

Now a proper question would be “what happened, or is happening, before the beginning?”

Let’s be clear. Genesis is not primarily concerned with answering this question. But I do believe it is very important for us to understand some things in this question before we dig into the rest of Genesis.

First, we must understand that before the beginning there was nothing. Absolutely nothing but God. Before anything there was God

Which means that He is uncreated. Unmade

It is a distinguishable characteristic of Him

Everything else we read from this point forward will have been created and have a creator

He has existed for all of eternity past and will exist for all of eternity future

Everything was created by Him and He is the only thing that has no creator

When Genesis states God here it uses the Hebrew word “elohim” meaning God or a supernatural deity.

But as we do a canonical reading we can conclude that when Genesis 1 opens up it is actually referring to the Trinity

Trinity: god eternally exists as one essence in three distinct persons each of whom is fully God, yet there is only one God

We don’t have time today to do a deep dive into the trinity but perhaps this will help your understanding some

Throughout Scripture we see the trinity work like this

God the Father initiates - The father initiates creation

God the Son accomplishes/mediates - Creation is then accomplished through the Son

God the Holy Spirit applies/completes - It is completed or applied by the power of the holy Spirit

Yet none of those actions are done independently and none of them are subordinate to another

So, when Genesis 1:1 says “in the beginning God.” It could be read “in the beginning the trinity.”

We arrive at this from

Genesis 1:2 NIV

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.

Genesis 1:26 NIV

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind 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.”

John 1:1–3 NIV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

Colossians 1:15–17 NIV

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Because this is true we can then see clearer a few things

God did not need us - Aseity

He is sufficient to Himself and not dependent of anything outside of Himself

In our culture today we often fall into the idea that we were and are created out of God’s loneliness, desperation, or need of something outside of himself

God is and always will be completely sustained and fulfilled in and of Himself

So why were created? Out of an abundance of Himself, not a lacking.

Having an infant

God is and always has been a relational God

God’s desire through creation was to form beings that reflected His glory and enjoyed His fellowship

Revelation 4:11 gives us a picture of the 24 elders bowing before Him who is seated on the throne and they say

Revelation 4:11 NIV

11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

John Piper “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Through God’s pursuit of His own glory and out of the overflow of the love that He has for Himself he created beings, us, to reflect His glory back to Himself by being completely satisfied and joyful in Him

God’s pursuit of His own glory is actually rooted in love

We must be careful to never project what we know to be true of us onto God

Just because you are selfish

Or just because you love “with a hook” doesn't mean that it is also true for God

His love is completely genuine and pure

So this is our launching point

Our launch into new beginnings

Into Genesis and the rest of Scripture

The foundation of our faith

“In the beginning God.”

The sooner we can realize that our life and world revolves around Him the sooner we find joy, peace, hope, purpose, and love

Our lives our fulfilled when everything begins with God

This week take some time to just think on the grandness of God

Make a conscience decision that before you do anything you start with God.

What would He desire for me in this situation?

What would He have me do or say so that I may glorify Him.

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