The Goodness of Creation
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Good morning, welcome to NHCC, please open Bibles to Genesis 1.
Read Genesis 1:3-5- And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Pray.
Goodness- talking to our children about their day.
Hebrew (tob)
Used over 550 times in the OT, 14 times in Genesis 1-3
Imagine a casual observer of creation.
Two questions that must be asked this morning in dealing with the goodness of creation.
1. How should goodness be understood?
1. How should goodness be understood?
Only God knows what is good. God defines it.
If God alone was there to recognize and define goodness, then it is important for us to see His definition of goodness.
Important to note that a good creation comes from a good God.
Will never be able to fully define the quality of goodness, but we can begin putting together a definition by looking in a few different areas.
First, looking to the quality of goodness as it defines God.
Lamentations 3:22-26- “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”
The goodness of God is defined as the providing of mercies.
Highlights the grace and giving nature of God.
Nahum 1:7- “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”
The goodness of God is defined as providing protection.
Refuge Youth Center
Second, looking to the quality of goodness as used elsewhere in Genesis.
Genesis 25:8- “Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.”
Goodness speaks of a completeness.
Consider the passing of someone who has lived to be 100. No one feels their lives needed so much more time.
Genesis 24:16- “The young woman was very attractive in appearance, a maiden whom no man had known. She went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up.”
Servant of Abraham finding a wife (Rebekah) for Isaac.
Tyler Nobis.
Goodness speaks of a sense of beauty.
Genesis 27:9- “Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves.”
Rebekah to Isaac- get the very best to I can butter up your father.
Don’t bring me something that is lacking.
Goodness speaks of comparison- that which is good is best, without flaw.
So what then is meant by the goodness of creation?
It’s likely a bit of all of these combined. These characteristics describe what is meant by goodness.
2. How should Christians embrace goodness?
2. How should Christians embrace goodness?
Galatians 5:22- “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,”
Galatians 6:9- “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Titus 2:3-5- “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”
We know that goodness is something to be sought after as a believer, but a right definition is important.
Eve in Genesis 3:6- “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Notice what is being communicated here, what brings about the first sin.
Eve, in her own mind, purposes as good what God has not purposed as good.
Proverbs 14:12- “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
We better rightly understand what good is if we are to pursue it, to grow in it, to not grow tired of it, and to teach it.
Three ways to grow in goodness:
Goodness as completeness
Called to be peaceful, blessed, complete and whole.
Why is this so often not the case for us as believers?
Understanding God as the giver of mercies and as a stronghold and refuge (remember, God as giver of mercies was in the book of Lamentations).
Walking into trouble when we believe ourselves to have been shortchanged by God- As did Adam and Eve.
God had given them everything necessary and yet they desired something else.
We are meant to understand ourselves as complete, whole, at peace and blessed, having everything we need.
Goodness as merciful.
As God has given us much mercy, we are to be extenders of mercy.
Good by extending goodness.
Often not the case with Christians. We hold others to unattainable expectations, largely because they are not in Christ.
Consider the mercies of God. Christ became a servant and died for you, that you might become a servant and die to yourselves in the service of others.
John 13:14-15- If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
Remember the mercy that has been given you. Give to others, that they might be made aware of God’s mercy.
Goodness as best.
We are to be the best.
What I don’t mean- somehow superior to others in a way that draws attention to ourselves.
Instead, recognize that God is what is best in all of existence (preeminence).
What is the very best that you have to offer? What is the best you that you can be?
We are at our best when we are making much of God.