Sermon Tone Analysis

⁜ Prayer ⁜

Intro ~ Secularity and the Bible: Two Visions

So with this sermon, which I have titled "Children of the Father" we are going to begin a year long exploration of Scripture through a set of sermon series that will take us through the Bible as we explore the story that the Bible tells us, and how that story forms us to be a unique people in the midst of the world.

The current series of sermons focuses on the how God goes about forming a people to be his own, and so this series bears the title "The Foundations of God's People."

Now, while I would love to go word for word through the entirety of Scripture, that is not possible, so, what I am planning on us doing together is to pull out texts from throughout the whole Bible, which we will explore each week, so as to get a birds-eye view of the main themes of the Bible’s story.

In short what we will be doing together is what is called biblical theology.

You have probably heard that term.

But just in case anyone needs a reminder of what biblical theology is, Tim Keller offers a helpful definition.

In an entry in the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, pastor Keller writes:

“the Bible is not just a diverse assortment of stories and materials; it altogether comprises a master narrative.

This is not to say that the Bible is written like a novel with a tight, simple plot-line not at all.

It contains many individual stories and a lot of non-narrative material.

But just as J. R. R. Tolkien produced thousands of pages of narratives, poetry, articles, maps, and even lexicons over the course of decades in order to tell one very sweeping story, so God, the author of every part of the Bible, is also telling one overarching story about the real world he created.

There is a basic plot-line to which all the parts relate and which makes sense of all the pieces.”

And that is exactly what we are going to be doing together this year!

But, I should also explain why I think it is important that we do this!

Of course, I could point out that doing this is to honor the way in which the Bible has been written and handed down to us.

And that is true… absolutely!

But I also have another reason for wishing to explore Scripture with you in this way.

And what is that reason?

Namely, that we live in a culture where we find ourselves caught between stories which are competing for our hearts.

One the one hand we have a culture all around us that tells us a story about who we are and what the world all around us is and is about.

This story is referred to by a term called secularism, which typically tells us that this world is all that we have, but instead more subtly suggests that this world and this life is likely all that we have… and so aims our vision towards a purely horizontal vision of this life.

This new vision that has slowly developed in our culture over the past 500 years suggests that: sure there may be a god (or, perhaps, even gods) out there, but if God exist he has surely stepped away from this world, and we are left to fend for ourselves.

And if you or I find comfort – for some reason – in belief in a god, that fine… for you and me.

But we must not expect others to embrace what is our personal belief.

To do so, is almost certainly a distraction from what is really important.... human flourishing here and now.

That alone sustains us and gives us hope according to secularism's narrative.

And so, the story of secularism goes, we each make our own way in this world… each figuring out our own truth.

But with our eyes set upon this world alone.

Indeed, if we set our eyes upon something beyond this world and life, say - a heavenly hope, we are in a sense giving expression to a subtle disloyalty to both ourselves and fellow humans, for our energy and life focus has become diverted.

And so, ultimately, this story we are told is anti-religious.

It is a vision of this life and this world where there are many truths – and each of those truths must be accepted as equally valid – and it also contains a specific ethical goal, which is found in the project to ensure human flourishing and comfort, and the improvement of this world apart from the distraction of religion.

One evangelical scholar, Kevin Vanhoozer, has stated this situation well.

He points out that our current culture is so preoccupied with the self situated purely in a this-worldly vision, wherein we cannot conceive of an overarching story to give meaning to our lives, that we cannot get beyond our own selves, we are stuck… there is no way forward… we can never really grasp reality or truth.

All we can ever do is impose our own perceived truths upon this world.

What hope is there in the face of such claims!

It sounds like we must despair, doesn’t it?!

On the surface I would say yes, it seems like we must despair!

But actually, if we place these claims under careful scrutiny we find that they are filled with contradictions!

The claim that there can be no objective truths is itself an objective truth!

And the claim that we are unable to share a worldview is itself a worldview!

So the rules that secularism sets forth are inherently broken by itself as it makes its claims.

In light of that, I would also argue that there is actually a lot of hope offered to us in this situation.

We can both recognize and point out these inconsistencies.

But even more importantly, because the vision of secularism leads to a sense of inner spiritual emptiness, scholars are noticing that even while people, especially younger generations are not going to church, they are searching for stories which nurture hope and a greater sense of fulfillment than the purely this-worldly vision offered by secularism.

So a new generation is arising which realizes that something is missing from their lives.

A natural desire for something transcendent, something greater than the merely material world is bubbling up in peoples hearts.

And why?

Because that is how God made us!

As Augustine once famously said: “Our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord!”

And so, in recognizing the inevitable hopelessness created by the culture secularism breeds, we can offer a different, better hope to a generation that is seeking for something… for something better and more fulfilling than what they currently have.

And what is that something which is better?

It is that other story which I alluded to towards the beginning of this sermon.

⟫ It is the story that God himself shares with us in the pages of this precious book we know as the Bible!

⟪

That is where we begin this morning.

A story that opens up with an entirely different narrative; a story wherein we find a humanity that is free of the constraints set by secularity.

We are told in this story: That we are free to know the truth, and in fact that God sets truth directly before us to grasp.

That we are not alone in this life, but have a God who cares for us, and sets us in community together.

That we have a mission entrusted to us that is so much bigger and more glorious and eternal than secularism’s constrained duty to flourish only in this world.

And this story is the Christian, or Biblical, worldview.

So now, lets dive into today’s text to see the story of the precious promises and glorious hope that God shares with us in his Scriptures about who he is and who we are to him.

Now, as I read through today’s passage from Genesis, I noticed three themes arise within the text.

These are:

1.

The Lord’s act and self-revelation through his creative work

2. The Lord’s sovereignty expressed through his commands to our first parents

3. The Lord’s care expressed through his providential provision in the lives of our first parents.

In each of these themes we will see how God offers a story to us that offers us a sense of deep meaning.

In each of these themes God is offering us a rich sense of who we are, what our place is in this world, and that He stands at the center of everything.

And so as we encounter this story and hear it in faith – and taking it in, in faith, is the key! - we find that the world begins to look different to us, and we begin to engage the world differently.

Why?

Because we are brought to see that the whole world points not to itself, but instead declares the glory of God!

So join me now in exploring these three themes.

The Lord’s Creation

First, as we consider God’s creative action, we discover a radically different narrative to that often found in our culture.

Consider reading through the news – and as we do se we see an article about new discoveries that scientists have made as we study space.

Interestingly reading through the various articles and blog posts out there about that topic, I am struck by the tone they often strike, a tone filled with wonder or even pseudo-worship!

But yet, the vision expressed is “stuck” if you will.

It cannot move beyond this world.

And so they will speak of the wonders of this earth, and the progress we have made, and reflect on where that progress will continue to take us.

It is rare that we hear a truly transcendent note.

And that is because we live in a culture, where that is the story that surrounds us!

It is a story that, in a sense, blinds us to the possibility of something beyond the physical world.

And here is where Scripture re-narrates us, giving us a different vision of who we are and what the world around us is.

Now let us remember that Scripture and science are not enemies!

No, that is not what Scripture is about.

What God is doing in Scripture is reminding us that there is something beyond the mere fleshy reality we see all around us, which can be measured, dissected, poked and prodded.

We come to se that everything around us has a deeper grounding.

And what is that grounding?

Well, that is where the Bible begins!

So we read in Gen. 1:1–3: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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.

And God said…”.

Let us notice what is happening here!

Before we even reflect on this creation, Scripture starts elsewhere!

It starts with God.

He is the one upon whom the whole story must rest!

All that we have around us only exists because as v. 1 says “God created.”

And when Scripture speaks of the primordial chaos of the earth what does it say.

“the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (v. 2) And that is a very important point!