In the Beginning
The Greatest Story • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
If we’re going to understand our story, we need to start at the beginning.
These opening verses of Genesis tell us more than we realize.
This story, The Greatest Story, begins and centers on 1 person. God.
This is where so many people get it wrong.
They think that the Bible is primarily about them. If we start out with us at the center we are going to be disappointed with the answers that God’s Word gives to us.
If we miss this, we miss everything.
We are characters in this story, but at its heart, this story is not about us, it’s about God.
This could not be more clear from even a casual reading of the first chapter of Genesis.
The author of Genesis is making a point to show us that this story is God’s story, it is all about Him, and what He has done, not us and what we can do.
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
God is the creator.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Because God is the Creator of all things, He has complete authority over the things that He created.
We don’t get to come to God’s Word and tell Him what it means, we come His Word and He tells us what it means!
Our job is to do what He says.
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
6 “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.
17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.
Understanding that God is the Creator, that all things were made by Him and for Him, that He has complete authority, should be a reality that causes us to rejoice and give Him praise!
I don’t know about you but I’m glad that God is the One in authority over my life because when I tried to be the one in authority I made a complete wreck of it.
So I will gladly submit to Him.
He created us for Himself.
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Our lives are not our own, they belong to God.
He is the one that has given us breath and life, we owe everything to Him
This is especially true for the Christian.
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Though we had all rebelled against God’s rights over us, tried to reject His authority in our lives, we sold ourselves into slavery, yet we have been bought back through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
How much more should we now submit to His claim over us?
Is this how you live your life?
When you’re thinking about who to date, where to work, where to live, how to spend your money?
Do you recognize in your heart that God has claim over all these things in your life?
Is the first question you ask when you’re making those decisions, “What would God have me to do?”
He created us for community.
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
The promises that are given in Scriptures are not primarily given to individuals, but to communities.
From Abraham to Jesus, God’s covenant is not with individuals, it is with groups of people together.
In the OT God’s Covenant was with Abraham and his descendants. God was in covenant with the people of Israel.
Today, God is in covenant with His church.
All the blessings and promises of God’s Word are to His Church and for His Church.
If we separate ourselves from the church we separate ourselves from God’s blessings and promises.
If we come to church on Sunday morning, and we never see these people for the rest of the week, we are missing out on a key aspect of what God created us for.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
I realize that our society makes it difficult for us to connect outside of Sunday morning, but we have to make every effort to fight against that. We were created to live in community with one another, to share our joys and pains, to walk through life together.
The responsibility for this is not on other people, it’s on us. We have to make the sacrifice, we have to put ourselves out there, and we have to believe that it is that important for us to do so.
There is no perfect life group, so just join one.
There is no area of service in the church that you’re going to love all the time, so just jump in there. Take a step of faith and obedience and see what God will do with it.