Foundations 1
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Students we are starting a new series this week called Foundations
The goal of this series is to look at the very beginning of the Bible, the literal foundation of everything and see how it shows us what we are called to
I’m excited about this series for two big reasons:
It’s Old Testament and man I just get fired up anytime we get to talk about the Old Testament
It shows us some fascinating truths about who God is!
To start out this series we are going to look at creation!
Specifically how God orchestrated everything together
Creation
Creation
He is the God who creates
He is the God who creates
1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
The start of Genesis 1 gives us a few things to note:
It first introduces us to God — What do we know about God?
We know that He creates
The Hebrew verb here for the word “create” is the word bara
Everyone say bara
Its such a fun word
Here’s what’s significant about the word bara
Everyone say bara — you better not forget it
The word bara means to create or form in a divine sense
It is the creative acts of God
What does this mean? It’s something that we cannot do
It is to make something that does not exist, or to make something out of nothing
Think logically about that
We cannot make something out of nothing — I really want a ham and swiss panini right now but the problem is I can’t just make it
I need the ham, the swiss cheese, mayo, and of course some sourdough bread. And a panini press!
I cannot bara — but God can
He could make a ham and swiss panini out of nothing
He also bara’d the existence of ham and swiss making something brand new that never existed / had the capability of existing
This word bara is amazing
It appears 5 times in the creation narrative!
In Genesis 1:1 which we already read
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Which again talks about how God created the heavens and the earth
We also see it appear in Genesis 1:21
21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
Which shows how God created the fish and the birds out of nothing
We then see it again in Genesis 1:27
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Where God bara’d humans
Then we finally see it in Genesis 2:3
3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Referencing the fact that He created everything out of nothing!
The first thing that looking at creation teaches us about God is this:
He is a God who creates
God is a God who creates something out of nothing!
He is the God who creates things that have never existed before
He is a God that is so powerful he created everything we see!
Think about how powerful and awesome God is
He created us — the people in the room — and humans are so intricate and crazy in the way our bodies work
He created insects who are intricate in how their bodies work, and are also completely different from humans
He created bacteria and viruses — which while we hate when we get sick — are absolutely incredible in the way they operate — and yes once again they are completely different than humans and insects
God is a powerful God that creates!
He creates with a purpose
He creates with a purpose
When you read through the creation story there should be another thing that stands out to us
Another phrase that is used consistently
“it was good”
It’s used 6 times:
Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25
Then God elevates it after creating mankind in Genesis 1:31
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Over and over and over in scripture you see the phrase “it was good”
God consistently in his creating declared that it was good
The Hebrew word for good is Tov
Everyone say tov
Tov is another fun word to say
And you’ve already learned two Hebrew words — bara and tov!
Now the word tov is translated good, or pleasing
It has the idea of being pleasing for His purpose of creation
After each day of creation God tells us — it is good — it is useful for His purpose
Here’s the second thing we learn about God:
God creates with a purpose
Our God creates with a purpose
Everything that he created has a greater purpose than simply why it was created
It was all created for one specific reason — to give Him glory!
Everything in all of creation was designed in a way to give praise and honor and glory to God
Look at what all God created:
Picture of our solar system
Picture of milky way galaxy
Picture of Ultra-Deep Field — picture of 10,000 galaxies
All of this was created and designed by God for a purpose to give Him glory!
We are meant to see the mass expansion of the world and realize how good and powerful God is
Then we are meant to hear it:
Vela Pulsar — this is a neutron star that exploded and when it exploded it collapsed back on itself. When this happened, because of its magnetic pull, it now oscillates around the axis of the star eleven times a second which creates a radio frequency
47 TUC — this is a cluster of stars that are 16,700 light years away from earth. Within 47 TUC are 23 millisecond pulsars. We have recorded only 16 and listen — it sounds like God’s string orchestra
But that’s not all
Praise the Lord from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist,
stormy wind fulfilling his word!
Mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars!
Beasts and all livestock,
creeping things and flying birds!
We are told to praise the Lord! To join in because God created everything for His glory!
Whales — God in verse 7 tells the sea creatures to join in! Listen to the whale songs for a minute
Dolphins — listen to the sound and how they sing!
He created purposefully!
It is all for the glory of God! All to praise Him and honor him!
But that isn’t all that God did in creation
He created us different
He created us different
When we read the creation account in Genesis there is something that should make us stop and pause
Not only did God crest everything — he bara’d it!
But there is something else that is unique
When God got to man listen to what we are told:
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.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
He created mankind in His image and likeness
But it was so much more than that
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
God didn’t just speak us into existence like everything else
He instead took his time and formed us!
He made us with His own hands
Then listen to what God did:
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God tells them to go and subdue the earth — have dominion over it
Quite literally what God was saying is — go make sure that everything is praising my name
R.C. Sproul a famous pastor and author put it this way:
Man is the captain of creation, and thus his job is to work with the world, organizing it and transforming it for God’s glory.
R. C. Sproul
God didn’t just create us randomly with all of creation — God actually created us differently with a job
Thats the third thing we learn about God and creation:
God created us differently
We were created differently than everything else
With all of creation God bara’d it — something out of nothing
He spoke and it existed
But with mankind he rolled up his sleeves and formed us
He breathed life into
We were designed not just for the general purpose of giving God glory
No there is so much more
He created us differently so that we can point everything back to God
We talked about this in the identity series — we are created in his image to be his reflection
Man kind is created to point everything back to God, how good he is and how great He is!
When God told us to have dominion over all the earth — that means we are called to ensure that everything on the earth is giving praise and glory to God!
No this does not mean you need to go share the Gospel with your dog
What it does mean is that when we look at nature and someone says “wow isn’t that beautiful”
You better hit them with “Yeah because a perfect God created it to show how amazing He is!”
You better Jesus juke them!
It is our job to make sure that everyone knows how great God is! To make sure they know that He created all of nature to give Him glory!
Conclusion
Conclusion
Students when we read the creation account I don’t want us to miss the truths about God!
God is the God who creates! He makes something out of nothing
God is the God that creates with a purpose! The entire world is singing praises of how wonderful He is
And God when He created man, created us different!
We are made to be a mirror reflecting His holiness and goodness!
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
How does understanding that God creates out of nothing impact your view of His power in your life?
How does understanding that all of creation is joining in song worshipping the Lord change the way you think about God? The world?
What is your role in the galactic worship of God?
How can you point people back to Jesus?
