FUNCTIONAL CREATION

A man so last week we started a study. the Book of Genesis and we're going to be walking through Genesis together as a family over the next decade or so because it's such an important and profound book. It's a book of beginnings and it's a book of framing it gives for us a world view. A way for us to understand the nature of reality. It gives us a grid or a framework a cultural anchor that we can then interpret reality through. Genesis is written to help us understand really the most important issues in life. And that's that's what a worldview is all about. A worldview is about answering those most essential questions of identity and existence since and all of those things that that that are really make us human. The last week I share there's whatever worldview you come from. Your worldview has to answer at least these four fundamental question. It's got to answer that. Where are we question the question of environment. It's got to answer the who are we question the question of essence. What does it mean to be a person? It's got to answer the what the heck is wrong with things question the question of evil. And lastly, it's got to answer the where are we going? Is there a point in what is the point that history the question of eschatology to spend the next few weeks at talking and thinking through this first issue that the issue of environment. Where are we? Where did we come from? Where do we find ourselves? What is this world? About? What is this world for? How are we to relate to the world that we live in the question of environment? So if you got your Bibles Easy to find Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 right at the beginning. It says in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.

Will the stop for a second here?

Because right here from the beginning we we have a problem. We live in a world that has a worldview the takes a radically different approach. And radically different understanding of this world in which we live Genesis starts this way in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. That's a Hebrew phraseology heavens and earth is a way of saying everything. It's the bookends. There's the Heavenly realm and this Earthly realm the spiritual and the physical everything that exists no matter what it is comes from the mind and Imagination and the powerful working of creator.

The world that we live in has a radically different View. modern scientific materialistic cosmology cosmology we talked about last week. Just it's an understanding of where the world came from and how the world is and we live in a in a worldview that can be defined by philosophers as scientific materialism. In other words, we believe that the only thing that matters in our culture is things that that are made of atoms and and things that can be measured and Quantified that material processes accounts for everything that material elements are all that exists. We are a byproduct of random chance and it's over the world that our world tells us we live in is a random coincidental impersonal environment.

That's what our worlds at. What are you listening to Bill Nye the creepy Science Guy?

Or taking the class or listening to the news everything in our in our world comes to us a filtered through scientific materialism that says that a fundamental basis. All that exists is material. There's nothing that exists outside of it. Gorillas called scientific materialism is because that's actually the basis of science science can only study materialism. It's only to study the material world anything outside of it. It's not a quiff. So what's happening? There's a long history to this development, but we now live in a world that that is almost completely materialist. And it's understanding of reality. Genesis 1:1 becomes a problem. What are modern cosmology says this world is random coincidental in personal biblical ancient cosmology said that we exist in an ordered intentional relational and functional environment.

That's good news.

That's good news. This world has been designed by a creator with a purpose and a function that is a relational environment that is ordered. That gives it meaning that gives it purpose. The Bible starts the story of God's begins with this declaration that everything that exists exists on purpose.

God has made it all. As we're going to see this morning as we walked through the first chapter in in the three first verses of chapter 2. We're going to see some of the intention that the functional purpose of creation. I want to challenge you this morning to pay close attention. Not not to me but to the text Pink pay close attention to what the word of God is actually saying about creation because I believe for many of us. It's going to be radically different than what we think it says. Because most of us have inherited of you of cosmology of you of this world. more from scientific materialism and actually more from Greek and Roman platonic thought then we have from the scriptures. If you been around I can't stop talking about this because the gospel message has been so reduced in minimize. And in the gospel message and in most of the American context goes like this. God loves you, even though you're a rotten horrible. Terrible Sinner and you live in a rotten horrible terrible place. So He sent Jesus and if you pray a prayer and believe in him He'll forgive you of your sins and he'll rescue you from this terrible awful horrible Earth and take you off to this wonderful boring place called heaven.

And I say that out loud.

What I'm saying?

environment

ask the question of environment does not look like Genesis chapter 1 but the Earth is not a place to be appreciated to be Stewart and to be loved the the Earth is a place to be feared and to get out of and that doesn't come from Genesis chapter. Once it comes from a lot of other worlds using a lot of other cultural influences, but most of us have been trained and programmed disciple into Disobedience to read the scriptures not for what the scripture say. We take our cultural assumptions and we put them on the scripture.

No, we get into fights that we just don't need to get into.

Are we getting so many fights and I'm not even talk at next week. I'm going to talk about the fight between a Biblical understanding of creation and scientific materialism and evolution. We're going to we're going to go there next week. But this week, let's start in-house it wait. We got to fight about Genesis chapter one. We got a younger through we got an older. Was it a literal 7 days or not a little Sigh No friendships that have ended over this issue. I know churches that have splits. I know I know people that rat. I mean this is it for some like an essential Doctrine. If you don't believe that there was a young Earth and the dinosaurs walked with man. You don't believe in the Bible and you don't know Jesus. And on the other hand if you believe the young Earth you deny this and you're a fool. And I think that a proper reading of Genesis 1 actually reframes the question in such a way the quite frankly. It doesn't matter. Because whatever this is, it's not a scientific text. Can we just start their Genesis one was not written as a scientific textbook to drop pit to describe for us the materialistic properties that happened at creation. Material is when we think about creation. We want to know what happened. Where did the matter come from? How to space a matter of time react to each other what did he create everything out of nothing but what about look like was it was a tight end of The Big Bang we got to look at this one, but we got to make sure it lines up with science.

The moment you say I got to look at Genesis 1 and make sure it lines up the science. You're not reading the scripture anymore. You're reading your culture on to the scripture. Are you with me this morning?

So in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. We have these assumptions as a culture that that's talking about materialistic. Creation before the Ancients the ancient world are they understood material properties? They knew things had material properties. The Ancients were much more concerned with function. then with being for the ancient world the way they thought the way they understood reality existence wasn't just about material stuff. It was about function.

We look at something like this, right? What do I got here? Good job.

It's a microphone from our perspective. How do we know it's a microphone while because we can touch it and hold it. We can look at it. We can take a picture of it. We can weigh it we could we could do tests on it. Right but and I know some of you in a roll your eyes at this there are other ways at looking at existence. It's more than just the philosophers. Weird idea, right? Is it a microphone just because of the way it's been constructed or is it a microphone when it actually is used to amplify a voice?

Understand the difference here. We look at things by what makes it up. When is the material elements that that that form it the ancient world didn't look at it that way. For them things didn't really come into existence until you took it and you used it. Right? What's this room that were in? What do we call this a church a sanctuary Worship Center? Is it a worship center? Because the two-by-fours and the sheetrock and the wires and the nails that were used were wholly and doused in you know, holy water and oil or some sort of prayer was anointed. It's is that what makes it a sanctuary? Isn't it more do we understand that it becomes a sanctuary? It becomes a place of worship only when worshippers come in and actually worship.

difference between just simple plain material structure and functional structure We are obsessed with material structure in our culture. The ancient world wouldn't have even understood that. They didn't have separation between the natural and the supernatural. Didn't even think that way some of the ancient world by by whom this was written and to whom this was written because remember the Bible is for us, but it's not written to us. In this Ancient World when they thought about creation what they were most concerned with what's the function of that thing? So when they read in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth they are thinking functionally.

In other words God created the world to work. God created the world to do something and we're going to see that throughout the text now. In order in order to Grass this week. Understand that way God reveals himself. He always and really only has chosen to reveal himself to a specific person or people in a specific time and place. And God speaks to them in their language in their cultural Concepts in their scientific worldview and understanding.

That's what God does the point of Genesis chapter one is not to speak to ancient Israel. And tell them in 20th century scientific terms how the world came into be he comes and he speaks to them in their cosmology in their language in their cultural understanding and any uses that to get across his main points.

We see this all the time and scripture. We talked about mummies for a second.

That's a good picture. I was just ancient Egyptians Like make mummies. The fascinating the whole process they didn't 70-day process, right? They take the person and the first thing I would do would we remove all the internal organs? Cuz they they they they didn't want those two rod and get foul. And then I dehydrate the body and they put them in the Coptic jars and sometimes they leave the jars out. Sometimes they put them back inside the body that did all sorts of different things. But here's what's interesting. They would take out they would take out the kidneys and put in the dryer. They take out the intestines and put and Riley take out the liver and put it in a jar that they would take out the brains and and you can see that they're they literally had this pic. It would go up through the nose is just appeal to the 7th grade boy and me.

forgive me but they wish they was they would jam this long pick and break the membrane up there and then just pull out the brain very carefully and then you know what they did. They threw it away.

They threw it away cuz an ancient physiology everybody knew there was grey stuff in our head. Nobody thought it did anything. They just thought it was filler.

For some of us they weren't they just didn't think they thought. They thought that sinking took place.

I've been working on a bigger brain here. They thought that the internal organs is we're thinking took place the heart the kidneys the entrails. Whenever an angel will weather to gyptians Mesopotamians akkadians or ancient Hebrews when they talk about thinking they never talk about the mind cuz they don't know what the mind is. They just think it's gray stuff. Did you know that our Bible actually does that? Every time when you're reading the Old Testament and you come across something talking about the mind it it's not talking about brain. It's either a word that means heart or kidney or intestines. How about a kind of important ones uterotomy chapter 6 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your might that were there for heart. kidney cyst intestine Cuz that's where they thought that thinking too. But for the ancient we have we live in an understanding thinking takes place in the brain emotions. Take place in the heart, right? That's kind of how our cultural narrative goes for the ancient world. It was altogether emotions thinking cognitive feeling all of that stuff was wrapped up in the heart and the kidney and the year we feel it.

interesting because when we get to the New Testament Now we're in a different culture. Now we've gone through several dynasties in Generations. Not just a conqueror and people's butt of conquering thought. Now that the world of the Greco-Roman world view is in existence and they understand that it's more than just gray stuff that there's they're beginning to understand that thinking is a brain activity at some level. So when Jesus gets into a conversation with the lawyer about what the most important thing in the law is This is fascinating. Jesus asked how do you read it in the lawyer says the Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your strength and with all your

oh, oh now the scriptures contradicting itself. Now he's misquoting scripture know he's translating scripture. In the Ancient World when they said heart so strange that was everything in a Greco-Roman reality that doesn't cover everything. So now to really understand what is being said in Deuteronomy 6 in a Greco-Roman world you you got us a heart soul mind and strength to end mine.

The principal we all love God with everything we have. But it's Express. In the understanding of the culture that it was given to and it's really expressed in the culture that exist in the New Testament. You see how they would have Tom and spoke to Moses. And said to him using our understanding of brain and neurons and synapses and and cardiovascular systems and what the liver actually does if you would have come and said to them this is how I want you to love me with this physiological understanding they wouldn't of understand understood a word. He spoke to them where they were at. Are you with me this like this is like this is one of the most important biblical interpretation issues. You got to get this under your belt. God speaks to the people where they are at. He doesn't speak to them with our scientific understanding. In fact, this is a bold statement, but I'm going to make it there is not a single time in Scripture. Where God reveals a scientific fact or understanding that is ahead of the culture to which he is speaking not one time. Not one time does God give them science Beyond where they're at.

now one time so let's take that. Let's keep that in mind. As we look at Genesis 1 in the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth. We're doing it. We're going past it the Earth was without form and void. Darkness was over the face of the deep in the spirit of the the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water. In the beginning the word it in Hebrews bereshit it it can be translated and has a most of our versions translated in the beginning but it can also be translated when God began to create or when God began creating. It's a it can be describing we look at this and theologians go. Well, this is this is God creating out of nothing the novo creation at nothing existed and then God created everything that exists in. Because all we care about is where the matter come from. The remember the Ancients didn't tear or think about that. What they were looking for in wondering was function. It was functional. Stop the introduction is. God began the work of creation.

The beginning of what did he didn't matter and time and space before the 7 days or did he do it through the 7 day? I'm not sure it matters to understand the main point is that God began this work of creation. For me shaping the word create borrow. It is aware that use 50 times in the Old Testament is only used about God. God is the only one that can create we can shave we can make all God creates. This is divine activity. This is personal involvement of a Creator in creation that God creates but everything that that is and then we get this picture of this beginning and there's these these these these Waters these deep Waters the the Primal and primordial sea and there's the spirit of God the power of the Numa the Breath of God is hovering over the sea.

Stop being written to tell us how matter came into existence is being written to tell us. God he's a guy who takes chaos for the Seer. And speaks order unto it. That's what this text is telling. There is an order to the universe that's been institutionalized and established by God without random. We're not happenstance accidental. Takes the stuff of reality and forms and shapes according to his will.

forgot said let there be light. And there was light. Who is interesting cuz when we think about light depending on when you went to school. You think of it as a wave or particle you think of it is something that has substance you think about light in a material sort of way. That's that's Who We R Who We R. That's not how the Ancients understood life. I didn't understand light and no waves and particles and atoms as a state of being. Just like they knew dark as a state of being you want me to prove it to you watch this.

And God saw the light was good and God separated the light from Darkness interesting.

What is Darkness?

The absence of light we thought good cultural response, right? That's how we think of it. the absence of light but for the Ancients light was when I could see and dark was when I couldn't. functional right

and he called the light. lights No, cuz this is not a materialistic creation that didn't speak waves and protons into existence here on day one God created and separated light from Death are there different types of existence and being different function and he called The Darkness 90 called the light day and there was evening and there was morning the first day.

Nicole light light he called it day. What he's saying is let there be a. Of light in a. Of Darkness what's created on day one is actually time.

That's what they want is all about the reality of time the time moves forward that there's natural sweeteners day and night and day and night night night night day. You don't know there's there's a natural. Let There Be day. Let there be night let their bday Let There Be Nice Guy sets up and creates and orders the functional reality of time. You see that in a cool little bit different than light.

Just getting warmed up. God said let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from the waters. So in our scientific understanding, we know the whole cycle of water right water falls down operate that goes back up at falls down. They didn't understand that. Here's what they knew. waterfowl sometimes So there must be water. And water came up out of the ground sometimes so there must be water Below on the ancient cosmology. I mean, why not?

I bet that's what I thought. There's water is up there and they thought there was wires down here. So God speaks to them in their understanding right here in between waters. They got to be separate from each other got me these pants and separate the waters that wander the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse and it was so and God called the expanse the heavens and there was evening and there was morning the second day

we think about heaven Some Like Other Place distant, but most of the time in the scriptures was talking about the heavens. It's talking about the upper atmosphere. Heaven's the waters above and there's the waters below and God creates a space for his people in between.

We have all they want is time. We haven't they to is weather. God's got ordering and creating a system that's going to function the weather is going to be a part of it and we need without weather without precipitation without water. We're not going to do very well.

3rd, God said let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so we create in that verse.

We call these the seven days of creation, right? They 3 you don't create a single thing.

I mean from our Viewpoint of material creation that God doesn't say it doesn't say there wasn't land and God made the land. What does it say? Cuz he separates it. See how it's not Material creation. It's functional creation. That's what's going on in this text. God is ordering the universe to function in the wave at Sea. Once it the function.

Call the dryer Lance call the dry land Earth and in the waters were gathered together, and he called seas and God saw that it was good.

God said let the Earth Sprout vegetation that doesn't create the veggie tale of yours Sprout vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit and which is seed each according to its kind on the earth and it was so the Earth brought forth vegetation plants yielding seed according to their own time trees bearing fruit and which is their seed each according to its kind and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning the third day. They want we get time they to we get weather day 3 we get gardening.

I mean we're so oblivious to the mystery and The Wonder of it you take a seed you can drop it on the ground you put some dirt on it and pour some water you walk away. You come back and food.

God's expressing and what the ancient cultures trying to express in this word of Genesis? Is that these big I mean the big things in life time weather food. The process is the Gunner see we describe it separation in the water cycle and don't you know? Minor glasses back on and we can talk about it. That's how we talk but they go no God ordered this. God ordered. I know there's a fact that we've come to understand precipitation invalidate what's described in Genesis? Not at all. We're now learning about the the universal principles that God created and organized to make this functional reality happen.

It's a beautiful thing. One that you're right. I'm not going to make it through all this.

Let there be lights. In the expanse of the Heavens to separate the day from the night, let them be signs and four seasons and four days and four years. Let there be lights in the expanse of the Heavens to give light upon the Earth and it was so God made the two great lights the greater light to Rule the Day and the Lesser light to rule the night and he made the star. So interesting, right they won he creates day and night. He creates the the reality of it now he creates the functionaries within it. So you got Dave and you got nights when the day where they have the greater lights the Sun and at night we're going to have the less we like the moon or we can have all the stars. Be so he's created this reality of time and now we're going to have this. How do we track day and night while the movement of this amazing thing called the Sun and this thing called the moon and course. They thought they thought that we had lived on a flat Earth and they didn't understand a globe in it. They thought that the sun went back and then somehow it went under the waters and came back up.

We understand it more indifferently now, but it doesn't change the fact that God is stablished those processes to govern the reality that we live in daytime and we live in nighttime. And if you tweak that things get really bad for Humanity really quickly. We live in an incredibly ordered Universe incredibly fine-tuned where to talk about that in the next couple weeks. Does God said I got to set them in the expanse of the Heavens to give light on the earth through over the day and over the night to separate the light from the darkness God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was morning the 4th day. I got that with the water swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the Earth across the expanse of the heavens. So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves put a note in that God created the great sea creatures that's important to talk about it later every living creature that moves with which the water swarm according to their kinds and every Wings Bird according to its kind and God saw that it was good and God bless them and said be fruitful and multiply fill the waters in the seas and let Birds multiply in the earth. So now he separates the waters above.

On day 5 he fills the sky with the birds and he feels the waters with creatures and what does he do? He tells them functionally live reproduce make more fill it. That brings the order to it and then it begins to fill it.

There was evening and there was morning the 5th day.

Are we love ourselves so much. This is the important one, right? Let the Earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things could have used a few less of those and beasts of the Earth according to their kinds and it was so God made the beasts of the Earth according to their kinds livestock everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind and God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness let them have dominion over the fish of the sea. However the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the Earth on the Earth.

You should have functional reality was being described. So now on the land. Crates animal each according to their kinds he tells them to reproduce then he creates something you need something different in his own image. He creates mankind male and female. He created them any tells them to have dominion exercise rule. Those are functional terms over all creation.

God bless them Got7 to be fruitful and multiply Philly or subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said behold. I have given you every plant yielding seed that's on the face of all the Earth. Fruit you shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth and every bird of the heavens into everything that creeps on the earth everything that has the breath of life. I have given every green plant for food and it was So and God saw everything that he had made and behold it was. Very good and there was evening and there was morning the 6th day.

Mankind is created for a purpose. We're going to explore that much more deeply when we look at the question of essence. Who are we? What I want you to see is it what Genesis one is doing is describing the functional creation of God's world.

And when it says it is good it is good is as good as good as it is. Very good. We got well what it was that mean though, it's good. It's it's it's pleasing. It's it gives me a warm fuzzy like I looked at and go that's cute. right now When it says it is good. It means it works. Its function it did what it was supposed to be. Separates the day from the night. That's good. That separates the water. God got Chris. Yep birds. Like I have wings to fly. Yep deals to swim. Yep. Got to have this guy. Yes, it was good. It was good. It was very good at works. the world's to work that's incredible miracle. Now for us because we come from a materialistic perspective. We don't know what to do with the last day.

Right. We don't know what to do with a 7-week all and seven days of creation. But like they sounded like he needed a nap.

If I were to tell you a story. wild and fanciful Tale With great details and wonderful characters emotional experiences and resolution to reach the climax in after the climax of the end of the story as I'm beginning to wrap it up. If I said at the end of the story and they live happily ever after. You would know exactly what kind of story I was telling wouldn't you? That cuz we have as a cultural marker if I start a Story Once Upon a Time and if I finish the story and they live happily ever after you know, I'm telling a particular type of store. You called a fairy tale or a children's story or whatever, you know right away all this on a real story. It's something that's made up. There's probably a moral being told in its all I have to do is say that phrase and they lived happily ever after and you know what this text is talking about.

That's exactly what happens here it in the first few verses of chapter 2. It's interesting because clearly this whole thing is a unit but at some point right, you know, the chapters and verses then come from God Ray like some dude sat down a couple hundred years ago. I was like, all right Chapter 1 what verse is to it make it orderly? For some reason he ends chapter one after Basics and just lumps day 7 at the beginning of chapter 2, even though clearly the blocks together cuz he didn't have the understanding of they lived happily ever after.

World when they read this that's the heavens were finished and all the hosts of them and on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done and God bless the seventh day and made it. Holy because on it got arrested from all his work that he had done in creation when anyone in the ancient world ancient Hebrew ancient Egyptian ancient Philistines Ancient amalekite Ancient mosquito bite any of those guys. Nina's guys read this text they would have immediately gone. Oh, I understand what this is. This is a temple text.

Oh I get it totally makes sense. They're talking about the seven days. God is creating for himself a temple. In an ancient world a temple had one purpose and one purpose only. It was a place for God to dwell. When a god came and took up residence in his Temple, he was known to rest in his Temple and it's not rest like taking a nap cuz he's tired. It's about God coming into this place on Earth. It's Sacred Space. It's a place that has been designed for God to dwell and for God to be goth. What did God do on day 8?

We got do on date. arrested in his Temple We do Wednesday 9 he rested in his Temple. What are you on day 10 he rested in his the Earth was created to be the dwelling place.

Cuz that's that's our neoplatonic.

the gods dwell on Olympus

God lives in heaven man lives on Earth. That's not the Bible.

The Earth was created from the beginning to function as a dwelling place for God with his people. With his people everything about what this Earth is not a place to get away from the place to be redeemed is a place for us to go and what is the place where God is going to come and dwell with us? Is that not what we see at the end of the story in Revelation?

God ordered and created this world to be a place of Sacred Space a place where God would dwell with his people. and it was very good. Hey, man. Materialistic lens but God help us to see it as you see it.

What's your word produce life within us let it produce hope let it drive change. Let it strengthen our faith. And let it shape how we choose to live every single day.