Living in a Chaotic World

“Living in a Chaotic World”

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Do you as a Christian ever watch the news, or turn one the T.V. and say to yourself; “What is going on in this world”?

· Christians getting their heads chopped off.

· Christians being sued for simply standing on their convictions. Loss of religious freedom!

· Supreme Court hearing arguments about marriage- which is already clearly spelled out in the bible and American history!

· America in deep debt on a path to economic disaster.

· Rioting in the streets of Ferguson, and Baltimore, and cities across the country.

· A country that is post-Christian culture.

· Child-abuse, spouse-abuse, drug-abuse, is an epidemic.

And there is a lot of bad stuff happening in our world! And a lot of people are living in fear, defeat, despair, and hopelessness! This is a chaotic world we are living in!!

It is easy to get down as a Christian in the world we live in: I heard about one guy who said he was so low he could play racquetball on the curb.

We can chose to get down, live in despair and allow ourselves to give in to hopelessness, but we MUST NOT do it!

We can live a life of faith hope and love in the world we are living in! HOW?

How can we live lives of faith hope and love in this dark world? I want us to see today that we are not the first Christians to live in a culture like we are living in today.

When we look in Genesis we see a culture emerging that is very much like our culture today:

Background- Adam sinned against God,

-“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”

The sin of Adam was passed down to his sons; Cain kills Abel, and turns his back on God and goes out to live independent of God. Cain does not acknowledge God, or worship God; he lives a total secular life. God is not a part of his life at all!

How does Cain do in life? He prospered! When you read in , you get the reader’s digest version of Cain’s life, he has a son, builds a city, names it after his son, then has other sons.

And his family goes on to be the builders of civilization. His children become the leaders in agriculture, music, iron and brass work, and advancing civilization. But as the Cainite civilization rose so did sin and death.

Cain’s grandson, Lameck; becomes a polygamous,4:19, Just as Cain rebelled against God, his grandson rebelled against God and married two wives.

The Lamech killed a young man, and brags to his wives about it! (Running around with his shirt off with barbed-wire tattooed on his chest)

Marriage was debased and life was devalued!

The development of cities, arts, foods, music, and technology are all great and good, if they are enjoyed and used for the highest interest of human life and for the glory of God; however all of those things apart from God have untold potential for evil.

The picture that God gives us as we look at Cain’s family is a culture without God!!

· Moral Permissiveness- sexual sin.

· Technological advancement- mining of iron and brass.

· Violent crime- Lameck killed young man.

· Spiritual indifferences- didn’t care about God.

Our world is a world just like that world:

· Moral Permissiveness.

Pornography alone is a 4 billion dollar a year business, pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexuality is destroying people’s lives. The stuff on T.V. and many movies are unfit to watch. More and more incest, rape, homosexuality will find its way onto the screen. The internet has become a superhighway of filth into many people homes!

What used to slink down the back alley, none struts down main-street. What should appall us and shock doesn’t any more.

· Technological advancement.

We have blown passed making things of Iron and brass, we can make a micro-chip that can tell you where your dog is, on put a smart bomb in someone’s house miles away. We can chart your DNA, and make one day clone another human being.

· Violent crime.

With all of our smarts we still don’t know how to love our neighbor as ourselves. The violent crimes in America are unbelievable.

The prisons are filled, and the court system overran; life no longer has value in America!

A District Attorney recently said-“it used to be your money or your life” now “it’s your money and your life”

· Spiritual indifferences.

The sad reality is few and few people are going to church, more and more people do not know the great stories of the bible. Many young children are growing up never having heard the gospel, or Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so!

More and more church members do not feel it is important to attend, pray, support and invite others to come and hear about the wonderful Lord Jesus Christ!! It is amazing to me!!

Our world is just like the world we read about in , a world of people headed toward the judgment of God.

But I want you to see that there was another group of people living on the earth during this time. There was another family besides Cain’s family, and they were living very different lives. While Cain and his family were travelling down the wide road of destruction, there was a family travelling the opposite way up the narrow road toward eternal life!

We are told in 4:25, about the birth of Seth and his family illustrates the way God’s people should in live in a chaotic world: 1st of all we should:

1. Live Life with Purpose!

The name Seth means substituted or appointed, Seth would take the place of Abel in the line of Christ.

God blessed Seth and he had a son, Enos, 4:26-Read.

Cain’s family pioneer cities and build civilization, but Seth’s family pioneered worship. Seth’s children worshiped God. It says about them:

V:26-“Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord” which means they regularly proclaimed the name and nature of the Lord.

When Cainite civilization began to rise and worship at the altar of abundance, art and technology; when abuse and violence became commonplace and God was ignored, right in the middle of that civilization, men began to proclaim the name of the Lord.

They live life with a greater purpose!! To glorify, honor, worship and proclaim the name of the Lord!

This is exactly what we are to do in this culture we live in; we are to glorify, honor, worship and proclaim the name of the Lord, and sing his praises!

In a culture that is rising in many impressive ways, it is also declining into sin and chaos.

The only hope is to call upon the name of the Lord. This is the only hope for culture. This is the only hope for your soul. This is the only hope for the church to call upon the name of the Lord, who is Jesus Christ.

-“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Seth’s family, the saints of God called on the name of the Lord, and proclaimed his name, they sang his praises. The people of God lived very different lives right in the middle of the culture they lived in.

We are reminded in 5:1-“God created man in the likeness of God”

The people of God knew that they were created with a purpose!

Though sin marred God’s image in man it did not erase it, we are God’s image bearers in this world; which means we have tremendous privilege and potential!

· Being made in God’s image means, we have the capacity to hear God’s Word, which animals do not.

· Begin made in God’s image means we have been given charge over God’s creation; we are to rule the world for God.

· Being made in the image of God means we have the capacity to have an intimate spiritual relationship with the God of the universe.

Right in this culture we can live a life of purpose:

Hear from God though His word, exercise domination over this world, enjoy this world and all that is in it; enjoy your work and be prosperous and best of all, have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ!

God goes on to say, 5:2-“Male and female created he them; and blessed them…

How did God bless them? -Read.

The blessing was to have a wife and have children, to have a family, and reflect the image of God on the earth.

God’s purpose for Seth and his family, the people who loved and followed God was:

To hear from God, which implies obeying God, to have dominion over the earth; which means caring for, working in and enjoying life on this earth. And to know God personally, and to love Him and live all of life with Him in first place!

We may live in a chaotic world; but we can live life with purpose!! We are not chaotic people; we live a life of order and purpose!

1. Live Life with Purpose!

As God’s people living in a chaotic world we should:

2. Face Death with Certainty!

Seth and his family were living out God’s purpose for them, and had a lot of reasons to be filled with joy and optimism. But with all the joy of a life live with purpose, there was always the reality of death. Death is called the last enemy, it is a thief that steals our loved ones and friends, it breaks our hearts and shatters our dreams.

V:5-“and Adam died.

V:8-“and Seth died.

V:11-“Enos died.

And he died is found 8 times in this chapter; it is appointed unto man once to die, and after this the judgment”.

Someone said “life is like watching the unfolding of a murder mystery in which we ourselves turn out to be the victim”

There is a day coming if Jesus doesn’t come that you and I will die; and it will be said about us “and he died”

And a few generations will come and go, and we will be remembered no more by people on this earth. The cycle of life goes on- we are born, we live, we die, we are forgotten.

WOW pastor, that is sad and morbid, I want us to think of the reality of our mortality! I have walked through grave yards and looked at tombstones that time has almost erased their names from the tombstones. (That is why it is important to teach your children about your family heritage, that it not be lost with time)

Death is a reality of LIFE….But thank God the Christian does not face the reality of death the same was an unbeliever does!

When you read about the family of Cain in , you will find no ages given, no age at the time of the firstborn, or the number of years that he lived after the birth, nor the total years of his life. Cain rejected God, was cursed by God, and would have no eternal history.

But Seth’s genealogy not only gives the age of each patriarch at the time of the firstborn, but the number of years that he lived after the birth, and then the total years of his life. Each one of these individual were important to God’s eternal plan.

Listen to me child of God; God knows all about your life, He knows your birthday, and the day of your death, he has ever detail about you. He knows the number of the hairs on your head; he has your name writer in His hand.

He has a place set for you at the marriage supper of the Lamb, he sings over you. You will never be forgotten, by God! The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

We do not face death with fear- we know the giver of Life, we know where we are going! We know that we will see Jesus and our loved ones who knew Jesus! We know that we will see our loved ones we leave behind again!!

To the unbeliever death is a fearful thing, and rightful so; but to a child of God death is our doorway to heaven, to Jesus, to a far better place!!

We can live in a world of death, heartache an pain with certainty- death is not the end, death will not have the last word Jesus will!

-“Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”

Yes, we sorrow, but not as other who have no hope!! We have only so many years to enjoy life, to love and serve Jesus, and to love our families. Don’t waste other day, not in right relationship with Jesus and other people in your life!!

How to live in a Choatic world:

1. Live life with Purpose!

2. Face Death with Certainty!

As God’s people living in a chaotic world we should:

3. Look to the Future with Joy!

V:21-24-Read.

Right in the middle of this long obituary column, and he died, and he died, is a man that does not die!

He stands out like a flower in the desert of death!

What do we know about Enoch and what are we supposed to learn from what happened to Enoch?

We are told, Enoch had a son when he was 65 years old, and it was then that Enoch began to walk with God.

That was a turning point in his life, he stopping walking the course of this world and began to walk with God- we call that repentance and conversion.

-“How can two walk together except they agree”

Enoch got saved, and his direction changed!! And we are told he walked with God for 300 years!! He was commitment to God, and his walk with God!

You ask, how do you walk with God that long? One step at a time, one day at a time!!

Enoch’s walk with God marked his whole life, it controlled his life. He loved God and walked in close fellowship with God for 300 years.

We are told in V:24-“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not for God took him”

Where did God take him?

-“ By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God”.

Enoch did not die, God translated him…What does it mean- God translated him? The word translated means- carried over, or carried across.

God carried Enoch across the river of death that separates this world, from the next world. Enoch didn’t go through the river of death, God picked Enoch up and carried him to heaven and set him down there. One day Enoch was walking with God, and God said to him I want you to go home with me today, and God took him to heaven without dying.

Enoch is an O.T. picture of the rapture, the day when God carries all the believers who are alive at the time to heaven without dying.

-“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye”

Enoch was raptured up to heaven, to eternal life with God and was spared disease, death, and corruption. Enoch rapture is given to encourage believers to look to the future with Hope. There is going to be a catching away of the saint’s one of these days and when it happens, we will say, goodbye world, goodbye, hello Jesus, heaven, and loved ones! Our future is as bright as the promises of God!!!

-“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

We have a glorious future as Children of God; we can face the future with Joy!! We are living in a Chaotic world; but we are not of this world, we are just passing through. Today because we know Jesus we can:

1. Live life with Purpose!

2. Face Death with Certainty!

3. Look to the Future with Joy!