God Regrets

-illustration Earlier this year, God was looking down to earth and saw all the evil that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to earth to check it out. When they returned the angel told God, “Yes, it is bad on earth. 95% is bad and only 5% is good.”

Well, God thought for a moment, then decided that he had better send down another angel so he could get multiple points of view. So he called another angel and sent them to earth for a time. When that angel returned it went to God and said that, yes, the earth was in decline, 95% was bad and 5% was good.

God was very troubled by this and said that he would send a letter to the 5% of people who were good to encourage them, something to help keep them going. So he did that. You know what that letter said?

Oh, you didn’t get one either?!?

The Bible is a collection of stories about how God has related to humankind and how humankind has related to God. We’ve been looking at the beginning – the first chapters of the book of Genesis. This is a great place to start, both because it’s at the beginning and because pretty much every big idea you can find anywhere in the Bible has a story about it somewhere in Genesis.

-proposition (principle/teaching of story) What we see, again and again, and what we will see today, is that God calls us to respond to him.

-purpose (application) We need to step up and do it.

-reference to text

But in order to get into that, we need to first get over a speedbump in the road of Biblical literacy. That speedbump is Genesis 6, verses 1-4. Go ahead and flip there while I explain.

For centuries people have divided scripture up in various ways to make it easier to reference. The Bible wasn’t written with chapters and verses, it was collected into books of similarly themed stories, histories, songs, and instructions.

It was written down to be preserved, but was intended to be read, memorized, and vocalized in community settings. Which makes it harder for us to study. In Jesus’ day, teachers would recite a line or phrase from a passage of scripture and the hearers were expected to recall the whole passage that line came from so that they could understand what the teacher was saying.

By the early centuries, however, people were trying different ways to parcel out God’s Word so that they could easily find narrower sections or look up passages they hadn’t memorized. In 1277 a professor at the University of Paris came up with a set of chapter divisions that became the basis for Bible translators to use in dividing the Christian Bible.

A little over 300 years later, with the chapters well established, a French printer released a copy of the New Testament that was divided up into verses. Less than five years after that he produced a copy of the Latin Vulgate with both Old and New Testaments divided up by chapter and verse.

And in 1560 the first English translation of the Bible used chapter and verse headings, which led to almost every scripture publication from that time to now having these dividers in them. Within a short time Jewish scholars had adopted the same chapter and verse numbering for their scriptures too.

In most ways, it’s a good thing. We aren’t generally raised memorizing scripture books like folks used to. A reference address makes it a lot easier to find your way to a certain place in the Bible than paging through looking for a name or idea that you think might be somewhere in there.

Today I told you to turn to Genesis chapter 6, which I suspect most all of you did a lot more easily than you would have if I’d said that today we plan to speak about a time when human beings increased in number upon the earth.

There is a problem with these kinds of artificial divisions, however. They tend to split up ideas and thoughts which may lead to quite different ideas or interpretations when viewed as part of the whole instead of being viewed in bite-sized pieces. Which is where Genesis 6:1-4 comes in. It’s in the wrong place.

I. 1st Part of Story

A. Narration

Let’s read it and then we’ll talk about how it ended up where it is and why that can be a problem.

BTW – NIV today…

Genesis 6:1-4 (NIV2011) When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. [1]

At the end of Genesis 4 and throughout Genesis 5 we learned about two family trees: The line of Cain and the line of Seth, two of the family groups descended from Adam and Eve. Why just two? Because these two were seen as being representative of the way the world had divided into two families: The Family of God and the Family of Humankind.

But, as we talked about last week, neither family is defined by its bloodlines. Every individual is actually making a choice about whether they will be part of God’s family or not. When we followed Seth’s line down towards Noah, we saw that it became as corrupt and decayed by sin as the other.

If we read these histories without chapter and verse divisions, then the bit we are starting with today would have been the perfect wrap up to the two parts which had come before. It shows how these two lines began to merge into one. The sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful… The sons in the line of Seth saw that the daughters in the line of Cain were beautiful. Men from the Godly family began to marry women from the worldly family. Presumably men from the world’s family also married women from the family of God. And humankind slid farther from the LORD as fewer people walked with him.

At last it got so bad that God said, “That’s it. My Spirit isn’t going to protect you forever.” And from that point, humankind had 120 years to turn back to God before… Well, we’ll get there. Suffice it to say, they should have listened.

Are you tracking? We had descriptions of the great names of the important people in both lines, then we hear that there were Nephilim in those days and that these were the heroes of old. The word “Nephilim” is just an untranslated Hebrew word that means someone who is larger than life. Later, in the days of the Exodus, the word will be used to describe a particular tribe of unusually tall people, but that’s not the case here...

UNLESS you read these four verses by themselves. Or as if they are just the introduction to the flood narrative which is coming up.

In the Thirteenth Century, there were many who thought these verses told a different story, one where the increase of humanity on the earth was somehow an act of evil rather than a response to God’s command that they multiply. The Sons of God, they said, must be fallen angels, entranced by human women, seducing them and creating demonic offspring: Giants and trolls, dragons and other fantastic creatures, which roamed the earth as heroes and demigods, growing increasingly wicked in their pursuits, until God had enough.

B. Discussion (proves or explains this part of story)

Do the verses support that interpretation? No, they don’t. In fact, scriptures about angels, including the teachings of Jesus, suggest that they don’t and can’t mate with humans, or, possibly, with anything, not being created in a way which would require procreation. But that certainly hasn’t stopped the fertile horror novel that is our human imagination from creating fantastic stories ranging from Lilith, the demon who was said to be Adam’s first wife, to Rosemary’s Baby, one of the most frightening movies ever made.

But if we simply read Genesis 6:1-4 as if it is the end of the story told in Genesis 4 and 5 instead making it the lead up to the flood story, the unholy pallor which sits on this passage is chased away by the light.

C. Application

Read as part of the family stories which precede them, these four verses aren’t quite a happy ending, but they do explain what happens when humans abandon God. That highlights the importance of how God calls out to them to respond to him. And just like he does with each one of us, he gives them all more than enough time to make up their minds: Are they in with him, or are they out on their own?

II. 2nd Part of Story

A. Narration

Which is a really long introduction to the story of salvation which begins in verse 5.

Genesis 6:5-7 (NIV2011) 5 The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. 6 The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. 7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”[2]

Did the wickedness which permeated humankind come from heroes and other men and women of legend? No, it came from people deciding to ignore God and his ways in favor of embracing sin in their lives.

How do I know? Because WELL before we hear about the heroes we hear that the result of sin is corruption and death. Again and again in the genealogies we heard that each person would reach a point where they died. That’s our reminder that the consequence of sin is death.

There’s an old saying that we each choose our own actions, but we don’t get to choose our consequences. Sin and poor choices led to a point where every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. Sin was a way of life. Selfishness was the norm.

And God regretted making humans.

Ouch.

He made the cosmos and the earth and it was good. He made a place for us and plants for us and animals for us, and all was good. He made us and it was very good. But then we used the power he gave us to create and made choices that were NOT good.

Choices that brought pain to us and the world around us. And by bringing pain to his creation, we brought pain to God. He was grieved. He was sorry he made us.

Genesis 6:8-10 (NIV2011) 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

9 This is the account of Noah and his family.

Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. 10 Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. [3]

The ancient sages were divided on what it means that Noah was blameless among the people of his time. Was he completely righteous in the midst of a corrupt generation? Or does this say that it was only in his generation that he could be considered righteous – compared to their levels of depravity he was okay, but if he had lived in another time he would have failed to be significant? Ultimately, I don’t believe it matters. I think there is another statement which trumps any opinion about Noah’s nature among men.

He walked faithfully with God. Walking with God leads us towards righteousness, but I think it’s more like an apprenticeship. It’s a chance to learn and grow. We don’t start out perfect, but work towards becoming like God as we go.

Abraham walked with God, but his faith was shaky for most of his life. Moses walked with God, but he strayed and disobeyed here and there. David walked with God and we are told he had a whole heart towards God, but his sins were beyond counting and included many acts we consider seriously shameful.

I think walking with God is about responding to his call to us, it’s about the effort we make to follow him. We make mistakes along the way. Some are big and some are small – not one of us is perfect! However, we can all be forgiven, made righteous by the grace of God.

Noah walked with God and God says he is a righteous man. That’s what matters.

Genesis 6:11-13 (NIV2011) 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.[4]

B. Discussion (proves or explains this part of story) This is a narrative about justice, but it is more about salvation. God saw the corruption and violence, but more importantly he saw someone who still walked with him.

C. Application God called to Noah the same as He calls to us. Noah’s response was to walk with God.

What is walking with God? Apparently, it is turning away from violence. In Hebrew the word is chamas (khaw-maws) which means violence and wrong.

There is no way for violence to be right in God’s eyes, because by the very nature of its description it is wrong. When we respond to violence with violence, we are adding wrong to wrong. This is an unpopular teaching, but that doesn’t change the truth of it.

Sin is corruption and violence. Violence is sin. Violence isn’t just physical – it’s emotional as well. It is anything which causes damage, particularly to others.

Abraham slept with Sarah’s maid, Hagar, at Sarah’s behest, but when Hagar became pregnant it was described as chamas being done to Sarah by Abraham. Proverbs3:31 (NIV2011) tells us: 31 Do not envy the violent

or choose any of their ways. [5]

And Jesus tells us to love our enemies and bless and pray for those who do violence to us.

To walk with God, then, is to eschew violence and to seek peace with everyone. In many ways I wish that wasn’t true, because it seems easy to simply kill those we think would do us harm. Then we can be at peace, right? But that path has been chosen throughout human history and it has NEVER succeeded in bringing peace.

Salvation comes to those who walk with God. Walking with God means walking away from violence, not perpetrating or perpetuating violence.

III. 3rd Part of Story

A. Narration And God said to Noah,

Genesis 6:14-16 (NIV2011) 14 So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out. 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide and thirty cubits high. 16 Make a roof for it, leaving below the roof an opening one cubit high all around. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.[6]

At its smallest estimate, a cubit is 18 inches, which means that the ark as described could contain 1,518,750 cubic feet, which is pretty big. Across three equal floors there is 101,250 square feet of space. Why does God want Noah to make such a gigantic vessel?

Genesis 6:17 (NIV2011) 17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.[7]

To which I suspect Noah replied with a very sharp gasp, but God continued on.

Genesis 6:18-21 (NIV2011) 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. 19 You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. 20 Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. 21 You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” [8]

What I find particularly interesting about this is that there was only one person on earth who could be said to be righteous; only one who was walking with God; and yet eight would be saved. It matters who you know and how you’re related to them. Thank God I know Jesus!

With all that was coming explained to Noah, he responded to God.

Genesis 6:22 (NIV2011) 22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.[9]

B. Discussion (proves or explains this part of story)

Let’s look at what some others have said when God laid out for them what was about to happen.

In Exodus 3, God tells Moses, “I’m sending you to bring my people out of Egypt,” and over the course of a full conversation Moses says, “Who am I to do that? What if they ask who sent me? What if they don’t believe me? I can’t speak well.” And in response to every complaint or roadblock that Moses throws up, God gives him answers to his questions, miracles to perform, and a helper. After which Moses says, “Please send someone else.” Not the right answer. Noah had the right answer. He did everything just as God commanded him.

In Jonah 1:1-2 (NIV2011) The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”[10]

And, as I’m sure you know, Jonah’s response to God’s call for him to go to a landlocked city to the east was to get on a ship headed to the farthest western port known in that day. It took a storm, being thrown overboard, being swallowed by a big fish, and then finding himself still alive to get Jonah’s attention before he did what God asked him to. Like Moses, the opposite of Noah.

One more. Probably the most important comparison we can make.

Jesus, on the night he was arrested, went to Gethsemane to pray. And he said, “Oh, God, there must be another way. I don’t want to do this. Take this cup from me. But – not my will, but yours.” Like Noah, he did everything just as God commanded him.

Why did Noah do it? Why didn’t he try to talk his way out like Moses or run away like Jonah?

The author of Hebrews gives us an explanation. I’m going to read this from the New Living Translation because I like the way it phrases this verse better:

Hebrews 11:7 (NLT) 7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.[11]

C. Application

Noah trusted God and walked with God, even when the world around him didn’t. We see the same thing in the example of Jesus, who walked with God even though it meant his death, so that others could be saved through him. When we choose to walk with God great things happen.

Conclusion

-reference to proposition (principle)

God calls us to respond to him

-reference to purpose (application)

We need to be ready to step up and do what he asks.

-altar call

Let me invite you to the altar this morning. The prayer rails here have been polished by a thousand praying hands and washed by countless tears, both of sadness and of joy. It is always available for you to meet our Lord.

Sometimes God asks us to do big things, like build a boat to save humanity from extinction in a flood; or to go to the cross to provide salvation from sin. More often he asks small things of us. A kind word. A few minutes of our time.

I suspect he’s calling some of us to meet him at the altar this morning. Perhaps you want to know him more and perhaps you are afraid that he knows you too well. Either way, choose to walk with God.

Maybe you’re not sure what he’s asking you to do. Life is sometimes complicated and uncertain. Sometimes we just don’t listen well, or we aren’t sure what we’re hearing. Other times we’re sure, but we’re playing at being Moses or Jonah rather than stepping up like Noah.

God wants to hear our concerns just as much as he wants to hear us ask for his direction. Bring your challenges to him and let him help you with any burdens or confusion you need to unload.

Let’s pray to the LORD together this morning.

Abba-Father, Creator of the universe and of each one of us, thank you for your love and care. Thank you for providing us with witnesses like Noah so that we can see what it means for us to respond when you call and how important it can be for us to do so. Teach us to walk with you rather than making paths away from you. Teach us to embrace and share your peace, in our lives and in our approach to the world around us. When our tendency to commit violence leads you to regret our creation, remind us to love instead of lashing out. Make us an example FOR the world around us instead of allowing us to be an example OF the world around us. Show us mercy and help us to show mercy to those around us. Thank you for your grace. Teach us to show that grace to others to that whosoever will may draw nearer to you and accept the salvation provided for each and all of us by your son. In the name and by the power of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:1–4). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [2] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:5–7). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [3] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:8–10). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [4] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:11–13). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [5] The New International Version. (2011). (Pr 3:31). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [6] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:14–16). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [7] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:17). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [8] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:18–21). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [9] The New International Version. (2011). (Ge 6:22). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [10] The New International Version. (2011). (Jon 1:1–2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [11] The New International Version. (2011). (Heb 11:7). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

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