Foundational Truths

Foundations of Faith

Intro: I’m going to start this sermon by lying to you. That’s not something you want to hear. Humans have no special value, we are just animals, a cosmic mistake, oh its just a clump of cells. We are here for a while, then we pass on to nothingness. How about this one, marriage is just a social construct, any two people or things or combination of the two can get married and spend the rest of their lives together, or not, whatever you feel like. Or what about this, there is no God because there is sickness, death, war, famine, and life is hard. Lies. Lies we hear everyday permeating our society and culture. Lies that are interwoven into the fabric of a world that wants no part of God.

How do we answer these falsehoods? How do we combat and stand against lies? Well, we do it with truth.

A few weeks back I was thinking through the first few chapters of Genesis. I was thinking to myself how much of Genesis is so against the grain of society. And then I got to thinking, what if everyone were to understand the first few chapters of Genesis as cold hard facts. A literal account of the beginning of time, the first recorded values and covenants of God, the entering of sin into the world and the solution God would provide. Many attempt to undermine the value of Genesis. But what if everyone believed that Genesis was true and accurate? How the world would change. Well, sadly, this will never happen. Many have and will reject God. So God will punish them and give them exactly what they want, absence from His presence in hell.

Genesis is the foundation of our faith. If we allow Genesis’ validity slip away in our minds, where does it stop? What else from God’s Word slips away? If those around us are attempting to write off Genesis life just gets more confusing.

Genesis is the foundation of our faith.

The first foundational truth that we will look at is that ...

We are Made

We are not a cosmic mistake. We are not all just varying sizes and shapes of clumps of cells. We were made.

Genesis 1:26-31

Genesis 1:26–31 ESV

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. 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.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to 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. 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.

We were made...

By a triune God.

Genesis 1:26 “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Here in Genesis 1 we get our first look into the nature of who God is. He is referred to as one God. “Then God said”. He refers to Himself as “us”. Our God is a God of fellowship. He has had fellowship in the Godhead from eternity past.

In God’s image.

That means we can have fellowship with God. No other creature has the special honor and privilege of being able to commune with God. What other ways are we made in His image? Personality, creativity. When a monkey sees a banana they see food, we see a cell phone, banana bread, a slippery peel. When a dog sees a stick they go fetch, we see a mowing hazard, fire kindling, a spanking stick. We have personality, creativity, critical thinking skills, free will. All these and more are part of being created in God’s image.

Male and Female.

Genesis 1:27 ESV

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Oops, I just got canceled. If you or I offend someone, let it be because we offered them Christ. If I offend someone, let it be because we offered them truth. Offending people is never the goal, our goal should be the same as our Lord’s that all should come to repentance, that they would come to Him and live for Him, and to not get distracted by the world and by the flesh. We were made male and female that is the truth, no need to beat around the bush. Both display the image of God, both have unique, God given, special, and crucial roles to play in God’s plan.

We were made with responsibilities...

Genesis 1:28-29 “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.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.”

To have dominion.

God has dominion over all creation and nature. And he gave to man the responsibility to have dominion over every creature.

To be fruitful and multiply.

Chapter 1 gives the quick summary and responsibilities, chapter 2 goes into more detail on how exactly God created man and woman and why He did did it this way.

To be dependent on God.

Genesis 2:5-6 “5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—”

Notice that God gives the plants and fruits to man and to His creation to eat. The working and keeping of the garden would not have been strenuous. There would be no 100 pound gear boxes to carry to the middle of corn pivot. God watered the ground. There would be not thistles to spray. Mankind was to be completely dependent on God.

Each individual has been uniquely made in the image of God, to have fellowship with Him and to be dependent on Him. We are made.

A second foundational truth found in Genesis is that of...

Marriage

The world presents a counterfeit ignoring the origins and God’s design for marriage. The world’s counterfeit is self centered, self gratifying, and self serving. God’s design is vehemently opposed to that. God’s design is self sacrificing, other focused.

Genesis 2:18-24

Genesis 2:18–24 ESV

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.” 19 Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 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. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

It was not good that man was alone.

Everything else in creation was good, but not this.

No other creature was fit for him.

No one else was created in the image of God like Adam was, so God made Eve.

Husband and Wife are meant to compliment each other.

Helper fit for him literally means a “helper corresponding to him” or “a corresponding helper”.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:18–25

God intended husband and wife to be a spiritual, functional unity, walking in integrity, serving God, and keeping His commandments together. When this harmony is operative, society prospers under God’s hand.

Helper is by no means a demeaning term. Ps 33:20

Psalm 33:20 ESV

20 Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

God being our helper is awesome.

Husband and Wife become one flesh.

This is the complete unity of man and woman in marriage.

A man leaves his father and mother and holds fast to his wife.

This means that in marriage you are no longer to be dependent on your parents. You are responsible for your family. You are responsible for your wife.

I am severely unqualified to expound on marriage so I will leave it at what God’s Word says. Here in Genesis we find the foundation for God’s design and gift of marriage.

A third sad foundational truth found in Genesis is that...

Creation is Marred

Why do bad things happen? Because we sinned and allowed evil into the world. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Creation is Marred.

Genesis 3:6-7, 14-19

Genesis 3:6–7 ESV

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Genesis 3:14–19 ESV

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The serpent was cursed to crawl on its belly.

A constant reminder of the fall to all of creation.

Woman was given pain in childbearing and to be ruled by her husband.

Sin was now a part of the marriage relationship. Now being one flesh also meant that each would be bringing sin into the relationship and they would wrong each other.

Man was given pain and difficulty in his work.

Before God was really doing the heavy lifting and work would be pure joy. We can redeem some of our hard days of work by serving and working for the Lord and not for man.

The ground was cursed and brought forth weeds.

I would be out of a job without weeds. So much time is spent in a farmers life taking care of the weeds.

God didn’t leave us in this sinful state. Here from the beginning He gives the hope of a...

Coming Messiah

Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

There would be this struggle between Satan's forces and mankind.

Satan would bruise mankind’s heel.

This is a crippling blow. Apart from Christ we are handicapped and crippled by sin. That is the state of mankind.

Ultimately Christ would bruise Satan’s head.

This is a fatal blow to Satan and to sin’s dominion. If you are in Christ sin no longer has dominion or complete power over you. You have the power of Christ in you through the Holy Spirit and you can live in victory. That is what we celebrate during communion. So in a way, even our remembering of Christ’s death in Communion has its foundation in the promised messiah in Genesis.

Genesis is our foundation. We are made. Marriage is put in place. The World is marred. But the coming Messiah was promised and we have the privilege today of looking back and remembering as we partake in the Lord’s supper.

Lord’s Supper

Invite: All who are a part of God’s family. Make sure you are right with God, that nothing is in between you and Him.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV

23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.