CREATION

INTRO

Good morning! My name is Ryan, I’m one of the pastors here at Georgianna.

It’s so good to be with you in worship today…

[MENTION LIVE STREAM AT 9:45]

ME

We are in the 2nd week of our Long Story Short series, where we’re looking at how we can understand the BIG story of the Bible.

I grew up in church so I’m not really a stranger to the Bible… but it always seemed to me like it was just an interesting collection of stories.

***In Sunday School I would hear a story about David and Goliath…

***and then we would sing a song about a short little guy Zaccheus who climbed a tree…

***or I saw one of those witty Christian T shirts about a bodybuilder named Samson who knocked down a building with his bare hands… and so on and so on…

And what I never figured out growing up… is how all of these stories fit together to tell ONE story. How to make sense of this huge book called the Bible.

And what I’ve realized over the years is that I wasn’t alone.

WE

Sandra Richter is an author and professor and she writes about this phenomenon in her exceptional book The Epic of Eden.

In it she compares the average Bible reader’s knowledge of Scripture to a very full, and very disorganized closet. You know the kind. You have one at home...

It’s that closet that you approach with all of the good intentions of finally making sense of what is in there and organizing it in a way to make it usable… but upon opening the door and seeing the overwhelming amount of junk that has just been thrown in… you close it up and tell yourself that maybe next summer you’ll sort that out...

She calls it Dysfunctional Closet Syndrome.

And this is how she describes our Bible knowledge as well… she says:

Dozens of stories, characters, dates and place names. Years of diligent acquisition. Yet these acquisitions all lie in a jumble on the metaphorical floor. A great deal of information is in there, but as none of it goes together, the reader doesn’t know how to use any of it. Rather, just like the dysfunctional closet, the dates, names and narratives lie in an inaccessible heap. Thus the information is too difficult, or too confusing, to use. So the typical student… closes the door and says, “Maybe next summer I’ll sort that out.”

Another author, Josh McNall, talks about the same phenomenon… but he compares to having all of the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle- but never seeing the whole picture that’s always on the front of the box… and so you’re not really sure how all of this goes together.

Whatever analogy connects the most to you… our hope with this series is to help us begin make sense of the big story that is being told.

To provide some hangers and shelves for your disorganized closet… or to shed light on the big picture so we know what to do with the little pieces of the puzzle.

Corky got us kicked off last week with the idea that there is a grand story being told… and for the next 6 weeks we’re going to dive into the six main movements or chapters (if you will) that tell us that story.

And if you have a messy closet… this right here can be your organizational framework.

The six chapters that tell God’s BIG story are:

CREATION

THE FALL

ISRAEL

JESUS

THE CHURCH

& THE NEW CREATION

And once we begin to understand this big framework then, ideally, wherever you might find yourself in scripture… whatever small story or poem or history or letter that you stumble upon… you’ll be able to find yourself somewhere in a chapter of God’s BIG story.

OPENING PRAYER

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Your sight… O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

GOD

So chapter 1 of this BIG story… Creation.

We’re going to start at the very beginning of scripture today, the book of Genesis.

But before we dive in, I want to test a bit of our Genesis knowledge. To some of us, the creation story may seem familiar… actually whether you attend church or not… whether you’d call yourself a believer or not… chances are there are some parts of the creation story in Genesis that you already know.

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***We’re going to take a little quiz… crowd participation is key… welcome to shout things out if you’d like…

1. What does Genesis mean?

a. Origin

b. Creation

c. Phil Collins’ band

The answer is… both A & C

2. How many days of creation are in Genesis 1?

a. 6

b. 7

c. 10

3. What did Adam and Eve eat that they were not supposed to?

a. A banana

b. An apple

c. a fruit

4. Who tricked Adam and Eve?

a. Satan

b. The Devil

c. a Serpent

5. What was created first?

a. Animals

b. People

The answer is YES!

Alright we’ll come back to the last question… but how did you do?

ANYONE?

So The most correct answer to that last question is “it depends on which story you read!”

Who was created first? People or animals? It depends on which story you read.

Did you know there are 2 creation stories in Genesis?

When I think of hearing these stories for most of my life… an assumption that I always had was that the Creation story was just one story. But it’s actually two!

You’ll find that the Bible actually does this in a few places… Probably what we’re most familiar with is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the story of Jesus’ life and ministry. BUT… they tell it from a unique perspective.

So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell the same BIG story, lots of similarities… but they’re not identical.

If you have read much of the Old Testament you may have encountered a few books known as Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Same idea… many of the same stories you read in Samuel and Kings show back up in Chronicles. Lots of similarities… not identical.

The difficult thing about the creation stories is that they’re back to back and they’re in one book… Genesis … and if you’re not careful you may breeze right through one and into the other without noticing that they’re a little different.

Just so you know… a lot of people think that Genesis 2:4 is that hinge point… where one story ends and another begins.

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Let’s take that trivia question for example: what was created first, animals or people…

Let’s look at this together, if you have your Bibles I’d love for you to read along with me… we’re turning to Genesis 1- so that’s going to be page number… 1 in your Bibles.

We’re going to kind of have a bit of a Bible study this morning. And we’re going to live in Genesis 1 and 2 for a little while… so if you have your Bible just keep it open.

I’ll be paraphrasing some of the Scripture, but I’d love for you to see it for yourself.

If you look at Genesis 1:21 you see the creation of sea animals… if you look at Genesis 1:25 you’ll see the creation of land animals.

And then after all of that Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make mankind in our image…”

Animals and then people.

With me so far?

But if you flip over to Genesis 2:7 you see that God is creating a man… and then in chapter 2, verse 19 you’ll see God creating animals.

People, then animals.

There are several other clues that tell us that we have two stories… God is referred to differently in the two different stories. In one story you’ll see that God is called God throughout the story. In the other story you’ll notice that God is called LORD God throughout the story.

God creates differently in the two stories. In one story God simply speaks things into being… in the other story God forms things… he makes a man out of the dust.

REFLECTIONS

But so what right?

A question I want to drill down on today is probably one that you’re asking yourselves right now…

WHAT’S THE POINT?

Yeah, maybe that was interesting trivia… but what do we do with these two stories that talk about the same event?

And how does this impact the BIG story that God is telling…

As modern people… as post-Enlightenment people… we may have an unfortunate knee-jerk reaction to things like this… two different versions of something.

Sometimes we want to debate.

Which one is the right one?

What are the facts?

Was creation literally 7 days?

What do we do about dinosaurs? How old is the earth really?

I like debates, I really do… and we can have an offline conversation about all of that…

BUT NONE OF IT IS THE POINT OF THE STORY.

The point is not to deconstruct our knowledge and beliefs about any of those things…

But what does this story teach me about God and God’s BIG Story?

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I want to focus on that first story today…

Because the second one gets us into the territory of The Fall… and that’s Corky’s sermon for next week… I don’t want to steal his material.

What is the point of this first story?

The first story has order. 6 days of creation, then rest on the 7th. Culturally, in the ancient world, 7 was a number of completion.

The first story is repetitive. We find the same phrases over and over…

***“And God said let there be __________________ and it happened… and God saw that it was good… and it was evening and it was morning, the first day.”

***“And God said let there be __________________ and it happened… and God saw that it was good… and it was evening and it was morning, another day.”

It’s almost like verses.

The first story has a very purposeful structure… This one is a bit harder to notice, but dig deep with me just for a second...

***You’ll see that Day 1, 2, and 3 are related to day 4, 5, and 6.

Day 1 God creates night and day… day 4 God creates the sun, moon, and stars to rule over night and day

Day 2 God creates the waters and the sky… day 5 God creates the fish and the birds to rule over water and the sky

Day 3 God creates dry land and vegetation… day 6 God creates land animals and humans…and humans in particular to rule over it.

I’ll tell you what… the Creation story is one of my favorites in the whole Bible.

And this first story is clean… it’s ordered and intentional… it says that it is good in several places, and in one part… the part about you and me… it crescendoes and says that it is VERY good.

SO WHAT IS THE POINT OF THE STORY?

Genesis 1 is a song. Or a poem. It is a work of art that celebrates a loving God who is an artist.

It is intricate… it is intentional… it is complete. And it is good.

The point is this…

God is Creator. And He intentionally designed something that is really good.

A beautiful garden.

And at the beginning of your Bible there is a song that celebrates it.

Before you ever get into the story of Adam and Eve and the fruit and the serpent… and the pain of a fallen humanity… you’ll find a song that celebrates God’s intentional creation.

This first story is full of design and full purpose. And because you are IN IT… so are you.

***Before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose.

***Before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose… over you and over me… and over this entire creation. It is good.

APPLICATIONS

So we have these two creations stories in Genesis…

and aside from just knowing about the 7 days that are involved, I think that our traditions and our memories tend to focus on that second story… the one about Adam and Eve and the fall.

It highlights our massive failure… and our need for redemption right?

And historically, churches have done a decent job at convincing us that we are a broken people. Some churches are REALLY good at telling you what a huge sinner you are!

But if we can begin to untangle these two creation accounts we’ll start to see them both as the unique works that they are.

And we’ll get to the second story and its impact on all of us next week… but you need to know...

Before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose.

Before the failure… there is the fullness of God’s design.

Before the breakdown… there is the blueprint of something good.

I practiced my alliteration this week… can you tell? :)

Church… Yes! we are a fallen and broken people, in need of redemption… BUT you need to know that at the beginning of it all… there is a purpose...

There is a masterful, intentional design behind all of this.

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DID YOU KNOW...

A zebras stripes act as a bug repellant? They get far fewer horse fly bites…

The back part of a woodpecker’s tongue is wrapped around its brain as a cushion to help prevent concussions?

Otters hold hands while they sleep so they don’t drift apart?

Humans, through this weird activity they call sex, can create a whole other person?

CRAZY!

I can only make that joke because my wife and daughter are out of town this Sunday…

People… God is an amazing artist… He designed you on PURPOSE… and He called you very good!

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But it doesn’t always feel this way, does it?

Sometimes… maybe more often that not… that story of a fallen humanity… that story of Pain… feels more like your story than anything else.

Sometimes our failures and faults feel like our entire reality.

One lesson that I have learned (and one that I still am learning) is that guilt is an incredibly destructive force.

It’s different than remorse over something you’ve done wrong… remorse that encourages us to make changes.

I’m talking about the guilt that we just live in and stew in sometimes. Where our bad decisions feel more like our identity than just our mistakes.

Guilt is destructive… and it is a terrible motivator. In fact it is a de-motivator.

It has the opposite effect of remorse… it might keep you from making changes.

But church… Before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose.

You may have had a marriage that ended badly… But God still made you with purpose and He calls you good.

Maybe you weren’t a perfect parent… God made you with purpose and He calls you good.

Maybe you feel like you’ve thrown years away because of an addiction...

Maybe you feel like you’ve thrown years away by chasing success...

God made you with purpose and He calls you good. BARRY STACEY

Or insert whatever it is that always has the capability of dragging you down… calling you guilty or unworthy.

BUT before all of that… God made you with purpose and He called you good.

Sometimes when all you can see is your sin… you forget that you are a son! And you are a daughter!

Because before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose.

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Let my try some more alliteration this morning...

Before the Story of Pain… there is a Song of Purpose… and it’s a Promise of Potential that is Powerfully Present despite your Prevailing Predicament.

Is that too much? :)

Let me try that again.

Before the Pain… there was a Purpose… and it is still our Promise.

This is why, in the grand story of God, it matters how the story begins.

In the beginning of the story… in the beginning of Genesis we see a perfect creation… a beautiful garden… everything living in harmony… God walking and talking among His people…

And IT IS GOOD.

And yes there is this huge disruption… and the story continues through it’s chapters and movements… but the whole time God’s good garden hovers over the story.

********I added this to our timeline from earlier, in case it helps you to see it visually…

It is that purpose that we were meant for… to live in relationship with our Creator...

And it becomes a Promise… it is NOT null and void after the Fall

It is our promised future! That this is what God’s Kingdom will look like.

Let’s go to Revelation chapter 22 together… we are literally going from the first chapter of the Bible to the last chapter of the Bible.

***Revelation 22:1-3a

Revelation 22:1–3a (NIV)

1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse.

And so here is a picture of Creation, brought back to its Purpose

It’s a city that looks a whole lot like a garden… there are rivers… there is a Tree of Life… and God is among His people…

And it specifically mentions a curse has been undone. The Story of Pain is over…

Because before the Pain… there was a Purpose… and it is still our Promise.

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And we’ll spend this series moving through the big chapters of this Story… but I want you to notice one thing that is different about the ending.

In Revelation We see a character in the garden that maybe we didn’t notice before… suddenly there is a Lamb.

And It is the centerpiece of the Story… it is how the whole narrative changes direction.

More on that in a few weeks...

WE

Church, it matters how this Story begins.

BOTH creation stories are so important… they both loom large as the Story continues.

And they both tell us something fundamental about ourselves… we are BOTH guilty AND still God’s good creation.

And we are not meant to live and dwell in that guilt… because God has masterfully designed you on purpose.

Maybe you need to hear this today… you were created with a purpose… and God made you very good.

Our story begins with creativity and intentionality and love and PURPOSE… and we have a Promise that it will end that way as well.

CLOSING PRAYER

Who You are, who we are, who You’ve called us to be…

BENEDICTION

Sometimes life has a way of reminding us that we are fallen… that we make mistakes… that we are truly children of that second Creation story...

But don’t forget the first one… that beautiful SONG.

That says You are a daughter… You are a son of God… He made you on purpose… and He calls you very good.