Intro

Welcome to Lumberjack Theology “axing” the right questions. My name is Jason Lief. And today we begin to explore the Book of Genesis.

How do we make sense of faith and science? What does it mean
to read the creation accounts of Genesis 1 and 2 as God’s word? Some Christians
insist that to take the Bible seriously, we must turn our back on science.  Others look at the Bible is outdated
encouraging people to get with the times and put their trust in science and
technology.

What if both are wrong? 

It’s possible to read the Bible is the infallible word of
God for our lives and. To not be afraid of what science has to tell us about
the cosmos. Today, we begin a sermon series on Genesis 1 exploring a theological
reading of this passage that brings us face to face with a God who brings light
from darkness order from chaos and a God who invites us to love creation with
the love revealed in Jesus Christ.

Genesis 1.

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the Earth the Earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said let there be light and there was light and God saw that the light was good and God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light day and the Darkness he called night
and there was evening and there was morning the first day. And God said let
there be a dome in the midst of the waters and let it separate the waters from
the waters. So God made the Dome and separated the waters that were Under the
Dome from the waters that were above the Dome and it was so God called The Dome
sky and there was evening and there was morning the second day.

And God said let the waters under the sky be gathered together
into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so. God called the dry
land Earth and the waters that were gathered together. He called seas and God
saw that it was good.  Then God said let
the Earth put forth vegetation plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every
kind on Earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.

And it was so the Earth brought forth vegetation plants
yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed
in it. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was
morning the third day.  And God said let
there be lights in the Dome of the sky to separate the day from the night and
let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years and let them be
the lights in the Dome of the sky 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 the Stars.

God set them in the Dome of the sky to give light upon the
Earth to rule over the day and over the night to separate the light from
darkness and God saw that it was good and there was evening and there was
morning the fourth day.  And God said let
the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the
Earth across the Dome of the sky.

So God created the great sea monsters and every living
creature that moves of every kind with which the water swarming. And every
Winged Bird of every kind and God saw that it was good. God blessed them and
said be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let Birds
multiply on the earth there was evening and there was morning the fifth day.

And God said let the Earth bring forth living creatures of
every kind cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every
kind and it was so God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind and the
cattle of every kind. And everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind
and God saw that it was good.

Then God said let us make humankind in our image according
to our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over
the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the
earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the Earth. So God created
humankind In His Image in the image of God.

He created them male and female he created them. God bless
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
air and over every living thing that moves upon the Earth. God said see I have
given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of the Earth and
every tree with seed in it in its fruit.

You shall have them for food and to every beast of the earth
and every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth everything
that has the Breath of Life. I’ve given every green plant for food and it was
so and God saw everything he had made and indeed. It was very good and there
was evening and there was morning the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the Earth were finished and all their
multitude and on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done and he
rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed
the seventh day and hallowed. Because on it God rested from all the work that
he had done in creation.

This is the word of the Lord.

I’m guessing most of you here this morning know what an
overture is. You have been to a musical or a concert, or maybe you remember
Bugs Bunny. But before a musical Begins, the orchestra will play every song and
every theme that you are about to hear in that experience. It’s a snapshot of
what you are about to experience over the next few hours.

Well, this is how we should approach our reading of Genesis
1. It is an overture. It gives us the themes of the Book of Genesis. It gives
us the themes of the book of the first five books that we call the pentateuch
or the Torah.  It gives us the themes
that are going to go all throughout the Old Testament and this morning.

I want to suggest it even hits on the themes that we read in
the New Testament.  Because it’s not only
the story of the cosmos it is that but it’s not only the story of the cosmos.
It is the story of Israel. It is the story of Jesus.  And this morning I want to suggest that what
we have just read is also our story.

You see it’s a story that begins in darkness and Chaos with
a formless void and a raging water. Now you’ve probably heard this many times
from Pastor Mark and I’ve said this to but the ancient world was very different
from our world today and the sea was a symbol of chaos and the sea was actually
a place of evil. When we read in the Book of Revelation where does the Great
Beast come from? It comes from the sea and Darkness Darkness was the enemy it
was the place where Temptation and violence and death reside.  You see Genesis 1 begins with an earth. That
is lifeless. It begins with darkness and Chaos. It begins with an Earth where
life is not even possible.

But this morning here’s the gospel message in our text.  Where life is not possible, there the Lord
brings life.  There where life is not
possible,  the Lord brings life.  From the darkness and Chaos of a lifeless
Earth the Lord speaks the word and the Lord breathes the spirit and the word
and the breath bring forth life. They bring order and form to that which was
chaos and formless.  The Lord speaks into
the darkness and life appears.  In the
same way that the people of Israel were created out of darkness and death think
of the last two plagues. Darkness and death. When the Lord remembers his people
and speaks a word through Moses and confronts the powers of darkness and death.
When the Lord uses his breath to make a way through the water, Exodus 14:21
says then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea the Lord drove the sea back
by a strong East Wind all night and turned the sea into dry land. Throughout
the Old Testament the Lord constantly opens the wombs of barren women you’d
have to ask.

Why does the Lord continually choose to use women who cannot
have children women like Sarah and Hannah and Manoah Samson’s mother?  And think about the New Testament the Lord
brings forth a child from a virgin’s womb. 
We’re there. We’re life is not possible the Lord brings life where there
shouldn’t be life, the Lord brings life.

Outro

Join us next time on The Lumberjack Theology sermon series
as we explore the second part of Genesis chapter one. Thanks for listening.