SPEAKER_00: We've got 34 verses, so it called for a whiteboard.
SPEAKER_00: Well, good morning, and welcome to Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: My name is Mike, and this morning I'd like to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: If you didn't bring a Bible with you, please don't hesitate to hop up and grab one from the stack in the back.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't have your own Bible, we do have some in the back that are giveaways.
SPEAKER_00: Please feel free to take one and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: There's something about holding an actual book and writing on an actual page that helps us learn in a way that just listening or looking at a phone doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: So I'd like to encourage you to make a practice of opening a Bible with a pen in hand.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's especially true this morning.
SPEAKER_00: As we look at a text that's familiar, try to pay attention well together.
SPEAKER_00: I love, I love the first several chapters of Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: The creation story has so much to teach us about God and about the world and about what it means to be human.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the first time we've looked at it here at Trinity in our two and a half years of existence.
SPEAKER_00: I'm quite certain it will not be the last.
SPEAKER_00: This Sunday in the liturgical year is Trinity Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: The reason this text is in the lectionary is because from the beginning, there's a subtext.
SPEAKER_00: We can see God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working to bring creation about.
SPEAKER_00: And we're not even talking about that this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But we'll have to come back to that in a future time.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, instead, I'd like to keep things simple, found foundational.
SPEAKER_00: This is a text it is easy to skim through because it's long.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us have heard it over and over again over the years.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I think Genesis 1 is trying to do at the most basic level.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis 1 is trying to introduce us to God.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to his character, purpose, identity, show us how he works.
SPEAKER_00: So that's what we're gonna do this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We'll ask the question: what does Genesis 1 reveal to us about God?
SPEAKER_00: We'll do this by walking through the text, yes, all 34 verses again.
SPEAKER_00: We'll make some observations about what God does and how he does it.
SPEAKER_00: My plan is to do it in 20 minutes so we can welcome the kids back up.
SPEAKER_00: Someone's gonna, Pastor Mary's gonna set a timer.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see.
SPEAKER_00: First, let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Gracious God, thank you for this beautiful day, for the chance to gather, to sing, to pray, to hear from your word.
SPEAKER_00: I pray now that as my words line up with your words, that they would fall on ears and hearts, ready to receive them and respond.
SPEAKER_00: And gracious God, if I say anything that isn't from you, I pray that those words would quickly be forgotten.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God does what?
SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_00: The earth was without form and void, darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
SPEAKER_00: First, God creates.
SPEAKER_00: God is creative.
SPEAKER_00: It's in his nature, it's in his character to creatively bring beauty and order out of the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.
SPEAKER_00: Second, God speaks.
SPEAKER_00: God speaks.
SPEAKER_00: And when he speaks, things change.
SPEAKER_00: A word, a word is all it took, and something comes from nothing.
SPEAKER_00: And then look at this: God saw that the light was good.
SPEAKER_00: And God separated the light from the darkness.
SPEAKER_00: God called the light day, and the darkness he called night.
SPEAKER_00: And there was evening, and there was morning the first day.
SPEAKER_00: Third.
SPEAKER_00: God saw the light, and he saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: God looks, he's looking, he's paying attention.
SPEAKER_00: My friend Hannah, who preached here at Trinity a few weeks ago, made this observation in her book, Feasting on Hope, that babies are born looking for the face of their parents.
SPEAKER_00: We are born looking for a face that's looking for us.
SPEAKER_00: And right here, from the very beginning, the scriptures establish the fact that God sees.
SPEAKER_00: This is a pattern we're going to see in the verses that follow.
SPEAKER_00: And you've heard me say this over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime we see repetition in the Bible, we ought to pay attention.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got your own Bible in your lap, you're going to start seeing these words over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: So as we go, underline them.
SPEAKER_00: They're important.
SPEAKER_00: The repetition speaks to God's character, to who he is, to how he works and is working.
SPEAKER_00: So look at the pattern.
SPEAKER_00: God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.
SPEAKER_00: And God made, he created.
SPEAKER_00: The words are different, but they mean the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: The expanse.
SPEAKER_00: And he separated the waters that were under from the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse, and it was so.
SPEAKER_00: And God called the expanse heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And there was evening, and there was morning, the second day.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pause here again, briefly, to make observation number four.
SPEAKER_00: If you've got a Bible, open your lap.
SPEAKER_00: Underline the word called.
SPEAKER_00: This is actually the second time we've seen it.
SPEAKER_00: He did it back in verse 5 as well.
SPEAKER_00: What do we see here?
SPEAKER_00: God names.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just create, but he names.
SPEAKER_00: It's personal, his relationship with creation.
SPEAKER_00: It's relational.
SPEAKER_00: He cares enough about his creation not just to create it, not just to speak it into creation, not even just to see it, but to name it.
SPEAKER_00: I heard once that if you ever visit a farm, you can tell immediately which animals are pets or kept for breeding or milking or laying eggs versus which ones are intended for the slaughter.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to guess what the difference is?
SPEAKER_00: A name.
SPEAKER_00: You don't name the pig that's going to be bacon.
SPEAKER_00: You do name the cow that's going to give you milk every day for a generation.
SPEAKER_00: A name speaks care, relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And God called the expanse heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Let's see if the pattern continues.
SPEAKER_00: So far, God creates, speaks, seas, names.
SPEAKER_00: We'll pick it up at verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: God said, there it is again, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
SPEAKER_00: And God called the dry land earth.
SPEAKER_00: And the waters that were gathered together, he called seas, and God saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, fruit trees bearing fruit, in which is their seed, each according to its kind on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so, and I'm so God that gre I'm so glad that God created fruit because it's delicious.
SPEAKER_00: And the earth brought forth vegetation, some of which is delicious.
SPEAKER_00: Plants yielding seed according to their own kind.
SPEAKER_00: Trees bear all the kids are like, amen, broccoli is just okay at best.
SPEAKER_00: Trees bear fruit, in which is their seed each according to their kind, and God saw again that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning the third day.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let there be lights in the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, for days and for years.
SPEAKER_00: And aren't the seasons wonderful?
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad God created the seasons.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
SPEAKER_00: God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, the lesser night to rule the night, and he created the stars.
SPEAKER_00: He set them in the expanse of the heaven, gave light to the earth to rule over the day and over the night, to separate the light from the darkness, and God does what?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, he saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: Are you picking up on the pattern?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, and God does what?
SPEAKER_00: Said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.
SPEAKER_00: So God created the great sea creatures, every living creature that moves, and what creativity created Cappy Baras for crying out loud.
SPEAKER_00: And he saw that it was good.
SPEAKER_00: And then in verse 22, there's a slight change in the pattern.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see it?
SPEAKER_00: And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the waters and the seas, let birds multiply on the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And there was evening and there was morning.
SPEAKER_00: God blesses.
SPEAKER_00: That's a change in the pattern.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just create, speak, see, name, but now he blesses as well.
SPEAKER_00: That's my fifth observation about God's character.
SPEAKER_00: And do you see this?
SPEAKER_00: When God blesses, he blesses for a purpose.
SPEAKER_00: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters and the sea and let birds multiply in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He blesses the creatures to procreate, to themselves be creative.
SPEAKER_00: And it continues.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock, creeping things, beasts of the earth according to their kinds.
SPEAKER_00: I guess this is when he made the capybara, and it was so.
SPEAKER_00: And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we have bacon according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind.
SPEAKER_00: And God does what?
SPEAKER_00: He saw that it was good until the sixth day.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26, 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.
SPEAKER_00: And God created man in his own image.
SPEAKER_00: In the image of God, he created them.
SPEAKER_00: Male and female, he created them.
SPEAKER_00: This is where Genesis 1 begins to speak not just to the character of God, but to the character of humanity.
SPEAKER_00: We're told that over and over again in these two verses.
SPEAKER_00: First in verse 26, let us make man in our image once, after our likeness to.
SPEAKER_00: Then again in verse 27, so God created man in his own image.
SPEAKER_00: In the image of God, three and four, God created him, male and female.
SPEAKER_00: First.
SPEAKER_00: And you have a creator.
SPEAKER_00: It's repeated three times in verse twenty-seven alone.
SPEAKER_00: So God created man in his own image.
SPEAKER_00: In the image of God, he created him.
SPEAKER_00: Male and female, he created them.
SPEAKER_00: You are created.
SPEAKER_00: You have a creator.
SPEAKER_00: You are not God.
SPEAKER_00: And second.
SPEAKER_00: You are made in the image of God.
SPEAKER_00: Theologians call this the Imago Day.
SPEAKER_00: You are precious.
SPEAKER_00: And we, male and female, belong to God in a way that is personal and unique.
SPEAKER_00: And unlike the rest of creation, you look like your father.
SPEAKER_00: And this is good news.
SPEAKER_00: And it's unlike the rest of creation.
SPEAKER_00: Now look at this.
SPEAKER_00: God isn't done yet.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28.
SPEAKER_00: And God blessed them.
SPEAKER_00: And then he gives them, gives us purpose.
SPEAKER_00: It's corny, but God blesses humanity to be a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Continuing, verse 28, God said to them, it's worth noting that this is the first time God speaks to creation, other than blessing the birds and fish to multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Every other time he's spoken up until this point, it's been to himself, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, triune God in relationship with himself, speaking and creating.
SPEAKER_00: But here, God speaks in a way that's personal.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks directly to humanity.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_00: Fill the earth and subdue it.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, every tree with seed in its fruit.
SPEAKER_00: You shall have them for food.
SPEAKER_00: And to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the heavens, to everything that creeps on the earth, and everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.
SPEAKER_00: And it was so.
SPEAKER_00: He delights.
SPEAKER_00: God delights.
SPEAKER_00: He delights in you and me.
SPEAKER_00: The same way a parent delights in a child, right?
SPEAKER_00: The same way, like, I don't know about you, but Pearl decided to giggle during the first reading.
SPEAKER_00: And the same, like, I don't think that there is a sound in the world that is better than a baby or a toddler giggling.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: How many of us hear a little one giggling and there's we can't help but smile, right?
SPEAKER_00: We delight.
SPEAKER_00: That's because we're made in God's image.
SPEAKER_00: And he delights in his good creation, in the gift of it.
SPEAKER_00: He delights in the giving, the creating, the seeing, the naming.
SPEAKER_00: It's very good.
SPEAKER_00: And then he rests.
SPEAKER_00: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished.
SPEAKER_00: All the host of them.
SPEAKER_00: On the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
SPEAKER_00: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
SPEAKER_00: God rests.
SPEAKER_00: It's repeated there.
SPEAKER_00: Look, God is no taskmaster.
SPEAKER_00: God is not primarily interested in production.
SPEAKER_00: God's not primarily interested in effectiveness in the way the world sees it.
SPEAKER_00: He's not primarily interested in optimization.
SPEAKER_00: Heck, the sovereign God of the universe could have spoken a word from the start and done it all.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he lingers for days over his work.
SPEAKER_00: He could have spoken one word on the first day and it could have been done.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, he takes his time creating, seeing, blessing.
SPEAKER_00: Naming, delighting.
SPEAKER_00: And when he's done, he stops and he rests.
SPEAKER_00: When we refuse to rest, we are one hundred percent saying that we know better than God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's not interested in effectiveness the way the world is.
SPEAKER_00: This is how God works.
SPEAKER_00: He creates and speaks and sees.
SPEAKER_00: God names and blesses.
SPEAKER_00: He gives.
SPEAKER_00: He delights.
SPEAKER_00: He lingers for crying out loud.
SPEAKER_00: And then God rests.
SPEAKER_00: This is who God is.
SPEAKER_00: This is what God does.
SPEAKER_00: And this is how, this is how God does it.
SPEAKER_00: As for you and me, well, we're not God.
SPEAKER_00: We're not God.
SPEAKER_00: We're created beings.
SPEAKER_00: But we've been created in his image, male and female, he created us.
SPEAKER_00: He's made us like him.
SPEAKER_00: And he's invited us into his work, to steward it, to care for it, to rule it.
SPEAKER_00: Could it be, could it be, if we really are made in the image of God, that we're designed, perhaps, to work like he does, to create, and see, and name, to bless, to give our best away, to delight in it, to linger, and then at the end of the week, to stop and rest and delight again, because he does it each day in the good gifts of God.
SPEAKER_00: I wonder, I wonder, how would our lives and our families, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces, how would they be different if we worked and rested and delighted like this together?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Gracious God, thank you for this word given to us.
SPEAKER_00: God, thank you for what it reveals about your character, about the way you work.
SPEAKER_00: And gracious God, I pray that you would form us to be a people who work like this, creatively, joyfully, open-handedly, giving our best away.
SPEAKER_00: Would you slow us down a bit, teach us to delight?
SPEAKER_00: God, I pray that in doing so you would form us to be a witness to our friends and neighbors and co-workers who are told by the world that their value depends on their productivity.
SPEAKER_00: Would you remind us again that our value lies not in our productivity, but in the fact that we are made in the image of God?
SPEAKER_00: We pray all these things through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.