Gen 1.3-13
psalm 13 song
Call to worship / Old testamenT reading: pastor bobby owens
Psalm 104
New testamenT reading:
pastor bobby owens
2 Corinthians 4.1-6
song:
O Worship the king
Historical readong:
pastor zachary mcguire
Apostles Creed
song:
Christ is risen (come awake)
Appointment of Nancy Nocera as deacon
pastor Mike and Zachary Pray
Confession & Pardon
pastor Mike champoux
song:
I stand amazed in the presence
Sermon:
dr. alex loginow
Genesis 1.3-13
Introduction
It’s not my intention to ruin the magic for you. I don’t mean to disappoint you today but I’ve got to tell you something about preachers – sometimes they retell stories. Especially the longer they’ve been preaching, the older they get, not every illustration is brand new. Next month will be 15 years that I’ve been a full-time pastor. For some of you that sounds like a long time; for others, I’m just a kid; but at 36 years old that’s almost ½ my life that I’ve been a full-time preacher. All that to say if you’ve heard me use this illustration a time or 2 I beg your pardon.
While I was studying this passage this week I was reminded of an experience I had in 10th grade – my mind got the Delorean up to 88 mph and I was right back there in Mrs. Stahl’s 10th grade biology class. Going in to high school biology I was under the impression that this was the moment I was going to be called upon to be the defender of the faith. You see, in our little corner of Protestant Christianity the crusade to defend a specific way of reading Genesis 1 against the evil called evolution felt prominent in my mind. I don’t really know where that came from because I don’t remember my parents being obsessed with arguing about evolution so whether it was from church, or youth group, or camp, I don’t know but it is not uncommon in modern evangelicalism even today. Ever since the Scopes Trial and the modernist/fundamentalist controversy of the 20th century debating creation theology has been en vogue in American Christianity.
So going into 10th grade biology I thought, “this is it; don’t get scared now. When the teacher attacks the Bible and promulgates her evil evolution propaganda I must fight the good fight.” When we arrived at the section of the curriculum concerning the origin of life the teacher started class off saying this – “We’re going to study evolution today; I know some of you may not hold to this and this is fine. We’re not going to ridicule anyone in any way; this is simply what is required to be taught and we’re going to go through it.” That was it. I was prepared for war and all she gave me was respectful, levelheaded reason.
Have you ever heard the expression – missing the forest for the trees? Concerning Genesis 1 much of modern American evangelicalism has been missing the forest for the trees. A great deal of passion and energy has been placed on emphasizing and debating the age of the earth or whether the days of creation are 24 hour periods or not and while these discussions can be fun, they are not the point – we’re missing the forest for the trees. Al Mohler helpfully gifted us the category of theological triage – think of triage in the ER (most important 1st, moderately important 2nd, least important 3rd). First tier issues are issues of Orthodoxy, meaning whether you confess or deny these truths is the difference between whether you’re a Christian or not (Trinity, resurrection of X, forgiveness of sin, etc.); 2nd tier issues are those which Christians can disagree about but probably can’t attend the same church (women pastors); 3rd tier issues are those which Christians can disagree upon and still go to the same church. The age of the earth or the nature of the days in Genesis 1 are 3rd tier issues.
What are the 1st tier issues derived from Genesis 1 then? What is Scripture clear on and what must we believe as Orthodox Christians? There are 3 – (1) God is the creator of all things; (2) God created all things good; (3) God created Adam as the 1st human being in his image. To deny any of these 3 is to deny Orthodox Christianity. To make anything more than these 3 doctrines a shibboleth of Orthodoxy is legalism – placing an extra biblical burden on another brother.
We’re going to divide the 1st 6 days of creation into 2 sermons: days 1-3 this week and days 4-6 next week. This is intentional because of how Moses writes the pericope. Genesis 1 is written in a Hebrew poetry style (that’s why the ESV formats it as such); I’m not saying Genesis 1 isn’t history, but I’m saying literarily, Genesis 1 isn’t primarily historical – it is primarily poetic. And then Genesis 2 is the more historic recapitulation of Genesis 1. In this Hebrew poetry style Moses is deliberate in how he formats the days of creation – 1st in days 1-3 God forms a space and then in days 4-6 God fills the space; in days 1-3 God creates habitation and then in days 4-6 God creates that which inhabits the habitation. In days 1-3 of creation I want to show you what Scripture is shouting at us and 2nd what Scripture is whispering to us.
What Is Scripture Shouting?
First, what is Scripture shouting at us in days 1-3 of the creation account? God is forming the creation before he fills the creation. Moses gives us a similar pattern for each day of creation – 1st God creates via his Word (And God said…); 2nd God names what he created (And God called the light day, etc.); and 3rd we have this sort of refrain: and there was evening and there was morning the first day, second day, third day, etc. The pattern of evening then morning was how the ancient Hebrews counted their days – each day began at sundown and then lasted until sundown on the following day.
We should also note that while the 1st and 3rd days are pretty self-explanatory, the 2nd day is potentially more confusing. Verses 6-8 say that God made an expanse in which he separated the waters above and below and God called the expanse Heaven. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word Heaven (שָׁמָ֑יִם) sometimes refers to the throne room of God and other times refers to the skies. Here in Genesis 1 Moses refers to the skies.
The word expanse (רָקִ֖יעַ) means, “extended solid surface.” The LXX translates רָקִ֖יעַ with the Greek word στερέωμα, which means, “a state of firm, inner strength.” It’s closer to the KJV translation firmament, which comes from the Latin firmamentum emphasizing firmness or fixedness. Moses is speaking of the skies exposed to the human eye from the ground – the clouds, the stars, etc. They didn’t have telescopes, satellites, or anything of the sort. The firmament or the expanse is fixed in the sense that humanity cannot change or affect the celestial elements.
The theological significant is that God created and rules the skies – the atmosphere, the stars, the weather. Much like modern people who worship their horoscope, ANE cultures worshipped false gods of the sky. Baal was the god of storm a rain, to name one. But the sun, moon, stars, and atmosphere are not divine; they are the creation of the 1 true and living God and he is sovereign over the celestial creation.
Another important point from day 2 is the theme of the waters. Water was the most prized commodity in the ancient Near East because water is a life source. Many ancient Near Eastern cultures, cultures like Egypt and Mesopotamia, believed creation stories originating from gods of water. But Moses shows us that God created the water and the water obeys the true and living God.
Scripture has corrected every culture throughout history that has offered a rival origin story. In our culture the most prevalent rival origin story is naturalism and that is the issue at hand. So much time is wasted arguing over the age of the earth or the nature of the days of creation when the real fight is found in naturalism (or any other origin of existence) vs. the creator God. Faithful Christians can debate and disagree over the way in which God created all things but we cannot budge from the doctrine that God alone created all things.
In these 1st 3 days of creation Moses reveals that the 1 true and living God, the eternal, creator, sovereign God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is ordering the chaos introduced in verse 2. God is forming the creation before he fills the creation. God’s creative work is intentional; it is orderly. God is the creator of all things. God created all things out of nothing. And everything God created was good.
What Is Scripture Whispering?
That’s what this text is shouting at us, but what is the pericope whispering to us? We noted earlier that each day of creation begins with the creative speech-act of God (and God said…) but it’s noteworthy that while there are 6 days of active creation, there are 8 creative speech-acts. In these 6 days there are 8 times God speaks creation into existence. On the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th days of creation God creatively speaks once; on days 3 and 6 God creatively speaks twice.
The 3rd and 6th days serve as a literary and theological climax to God’s forming and filling of creation. On the 3rd day of creation God separates the seas from the dry land and then by his Word God commands vegetation to sprout from the earth – plants yielding seed and trees bearing fruit. Moses isn’t giving us technical differentiations between plants and trees here; he’s simply describing what we all see with out own eyes. I am certainly not a horticultural expert; if you want expert advice you’d have to talk to Pastor Mike, but be careful because word on the street is he’s not giving out free advice anymore.
While I don’t know much about horticulture, this is know for sure – the reason day 3 is the literary and theological climax of the 1st 3 days of creation, of God’s formation of the creation, is because on the 3rd day God called life to rise up from the ground for the first time. Can you hear the faint whisper of Easter? You know, many theologians have wisely referred to Genesis 3.15 as the protoevangelium – the 1st gospel. And while Genesis 3.15 is the 1st explicit promise of the gospel in Scripture, if we listen closely, we can hear the Bible whispering the name of Jesus 2 chapters earlier.
Here on the 3rd day of creation, before the creation of man, before the fall of man, before the gospel promise of Genesis 3.15, God whispers the gospel. Don’t miss the forest for the tree. On the 3rd day God called life to rise out of the ground. Even in the 1st creation God is preparing us for the new creation.
That is because before God even created the world, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit made the eternal covenant, the pactum salutus, the plan of redemption. The Father elected the Son to save his elect of humanity. God loved the world in this way that he sent his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him would not eternally die but have eternal life (John 3.16). Do you believe in the Son of God – the Lord Jesus Christ?
Believing in Jesus, having faith in Christ means that you know the gospel. You know that God is your holy creator and that you have sinned against him making you guilty and deserving of eternal conscious punishment in hell. Faith means that you know that the sinless life, substitutionary death, and saving resurrection of the Lord Jesus is your only hope for the forgiveness of your sin and the hope of eternal life. Faith begins with what you know, but it doesn’t end there – you must also assent to the good news. You must confess it and not deny it.
Faith begins with knowledge, permeates out to assent, and finally faith means that you transfer your trust to Jesus Christ alone. Trusting in Jesus alone means resting in Jesus alone. Just like you’re trusting the chair you’re sitting in to hold you, you’re laying all of your weight on the chair with the expectation that it will hold you, in an even greater way you must lay the full weight of your hope for the forgiveness of sin and the hope of eternal life on the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
If God has given you the gift of faith, if the Father has elected you, if the Son has redeemed you, if the Holy Spirit has worked regeneration in your heart and illuminated your mind, if you have been gifted faith, your faith will be revealed by repentance. To repent of your sin means to confess your sin and then turn from your sin. Repentance begins with confession. True Christians will acknowledge their sin; they will confess they are wrong, guilty. If you refuse to acknowledge your sin, you do not have faith.
Confession is the 1st step of repentance, but it is not the end. Repentance means to confess your sin and then turn from your sin. Turning from your sin means fleeing from your sin. Turning means crucifying your pride and practicing self-discipline to deny your sin. Until we are resurrected and glorified we will have to perpetually repent of our sin; repentance is not a 1-time act but a posture of the Christian heart – it is a way of life.
Conclusion
This is the good news that we call the gospel. It is the good news that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It is the good news that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried and raised on the 3rd day, in accordance with the Scriptures; in accordance with the Scriptures, indeed. Christ was raised on the 3rd day in accordance with the Scriptures. And where do we 1st see a glimpse of resurrection on the 3rd day in the Scriptures? It’s right here, isn’t it? It’s the 3rd day of creation where God called the 1st living beings in all of creation out of the ground. How marvelous! How wonderful! Shame on us if we miss the forest for the trees.