Genesis

When God Got His Hands Dirty

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While Genesis 1 summarizes Creation, Genesis 2 takes a behind-the-scenes look at a very pivotal part of the work created on day six.  The author presses rewind and looks at the significance of how God created the unceasingly, stubborn race known as Mankind.  While Genesis 1 describes Elohim the Creator, when his work with mankind is revisited, a subtle English shift takes place with major Hebrew implications.

Instead of God creating Adam, the LORD God creates Adam.  In many translations, you might read the word “Lord” with every letter capitalized.  This word is not the simple Adonai meaining “Lord,” this word is Yahweh.  This is the name that God designates to himself when Moses later asks him how he should describe him to Pharaoh.  “I am who I am.”  Only when the shift happens from universal creation to the creation of mankind is Yahweh mentioned.  This shows that there is a God over all, but there is a LORD in relationship with some. 

While God spoke everything else into existence, he “made” man (Gen. 1:26).  God formed man out of the dust from the ground like a potter skillfully shaping and molding a vessel to his liking.

His hands, matted with dusty earth, shapes this man to be a specific image-bearer.

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Walking with God, Adam Was Still Alone

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In the early stages of this relationship, God and Adam were close.  Adam experienced a level of intimacy in the Garden that no other human has ever fully experienced.  There was no sin.  There was no separation.  There was no Fall, curse, or corrupt nature.  God strolled through the Garden that Adam tilled.  We are talking face to face, eye to eye, life to life interaction.

And yet, amidst this intimacy, God says one of the most shocking statements concerning the only creature he formed in his very image: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18).  The rolling rivers were good.  The berries on the tree were good.  The curiously formed duckbilled platypuses were good, and yet Man, made in God’s own striking image, was not good.

He was alone.

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God is Good (And So is His Creation)

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A simple threefold pattern describes the first six days of Creation.  In each day, something was stated, created, and affirmed.  God spoke something into existence.  He used words.  He said, “Let there be light.”  Using solely words, light burst forth at 670,616,629.2 miles per hour across nothing to illuminate the beginning of something.  God stated, and with those words, he created.  Each day, reflecting upon the day’s work, he would affirm it.  He saw that it was “good.”  It wasn’t evil.  It wasn’t imperfect.  It wasn’t lacking.  God’s creation was good.

God’s creation was the way it was intended to be before something so vile began to corrupt something so good.  In these first days, everything was new and vibrant and life-giving.  It was good.  It couldn’t help but be good — God created it.

He is good and it is only fitting that his creation would reflect his character.

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In the Beginning…

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In the beginning, God.  The first words of the Old Testament leave no room for misunderstanding.  Before the details of the rest of the story are conveyed, the author wants to make sure the reader grasps a fundamental doctrine: in the beginning, God.  In the beginning, there was nothing other than God, and from the beginning, there was nothing that did not come from God.

God created everything we know and see out of nothing.  Usually, when someone tries to imagine “nothing,” they fall short.  Normally, that person is imagining space or a dark expanse, but even that is something.  That something fails to be nothing.  Aristotle stated, “Nothing is what rocks dream about.”  It’s impossible for our finite minds to even comprehend the concept of nothing, but that is exactly out of what God created.  He created the world ex nihilio (“out of nothing”).

He didn’t need any outside advice or help.  He wasn’t scrounging around for building supplies.  All he used to create everything we experience today was words uttered from his lips.

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“I Got All These Trees”

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Our little family is growing.  Not only in number or size, but we are slowly getting things.  Our minds are growing.  One of my prayers for my children have been, “God, give them a mind to comprehend your nature and help them develop a big heart with which to love you.”

We use different types of teaching plans or Bibles with the children during family worship.  I have contended for a while that the best way to bring my kids up in the Lord is not the best church programs, but what we do in the home.  Lately, I have been retelling the Old Testament narrative over and over to the boys.  I have them repeat different elements to me, and we keep stacking more of the story each time.  They know the days of Creation, the 10 Commandments, and the big picture with the main characters involved.

Sometimes, you wonder if they are getting it, and then, you have a moment like I did last week and you remind yourself that you might be on to something.

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It Really Wasn’t Eve’s Fault

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Men must resolve to take responsibility for their families. Passivity is not an option. Whenever a man fails to accept his God-given responsibility, his family is in serious danger.

The first family in the Bible provides an example of what happens when a man fails to lead. Take some time to read Genesis 3:1-13. As you read, make note of key phrases that characterize Adam’s passivity.

Sin was ushered into the world in this tragic account of the Fall. In Genesis 2, God gave Adam the command not to eat from the tree. Eve was not around to hear this original message. If she were to receive that piece of instruction, she probably received it from her husband, Adam. What’s shocking about Genesis 3 is that the reader isn’t even aware that Adam is in the scene until verse 6. The Bible describes a conversation with Eve and the Devil and there is no sign of Adam.

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Trading the Ultimate for the Immediate

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At Passion 2011, Andy Stanley gave a great message concerning temptation.  One of the lines he repeated over and over is that temptation is the act of “trading the ultimate for the immediate.”

The ultimate is faithfulness to your spouse, the immediate is the temporary meeting of a desire.

The ultimate is a godly legacy engraved in your children, the immediate might be another round of golf.

The ultimate is heaven’s rewards, the immediate is the passing riches of this world.

When we encounter temptation, one verse helps me more than any other verse in the Bible:

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Be Fruitful and Multiply (And Boy, Did We Ever!)

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I want to show you two pictures.  The first was taken in the Summer of 2007 when four couples went on a beach trip together.  At that time, there was one baby in the group.

The next picture was taken in December 2010.  Same four couples, nine more children than the photo taken 3 and a half years earlier.

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The Pretender: Judah

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Another wonderful Sunday at North Side as we continued in our “Ancestors” series through key figures in Genesis.  I had planned a service based on Jeff preaching from Genesis 37 with Joseph and Potipher’s wife.  Instead, he felt led to go in a different direction:

For the sake of comfort, most people pass over Genesis 38, but Judah’s story is too similiar to situations today.  Many people are living for the moment without a thought concerning responsibility.  No matter how hard we try, our sin will find us out just like it did Judah.

I’ll be honest, when I saw what direction he was going, I just started praying that it would connect and not keep people’s mind in the gutters when he went to that passage.

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The Pilgrim: Abraham

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We started a new series called “Ancestors” today focusing on the second half of Genesis and looking at our spiritual heritage to learn from the mistakes and failures of those gone before us. From the very beginning, our spiritual family was rooted in faith in God.  Before the Law was introduced, Abraham proved to be a

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