Sermons
Babel Babel - Genesis 11:1-9
Do you like to laugh? You should definitely read the Bible. I don’t mean that in the sense that the contents are laughable or ridiculous. No, the contents ought to be regarded with the highest amount of respect, for they are the very Word of God. Rather, if you like to laugh, you should read the Bible because it is filled with accounts of irony, satire, incongruity, and hilarious plot reversals. Not to say that every page, chapter or book is filled with hilarity, but when we think of funny, we shouldn’t count God out.God has even chosen to make us laugh a little during very sobering moments or in the midst of very somber realities. Take the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9 for example. As one of the crowning moments of humanity’s folly, we sought to establish our identity (“let us make a great name for ourselves”) and our security (“lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth”) by means of our ingenuity and power, drawing God down out of the heavens to bless us (“let us build a city with a tower with its top in the heavens”). This was stupid and also very disrespectful. Let me explain. The city and tower made up an ancient religious complex. The city was where God was supposed to live, and the tower was a ziggurat. A ziggurat was like a pyramid, which at the top it had things like food and perfumes that would entice a needy God to come down and live among the people – bringing with her all the goodies from the heavenly dimension. The problem is that the only true God doesn’t need food or incense. He doesn’t need anything because he made everything, and he made everything because he wants everything to know what it is like to live in dependence upon such a divine, holy and personal Father.It begins to get funny when the tower that the people thought reached the heavens was so short God had to come down to see it. After a thorough investigation, which is one of God’s habits (compare with Genesis 3 and 4), he perceives that this willful ignorance of God’s true character will not lead society in the right direction. He frustrates their plans by confusing their speech, and they earn their name – Babel. That’s right: in setting out to make a great name for themselves apart from God’s wisdom and power, they earned the name of “Confusion.” To top off all of this irony and plot reversal, the name in Hebrew sounds like the babbling of some crazy man. This stuff is supposed to make you chuckle.[caption id="attachment_3807" align="alignright" width="300"]
Ziggurat reconstructed in Ur, Iraq[/caption]So when the world is getting you down and you think everything will always go from bad to worse, remember that God will have the last word. When you are watching the nightly news and beginning to feel that anxiety crawl up your neck, turn off the TV and let out a long and enjoyable “BLBLBLBLBLBLB,” knowing that God will have the last laugh.
Genesis 8:18-9:17
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. 19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.22 “As long as the earth endures,seedtime and harvest,cold and heat,summer and winter,day and nightwill never cease.”9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.6 “Whoever sheds human blood,by humans shall their blood be shed;for in the image of Godhas God made mankind.7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”
God's Habits - Genesis 6
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth…17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. 19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him….The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days…. 13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 "Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh-- birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth-- that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth." 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark.
Heart Diseases and Blood Transfusions - Genesis 4
What do you think of when you hear “Cain and Abel”? Maybe you think “dysfunctional family” or “brothers at odds.” But I wonder if you have ever heard their names and immediately thought “heart disease.” Yet, in a sense, that is exactly what Genesis 4:1-26 is all about. To be clearer, it is about the hereditary heart disease of sin. Let me explain.Cain and Abel, brothers from a fallen mother, both bring offerings to God. The informed Israelite who originally received this account would’ve known that both of their offerings were acceptable (one grain and the other animal). Nevertheless, the LORD only accepts Abel and his offering. So what’s the difference? Is God just arbitrarily rejecting Cain? No. Rather, we perceive that God can see something that we cannot. The LORD can see the heart, and Cain’s is diseased. Fundamentally, as can be seen from Genesis 3, the issue with the human heart disease of sin is that it no longer approaches God with trust or faith.Cain is angry about being rejected, envious and jealous of his brother who is accepted. Instead of dealing with his heart disease honestly and returning to God for help (Genesis 4:6-7), he turns on his brother and destroys that image-bearer.Now, I mentioned that this is a hereditary heart disease. We see this as the passage proceeds. Lamech, one of Cain’s descendants, shows the same symptoms of Cain – unrighteous anger and murder.Yet, there is a solution provided in the passage, too. In vv. 25-26, Eve again bears offspring – Seth. This is evidence that God will be faithful to his word that he will bring an offspring who will solve the complex problem of our heart disease (see Genesis 3:15). Through the seed of Seth will one day come the offspring Jesus (see Luke 3:38). And just like Abel, this righteous seed of the woman will be put to death by those envious and jealous of him (Hebrews 12:24). Yet, what man intends for evil God intends for good, so that through Jesus’ death, the blood needed for the healing transfusion is provided. Our hereditary heart disease is healed by this blood transfusion.Through Jesus’ shed blood we are forgiven. Vengeance was taken on him instead of us. Not only is forgiveness provided, but by the Holy Spirit transfusing the power of Jesus’ blood, we are slowly healed more and more of our inherited illness.Questions for Conversation
- How do you tend to act when you become aware of your distrust of or disinterest in God? What about when others are aware of your heart disease?
- Worry, nail biting and busy work?
- Anger, drinking and gossip?
- Honesty, repentance and assurance of acceptance?
- A mixture?
- Do you ever have a hard time admitting that others in your family have this heart disease? Who? Why?
- How can admitting that others have this disease help to put you and them at ease?
- Where do you see Jesus’ blood transfusion making the biggest difference in your progress?
- Compare Lamech’s boast in Genesis 4: 23-24 to Jesus’ command in Matthew 18:21-22. How is Jesus’ blood transfusion supposed to reverse our heart disease?
Listen, Trust, Eat and Die - Genesis 3
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
16 To the woman he said,
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Footnotes:
- Genesis 3:15 Or seed
- Genesis 3:15 Or strike
- Genesis 3:20 Or The man
- Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
- Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front
Genesis 3:1-24
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
16 To the woman he said,
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Footnotes:
- Genesis 3:15 Or seed
- Genesis 3:15 Or strike
- Genesis 3:20 Or The man
- Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.
- Genesis 3:24 Or placed in front
Created for Relationships
What would it mean if someone told you that they “felt close” to you? Among other things it would probably occur to you that something about the relationship had gone right.That God created us for relationships is clear from Genesis 2:4-25. Yet, from the rest of Genesis it is clear that something has gone remarkably wrong (see Genesis 4). As we heard on Sunday, God the Father has sent his Son “to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross” (Colossians 1:20). Jesus’ people are seeking relationships as they were intended to, or more simply, they're seeking communion.God is presented as the Potter, the Gardner and the Builder, in each case working to provide for the relational needs of his various creatures. First, the earth is in need of a man to cultivate it – so God the Potter forms the man (Adam) from the dust of the earth (Adamah). The man is in need of a relationship with his King, so God the Gardner provides a wonderful garden just outside of his palace as the place where he can relate to his friendly Lord (Genesis 2:10). Finally, the man being alone is not good, so God the Builder makes a woman out of Adam’s rib to be his companion and helper in extending the borders of the Garden.
Notice that for every need, a personal relationship was God’s answer. Notice that in every case, that personal relationship was provided for nothing that the creature had earned or deserved. All was provided for by God; all was of the Lord’s creative and personal grace. Notice that the grace of God is experienced in relationship. Notice that the grace of God is not experienced only in the relationship between the individual man and God but in a complex of relationships. God created us for relationships, and Jesus is in the business of restoring them.Questions for Conversation
- Work is an interesting relationship we have with our environment.
- What is your work?
- How do you relate to it?
- Does work get in the way of a relationship with God?
- Are the things of the created world distractions from relationship with God in Genesis 2?
- How have human relationships helped you to relate to God? How have they helped you to relate to work?
- In Ephesians 5:29-33 the Apostle Paul says that we are the bride of Christ? What connections are being made between Jesus and the Church with Genesis 2?
It's All About Image - Genesis 1:26-31
Do you see the call to be an image-bearer of God as a privilege or an obligation? Do you see salvation as freedom from the call to be an image-bearer or freedom for the call to be an image-bearer?Genesis 1:26-31 is the ticket to seeing that image-bearing is a privilege that Jesus came to restore. Just as God acts as Prophet, Priest and King, we are made to image him forth in those very roles too.God acted as Prophet by authoritatively speaking the world into existence. And God said…and it was so…And God said…and it was so. He also lived up to the role by interpreting his work for us, telling us that it was good. We are called to use our language in similar ways as those who bear our Creator’s image. We not only are forgiven for lying or failing to pray for others but we also are given the Spirit to use our language to create edifying experiences. Additionally we too are called to make interpretive comments. It is risky business, as is all of life, but it is a privilege bestowed upon us at creation.God acted as King by ruling and exercising full control when he created the environment. Nothing stood in his way as he made the heavens and the earth. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have not only been forgiven for, say, losing control of our cars in a night of drunk driving; we have been given the privilege of imaging our King as his vice-kings and queens. Male and female alike are called to “subdue and have dominion” over some of God’s creation (notice that time and weather are not included).God acted as Priest by drawing near to his creation and blessing it, bringing about its full maturity in relationship to him. We see this early in Genesis 1:3 when the Spirit of God hovers over the waters. We see it later when he acts as priest to bless the human couple, “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” By multiplying and filling the earth with the image of God, we had the calling to be that blessed presence. But, instead, humanity has been known to be a curse. Wherever we have ended up, there have tended to be wars and unrest eventually. Yet we are remade into Christ’s image through faith in his power and are able to be that blessed priestly presence in the earth again.Oh, and we don’t have to have sex or children to be fruitful - although we aren’t averse to that. :-) Simply through the work of evangelism and discipleship, we participate in the call to multiply the image of God in the earth.Questions for Conversation:1. What role do you see most as a privilege? What role do you see most as an obligation in a negative way?2. Can you think of stories from the Gospels of how Jesus perfectly fulfilled the roles of Prophet, Priest and King?3. How does Jesus’ death and resurrection for us most reveal the image of God through him?4. Where do you most need to grow as believer in Jesus Christ? Prophet? Priest? King?