In the Beginning: Our Creator, Our Comfort

So I began to, as I walked along the seawall and I played it back in my memory, my childhood, I realized that the turtles were always there. I was just the kid on the sidewalk sulking and saying to my parents, why do you have to do this to me? This is the worst day ever. You're making me walk a half mile. You're ruining my life. And all along, I was surrounded by God's beautiful creation. The sun shining, the birds singing, the turtles swimming up to say hello, and I was oblivious to it. [00:47:35] (41 seconds)  #OpenEyesToCreation

``How many of you know the game Jenga? Game Jenga with the wooden blocks, so you stack up the blocks and you remove a block and move it to the top. Well, if you think of scripture as a Jenga tower, this opening verse is the single block at the bottom that holds everything up. If you remove this truth, then the whole thing falls apart and comes crashing down. In the beginning, God created everything. [00:49:27] (29 seconds)  #GenesisFoundation

Well, if you think about the worldview of our culture, the worldview of our world, and our human nature itself, we like to operate with us at the center of the universe. Right? Everything revolves around me. It works out well when you have billions of people on earth operating in that same operating system, that same world view, all of us thinking everybody else revolves around me. My family does, my job does, everybody else. However, simply put, Genesis one one makes it clear that God is God, and we are not. [00:51:19] (43 seconds)  #GodNotMe

The universe does not revolve around me or you or around humanity for that matter. God is the center of all things. I mean, think about it. Genesis one one starts with God and nothing else. He is the sole sufficient starting place for all of creation. It presents God alone as sovereign and self sufficient, which those are words we like to describe us. We wanna be self sufficient. We want to be in control. We want to be sovereign. But in the beginning, God, Not in the beginning, you or me. [00:52:02] (40 seconds)  #GodAtTheCenter

He's not just a bigger version of this, of us. He's not the smartest, strongest, and otherwise best creature that's kind of like us. He is wholly other. And whether we like it or not, whether culture likes it or not, whether our politicians like it or not, God is God, and we are not. God is self sufficient. We are not. Everything revolves around his glory and goodness, not around my wants and whims. [00:57:48] (30 seconds)  #HolyOther

Are you tracking with me so far? That is offensive, that we don't get to be our own sovereign gods of our little universes. But what I would say to us this morning, God's people, sons and daughters of the king, this offensive verse is actually our greatest comfort. Let me tell you why. It tells us that God is in control, and he is trustworthy. [00:58:18] (39 seconds)  #GodInControl

Outside of the Psalms, Genesis chapter one is one of the most tightly structured chapters in the entire Bible, grammatically. There are repeated phrases throughout it. God said, and it was so. He called the animals according to their kinds. He saw that it was good. So you have this rhythm through Genesis chapter one that shows that the universe didn't just lurch into being through conflict among different gods or stumble into being by accident or chance. God had a plan, and that plan was good. [01:02:36] (39 seconds)  #OrderedCreation

Fourth, humans are not accidents. You are not an accident. Our ancestors were not just the lucky frogs that thought to hop out of the primordial soup and start talking and lighting fires billions of years ago. Humans are the climax of creation. We're not simply another animal that happens to be able to think, but you are an image bearer of the creator God. [01:03:31] (29 seconds)  #ImageBearers