Mark 12:13-44 Give to God what is his

Mark 12:13-44

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What do you owe God?

It’s a funny question isn’t it? What do I owe God?

We often think about what God owes us. We get angry because life doesn’t go our way. We lash out at God when we suffer. Why me, Lord. We say.

But the truth is that God doesn’t owe us anything. And we owe him everything.

He made us. He owns us. His imprint is on us. That is, we are made in His image. He is the original, the first, the source. He is the Emperor on the coin. He is Supreme. And we are derivative, secondary, the created. Our life is dependent on him. Every breath we take is a gift from Him. Without Him, we cease to exist. We are utterly dependent.

How then should we live?

How then should we think about God our Father? How should we approach His Word, the Bible? If we are God’s image-bearers, if his mark is on us, what should we do? Give to God what belongs to God.

1. We belong to God

2. We must listen to God’s word

3. Listening to God’s Word is not enough!

4. Give everything (because Jesus has given everything)

1. We belong to God

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. is how the old translation puts v17.

And it’s a brilliant answer to a tricky question.

You see, Jesus has just publicly taken on the leaders of Israel, and called them out for ignoring God’s Word. They’re busy pretending to be servants of God, but they are only serving themselves.

This whole event started when Jesus entered the Temple and started flipping tables and chasing everyone away. “How dare you turn my Father’s house, a house of prayer, into a den of thieves” he shouted. The leaders marched in all in a huff “How dare you do this!” they say “what right have you?”.

“No, how dare YOU” responds Jesus. “How dare you ignore the words of God.” They are acting as if Israel belongs to them, and that they do not have to give an account to God. They are the evil tenant farmers who try to steal the vineyard in the story Jesus tells in 12:1-12. There is no fruit of obedience to God, no love for the Lord. The fig tree, Israel, has no fruit. And will be cursed. For the LORD, Yahweh, God himself, has come to his Temple in fulfilment of prophecy in Malachi 3, and has found… what? Corruption and evil. What will the owner do? Asked Jesus. Mk 12:9 “I’ll tell you—he will come and kill those farmers and lease the vineyard to others.

When God appears and asks “what have you done” what can you answer? We’re all in deep trouble! All we can do is say “I’m sorry”.

But the leaders, oh they don’t repent, they don’t say sorry. Even though v12 they realized he was telling the story against them—they were the wicked farmers. They still don’t repent. No. Instead they wanted to arrest Jesus (v12) and want to kill him (11:18).

What should they do? Recognise their sin! “Oh, I ran my life as if it were mine. I forgot I had to give an account to you, O Lord. I am so ashamed at what I have done, how I have ignored you. Please forgive me because of your mercy.”
That is what they should have done, that is what we must do. Otherwise we will find that we are locked in a war against God for all eternity, a war that we cannot win. We will be killed for all eternity for we belong to God.

This is serious business. We belong to God!

And this is the point of Jesus’ response to them in v17. It is a clear warning to repent. They, of course are trying to trap him. They are afraid of the people – so they try and turn the people against Jesus. That’s what they fear! They don’t fear God! But Jesus, he is not afraid.
So just listen to their slithering snake-like, oily, disgusting, question. 14 “Teacher,” they said, “we know how honest you are. You are impartial and don’t play favourites. You teach the way of God truthfully. They are being obsequious, sucking up, flattering to deceive. But what they say, ironically, is true. He is everything they should be, but aren’t! They, by contrast v12 are afraid of the crowd.

So they spring their trap: Now tell us—is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay them, or shouldn’t we?”

Hehehe. We’ve got him! If he says “don’t pay Caesar” then we can get him arrested by the Romans. If he says “pay Caesar” then all the people will hate him. Haha!

Then Jesus says “Why are you trying to trap me? Show me a Roman coin, and I’ll tell you.” 16 When they handed it to him, he asked, “Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”

Oh drat! You can imagine their hearts sinking as this brilliant trap totally backfires. Jesus is not afraid of the people. He’s not afraid of them. He fears no-one but his Father.
Imagine if we could stop being afraid of people – imagine what we could do! As we’ve been reading in Proverbs – the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD.

“Whose picture and title are stamped on it?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 “Well, then,” Jesus said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”

We bear the imprint of our Creator, just like a coin bears the imprint of the emperor. We belong to God.

And that’s what the leaders had forgotten. They had forgotten God! We see this pattern again and again in religious leaders, where the organisation becomes the goal, maintaining power and status is the aim, where serving God gets pushed aside and serving self becomes the thing. And then the church becomes a political organisation, throwing out the difficult and inconvenient truths in God’s Word and replacing them with our own. But our church belongs to God, not to us. We belong to God, not to us. These religious leaders were reminded that they, and Israel, the vineyard, belong to God!

Oh Lord help us to remember that we are not our own, that we are bought with a price. Let us never presume that just because we go to church, or even serve in the church, or are leaders in the church, that we are Someone Important. You are the only great God! And we belong to you. May you be our highest goal, our great vision. May we live only for you! Save us from our foolish sin, putting ourselves at the centre. When we see you face to face, let us be filled with joy, not horror and hatred because it’s not us sitting on the throne.

You (and I) belong to God. So give to God what is his. All of you. All of me. We belong to God. So

2. We must listen to God’s word

24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

Revealing words. Aimed at a group called the Sadducees. They were basically secular Jews, like most of Israel today. They were concerned with life now, and how to use God to secure blessing. As v18 points out, they did not believe in the resurrection. So they were focussed on material blessings. The American Dream group. A bit like the prosperity gospel. God is the great vending machine in the sky, and if you can figure out the right combination of words and actions then he has to bless you. And they come to put Jesus in his place.

“Ah-ha, Jesus, now listen here to this foolish example we’ve just made up about one poor woman being married multiple times.” Their proposal is simple: resurrection is foolish because if you’ve been married, then widowed, then marry again – at the resurrection, who are you married to? All of them?! How foolish to think that we will be resurrected! It’s illogical. We are right. You are dumb.

But, of course, they take this question to the extreme, milking it for all its worth. You can imagine them telling this story to the crowd, people laughing as the seeecond husband dies, then the thiiiiird. They were probably rolling their eyes in scorn as they bring home the argument “whose wife will she be”, to the enjoyment of the crowd.

All eyes are then on Jesus. What will he do? What will he say?

His answer is brutally honest: 24 Jesus replied, “Your mistake is that you don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

Wow. The Sadducees were a rich and powerful group. And Jesus is totally unafraid. You don’t know the Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God.

How often is that us? How often are we wrong because we do not know the Scriptures, and do not know the power of God.

Just as Jesus exposed the Pharisees and Herodians - they would not give to God what is his – Jesus now exposes the Sadducees: they don’t even know God! For them the Scriptures are a means to an end – their end. The Bible gave them power, respectability, moral authority – but it was beneath them, a tool to be used, not over them, words to be listened to and obeyed. They have read the words but they do not KNOW them. And because they reject God’s Word, they do not know God. They do not know his power.

The way of the Sadducee lies very, very close. It is so easy. What of God’s Word do you refuse to believe?
In our society I can tell you what we find difficult to believe: 1. That God is sovereign over all things. “No, I have free will!” we bleat, as we are manipulated by every advertisement and jingle and shiny new gadget our eyes fall on.
2. That God will judge.
3. That we are sinners.

These are all linked. We like to think of ourselves as good people, moral people – maybe with a couple of failings, but if we try a bit we can sort them out and then God will like us. But the truth is we are “depraved”. That means sinful through and through. Like poison in a glass of water, the poison of sin runs through all of us. Not all of the water is poison – but all the water is poisoned.

Because if we could be just a little bit better and then be acceptable to God, why would Jesus have had to come and die?
No it is because we are helpless in our sin, facing eternal judgment, and because he is sovereign over all things, that he, in his great mercy, decides to do something about that, and save people who don’t deserve to be saved and who don’t want to be saved.

Guard your heart when you read the Bible, or hear it preached, and your heart says “I don’t believe that” and you gloss over it, skip over it, push it aside. You do not want to hear Jesus say to you “Do you not know the Scriptures”. We belong to God. He is God. He decides what is true and what is not. Let us humble ourselves before him!

We must listen to God.

But

3. Listening to God’s Word is not enough! (Understanding the Law (Scriptures) can get us close)

Now, after the failures of the power-hungry religious leaders, and the running-after-money Sadducees, enter the teacher of religious law. This is a “good” man. He is one of the best of us. He has understanding and insight. He sees the spirit of the Law. Listen again to his brilliant answer to Jesus: 32 The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. 33 And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbour as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

He gets it! The Law is about love, not about rules. The Law says put God first. Love God. Love your neighbour.

But Jesus’ response deflates us. Ruins us. No-one asked him any more questions. Everyone fell silent in dismay. 34 Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

Not far? Not faaaar?
But, but, who then can be saved? This man knows the path of salvation! How can he be “not far”? Why not “in”?

Because who loves God like he should? This man understood the law – but he lacked the power to actually do it. And that is what he did not see. And that is what Jesus points out. “Dear friend, you have not done what you know you should.”

Just think about the second commandment. Love your neighbour as yourself. Have any of us done that like we should? How often does a careless word slip out? An angry glare? Harsh words. Or we just don’t do something we should have done.

And that’s the second. We break it all the time. What about the first. Love God with all out heart, soul, and mind. We’re doomed.

Because how far can the law take you, even properly understood? “Not far” from the Kingdom.

But it cannot take you in. Only the King of the Kingdom, only Jesus, can grant you access.
This man has understood the Law in part. He knows that it’s not external that’s important, but the heart. The heart that must love God.
And that’s the problem. He’s outside. Because he’s not understood that HIS heart too does not love God. That he too is a sinner. This is the difficult doctrine. A difficult truth. We are all sinners.
He had certainly read the Scriptures – but probably also glossed over, did not think they applied to him. Like Genesis 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

He does not yet believe that the only way to love God and love his fellow men properly is if Jesus has first loved him, and transformed him from the inside out. He needs a Messiah, a saviour. He needs the Lord. Just knowing Scripture is not enough. That just shows us that we’re in trouble, like a man on a dark night, who in a flash of lightning suddenly sees that he’s on the thin edge of a cliff face, with a mud slide bearing down on him – but the other side is too far to jump, and the chasm is deep.
We need to be saved. We need someone from the other side to swing across and pull us to safety!

35 Later, as Jesus was teaching the people in the Temple, he asked, “Why do the teachers of religious law claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 For David himself, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, ‘The LORD said to my Lord, Sit in the place of honour at my right hand until I humble your enemies beneath your feet.’ 37 Since David himself called the Messiah ‘my Lord,’ how can the Messiah be his son?” The large crowd listened to him with great delight.

What Jesus is pointing out is why the Messiah, the Promised Rescuer, is the thing that matters. He is the key to understanding the law. He is the door to the Kingdom of God. The law tells us there is a gap, a chasm, a huge pit, between us and God. It tells us our sin has cut us off. And no amount of being good or moral will ever be enough to bridge the gap. The most we can hope for is to be “not far”.

But the Messiah. He can bridge the gap. Why? Because he is a man AND he is God.

Jesus is the Messiah. A man, born of Mary, descended in a long line from King David. Jesus is David’s son.

But, Jesus points out, David himself calls the Messiah, his son, “Lord”. The Lord who is honoured by the LORD, Yahweh, the personal name of God, Israel’s God, the Promise Keeper. David looks and sees the Messiah, the great coming King of Israel, seated at the right hand of God Almighty. The Son of God, seated on the throne. Jesus, the Son of God, shown in power time and time again to be God Almighty, raising the dead, healing the sick, with power over Creation. Who is this man?

The bridge.

The arrogant leaders miss it. They could not conceive of the Almighty God making himself as nothing, as a human being. The incarnation (God becoming man) is mind-blowing. That he should walk on earth, limited and frail. That he should be a baby, dependant on his mother and father. Incredible. What love the King has!

But those hungry for power could never imagine giving up that power for any reason, even those they love, never mind their enemies. But God does that. For us.

They are too busy walking around in flowing robes and sitting at the heads of tables, pretending to be pious but serving themselves. They will be severely punished says Jesus!

Even the best of them is too proud of his own morality, and so is “not far”.

Listening to God’s Word is not enough. We must throw ourselves on his mercy. We must give up everything, in order to gain him, and in Him, gain everything.

4. Give everything (because Jesus has given everything)

41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

It is not enough to pretend to serve God. It is not enough to give to God some of what we have. It is not enough to understand the Bible. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to be sexually pure, or to give our money away to gospel work, or to serve tirelessly in the church, or whatever you think will really impress God.

Oh yes, it is all good stuff – but it is not enough. We must give it all. Everything we have. We must give ourselves. There’s a mime of a man singing at church and the collection plate comes around. He gives some money. It comes around again. Annoyed he gives some more. Carry’s on singing and praising, but with a slight frown. Then the plate comes again. Now he’s angry! But the demand is unavoidable. He throws his wallet in. Sings. And it comes again. Now he’s really angry! Empty’s out his pockets. LOOK! I have nothing. The demand comes again. Then suddenly he understands.
And he climbs onto the offering plate.

Think this is unreasonable? It’s nothing less than what Jesus himself did. The great King of Israel, descendant of David, God Almighty, Ruler of Heaven and earth – shrinks himself down to become a human, one of us. And a servant. A poor preacher from a poor oppressed people. Suffering hunger and cold and want and rejection. The Suffering servant. And finally death. Why? Why does he give everything?

To be the bridge. Arms outstretched on the cross, bridging heaven and earth. Cross over! But to cross over we too must die. Die to ourselves. Be crucified. And then live for Christ!

I began with asking us the question “What do I owe God?”

What do I owe God?

Everything.

Genesis 1:1-2:4 The God who speaks

Genesis 1:1-2:4

If God did not speak, we would all of us be lost.

For how could we know God?

If he did not speak, we would not know him.

We would know of him: all creation speaks of his handiwork. The detailed design in the world shows a designer - but we would not know the designer.

Last week we looked at the big point of Genesis 1: The God who is there. He is the Creator, and he is the ONLY Creator. The second big point in Genesis 1 is that The God who is there is also the God who speaks. He has made himself known. He speaks through his word, and his final word to the world is Christ Himself, the ultimate revelation of God. We know God, the unknowable, invisible, because he became a man, knowable, visible. He is the God who speaks.

1. God brings order through his word

2. God brings light through his word

3. God is his Word

1. God brings order through his word

1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

The earth was without form and empty. The universe did not exist. No stars, no sun, no moon, no trees, no animals, no people, no light, no night, no day. Nothing. Empty. Formless.

And then God speaks.

There is order, purpose, set roles and responsibilities in the universe, in our world, because God has made it so. He brings order out of chaos.

The careful order of the chapter emphasises God’s order.

In the first three days, the earth is prepared – the next three days, the earth is filled.
On day 1 (v3-5) God creates day and night “Let there be light”...and he called the light “day” and the darkness “night”
On day 2 (vv6-8) God creates the oceans and skies “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.”
And on day 3 God creates land and plants.

Then on day 4 (vv14-19) God creates the sun to fill the day, and the moon and stars to fill the night (created on day 1)
On day 5 (v20-23) he creates the fish to fill the sea and the birds to fill the sky – created on day 2.
And on day 6 animals and people, to live on the land, and eat the plants for food (created on day 3).

Order out of chaos. The first three days, the earth is prepared – the next three days, the earth is filled.

There is order in our world by the word of God. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Every day. By the word of God. The earth orbits the sun, every year. By the word of God. Summer follows Spring, Autumn follows Summer, by the word of God. Chemical reactions give the same result every time. Maths sums always yield the same result. We live in a universe of ordered predictability because God has created it so, by his Word.
It is this very idea, this understanding that gave rise to modern, experimental science. Without a belief in the Christian God science as we know it would not exist. Without Genesis 1 science would not exist. Other religions generally have a battleground of gods, which leads to great changes in the universe, making repeatable experiments impossible. Ironically, the modern atheist with all his faith in science has a worldview which depends on Genesis 1!

Science can exist because God’s word brings order out of chaos.

But there’s more. Because at the end of each day he pronounces his judgement on the day. V4, 12, 18, 21, 25, he saw that it was “good” 31 it was “very good”, and in 2:3 he blesses the day and makes it holy (set apart). God’s word brings not just physical order but also moral order. He declares what is good and bad.

What is “good” is whatever obeys him. The days are “good” because what he says must happen does happen. God’s will is done. That’s what good means. “God saw that it was good”.

Things are not good or bad in and of themselves, but based on God’s declaration. Our value is defined by God. He is Creator. Everything that aligns with his goals is good. Everything working against him is not. Think of an artist chipping away at a block of stone. The chips on the floor are worthless to him – the goal is the sculpture before him. Or a garden – trimming off branches that are growing the wrong way, or the soil producing the wrong plants, or a tree producing bad fruit – the branches are chopped off, soil is replaced, the tree is cut down – it is worthless, to be thrown into the fire.

That idea of “good” and “bad” is throughout the universe. Just like light and dark, there is good and bad. There are moral laws just like there are physical laws. And disobeying God’s moral laws has consequences, just like disobeying God’s physical laws. We can try to disobey gravity and jump off the roof saying “I can fly” – the reality will hurt! In the same way we can try to disobey God’s moral laws and say, for example, “I’ll just tell this little lie, that wouldn’t hurt anyone” – the reality will lead to bigger lies, mistrust, broken or damaged relationships.

Having sex with lots of different people will probably lead to a number of sexually transmitted diseases, maybe a lot of single-parent children (or worse, a lot of dead children killed in the womb) and will certainly lead to deep emotional pain. Just like kicking a wooden box with your little toe can maybe break it and will certainly lead to deep pain! We live in a world of moral and physical laws.

God has declared a moral order to the universe, and we cannot avoid it anymore than we can avoid gravity. The pain we experience when we have been hurt by someone, or even when we hurt someone reminds us that we are not God, we do not make “the Rules”.

Our society is always trying to get away from God’s laws and remake them in their own image. We trash our world, instead of ruling it in God’s image (see verse 26). And so we have acid rain, and cancer, and mad cow disease, and new deserts.
We trash our relationships, and call it “free love” – no sexual morals – “its morals that make us unhappy”. As a result we have a huge increase in STD’s, huge increase in abortions, kids living each week in a different house, huge increase in child abuse, not to mention all the people on sick leave or with psychiatric problems because of their relational mess. It’s like a tsunami or earthquake – the destruction in our society is huge.

God has ordered morality, and we break that order at our peril!

God’s word brings order. Physical order. Moral order.

2. God’s word brings light

After v1 “In the beginning, God” the most famous and arguably even more significant verse is verse 3 God said “Let there be light!” and there was light.

Light. God is light and he brings light to darkness.

Remember last week we saw that it is not the dark night sky that the Israelites were warned not to worship, and it was not the inky blackness that many nations around them worshipped (and many still worship) - but the great big lights, the moon and the sun and stars. We worship the light. We are made to worship the light.

We love the light, and we’re afraid of the dark. But we are also afraid of the light. Not the light itself – rather we fear being exposed by the light!
We fear the light. For we fear exposure. Adam and Eve in chapter 3 hide from God. Why? Because they had sinned against him and they feared being found out. But God knew where they were. Adam, Eve, where are you?

Light is both thrilling, invigorating, wonderful – and terrifying as we come face to face with the darkness within ourselves. If you’ve ever crawled through a dusty, dirty attic in the roof or cave or something – you don’t realise how filthy you’ve become until you stand blinking in the sunlight. Good grief! Look at me!
In the gloom of hardly any light you looked clean. In the bright morning sun – ugh!

“Let there be light” is a terrifying thing to hear for us. For we must then face that which we don’t want to face. We are dark, we are dirty, we are hiding in the bushes with a leaf around our genitals realising that we have sinned against God.

That’s why we so often struggle with the Bible. It is a deep, piercing light that cuts through to our very heart, exposing us before the eyes of the Lord. It’s like opening the sun, blazing out at us. God’s word brings light.

But God does not just turn on the light. He creates the light. Remember v2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. Then God said “Let there be light!”

Don’t forget that the same God who exposes your darkness also is the God who creates light out of darkness. He has done it before, and he will do it again. Genesis and the first five books (Pentateuch) are carefully structured to remind us that what God has done in the past, he will do in the future. It is written as an “eschatological reading of historical narratives” – looking back, it points forward. And we know that it points forward to Christ, and our hope in the gospel. For it is the gospel which brings light to the darkness.

In Genesis chapter 6 we will see that the world is plunged into darkness and chaos. Gen 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

Darkness covers the world. And God says “Let there be light” 6:8 But Noah found favour with the LORD.
In chapter 11 the Tower of Babel was man’s attempt to reach up to pull God down from heaven, to say, “We are like God”. God reaches down and scatters the people, and darkness covers the land.
“Let there be light” and Abraham hears the word of God, believes him, and is credited with righteousness. Moses is declared to be righteous, David, declared to be a man after God’s own heart.
Let there be light in the darkness. And finally, someone arrives who says “I am the light”: John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

God’s word brings light because…

3. God is his Word

Now before you accuse me of Bibliolatry (Bible worship!), I did not say that the word is God. The Bible is not God. However, God is the Bible, just like a recording of me, is me.
The Bible is God’s living Word to us, and His Spirit inspired it, He wrote it, He gives it power and life. It is his voice to us. The book of Hebrews in chapter 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” He speaks through his word today.”

To listen to God’s Word is to listen to God himself. Our God speaks to reveal himself to us. We can know him. We can know him!

And because God’s Word is God’s revelation of himself to us, Jesus himself is called “the Word” in John 1. Jesus is the clearest and ultimate revelation of God. To know Jesus, is to know God, for Jesus is God. John 1:1–5 (NLT) In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4 The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

God is his word.
And therefore a Christian who refuses to obey the Bible is not a Christian.
A Christian who goes to church and prays but pays no attention to his Bible is not a Christian, just like a “friend” who comes up and talks at you and then leaves, never listening to a word you say, who does not even know the first thing about you, is not a friend.
To ignore God’s Word is to ignore God himself.

Someone who calls themselves a Christian but “has issues” with things clearly taught in the Bible like sex being for marriage, or God being sovereign, or Jesus rising from the dead, or Jesus being God, or Jesus being the only way to God, or that all of us - even children - are sinners, or the only way to be saved is through faith in Jesus’ work on the cross and not by good works… that person is on shaky ground. To ignore God’s Word is to ignore God Himself. To ignore parts of God’s Word, or to choose which bits you like or don’t like – is to choose to ignore God himself, and to set yourself up as God over God. Dangerous ground, and if that is you – repent.

Instead we should have confidence that the same Voice which called the Universe into being, which brought order out of chaos and light out of darkness, is the same Voice which can call order out of chaos in our lives, in our town. Don’t judge God’s word – obey it. Live in the light. Live in order, not chaos.

To preach the Bible is to declare the Voice of God to the world. That’s why I have confidence in Rock Church being filled to the brim – we looked at a building the other day which could only seat 60 and I said “that’s too small” – so did Mia. Our confidence comes not from ourselves but from the power of God’s Word. The same Word which brought order out of chaos and light out of darkness throughout history and today, right now, all over this world – that same Word can bring light and order to Notodden. Our friends and neighbours, those we treasure and love and care for, our townsmen – Lord, we give them to you. Speak your Word of Life to them Father.

Have confidence in the gospel. This seemingly weak, strange message of a God-Man dying on a cross is the very CREATION POWER of God. Look around you and SEE the power of God’s Word. With every breath be reminded that his Word is powerful. And speak the gospel. When you are afraid to share the gospel – look at creation, know that it is God’s Word that sustains it, you’re only breathing because God commands it - God is in control – and speak.

Because the Word of God declares what is “good” and what is not. We began by looking at God ordering creation, physically and morally. And we saw that God creates moral laws by saying “this is good”. The value of something, or even someone, is in God’s declaration. And through Christ’s work on the Cross, by God’s grace, he is in the business of declaring “good” what is, in and of itself, bad.

This really helped me, to see God declaring his creation work “good” or “very good”. Not in and of itself, but its worth coming from him. So when he says of me, in Christ, “good”, then it is simply true. I am good because he has declared me good. Just as on the first day light was good because God said it was so. Praise God.

In Christ I am good. Not because I am good, but by God’s word. To use the language of Romans: I am declared righteous. And therefore, I am righteous.

It is mind-blowing. God brings order out of chaos. God brings light out of darkness. Through his Word, because he is his word. Let us listen to him, let us know him.
"I am the Lord; I will speak the word that I will speak, and it will be performed." Ezekiel 12:25

Genesis 1:1-2:4 The God who is there

Genesis 1:1-2:4

“In the beginning, God.” These four words are some of the most significant, most important, most vital words ever written in the history of mankind. In the beginning, GOD.

In the beginning: there was a start, there will be an end.
In the beginning, God: He is before time and space, before all that is and was and ever will be. He is above all, before all, the supreme First, the Origin of all things. He is not bound by matter. He is not bound by laws of physics or chemistry, not subject to the laws of time. He is beyond. He is Other. He is Holy.
He is not even bound by moral laws: what he says is good, is good. He is the standard of what is good and bad: his character determines it. Who he is is infused throughout the universe because it is He who is the creator. In the beginning God created everything – including you and me.
We are not God. He is God.
I am not God. He is God.
I am not the Creator or ruler of my life. He is.
God is God, and I am not.

Today we begin our 10-week series in Genesis. We’re going to spend our first three weeks in chapter 1. Next week we’ll look at “The God who speaks”, thinking about how God reveals himself through speech – we know him because he speaks; the power of his Word in creating order out of chaos, life out of death – a work he continues today; and then looking at the Word Incarnate, God’s supreme revelation of himself: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.

The week after that we’ll spend some time looking at “The God who rests”, thinking about His perfect relationship with himself in the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit in perfect unity, perfect love; how he created us, this whole universe, to share in that love relationship, bringing glory to him, and how all of creation is moving toward that seventh day rest with God. That is our destiny, to be united with God in perfect harmony. But to do that our sin and rebellion have to be dealt with first – and that is only possible through Christ. Christ is God’s rest, our rest – and outside of him there is no rest.

Today however, we turn our focus to who this God is. Today’s sermon is called “The God who is there”. Just two points today: the first, rather long point: God is the creator – we are his creatures.
And the second: God is the only Creator, supreme - above all other “gods”. There is none like Him.

1. God is the Creator (we are his creatures)

Now there’s been lots of arguments about Genesis 1 because we don’t like the idea that there is a God, and that I am not him! (First step to becoming a Christian: 1. There is a God. 2. I am not him.)

On the one hand, there’s those who claim that evolution has killed God. God is not necessary. Life just…happened. Everything is an accident, so create your own meaning in life (as long as that meaning doesn’t involve God- that you’re not allowed).

On the other hand there’s those who claim that God created the world in 6 days, and anyone who believes anything else is, well, basically not a Christian. It becomes the standard for whether you’re a real Christian or not.

So we’ve got these two groups bellowing for our attention, yelling at each other - and what’s missed is the actual point of Genesis 1: God is the Creator. So, before we get there, let’s do some damage control and try to turn down the volume…

First, Evolution. Some famous scientists like to pretend that they are also philosophers and theologians and make grand statements about evolution and the Big Bang doing away with the need for God.
For example, Richard Dawkins is a professor of Biology. He’s an expert in biology. Existence of God? Not so much.
Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s geniuses – in physics. But when he says that the Big Bang proves that God doesn’t exist he’s not talking as Stephen Hawking, physicist, but Stephen Hawking, ordinary man in the street.

The funny thing is that Science has as one of its fundamental assumptions that we live in a closed system. That is, we assume that something from the “outside” can’t interfere with the normal workings of the world. We HAVE to assume that if we are to set up experiments. Otherwise it would be like trying to set up a house of cards with your little brother in the room – at any moment he could knock it over. So, to avoid that, you lock him out of the room. And then you can do your experiment, building the house of cards. But only a fool would then say “little brother does not exist”. You’ve just closed the door.

Science is the same. It assumes God does not interfere with the normal workings (or more correctly assumes that God maintains the normal laws of physics). But that does not mean that he therefore does not exist! What Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins and others are doing is this: 1. Assume God does not exist. 2. Some other points. 3. Therefore, God does not exist (forgetting we assumed him away in point 1!).

The message of the Bible, however, is that God exists. And it proves his existence by recording his dealings with his people, recording how he has opened up the closed system to show us what lies beyond. It shows us supremely in the person of Jesus Christ that God exists, who he is, what he has done, and what he will do. And as we’ve just seen in Ephesians, all of creation has, since the beginning, been moving towards one goal: he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Eph 1:10

Jesus Christ knocks Hawking and Dawkins for six. He is the very evidence for God that is unmistakable. Unmistakable power. Unmistakeable love. He is the supreme revelation of the God who is there.

And that is the God whom we meet in Genesis 1. Now the writer of Genesis, probably Moses, had only the promise of Christ – he did not know the gospel fully like we do. But he did know God. He knew God when he was called out of the burning bush. He knew God when he rescued his people the Israelites with a great show of his Mighty power. He knew God when he lead them across the Red Sea, through the desert, to Mt Sinai, when he spoke to them and made them his people and gave them laws to give by. This is the God he says “created the heavens and the earth”. “Elohim” (God) is “Yahweh”, Israel’s God (in fact, his name is used in 2:4 “LORD (small caps= Yahweh) God (Elohim)).

You see, science answers the “how” questions: how things work. But it cannot answer the “why” questions: why were things made, why do they work like this. “Science” has become a bit of a religion - people claiming science can answer all our questions. Well, it’s only been able to explain a small portion of the “how” (quantum physics opened a whole other world to science – a strange and mysterious world) and it, by definition, can never answer the “why”.

Genesis answers the “why”. In the beginning, God.
He is the Prime source, the First Mover, the Reason behind all that is.
God. Not us.
We do not create our own meaning for the universe. It has already been given a meaning and a purpose: to glorify God.

Now the second group yelling in our ears about Genesis 1 is the group of Christians who insist that the world was made in 6 days (because it says so – right there!) and that the earth is only 6000 years old, and that anyone who believes otherwise isn’t really a true Christian. They, too, set up Science vs. Christianity and say that you cannot believe in both. You cannot be an evolutionary biologist and a Christian. And if you are a Christian you must reject all forms of evolution. Dawkins and company try to make Science answer the why question. The mistake these guys make is trying to make Genesis 1 answer the “how” question, instead of the “why” question.

Now, I know some of you may now be offended. You may be Young Earthers and start thinking that I have compromised my faith, I’ve given in to the big bad world.
To be perfectly honest, I couldn’t really care less. It makes no difference to me whether the earth was created in 6 days, 6 minutes, or six billion years. What matters is who created it, and that by his grace I can know him. Be careful of people who are always on about something other than the gospel – because soon it comes to replace the gospel. Good things are the most dangerous enemy of the best thing: the gospel of Christ. Food kitchens, orphanages, home schooling, politics or 6-day earth may be good things. 6-day earth may be correct – but 6 –day earth has no power to save, only Jesus does. And if I’m in Christ, I’m saved whether I believe in 6-day earth or not.

So having said that, I have no agenda here except this: I want us simply to look at the passage itself. Read what God has written. And make our own conclusions as to what the author is trying to tell us.

As we read through it, did you note the stylised structure and language that is used. Did you see? Each day begins “And God said”
“And that is what happened”
“God called”
“And God saw that it was good”
“And evening passed and morning came, marking the x day”

It is a carefully structured, poetic way of writing. And if we read it as literal history, as narrative (like the rest of the book), rather than poetry, leads to all sorts of problems. When we read the Bible we must pay attention to the genre (that is, type) of literature it is. You don’t read comics and news reports the same way. So don’t read historical narrative and stylised poetry the same way! Engage your mind when you read, particularly the Old Testament which was written into a very different culture and time than ours. The biggest difference is that it was written before Christ was revealed, so it won’t mention “Jesus” or “Christ” even though his person and his salvation work are seen all over the place. Even here in creation Jesus is present – the New Testament tells us again and again. For example Col 1: 15-17 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth...Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Bible commentaries can also be helpful (or study bibles) when they tell you things about the culture you would not know. For example my Bible Background commentary tells me that Gen 1 is written in the style of Middle Eastern Creation myths popular at the time we believe Genesis was written. You see, Moses was a good evangelist. He wrote it in a way people could understand! So they could hear the big message: God, our God, is the Creator of the Universe.

Today we could write it maybe something like this: In the beginning the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ created the universe, through his Son, by his Spirit, to the praise of his glory.
He held a tiny particle in his hand, the whole Universe compressed into an infinitesimally small dot of immensely powerful energies. And God said “Explode” and the Universe did explode. God called the explosion “the Big Bang”. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the second age.

God said to the matter flying apart: “come together!” And the matter came together: stars, then planets, moons, asteroids. And God saw the universe, and it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the third age: the age of life.

God chose a planet and called it earth. And he said “Live!” and life did form. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the fourth age: the age of evolution.

And God saw small single-celled creatures and said to them “Evolve!” and caused them to jump huge evolutionary barriers. He created complex systems from nothing, creatures appeared who were unrelated to anything that came before. And it was good. Eons passed, and the next phase of creation came: the fifth age: the age of man.

And God looked at his world teeming with impossible life, and said “Mankind, live!” – and out of nothing OR a sudden gigantic evolutionary leap (which can’t be explained), people appeared. And God breathed his Spirit into them. And he saw that it was good.

What’s the point of the story? Not HOW God created, but THAT God created. Getting into arguments about 6 day creation vs. evolution is pointless. Setting up science vs. Christianity is not only wrong, it’s to miss the big picture. Don’t miss the big point: In the beginning, God created everything.

God is the Creator. We are his creatures. Everything around us is spoken into existence through him.

God is the Creator.

One short little point to end with: he is the only Creator.

2. God is the only Creator: One God above all other “gods”

There’s a nice little touch in v14–18, the account of the fourth day, when God makes the sun and moon. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

Why “lights” instead of sun and moon? Well, many people in those days worshipped the sun and moon. Abraham himself was probably a moon-worshipper before God called him. In fact in Deuteronomy (fifth book of Moses) 4:19 And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced (tempted) into worshiping them.

Genesis knocks that right on its head – there’s nothing special about the sun or the moon. There’s no spiritual mystery. They did not help God make the world. They do not rule. There are no other rulers. They are just lights. BIG lights. But just lights. There is no God but God.

‘The great sea creatures’ were regarded as divine in some ancient myths. V21 God created the great sea creatures. No divinity. They’re just creatures. God has no equal. He is supreme.

And notice who helps him. Where’s the army of workers, digging the foundation of the world? Where’s the great hoard of gods, fighting to control the great energies of Creation? Where’s the great tree bringing life through the universe? Add your creation myth here.

He stands alone. Above all. Beyond all.
He speaks, and it is.

There is no-one like him. He is unique. He is supreme.

Our vision of God is too small. We think of Him as a big version of us. You know, still sort of bound by time and space. Limited in what he can do. Subject, even, to the laws of the universe, to the laws of morality.

Genesis 1 demands that we expand our minds to grasp who this God is. For he is not just bigger than us, he is BIGGGGGER than us. He is beyond our comprehension. We cannot understand him.

He is not bound by time or space. He stands outside the universe, and all of time and space is as transparent to him as a window is to us. He sees, he knows, he plans everything. He holds the universe, all of it, in his hands, his gaze piercing through time and space. He is beyond.

There is no physical law that limits him – he is the law. He is not even subject to moral laws – he is the definition of morality. What he is and what he does defines what love is, what grace is, what compassion is, what justice is. He is the law.

This is the God whom we worship.

This is the God who is unknowable, unapproachable, beyond us.

And this is the God who reveals himself to us. Who reaches down from beyond the universe and says “come with me, and I will show you what you were made for.”

He is our Creator, our God the only God, and we were made for his glory. That is our purpose, our joy, our destiny.

Rejoice, for our God is awesome!