Throughout 2015, we are reading through Scripture together as a church in order to capture the whole, unified story. God used about 40 authors over hundreds of years to give us the story of his work of our redemption. Through the story, God shows us who He is and how we can relate to Him for His glory and our good. So we need to know the story, but we can’t stop there. We must also live the story, for we have been invited to experience the reality of these truths in our lives. Finally, we are called to share the story, so that others can experience God’s grace, too.
As small groups, we are going to dive into significant plot points throughout this story. This spring we are going to look at the Old Testament: God’s story of redemption. In the fall, we will study the New Testament by looking at the story of our redeemer and the story of the redeemed.
Every good story has a beginning, and for this one, we go to Genesis 1-2: “In the beginning, God…”
The story begins with God. – He is the central figure and author himself.
-The story doesn’t begin with us: humanity. We aren’t the main character, God is. Certainly, humanity is important, but the story begins with God to show us that He is the only all-sufficient, eternally existing being. This undermines our innate tendency to view the world as centered around us: our needs, our opinions, or our desires.
-A scientific explanation of creation is not the primary goal of these chapters. Wrestling with how current scientific evidence and Genesis 1-2 mesh is a valid pursuit (and many faithful believers disagree on this subject), but if this is where we focus, we’ve missed the point.
-Through the story of creation, God shows himself to be:
- Creator – 1:1
- Above and beyond all creation – 1:1-31 (Transcendent)
- The origin of all things good – 1:10, 12, 18, 25, 31
- The Giver of purpose – 1:27-28
- Personally involved with his creation – 2:7, 15-24 (Immanent)
***These truths are meant to give us hope in the midst of the chaotic world around us. How does God’s power, goodness, and personal nature change the way you look at a difficult situation in your life right now?
Humanity is unique in God’s creation. – The story may begin and center upon God, but humanity is clearly a special part of God’s creation and God’s story in the Bible.
-God makes us in His image. What in the world does that mean? Does that mean we look like God?
-No, not if we are talking about a physical likeness, for God is Spirit (John 4:24). Being made in the image of God means we reflect who God is through our purpose, characteristics, and relationships.
- Purpose – We’re called to “multiply and fill the earth” because God’s ultimate purpose is the spreading of His glory, and as people who reflect who He is, we spread his glory as we fill the earth. Also, as God reigns over all of His creation, we are given the responsibility to reign over creation (1:26-28). We are to do so with the same love, grace, and compassion as God.
- Characteristics – We have been created with creative, rational, and moral capacities that reflect God’s creativity, knowledge, and holiness.
- Relationships – “In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” When God created humanity in his image, He made us in relationship with both Himself and each other. It wasn’t good for the man to be alone. Apart from relationship with others, the man was unable to fully reflect God because God has always existed in relationship as the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
–So why is this important? Because as image bearers, our work, especially as it builds up society in a way that honors God, reflects God and fulfills our purpose as human beings. Our creative endeavors, our pursuit of better understanding of the world around us, and our pursuit of justice and mercy reflect who God is for His glory. And even our relationships are given a new life and purpose as they are meant for more than our mere pleasure.
***The drive to pursue these things is good, but as we will see next week, they are often out of whack because of sin. So pursue these things for God’s glory by relying upon God’s grace in Jesus.
Brandon Moore 