A Story to Tell: Created Very Good
05/31/09
Genesis 1:26-31
Pastor Greg Smith
It is exciting to begin this overview of the Bible. I never get tired of studying and restudying God’s Word. I want to again invite you to the class after worship. It will give us time to look into these texts in more detail and to answer any questions you may have.
Our goal is to know the Story so we can share the Story.
We want to get a feel for the large narrative of the Bible. Memorizing individual verses and short passages of the Bible is important. But knowing the grand sweep of God’s word is just as important. But to do that, you need to be reading along each week.
The Story is filled with grand events:
The Bible begins with creation.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And the Bible ends with re-creation where all things are “made new” again.
Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"
There is a great Story! In Genesis 1 we meet the main characters of the story:
The story begins with God.
How is God described as the Story begins?
God is without peer and competitor.
Israel was not the only ancient people to have an epic story of creation. Around Israel were powerful neighbors like the Egyptians and Canaanites who had their own accounts of how the world began.
But a great difference between those stories and the Bible is that in the Bible there is one God, not many competing gods. In the the myths of Egypt or Sumer, creation of the world and of human beings was the result of the struggles between many God’s. In one story, the sun god defeats an evil demon god and from the demon god’s blood, mixed with clay, human beings are formed.
In the Bible, the world is created totally by God’s will and design. The style is like a great and all-powerful king. God speaks with the tones and style of royalty. The heart of Genesis 1 is the royal decrees which he spoke from his throne room: “Let there be light!”, “Let there be the sun and moon...” and so forth. For the people of Israel it made perfect sense for God to speak to them in the language of a king. God was Israel’s true king. In Genesis 1, God is introducing himself to his people as their all powerful king.
And Genesis 1 tells us that the Creator is the only God. When Genesis was written, there was no creation/evolution controversy. In ancient Israel, the questions that needed answering were different than ours:
● Is there one God, the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah? Or are there many gods like all the nations surrounding Israel believed?
● Are there gods of the sea, the sun, the moon, the earth, and the crops?
The answer that Genesis 1 gives to these questions is very clear: the so-called gods of the other nations are no gods at all. What about the sun, the great high god of Egypt? A mere light in the sky that the only God, the Lord God of all the earth called into existence by his royal command. The earth that the fertility gods are supposed to cause crops to grow from? Again, it is all here, and grows crops because of the Lord’s royal command. You see again, Genesis 1 introduces us to the God to whom we owe our allegiance and to whom we owe every iota of our being.
That is what Psalm 148:5-6 affirms:
5 Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He established them forever and forever.
His orders will never be revoked.
And like a great King, God is lawgiver.
God divides the light from the darkness. God divides the land from the sea. God names what he creates. He appoints the stars for signs and for fixed times. The plants and animals are told to be fruitful and multipy.
And beyond all that, God gives human beings directions to follow. We are to rule over the earth. All this means that all creatures will only find fulfillment when follow God’s plan.
Creation reflects the Creator.
When God commands, it is done. “And it was so!” And when God looks at what he has done, he declares it good, VERY good. That means it conforms to God’s will.
It’s like Psalm 19:1 says,
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
How can that be so when so? What about:
● The violence in creation?
● The suffering in events like Katrina.
We know that sin has effected not only human beings as individuals and as a race, but sin has even effected creation itself. Furthermore, we are responsible stewards of creation.
The other main character in the story is you and me: human beings.
We are like the rest of creation in most ways.
● Did you know that human beings have about 95% of the same DNA as rats!
● And on the chemical level, we are just about the same as a lot of other animals.
At the same time, human beings are made in God’s image.
The story of creation moves towards a grand climax.
● We can see that in the order in which God creates.
● And in the solemn way manner in which we are described.
● But most of all in the fact that we are made in God’s image.
As you read through Genesis 1 and come to the verses on the creation of man and woman, the tone of the story changes. Something solemn, something momentous is happening here. God is making a creature unlike the others.
26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
The expression “the image of God” means simply “made like God.” This does not mean, "God is exactly like us." And this does not mean that human beings are completely like God. We are limited, physical creatures. God does not “look” like us. Listen to John 1:18.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Human beings are made for personal relationships.
Here is the real difference: only human beings can have a personal relationship with their creator. God speaks to the man and woman. He gives them commands and he expects them to respond by choosing to do so. Conversation and responsibility! Look at verse 28.
Humans are made by God so they don’t just hear sounds but language— and they can speak back. God created conversation. This something that man and woman share equally. Verse 27 tells us so.
There is another part of the image of God: We make real choices. Human beings are responsible to their Creator.
My cat's name may be BC for "Bad Cat!" but my cat isn’t really “bad” or “good”— it has just learned to behave the way we want them to or not!
People are different: we really can choose!
God made us to have a relationship with him and he gave us responsibility: but we messed things up. God gives a commands: Look at verse 28.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
This is the only commandment we have nearly completely obeyed!
God put human beings on earth as governors to rule in his place. The ability to do so in freedom and authority is at the heart of the image of God.
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God gives us responsibility: your time, your gifts, your possessions. Sin means treating those things as if they were yours alone instead of as things placed in your care by God. We are responsible to God. We will be held accountable to God.
So what do we need to do about it?
First, realize that you do not belong to yourself. You belong to God.
● relationships
● possessions
● career
● your time
● It all belongs to God! All that you are and all that you have depends on God for its continuing existence.
God has the right to direct your life. He really does know best.
● The rest of the Bible is the story of what happens when when human beings think they know what's best and ignore the direction God gives.
But before we go there— that's the part of the Story that we will study next week— we need to focus on what was God's intention for creation from the beginning.
As God’s image, we are created to reflect God’s unity and sharing. God is a fellowship, a communion of equals— “Then God said, “Let us make The Adam in our image.” And so the image is a fellowship of equals as well. Look once more at Genesis 1:27.
So God created The Adam in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
But it comes out even more clearly in Genesis 2, a retelling of God’s very good creation from a different point of view.
7 Then the LORD God formed The Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and The Adam became a living being.
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for The Adam to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
It’s not good for The Adam to be isolated and alone. Human beings are made for relationships, for love and fellowship. And the animals of creation— not even the dogs— were the equal partners needed.
“I will make a helper suitable for the Adam.”
The same Hebrew word for “helper” is used to describe the Lord throughout the Old Testament. Here are some examples.
Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
Hosea 13:9 “You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.”
This is a wonderful word. It’s not the description of a servant—the word is never used that way—but of a partner.
Look at the description of how the helper/ partner is made:
21 So the LORD God caused The Adam to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘Isha,’
for she was taken out of Ish.”
Ish and Isha were made for unity, communion, and fellowship. In fact, marriage symbolizes this. After splitting The Adam into Ish and Isha, God brings them back together to become one flesh in marriage.
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
God splits The Adam into two so that Adam and Eve can enjoy oneness.
The relationship of Adam to Eve, Eve to Adam is in some ways like the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, fellowship in diversity is more the image of God than any solitary individual. We are made for community!
The loving oneness of God finds earthly expression in the loving oneness of Adam and Eve, Ish and Isha. When people made in God’s image are at one with God, self, others, and the world, the glory of the One God illuminates all of life. This was the Creator’s intent.
And this is were the story will finally end: unity restored through Jesus. We begin to experience this now through a relationship with Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is the witness we live and show others.
Pastor Greg Smith
It is exciting to begin this overview of the Bible. I never get tired of studying and restudying God’s Word. I want to again invite you to the class after worship. It will give us time to look into these texts in more detail and to answer any questions you may have.
Our goal is to know the Story so we can share the Story.
We want to get a feel for the large narrative of the Bible. Memorizing individual verses and short passages of the Bible is important. But knowing the grand sweep of God’s word is just as important. But to do that, you need to be reading along each week.
The Story is filled with grand events:
- the creation of the world
- a world that seems to be lost to evil and nearly destroyed by its creator in a cataclysmic flood
- but then begins the true story of the struggle to win back this world from the clutches of evil
- until finally, after many surprising turns events, the hero of the Story endures incomprehensible suffering yet is triumphant in the end.
The Bible begins with creation.
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And the Bible ends with re-creation where all things are “made new” again.
Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"
There is a great Story! In Genesis 1 we meet the main characters of the story:
The story begins with God.
How is God described as the Story begins?
God is without peer and competitor.
Israel was not the only ancient people to have an epic story of creation. Around Israel were powerful neighbors like the Egyptians and Canaanites who had their own accounts of how the world began.
But a great difference between those stories and the Bible is that in the Bible there is one God, not many competing gods. In the the myths of Egypt or Sumer, creation of the world and of human beings was the result of the struggles between many God’s. In one story, the sun god defeats an evil demon god and from the demon god’s blood, mixed with clay, human beings are formed.
In the Bible, the world is created totally by God’s will and design. The style is like a great and all-powerful king. God speaks with the tones and style of royalty. The heart of Genesis 1 is the royal decrees which he spoke from his throne room: “Let there be light!”, “Let there be the sun and moon...” and so forth. For the people of Israel it made perfect sense for God to speak to them in the language of a king. God was Israel’s true king. In Genesis 1, God is introducing himself to his people as their all powerful king.
And Genesis 1 tells us that the Creator is the only God. When Genesis was written, there was no creation/evolution controversy. In ancient Israel, the questions that needed answering were different than ours:
● Is there one God, the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekkah? Or are there many gods like all the nations surrounding Israel believed?
● Are there gods of the sea, the sun, the moon, the earth, and the crops?
The answer that Genesis 1 gives to these questions is very clear: the so-called gods of the other nations are no gods at all. What about the sun, the great high god of Egypt? A mere light in the sky that the only God, the Lord God of all the earth called into existence by his royal command. The earth that the fertility gods are supposed to cause crops to grow from? Again, it is all here, and grows crops because of the Lord’s royal command. You see again, Genesis 1 introduces us to the God to whom we owe our allegiance and to whom we owe every iota of our being.
That is what Psalm 148:5-6 affirms:
5 Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He established them forever and forever.
His orders will never be revoked.
And like a great King, God is lawgiver.
God divides the light from the darkness. God divides the land from the sea. God names what he creates. He appoints the stars for signs and for fixed times. The plants and animals are told to be fruitful and multipy.
And beyond all that, God gives human beings directions to follow. We are to rule over the earth. All this means that all creatures will only find fulfillment when follow God’s plan.
Creation reflects the Creator.
When God commands, it is done. “And it was so!” And when God looks at what he has done, he declares it good, VERY good. That means it conforms to God’s will.
It’s like Psalm 19:1 says,
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
How can that be so when so? What about:
● The violence in creation?
● The suffering in events like Katrina.
We know that sin has effected not only human beings as individuals and as a race, but sin has even effected creation itself. Furthermore, we are responsible stewards of creation.
The other main character in the story is you and me: human beings.
We are like the rest of creation in most ways.
● Did you know that human beings have about 95% of the same DNA as rats!
● And on the chemical level, we are just about the same as a lot of other animals.
At the same time, human beings are made in God’s image.
The story of creation moves towards a grand climax.
● We can see that in the order in which God creates.
● And in the solemn way manner in which we are described.
● But most of all in the fact that we are made in God’s image.
As you read through Genesis 1 and come to the verses on the creation of man and woman, the tone of the story changes. Something solemn, something momentous is happening here. God is making a creature unlike the others.
26 Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
27 So God created human beings in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
The expression “the image of God” means simply “made like God.” This does not mean, "God is exactly like us." And this does not mean that human beings are completely like God. We are limited, physical creatures. God does not “look” like us. Listen to John 1:18.
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only [Son], who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Human beings are made for personal relationships.
Here is the real difference: only human beings can have a personal relationship with their creator. God speaks to the man and woman. He gives them commands and he expects them to respond by choosing to do so. Conversation and responsibility! Look at verse 28.
Humans are made by God so they don’t just hear sounds but language— and they can speak back. God created conversation. This something that man and woman share equally. Verse 27 tells us so.
There is another part of the image of God: We make real choices. Human beings are responsible to their Creator.
My cat's name may be BC for "Bad Cat!" but my cat isn’t really “bad” or “good”— it has just learned to behave the way we want them to or not!
People are different: we really can choose!
God made us to have a relationship with him and he gave us responsibility: but we messed things up. God gives a commands: Look at verse 28.
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
This is the only commandment we have nearly completely obeyed!
God put human beings on earth as governors to rule in his place. The ability to do so in freedom and authority is at the heart of the image of God.
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God gives us responsibility: your time, your gifts, your possessions. Sin means treating those things as if they were yours alone instead of as things placed in your care by God. We are responsible to God. We will be held accountable to God.
So what do we need to do about it?
First, realize that you do not belong to yourself. You belong to God.
● relationships
● possessions
● career
● your time
● It all belongs to God! All that you are and all that you have depends on God for its continuing existence.
God has the right to direct your life. He really does know best.
● The rest of the Bible is the story of what happens when when human beings think they know what's best and ignore the direction God gives.
But before we go there— that's the part of the Story that we will study next week— we need to focus on what was God's intention for creation from the beginning.
As God’s image, we are created to reflect God’s unity and sharing. God is a fellowship, a communion of equals— “Then God said, “Let us make The Adam in our image.” And so the image is a fellowship of equals as well. Look once more at Genesis 1:27.
So God created The Adam in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
But it comes out even more clearly in Genesis 2, a retelling of God’s very good creation from a different point of view.
7 Then the LORD God formed The Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and The Adam became a living being.
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for The Adam to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
It’s not good for The Adam to be isolated and alone. Human beings are made for relationships, for love and fellowship. And the animals of creation— not even the dogs— were the equal partners needed.
“I will make a helper suitable for the Adam.”
The same Hebrew word for “helper” is used to describe the Lord throughout the Old Testament. Here are some examples.
Psalm 121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills — where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
Hosea 13:9 “You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.”
This is a wonderful word. It’s not the description of a servant—the word is never used that way—but of a partner.
Look at the description of how the helper/ partner is made:
21 So the LORD God caused The Adam to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘Isha,’
for she was taken out of Ish.”
Ish and Isha were made for unity, communion, and fellowship. In fact, marriage symbolizes this. After splitting The Adam into Ish and Isha, God brings them back together to become one flesh in marriage.
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
God splits The Adam into two so that Adam and Eve can enjoy oneness.
The relationship of Adam to Eve, Eve to Adam is in some ways like the relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, fellowship in diversity is more the image of God than any solitary individual. We are made for community!
The loving oneness of God finds earthly expression in the loving oneness of Adam and Eve, Ish and Isha. When people made in God’s image are at one with God, self, others, and the world, the glory of the One God illuminates all of life. This was the Creator’s intent.
And this is were the story will finally end: unity restored through Jesus. We begin to experience this now through a relationship with Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is the witness we live and show others.