And as you know from last weeks big announcement, she and I are having a baby this winter, and of course Ive been thinking about that as well. In this sermon, that means that Ive been thinking about the beginnings of things, about foundational truths.
Why am I telling you this? I'm telling you as a way of talking about our next series of sermons. In which Im going to try to walk us through the Bible, the whole Bible.
Now, if I were you, the question I would be asking is, ISN'T THAT A LOT TO PREACH? and if not that, then the simple question, WHY?
My answer to the first question is that you can study the earth with a microscope, or you can look at miles of ground from a scenic viewpoint. Well look at the Bible from the scenic overlook. At some other time, we can study each verse, each word, each idea.
Which brings us to the question of why. For 2 reasons, that can be summed up in 2 simple words: Confusion, and Context.
By confusion I mean that many of us know many verses, many Bible characters and stories, but don't know where they come from. I think of Kathy's response when I first talked to her about Genesis- You mean there's more there than Adam and Eve?- or I think about a dinner with my Mom a few years ago where she confused Greek Myths with the Bible- isn't the story of Jason and the Argonauts in the Bible? Isn't the golden fleece in there somewhere?
By context, I mean that many of us have been raised with a memory verse mentallity. This week we had Bible school. Had a wonderful time, too. And one of the things we did was memorize certain verses. That's fine and good, but all these books, all these messages, are told as part of an ongoing story, and we miss out on their true meaning by taking them alone. Its like when I met Kathy, then met her family- in the context of their parents, brothers, and sisters, a persons whole personality makes a lot more sense. If I was told that for my whole ministry, I could only teach one word it would be this one- CONTEXT.
Alright, then, lets get started. Genesis is not just the name of a rock band from the 80s, it is a word that means beginning, and since this book begins the Bible that is its name. It consists of 50 Chapters and many of our most treasured Bible stories.
Genesis begins with ancient history. The stories of the creation, of Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark and the Great flood. The story of the tower built in Babel, in which humanity tried to reach heaven on its own prideful power, and God created languages so that their work would be thwarted.
That seems like a lot. And in fact it is. But it is really a very small part of the book of Genesis. In actual fact, it is only 1/5 of the book. And therefore, a smaller part of the overall meaning and the overall story.
What takes up the other 4/5 of the book is the story of 1 family, primarily told through 3 men: Abram, Jacob, and Joseph. And I believe that we learn these stories because they plant the ideas like seeds that will later blossom in the new testament. Let me tell you what I mean:
Abram lived in a place called Ur. U-R. Ur. And God came to him and told him to pack up and go where God would send him. As a sign of faith, Abram did. This is the very start of faith, which- as the NT would later tell us- is the belief in things you canÕt see. Well, by and by, this man came to the land promised by God, and God changed his name, and thus his destiny, renaming him ABRAHAM. Abraham and his wife Sarah were given a son in their old age, a miracle child name Isaac. One of the most memorable parts of the story is when God tells Abraham to take this child up onto the mountain and sacrifice him, as a sign of his faith. Abraham- possibly against Sara's wishes- does as he is asked, assuming that since God miraculously gave the child in the first place, then surely his plan is to bring him back to life. But God delivers the child by stopping Abraham.
Jacob was the son of the miracle child Isaac. From Genesis, we learn of three stages of his life. When he lived at home with Isaac, along with his twin but very different brother, Esau, jacob was a devious trickster, figuring out how to disinheret his brother for a bowl of soup, stealing his fathers blessing, then running away.
That brings us to the second part of his story. When he runs away, he runs back to the promised land of his grandfather Abraham, to live with his uncle Laban. Along the way, an experience happens to Jacob which may be the one thing you remember about him. He meets the God of his father and grandfather, through a vision of angels climbing a ladder to heaven. And though he is deeply affected by the experience, it doesn't change his ways completely. In Laban, Jacob meets a trickster like himself, who cheats him out of wife, labor, and wealth, though Jacob eventually prevails in all three.
Finally, Jacob returns to his brother, penitent, finally humbled and aware of the truth of his name, which literally means HEEL, but figuratively meant THE DECEIVER. In this way, his story teaches us about our own sin and need for forgiveness. This will grow to be the overall theme of the Bible itself, and that's why Jacobs name is changed to Israel, and his 12 sons and their families give structure to the story up to the end of the Bible.
Just like with Jacob and Esau, where one is chosen and the other is not, the Genesis story doesn't follow all 12 sons (Jacob also had a daughter named Dinah, but the story doesn't follow her, either) but focuses on one, named Joseph. Joseph was his fathers favorite, given the multi-colored coat which may represent Jacobs inheretance and property. Well later read a famous parable of Jesus that features a father and a son that seems lost, one which may be Jesus most famous story, but in Joseph, we see the seed of that story planted.
You see, though Jacob loves Joseph, the boys brothers don't feel the same way. They sell him into slavery, and he is sent to Egypt. There it is discovered that he is able to interpret the Pharaohs dreams, that he is gifted by God so that Egypt can escape the coming years of drought and famine. He is lifted up from slavery to became second in command in the great land of Egypt. As the chapters of Genesis move along, the famine becomes so great that an elderly Jacob and the brothers come before Joseph begging for food. After a time of forgiveness which is like a confused version of the prodigal son story, the family comes to live in the great land of Egypt.
But all is not well in chapter 50 of Genesis. As time passes by, the Egyptians who loved the family pass away, and the new generation in power wonders why the family has been allowed to grow so large. Over a number of years, Abraham's family descends from honor in Egypt into outright slavery. Next week well talk about the plan God had for them.
But for this week, let me review and make plainer some of the things we learn from Genesis. As I said, I believe these stories are seeds, idea-seeds, planted so that later we understand the amazing work of God through Jesus .
In Jesus, We not only see and thank God for, but even worship the miracle son. Just like Isaac, born to elderly parents, Jesus is born in unlikely circumstances. And just like we see on the Mountain of the Lord, but to an even greater level, Jesus is raised from the dead & just like Abraham in that story, we can learn faith by trusting God to raise his son from the grave.
Through the story of Jacob the deceiver we learn the bad news of sinfulness. Just like Jacob, we too betray others and fear sins consequences, but come to experience forgiveness! We too feel the power of God changing our nature from deception to praising his name.
Through Joseph we see a mirror of the prodigal son story we all find ourselves in. Weve all been that young adult, unknowingly sold into a life of slavery against our wishes. But our slavery was less literal and more a slavery to sin. Still we see ourselves sent to Egypt through this story, then reunited with those we thought wed lost forever, but in a new a different relationship.
And that is what we learn from Genesis. That is the story oftíhe book of genesis, told from a scenic ridge, far away. Did we learn everything in the book? No, of course not. But we now know the story of what happens there. In the coming months, well see how the whole story fits together.
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