Last week we took our time to talk about the story of Genesis, specifically the fact that Genesis fits in the narrative genre. Knowing that Genesis is narrative helps us approach our study of the book, so we'll know what to look for (things like characters and settings and plot), as well as things not to look for (like hidden codes and secret meanings and even stand alone moral stories).

Biblical narrative draws us into the story, into God's story, and begins to frame our beliefs as we understand and take on God's perspective. Narrative vividly demonstrates God's involvement, and effectively works to bring us inside the counsels of His eternal drawing room.

Every story has an author, some of them have a narrator (defined as "one who gives a spoken or written account of something"). Since Genesis is Scripture, it is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Therefore, the ultimate author of the story is God. This book is the beginning of God's self-revelation. He teaches us about His character and His creativity and His holiness and His graciousness and His faithfulness. The primary author of Genesis is God.

The human instrument through whom God wrote this story was Moses. It is difficult to find a commentary that is willing to claim Moses as the narrator without qualification. I've read a couple hundred pages from modern "scholars" who question and doubt. The book of Genesis does not name the author, similar to other Old and New Testament books. But there are good reasons to believe that Moses wrote Genesis, namely, because God says so.

The Pentateuch itself affirmed Moses wrote it. Moses explains that the Lord commissioned him to write the history of the nation (Exodus 17:14), as well as their national laws (Deuteronomy 1:1). Moses claims to have written the story of the Exodus (Numbers 33:1-2). The LORD spoke, Moses wrote, and here it is.

Other Old Testament books affirmed Moses wrote it. Joshua calls the Torah "the Book of the Law of Moses" (Joshua 8:31), a reference to all five of the first books, including Genesis. King David commissioned Solomon to keep "the law of Moses" (1 Kings 2:3). Ezra called the Torah the "book of Moses" (Ezra 6:18), as did Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:1). The prophet Daniel refers to it as "the law of Moses" (Daniel 9:11), and even the final chapter of the final book of the OT exhorts the people to "remember the law of my servant Moses" (Malachi 4:4). So the Old Testament calls it the Law of Moses, the Book of Moses, and the Book of the Law of Moses.

If that weren't enough evidence, the apostle Paul affirmed Moses' authorship. Paul picked up on the same designations found in the Old Testament in Acts 26:22, and claimed Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch in Romans 10:19, 1 Corinthians 9:9, and 2 Corinthians 3:15. "Moses is read" whenever we read Genesis.

And Jesus affirmed Mosaic authorship (Matthew 8:4), calling it "the book of Moses" (Matthew 12:26). In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, He refers to men who wouldn't believe "Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16:29, 31). In particular, Jesus said Moses gave the Jews circumcision (John 7:22), and the regulations concerning circumcision are given principally in Genesis 17:9-14 (even more than in Leviticus 12:3). There can be no doubt that Jesus attributed the Pentateuch, including Genesis, to Moses.

God said Moses authored Genesis through kings and prophets in the Old Testament, and He said so again through apostles and through His own Son in the New Testament. Though not having the same authority, the early church also confirmed Moses as the author.

And who better to write this story than Moses? He was well educated in Pharaoh's house as the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10). He had access to all the best literature and documents. He had personal knowledge of the climate, agriculture, and geography of the land. He was called by God to lead the Israelites, motivated to write the nation's history. And he had plenty of time during forty years of desert wandering to compose it. It seems that sometime after the Exodus (c. 1445 BC) and before Moses' death (c. 1405 BC), God revealed to him the truths about the beginning. Moses is a happy, little, creator, weaver-man, who wrote and arranged Genesis with unity and creativity.

Here are a couple reasons why various people deny Mosaic authorship.

Both types of denials are based on faulty assumptions.

Even though he was writing approximately 300 or so years after Joseph (and the end of Genesis), God enabled Moses to record the generations with accuracy and perspective. The Bible doesn't tell us whether he received direct revelation from God in audible or vision form, or whether he received the story from oral traditions passed down from fathers to sons, or whether he gathered written records, and edited them into final form. But we do know that "the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Exodus 33:11). The details of the facts (names, ages, dates), the minutia of the narration, and the perspective all add up to an amazing book. Moses wrote every part of the story necessary to frame our beliefs about God and about God's people.

To receive the Bible's revelation about Mosaic authoriship is important in order to give confidence about everything in Genesis so that no obstacle will be laid between you and conviction to live. Courage in image bearers comes from confidence in the original image, and we won't have that without believing the Word He gave us from the instrument He used.

Every story needs a stage, and there are distinct scene changes throughout Genesis.

The world was no doubt made, that it might be a theatre of the divine glory. (Calvin)

The first 11 chapters cover at least 2000 years or so. I don't say "at least" 2000 years because I believe in any type of day-age theory of creation where the first six days of creation represent hundreds or thousands, or even millions of years, during which time some sort of theistic evolution was happening (more to come on that later). Instead, I say at least 2000 years because we don't know for sure. It's possible that there are some generations missing in the genealogies in Genesis, that may account for a few millennia, depending on how many are missing (though I'm not convinced of gaps there either).

Regardless, the location for chapters 1-11 is Mesopotamia, also referred to the Fertile Crescent. We don't know exactly where the Garden of Eden was/is, and even if we did, angels are guarding men from getting in. But you can see on the map that the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers provide a reason why the region was so fecund.

Then at the Tower of Babel (chapter 11) God dispersed men all over the planet. Because of that we might have expected the story to broaden out and cover various tracks of world history and geography. Just the opposite is true. The story narrows in and focuses on one man, his family and travels, and the other nations are backdrop for his story.

Beginning in chapter 12, Abram moves his family into Canaan (12:5). He separated from Lot as their herds increased, but God promised Abram and his descendants the land of Canaan, with very specific borders (13:14; 15:18-20). The focus from Genesis 12-36 is the promised land, even though Abraham himself didn't ever own it all. That part of the promise is still awaiting fulfillment. This middle section of Genesis covers 193 years.

And then the final 14 chapters give the most space to cover the least amount of time. Chapters 37-50 contain the story of Joseph, and how God saved His people by sending a man ahead of them to Egypt so that they would not die of starvation due to the famine in Canaan.

Every story has people (or things personified). Genesis certainly contains the most well-known and flannel-graph covered characters in the Old Testament: Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph. The first three are characters at the beginning of humanity, the rest are characters at the beginning of God's people. Nor can we forget about Lot and his wife, Laban, his daughters Leah and Rachel, Potiphar and his wife, and Joseph's brothers.

As I said last week, however, God is the primary character. This is His story, and He is always the hero. The book of Genesis is littered with disobedient, defiant, and disbelieving men. But it shows God's patience, purity, and promises to sinful men.

Every story moves along a particular story line, starting at the beginning and progressing toward an end.

I really like the simplicity that Moses built into the story by dividing Genesis up by generations. But it is helpful to see Genesis from a number of additional and apparent threads as well.

Bruce Wilkinson and Ken Boa (_Talk Thru the Bible) have observed the movement of Genesis 1-11 in terms of four main events: the creation (1:1-2:25), the fall (3:1-5:32), the flood (6:19-9:29), and the tower of Babel/making of many nations (10:1-11:9). In these events we see the beginning of the human race, sometimes referred to as primeval history, or the earliest history of the world. I would also point out that once the story hits chapter three, sin spreads quickly, twice: from Adam and Eve to so much disobedience that God wiped out everyone except for Noah, and then from Noah to so much defiance at Babel that God dispersed everyone.

The rest of Genesis focuses not on events but on four people: Abraham 11:10-25:18), the chosen seed Isaac (25:19-26:35), the chosen seed Jacob (27:1-36:43), and Joseph--who was most loved, and through whom the chosen seed (Judah) was saved--(37:1-50:20). This long section reveals the beginning of the Hebrew race, that is, the nation of Israel. It is not primeval, but patriarchal history, covering the early fathers of Israel. It's easy to see why God is often called "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Whereas chapters 1-11 describe the spread of sin (rebellion), chapters 12-50 develop God's gracious, initiating, faithful work of salvation (redemption). It is the beginning of God's outworking of His promise to Abram in 12:1-3, to give land to His people, to make them into a great nation, and to bless all the families of the earth. By the end of the book, there are only seventy persons, but the nation would grow in Egypt (Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5; cf. Genesis 50:20).

It only makes sense to see God's creation of a people as the plot emphasis, more than His creation of the world and human beings. Of course, looking at the order of the story, the four events (and first twenty generations from Adam to Abraham) come first and are the foundation. But only two chapters are devoted to the creation of the universe. The beginning of sin is given only one chapter.

It is impossible, then, to ignore the proportion of the story, and that 4/5ths of Genesis, covering less than 300 years, clearly concentrates on God's redemptive story in only four generations (from Abraham to Joseph). In addition, the rest of the Bible, while building on the creation account, is even more interested in bringing God's salvation into our focus. The plot progresses as God saves.

I spent two sermons explaining how Genesis frames our beliefs on things like humanity, family, society, history, and morality. When I did, I emphasized that the THEOLOGY of Genesis is key. That should be obvious from today as well, that everything owes its beginning to God. He is the story-teller. He is the hero. He is the point. While Genesis doesn't teach us doctrine about God directly or exhaustively, it does teach us about Him clearly through the story. These are theological points of the plot.

Unlike everything else, there is no genesis of God. In the beginning, God is. Moses makes no defense or argument for the existence of God. He is there. Even the name YHWH ("LORD") means, "I am," the "Existent One." He is the beginning and the end.

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists (or, that he is) and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)

God talks with Himself in relationship ("Let us make man in our image" - Genesis 1:26). Though Genesis doesn't give us an exhaustive explanation of the Trinity, there are Persons in God and They are in relationship within the Godhead.

And He cares about individuals. Moses frames God's story in Genesis by persons. The pinnacle of creation was man made in God's image. God talks and walks with Adam and Eve in the garden, and when they sinned, they lost the fellowship of the relationship. He talks and makes covenant with Abram. He wrestles with Jacob. He is relational, and the God of persons.

That means we also can know Him and have a relationship with Him.

He is providentially involved everywhere. From the creation of heaven and earth, through the universal flood, through dispersing nations, through famines and travels, God is moving. God initiated with Abram. God initiated with Joseph. His plan is being worked out all the time and in every place.

He is eager to make a name for Himself, mostly by patient, faithful fulfillment of salvation promises. As I said earlier, 4/5ths of the book of Genesis is about God's saving program. God is not hindered by man's failure(s). Genesis 12-50 is "bringing together the promises of God to the patriarchs and the faithfulness of God in keeping those promises" (Hamilton, 46). Just like God made man the crown of His creation, so salvation is the crown of history.

That means we can believe His word and trust Him.

The land promises have not yet been totally fulfilled. Not only that, the book of Revelation is the other bookend to much of what begins in Genesis when the curse is reversed and the defeat of the serpent is obvious to everyone.

We wait on the Lord and can hope in Him always.

Heading 8 in our What We Believe statement of faith.

I turned a lot of chapters of my life before I came to believe in the power of story. Now I'm eager for more people to ask narrative into their hearts.

Consider the case of historical fiction which may be responsible for more worldviews of more people than we appreciate. Virgil wrote The Aeneid in order to validate Rome and her Caesars as offspring of the gods. A Tale of Two Cities personifies the abuse and terror of anarchy during the French Revolution. Uncle Tom's Cabin argues against seeing other human beings and "things." These are fiction, but they carve thinking grooves that can be hard to jump from.

Sometimes fiction comes to be told as fact. In 1828 Washington Irving wrote a fictitious account of Columbus's defending a round earth against misinformed priests and university professors titled The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. It was a mixture of fact and fiction with Irving himself admitting he was "apt to indulge in the imagination." Its theme was the thrilling victory of a lone believer in a spherical earth over a united front of Bible-quoting, superstitious ignoramuses, convinced the earth was flat. Irving invented the picture of a young Columbus, a "simple mariner," appearing before hooded theologians at the council of Salamanca, all of whom supposedly believed--according to Irving--that the earth was flat like a dinner plate.

There was, in fact, a meeting at Salamanca in 1491, but Irving's account was make-believe. The well-known argument at the Council of Salamanca was a question of the distance between Europe and Japan. It had nothing to do with the shape of the earth. Irving took "dramatic license" to make the story more exciting. Yet within a century his version was printed in science and history textbooks as truth.

Maybe the single most powerful story told in the last two-hundred years is the story of evolution. It even includes pictures: a fish to a fish with legs to a monkey to a knuckle-dragger to an upright and proud man. It's the ultimate rags to riches, goldfish to gold-digger story. It is a novel saga that fits the natural man's need to get God out of the plot.

As God's people, we don't fight story with grammar and logic alone. We can use those tools, but we also use story, bona fide, honest-to-God stories. Stories aren't bad. The gospel is a story. Christmas is a story. David and Goliath is a story. Most of the Bible is story, alongside of songs and proverbs and prophecies and epistles. We have the best stories. In fact, we have the ultimate story, the one to rule them all (which, yes, is a riff on "one ring to rule them all" from The Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Men like stories but they may not be great at reading them and learning the right lessons. So let's take some time to get acquainted with the true creation story and how we should understand it.

Nothing would make sense without the book of Genesis. The other 65 books of the Bible would be incomprehensible, and ignoring or rejecting Genesis undermines everything that follows. The Law depends on Genesis. The seven day week depends on Genesis. The gospel depends on Genesis. And every view of the world apart from Scripture is incoherent. Without Genesis there is no purpose or meaning for life. There are no standards of truth, or beauty, or goodness. There is no hope.

The Genesis narrative answers all of those issues and more. The book of Genesis frames our beliefs through story. This morning we're going to introduce Genesis by considering two components to the Book.

As it says in the Good Book: every book has a title, or something like that. The title for the first book in our English Bibles is Genesis which derives from the Greek name for the book, Γένεσις, meaning "origin, generation, or beginning." The original Hebrew title is the first phrase in Genesis 1:1, "in the beginning" (‏בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית). Genesis is the book of beginnings, of origins. It describes the start of human and family life, the first human sin, and the opening lines of God's story of redemption as He makes a people for Himself.

Genesis is the first of the five books in the Pentateuch. The Greek word, "Pentateuch," comes from pente (πέντε) "five," and teuchos (τευχος) "volume"; so five-volumes. These five books are also called the Torah, the Hebrew word for "law," because they contain the civil and religious laws of the nation. Genesis lays the foundation of the Torah, of the Old Testament, as well as all the inspired Scriptures.

Genesis belongs in the narrative genre. Genre is a French word that means "kind" and is used to describe different categories of music or literature. Narrative can be compared to other genres like poetry, prophecy, and wisdom literature in the Old Testament as well as letters in the New Testament.

Narrative is the most common genre in the Bible, comprising over 40% of the Old Testament. There is more narrative material than any other genre. That also means it is exceptionally important to pull our interpretation pants on right. More incorrect interpretation and application comes from narrative than perhaps any other genre.

But why so much narrative?

To the frequent question of why so much narrative material appears in Scripture, the most obvious answer is that no form of communication is more vivid....Given the vivid depiction of concrete persons and events, the listener is drawn into the actions, struggles, and solutions by a process of identification. (Walter Kaiser Jr., in Cracking Old Testament Codes, eds. Sandy & Giese, 69-70, emphasis added)

The story makes the ultimate teaching or ethical point all the more memorable, thus increasing our accountability. (Kaiser, ibid., 87)

Narratives are stories--purposeful stories retelling the historical events of the past that are intended to give meaning and direction for a given people in the present. (Fee & Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, 90)

So the answer is that humans love stories, we relate to stories, we remember stories, and we learn from stories. Narrative invites the readers to become insiders, leading the audience to come into God's view of life. Biblical narratives are real, space-time events and experiences. They tell what actually happened, and do so with a divine perspective.

That may be the ultimate reason why there is so much narrative: God is an author. He is the best story-teller, even when He tells it through a human author.

The human instrument God used to write Genesis was Moses. Moses represents himself as a historian. He validates his material as much as possible by locating his story in time and space (2:10-14), tracing genealogies (5:1-32), giving evidence of various sorts that validate his history (11:9), and citing sources (5:1). All of this shows that he intended to write real history, not fictional folk tales or legends.

Nothing in Genesis is imaginary or fictional (see also 2 Peter 1:16). In fact, if it were fiction, Moses could have written a much more believable, cleaner story. Narrative is non-fiction in art form.

The "real" meaning of the Bible is not found by taking every fifth word or every ninth letter and stringing those characters together into new sentences. Whole books have been written claiming to find prophecies in the Torah of assassinations and significant world events by using mathematical formula. Those who hunt for coded messages usually search in narrative material because there are less benefits to claiming secret codes in songs and letters.

An allegory is a story or poem that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. The allegorical technique is less mathematical and more mystical. Take the story of Noah waiting to leave the ark in Genesis 8:6-12. Someone has claimed that Noah--representing God, sends a raven--representing unbelievers--who don’t come back because they are satisfied with sin, and then sends a dove--representing believers--who come back to the ark--representing heaven. Not only is this not even how the story goes, it also adds to the story.

No Bible narrative was written specifically about you. ...You can never assume that God expects you to do exactly the same thing as the Bible character did or to have the same things happen to you that happened to them. (Fee and Stuart, 105)

We must always figure out the point of the plot. Though narratives might illustrate a moral, they are typically not told to make us moral. The stories record what did happen, not always what should have happened.

There can be implicit teaching--not secret or hidden--in a text, where the author clearly wants us to learn something without using so many words. For example: creation reveals God’s creativity and capability and we must give glory to God for it.

There are three levels of context in Old Testament narratives (as found in How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth).

Narratives tell us what it means to be the people of God, to have God’s worldview. Every level is part of His work.

The first and closest level, the ground level, is the story of persons and families that takes place over decades. The second level is the story of nations and groups of people that occurs over centuries. Starting in Genesis 12 the genesis of the nation of Israel becomes a major plot point. The third level of story considers the universal and eternal plot. We could call it the metanarrative.

David Wells defines the metanarrative as "an overarching structure that enables people to see the connections of its parts and where it's all heading." In other words, a metanarrative is a master story, a grand narrative, or a worldview. (Above All Earthly Pow'rs: Christ in a Postmodern World, 74) It is a story about stories, encompassing and explaining all other 'little stories.' It is one story to rule them all, and it is the story of redemption.

Consider that Joseph being sold into slavery is not about how to deal with sibling rivalries. Joseph's commitment to purity before God when Potiphar's wife pursued him is an illustration about fleeing sexual immorality, but the point of the story is to get Joseph into prison so that Joseph can interpret the dreams of the cupbearer and cake-maker so that he can eventually interpret Pharaoh's dreams. Joseph's fall and rise brought the nation of Israel to Egypt for preservation, including Judah through whom Christ would come. It also set up the Exodus, upon which God Himself turns our attention as His faithfulness and power to deliver His people.

Jesus said that the OT "testifies about me" (John 5:39) and "beginning with Moses and the Prophets, He interpreted [to the disciples headed to Emmaus] in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27), speaking of the top level, not because every individual story or verse is talking about Him. That’s why "preaching Christ" from every Old Testament passage can be dangerous. Can we do that? The answer is "yes" and "no."

Biblical narratives are not about the power of human ability. God is the hero on every level. His presence is pervasive. Joseph told Pharaoh that it was not in him to give interpretation of dreams, but from God (Genesis 41:16), and he knew God was behind all the events, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:20).

These are our people (think Hebrews 11) and this is is our history.

Narratives are all about the layout of scenes and development of plot as characters are introduced and analyzed by the narrator. Moses is a "happy, little, creator, weaver-man."

Here is a chart of division and themes in the Genesis story from Talk Through the Bible by Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa (5) (with one row added about the spread of sin and redemption).

Since Moses framed the book by toledot, by "generations," here is a comparison between the division of themes and generations in Genesis.

Biblical narrative draws us into the story, into God's story, and begins to frame our beliefs as we understand and take on God's perspective. Narrative vividly demonstrates God's involvement, and effectively works to bring us inside His drawing room, at least to the extent that He reveals Himself.

Stories shape our thinking and attitudes--to shape our affections and our actions. Stories give us information, insight, instruction, and inspiration.

Doug Wilson's one sentence summary of the story of the Bible:

Scripture tells us the story of how a Garden is transformed into a Garden City, but only after a dragon had turned that Garden into a howling wilderness, a haunt of owls and jackals, which lasted until an appointed warrior came to slay the dragon, giving up his life in the process, but with his blood effecting the transformation of the wilderness into the Garden City. What's the Message of the Bible in One Sentence?

Moses told a story, God’s story, on purpose.

Heading 7 in our What We Believe statement of faith.

Or, The Creation of Worldview Beliefs

Any generation faces trouble that will not allow some core religious practices. In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke outlined three practices of religion he believed to be basic to a people.

The body of all true religion consists, to be sure, in obedience to the will of the sovereign of the world; in a confidence in his declarations; and an imitation of his perfections.

What a fantastic outline, though I believe Burke wrote better than he knew. He was arguing that a society should tolerate religious men because religion like that can't hurt; superstition and faith aren't worse for a society than irreligion. For Christians, though, we know that true religion worshiping the triune God is the only answer. And for us, our obedience is rooted in His authority as our Creator. Our confidence in His declarations comes from God's Spirit who interprets His revelation both in the world and in the Word. And our imitation of His perfections begins with our personhood, our relationships, and our work in the world. Our obedience, confidence, and imitation, our entire worldview starts in Genesis 1:1.

We began our look at the first book in the Bible last Lord's Day by introducing six studs that frame our worldview beliefs. I mentioned the first stud, that Genesis frames our view of humanity. All of the big philosophical questions about identity and meaning in life start in the soil of our created nature.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

Mankind falls apart when limited to self-referencing or comparing with other creatures. God must define the terms if man wants dignity.

This morning we'll nail in place the remaining five studs.

Not only did God create males and females in His image, He designed distinct roles for each, instituted marriage between the two, and gave them a mandate to multiply.

Even though God created men and women in His image, He did not assign them the same role with the same responsibilities, nor did He administer the same judgment for their sin.

You'd think that it would be obvious that men are women are different to look at us, or at least to talk with us. We were made for different things. Men were made first, made to lead and work and provide and protect with great strength. Women were made to help and support and care with great sensitivity and be taken care of. Genesis defines and celebrates differences in gender roles. Our value does not come from being the same, just as a hammer and a saw aren't valued for doing the same task.

Genesis also reveals God's establishment and endorsing of marriage. Everything about creation before the fall was good except one thing. It was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). God made men and women different, not for sake of competition but for sake of complement and companionship. Marriage is one man and one woman in a committed, intimate relationship, and God loves it! Even after the fall God preserved the sanctity of marriage.

God endorses marriage and expects married couples in normal circumstances to multiply. In His original mandate (1:28), three commands come after His blessing and before the command to subdue the earth: "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." No doubt that mandate had unique significance to the first couple, but it also communicates God's attitude toward kids. After the fall, of course, kids can cause their parents many headaches and heartaches, but children are God's blessing.

That sets God against homosexuality not because of a random rule, but because it misses His original design: no complement, no reproduction. It also sets God against abortion: no partial-multiplication and taking the life of an image-bearer. It also sets God against delayed marriage for selfish reasons and selfish family planning. (Muslims often have a better appreciation of children than God's people.)

In our generation human sexuality and gender bending is a playground (in the prison yard) because human origins are denied. That's why both our "What We Believe" and "What We Believe in Brief" deal with male and female, not only because they are doctrines of first obviousness, but because they are doctrines of divine revelation

God is pro-life, and I mean that in its fullest sense beyond the political arena. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, are a priority in God's plan. God builds generations on and around families, and He began in Genesis.

As families grew, as different families organized themselves together, as relationships were formed and common agreements were made, cultures were created and nations were established with a common people sharing a common land, submissive to a common government/ruler and laws (Waltke, 45).

Partially in fulfillment of the cultural mandate to multiply and subdue the earth, and I'm sure for other pragmatic reasons, men joined together to protect each other and their families, to share the burden of providing for each other, and even to enjoy the bond of friendship with each other. They created tools and weapons, built buildings and irrigation systems. They crafted instruments and wrote music. They made, sold, bought, and traded. No doubt they drafted codes for architecture and systemized principles for agriculture. They enjoyed social life and networks (even without the Internet), and created culture in their generations.

Genesis refers to the Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites, Hamathites, and Canannites (10:16-18), the Perizzites, (13:7), the Horites and Amalekites (14:6), the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, and Hittites (15:19), the Moabites (19:37), the Temanites (36:34), the Midianites (37:27), the Adullamites (38:1), the Ishmaelites (37:25), the Israelites (36:31), and the Egyptians.

Assembling themselves together led to some taking charge, to establishing structures of authority and government and politics and laws. Agreements were made and consequences defined for breaking laws or contracts. They mobilized armies, shared language and arts.

Genesis tells the stories of people groups and nations that thrived and others that failed. God made those nations (in fulfilling promises to different sons and in judgment on arrogant men at Babel). Not everything we discover about society in Genesis is something for us to repeat, but we learn that living in community is good, and challenging, and we learn what happens when communities of sinful men collide. Genesis reveals principles that unite and establish societies while also exposing problems that cause wars. Even more, Genesis tells the story of God creating a nation for His very own with a separate and special culture different from the surrounding nations.

That God ordained families and societies leads naturally into a discussion about God's work in generation after generation. He not only was responsible for what happened with Adam and Eve, but it is His hand at work year after decade after century after millennium. He ordered all creation and He orchestrates every event.

Before Cain and Abel were even born, God promised that the woman's seed would defeat the serpent (3:15). Everything since has been connected in some way to that promise. God has been working out His eternal plan by providence through the course of families and cultures and nations and generations.

In particular, His calling of Abram (12:1-3) set in motion a course of events that has not yet seen it's final fulfillment. As the nations of the earth are blessed, as Abraham's offspring grow numerous like the sand on the seashore, we move closer to God's full and final saving of Israel.

Plenty in Genesis reminds us that all the nations of history past, and those nations thinking they are history makers at present, are nothing but a drop in God's bucket are like dust on His scales (cf. Isaiah 40:15).

Consider Isaiah 40:12-17, 18-20, 21-23, 25-26, 27-31. The prophet urges humility before God and proper perspective on history in light of creation.

Do you not know? Do you not hear?

Genesis reveals that history is linear, it has a beginning, it progresses, and it is moving in a particular direction. Genesis reminds us that we are not in control of history and that we cannot separate ourselves from it. We are in dependence on the God of history. Genesis frames our beliefs about history, opening the door of divine perspective on the past and building our hopes for the future on divine promises.

No choice we make is inconsequential. The evolution theory contends that there is no God, therefore there is no universal standard. But evolution is simply a modern mask for suppression of truth in the name of science.

Because God made us, we answer to Him. He rules and He makes teh rules. Because God made us in His image, we are built to reflect the standard, to imitate His perfections. Being formed in His image doesn't only mean that we work and take dominion. It means we are formed to work and to have relationships in righteousness, a clarification necessary after Genesis 3.

If God is truthful, it is wrong for us to lie. If God is faithful, we must follow through. We must do what He commands. He not only made us with authority over creation, but also under the authority of our Creator.

Morality and immorality are not defined by culture or on a case by case basis. Cultures are incapable of fixing boundaries on right and wrong apart from an external source. That's why we understand that the standard of morality is given by God. In fact, morality cannot exist apart from the character and commands of God. Genesis frames our beliefs about virtue and goodness and honesty and integrity and justice. It does so by revealing God's character as well as by portraying the consequences of God's judgment on those who fail to bear His image properly.

God's sentence on Adam's disobedience--the curse and death, His response to worldwide wickedness--the universal flood, as well as to men outstepping their place at Babel--dispersing and confusing, in addition to the judgments of personal tragedy and famines and fighting, show that the consequences for immorality are clear and real. The blessings for obedience are obvious as well. Genesis frames our standard of morality.

Above everything else, Genesis is the first and foundational revelation from God about God. The rest of the Bible builds on the theological frame constructed in the first 50 chapters.

The creation account in Genesis 1-2 not only establishes His authority, it exhibits His capability and creativity. There is no power like the power of God Who makes things out of nothings, shaping a universe with beauty and intricacy and immensity.

The fall and the flood and the tower of Babel in Genesis 3-11 display God's holiness. He does not stand for disobedience or defiance. There is no righteous judgment like His.

And God's calling of Abram, and protecting of Abram and giving Abram and Sarai a son and protecting the family through famine and foreign lands and even their own failings, and keeping His promise to Abraham's descendants in Genesis 12-50 God shows His care.

Genesis frames our beliefs about God's power, His purity, and His promises. Genesis is the telling of our human story, and the story of God's redeemed people, but most of all, Genesis is God's story. "He keeps His promises, rewards the faithful, punishes the evildoer, [and is patient with] the foibles of His people" (Waltke, 42).

He is the hero of every account. Adam is no hero. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are supporting characters, and their supporting role is part of God's sovereign script.

Genesis reveals that "God" (Elohim)(1:1) is transcendent, He is so far above and beyond our understanding and experience. At the same time, the "LORD" (Yahweh)(2:4) is also immanent, operating among us and making covenant with men. He is Master, "Lord" (Adonia) (15:2). He is the Provider (Jehovah-jireh)(22:14). He is the Most High (Jehovah El Elyon)(14:22). He is the God who sees (El Rai)(16:13). He is the Almighty God (El Shaddai)(17:1). Genesis frames our beliefs about who we worship.

These studs are enough to get us started. These studs assume the reality of truth, that truth is knowable, and that truth originates and exists in God. For that matter, these studs assume the existence of God because Genesis 1:1 does. Moses provides no pre-evangelism, no apologetic arguments to prepare anyone to accept God's life. He says "God created" with no doubts about God.

By framing our beliefs about humanity, family, society, history, morality, and theology, we learn who we are and what we're to do, we learn where and when we do it, and how and why we do it.

What we think about elections and laws, our convictions about abortion, our attitude toward modesty (clothing, it's origin and purpose), our perspective on calling and vocation, our appreciation of marriage and family and kids, our approach toward art and culture, our position on the environment and global warming and tree-hugging, our outlook on the past and the future, our dependance on science, are all framed by how we understand Genesis.

Moses framed Genesis by telling God's story in generations to define and support his generation of God's people. Genesis does the same for our generation and frames our worldview and God-view. Genesis has divine, inerrant answers for every current cultural debate and international conflict. May God increase the hope of His people in this generation, building them up and framing their beliefs according to His story in Genesis.

I bit the bait and clicked an inflammatory link a while back that permanently burned my brain. A straightforward tweet asked: What is the most offensive verse in the Bible? and promised an answer behind a click. The answer surprised me, stirred me, and settled for me so much of our cultural, and even Christian and Christian cultural, woes.

The most offensive verse in the Bible is Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

If that is true--and I believe it without hedging or hesitation, without a wink or crossed fingers behind the back--then God must be acknowledged as Creator, thanked as Maker, and obeyed as Lord by all. This God who created rules and He makes the rules. He does not need anyone's counsel, nor does He ask for it or take it. He did not create in order to disclaim His authority but rather to demonstrate it.

As long as there have been men on this planet those men have thought about their identity. All the libraries and all the algorithms at Google cataloging peoples and religions and philosophies and poetry have not supplied a better or more imposing answer than Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Every creature owes God everything, including the fact and form of being. That means that our identity is defined for us, our identity is not determined by us. Who am I? Why am I here? I don't get to answer those however I want, and certainly not without embracing God in the answer. Hence the offense. It's starting to wonder, did God make my toes so that He could step on them?

The widest divide in the world is not the divide between male and female, or land and sea, heaven and earth, sun and moon, or even east and west across the universe, but between the Creator and creation. No matter how much a man doesn't like Him, or ignores Him, or rebels against Him, no man can ever successfully scratch God's face out of the picture. Man cannot relieve God of His position, replace God in His power, or even reach God on his own; the difference is infinite.

The first lie ever told on earth put the idea in man's mind that he could define the world for himself. The serpent told Eve that she could "be like God, knowing good and evil." That's a way to say that she could be the judge. She could make the call, define and decide for herself. Once she could do that, she could make the world however she wanted. She could make herself whatever she wanted, even into a himself if that floated her boat.

That's a lie, of course, though it's one that has deceived generations for some 6,000 years. We keep trying to recreate ourselves because we have rejected the revelation of God. But our attempts at self-identification don't work. Such attempts simply identify us as fools.

John Calvin began his Institutes of the Christian Religion with the thesis that we cannot know ourselves apart from knowing God.

[I]t is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself. (I.I.2)

No wonder we've learned so little from our "enlightened" and evolved teachers. God is gone, and so is our sense of direction.

Our generation's confusion about the roles of men and women is precarious, as is our understanding of marriage and family. We are a people thirsty for identity and purpose, yet our "information" generation may be the emptiest ever. We are distressed about the condition of our planet, afraid we'll wreck it or nuke it and deplete all our natural resources, so we campaign to save the whales and save the cardboard. Our wise men both insist that men descended from monkeys while simultaneously trying to build up the people's self-esteem. Personal and national standards of morality are lame. We are forlorn or fearful about the future, or simply tickled that Netflix can distract us till we get there.

We are disconnected from reality. We are disconnected from each other. We are disengaged from dreams and drive and determination. We are unhooked from history and heritage. We have little, if any, conviction to stabilize us. Most of all, we're severed from God. We are a wandering, wicked, formless generation divorced from any story.

We need Genesis. If we want to know God and know ourselves, then there is no better place to start than at the beginning of it all, with the beginning of the Bible. In the book of Genesis, Moses tells the story of creation, of life, of humanity, and of God's people. He doesn't simply report the historical facts, he frames our entire way of looking at the world. Moses records the story of our ancestors, their relationships and their experiences, their triumphs and their crashes, their strengths and their sins, their rebellion and God's faithfulness. More than that, he reveals the beginning of God's eternal story of redemption through generations.

To tell this story, Moses built the book of Genesis on a pronounced literary structure. After a prologue/introduction in 1:1-2:3 relating the first seven days of creation, Moses weaves together 10 sections all starting with the heading "These are the generations of X."

The key word is "generations." It is the Hebrew word toledot (‏תּוֹלֵדוֹת). The word refers to that which is born or produced, in other words, the historical result (Hamilton, 9). Half of the generation formulas in Genesis initiate a genealogy, a simple list of descendants owing their origin to the head figure (5:1; 10:1; 11:10; 25:12; 36:1). Those family trees establish historical context and credibility.

The other half of generation formulas, however, introduce more than lineage, they launch into "the story of X" (Hamilton, 2). For example, "this is the story of" creation (2:4), the flood (6:9), Abraham's life (11:27), Jacob's life (25:19), and Joseph's life (37:2). Moses uses this phrase to frame the narratives of Genesis.

The illustration of framing is simple enough. When we frame a picture or painting, we mount the painting with borders that protect and typically accentuate it. When we frame a house, we shape the footprint and the floor-plan and create structural stability. In a figurative sense, we frame an argument or debate by setting the agenda, directing attention to a particular issue and constructing boundaries so the participants know what is out of bounds.

Moses framed the broad outline--the Roman numerals, so to speak--of Genesis by generations. But through the story of ancient generations, he also builds the framework that our generation needs for interpreting our observations and experiences, for responding to moral questions and hot button topics, for knowing what it means to live in relationship with fellow creatures and with our Creator.

This is why we need to study Genesis. In the book of Genesis, God, through Moses, builds and defines and sets in place the most necessary truths for framing any generation. Genesis creates and shapes and fills our worldview beliefs.

It may sound odd to speak of worldview beliefs, especially in our empirical age; truth about the world comes from scientific facts, we say, and belief belongs in the realm of personal preference. But every worldview requires faith. The question isn't whether or not faith is required, but what is faith in? The author of Hebrews put an understanding of creation squarely on faith terms:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1–3)

We cannot understand the world we live in apart from faith and Genesis directs our faith to understand the kind of place this is, the architecture of the cosmos.

It's called a worldview. Abraham Kuyper may have coined the expression, using the word weltanschauung, one's "world- and life-view." He also made no bones about it that the only world- and life-view that could explain everything was one that acknowledged a sovereign, holy, loving, Creator God.

[N]ot only the church, but also the world belongs to God and in both has to be investigated the masterpiece of the supreme Architect and Artificer. A Calvinist who seeks God, does not for a moment think of limiting himself to theology and contemplation, leaving the other sciences, as of a lower character, in the hands of unbelievers; but on the contrary, looking upon it as his task to know God in all his works, he is conscious of having been called to fathom with all the energy of his intellect, things terrestrial as well as things celestial. (Lectures on Calvinism, 125)

Until studying Genesis in 2008 my worldview was more of a "I can't wait to get out of this world" view. My worldview was one of Practical Gnosticism, definitively dualistic, living on New Testament epistles and struggling to figure out to deal with all the "stuff." Even now I recognize that things in the world are messed up and there is a way to love the things of this world that proves a man does not love the Father. Many of the seen things are seen are passing away in contrast to the unseen things that are eternal. Our hope is in heaven, and yet it is a bodily hope along with a new heaven and a new earth.

The church through her preachers and theologians has degraded life, even if unintentionally. Christians are guilty of gutting what God said is good. We shouldn't blame unbelievers first for doubting significance of human life or cheapening existence. Professing believers are the ones who use theology to belittle the evanescent bubbles of earth. When James wrote that life is "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes," he was talking about the brevity of life but he wasn't trivializing the value of life.

We need to go back to Genesis. Genesis creates our beliefs about what men were made for, about the goodness of dirt and sunshine and seeds that grow into trees that yield fruit in season. We need Genesis and we need to pay attention to how much is in there. Genesis is not pre-doctrine, it is principal doctrine.

I was reading some reviews of a book that Ryan Hall recommended called Manly Dominion. Half a dozen reviewers loved it. The reviewers who didn't had the same complaint. They could not believe how much the author read into Genesis 1:26-28. I understand that mindset, the worldview that produces such a biblical concern. But as we start our study, I am much more afraid that we won't get out as much as God put in.

It's probably going to take a month for me to say the kind of things we should look for, be prepared for, and get excited about in Genesis. Let's get to it by considering six studs that frame our beliefs, though we're only going to consider one of them today.

Human beings have a distinct and unequaled place and purpose on the planet.

Though we are part of God's creation, Genesis reveals that we are the only part of creation made in God's image (1:26-27). The sun is dim compared to our light, the oceans cannot roar like we can, no plant in any place, and no animal at any time compares with any man or woman, because men are made after God's likeness (1:26).

The arms of a tree are not similar in value to the arms of a man. It is more important to save babies than salmon. Humans are not one or a million steps of mutation beyond monkeys, we are of an entirely different kind.

In addition to our prominent place at the top of the created order (and food chain), God has given men a purpose and calling unlike any other part of creation. Men are given authority over the earth, to have dominion (control) over fish and birds and bugs and animals (1:26). Men are to subdue (overcome, bring under control) the earth (1:28).

We are God's image-bearing pioneers and innovators and stewards. Everything on earth is at our disposal. God has given humans, and humans only, the task of dreaming and designing and developing.

That means at least three things in regard to man's relationship with creation. First, having dominion means we are stewards and shouldn't fritter away or purposefully ruin our resources. But second, having dominion also means we have freedom/prerogative to use and create and and build and manufacture without getting panicked about our carbon footprint, and global warming, and how we're hurting trees' feelings and treading on animal rights. Driving hybrid cars, using energy efficient light bulbs, and recycling our pop cans may (or may not) be a good use of resources, but we dare not let it become our religion. God didn't call us to save the planet, He called us to subdue it.

And then third, if our human task is to design and develop, some of use are setting our sights much too low and spending way too much time on the couch. We should get to work making something significant. Science, technology, medicine, art, and education are framed by God's calling to men. Without Him, they are rotten, knot ridden studs that build a rickety building no one's even sure what it's for.

Genesis frames our beliefs about human beings, our place and purpose in the world.

As the t-shirt so memorably exhorts: There is a God, and you're not Him. This can be staggeringly hard to remember at times especially since it is so impossibly hard to resist, clay pots fussing at the Potter.

[T]he only two mighty antagonists that plumb life down to the root [are God's sovereignty or man's sovereignty]. And so they are worth people risking their own lives for and disturbing the lives of others. ("Sphere Sovereignty", 469)

There is no neutral ground. And there is also no uncertainty after Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

We would do well to take the posture and pray in a way similar as Jesus did, "Not my world, but Yours be done."

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Who made heaven and earth? Now I know what you're thinking You're thinking oh Jim's already messed up the order of service No, I didn't really mess it up. I put a question mark on the end of my sentence in a moment I'm going to give you an opportunity to put an exclamation point on the same sentence You see what we really believe about the sovereignty of God is shown by which kind of punctuation mark You put on the end of that statement each and every day Does your exclamation mark droop into a question mark when the car won't start or the doctor gives you news? You didn't want to hear our Corporate worship each week helps put some spine Into our exclamation marks, so they won't easily bend when trials and tribulations come So, I ask you, are you ready to worship? Get ready. Here it comes. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

The Lord sits and thrown forever. He has established His throne for justice, and He judges the world with righteousness. He judges the people with uprightness. The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you. For you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Seen praises to the Lord who sits enthroned in Zion.

Tell them on the people his deeds. And you, Lord, indeed are a stronghold to those who are called by your name. We are made glad and find comfort knowing that you are seated on your heavenly throne watching over your creation and judging the world in righteousness. All around us we see the effects of man's on righteousness which touches our lives often and sometimes it feels like we will be swept away by all the wickedness that's around us. But you, O Lord, are a stronghold to the oppressed in times of trouble. You cannot be shaken and you will not let injustice go unpunished. It may not be on our timetable table but every deed of man will be judged and rewarded or punished accordingly. We gladly offer up our praise to you this morning and humble acknowledgment of our need for your wisdom and grace. May we experience true communion with you this morning as we offer up worship that's pleasing and acceptable in your sight. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. What exactly are the implications of Christ's Lordship. How far does this Lordship extend? Most of us

would confess right away that Jesus is Lord overall. We just don't actually mean it. At least we don't live like it. Oh sure, when we're at church singing hymns and enjoying one another in fellowship or even listening to the word preached, we know that at those times we're operating right in the center of Christ domain. What about when you get cut off on the freeway? Or even as Jim mentioned moments ago when you get medical news that you were hoping not to hear. What about when an unbelieving relative passes away? What about when your kids are fighting? Is Jesus Lord in the midst of all that? Or does that domain belong to someone else? What about in the various arenas of life? We know So that Jesus obviously cares about the spiritual religious stuff in our lives.

Sunday morning? Absolutely. Sure, but does he care about what we do on Monday morning? What about dinnertime conversations? Does he care about commerce, Wall Street? Does he care about what goes on in Olympia or Washington DC? Does Jesus care about the arts? What does he think about software, design, basketball, or the types of movies that your kids' teachers watch. Well, it's easy for us to compartmentalize life, supposing some parts are necessary evils, but that God doesn't really care about those. But this is a concept that's foreign to Scripture. As the popular maxim goes, Jesus Christ is Lord of all or He is not Lord at all. In fact, the lordship of Christ is pervasive. It touches everything and extends every place. He He is the sovereign of the universe and He is exercising His will even in a world that is tainted by sin.

And among other means, He uses us, Christians, His hands and feet, in the church and in the world. And the truth is that a failure to recognize this and a failure to act on it is a sin that requires repentance. We need to repent of our failure to acknowledge His Lordship and our failure to live in light of it. And if this does bring to sin, to light sins that you need to repent of, or even this sin itself, well, this is a great opportunity for you to do just that. This is the time carved out in our service for confession of sin. And as is our custom, if you would like to do so, you are welcome to kneel. And in just a few moments, I will close our time with a word of congregational prayer. Let's take that time now.

Father, the Lordship of Christ extends everywhere, from politics to parenting, from the workplace to worship. Yet we would just as soon confine it to Sunday mornings. Please forgive our practical denial of your Lordship and remove from us the blinders of sin and apathy. Please broaden our view of Christ's domain. of the smallness of our faith. We tend to disbelieve that you will work on our behalf or that you are capable of taking care of us. Help us to practice our confession of your lordship. We pray that we would be caused to trust in your sovereign goodness all of the time, rather than to routinely take matters into our own hands, to bring about our desired ends.

May we subject our will to Yours and instead to rest in Your kind care for us. May we be eager even today to be instruments for Christ's use as far as His Lordship extends and may that even impact how we worship this morning. We pray now in the name of Christ. Amen. You may stand. Our promise of forgiveness this morning comes from Romans chapter 3 verses 23 through 25. And Paul says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because in His divine forbearance He has passed over former sins.

We enjoy fellowship with God and with one another because of the propitiatory work of Jesus. And the more clearly we see our sin, the sweeter is our forgiveness and our worship. Our scripture reading this morning comes from Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 5. I'll be reading from the ESV, Romans 9, verses 1 through 5. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

them belong the patriarchs, and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ, who has God overall, blessed forever. Amen." Let's pray together. Father, the sort of compassion that Paul demonstrated toward his kinsmen, compassion is surprising and hard to fathom, that He, were it possible, would be willing to be damned if they could be redeemed. And even more staggering than that is the thought that you, the supreme God of the universe, the Creator of all, would lower yourself in the form of your Son to serve your creation and to redeem those who hated you while they still hated you. And you have borne, your Son has borne, our guilt.

And we thank you. If you were an autonomous tyrant like so many rulers we've seen, we would need to live in constant fear of your capricious wrath. Rather, help us to love the doctrine of your sovereign goodness. It is good for us that you are in sovereign control because of this consummate goodness. You are good. You are for us. Help us to delight in your goodness. as those who have been redeemed, we do not live now in fear, but in gratitude for the finished work of Jesus on our behalf, he is preeminent. And he is the one that we gather to lift high his name and we praise you today. We then humbly, yet boldly, bring our supplications to you, asking you to glorify yourself in their outcomes.

We thank you for the good report from Sean's doctor that they appear to have successfully removed any cancerous tissue from his chest.

We continue to pray now for a full recovery for him as there continues to be fluid that can that continues to collect around the incision and it is very difficult for him to get comfortable and add to that the sickness in his house. A number of those in his family are not well enough to be here this morning. We pray for their healing and there are many who are sick in our congregation and we ask that you would heal them quickly and minimize the spread of any sickness. And those of us who are healthy, please keep us that way. But again, just remind us that we depend upon you for any good health that we tend to take for granted, except when we don't have it. We ask that you would grant safe travel to the Marlap family as they're currently visiting Jubal's stepfather in the hospital in the Spokane. We pray for his full healing and that you'd bring them back safely to us tomorrow. We want to pray for Julie and Joanna Ratzlap as they will be out of town for a series of days, about a week and a

half, as they'll have a little opportunity for some rest and relaxation and time with with Tim's parents. And no doubt there are countless other unspoken needs in our congregation, but they are not unspoken from our hearts to you. As we have opportunity to praise you for your sovereignty, we know that you know and read every heart. We ask that you would answer those according to your will.

We thank you for your ongoing kindness to the Good Shepherd Children's Home, the Children's Law Center of Washington, and to Evangel Classical School, various outreach opportunities with whom we have opportunity to partner. We love to see you continue to work and that you're faithful through various trials and difficulties that all these ministries face. We thank you that the gospel is going forth with boldness and clarity in Marysville. We thank you for the work of area churches to reach out to our community to show Christ's love in a decadent town. And please give us the same love for the lost that you have shown us in the example of your son. And God, you are sovereign, whether we acknowledge it or not, and we depend wholly upon you, whether we acknowledge that or not. We depend upon you whether we acknowledge it or not. So please kill our pride. Please grow our humility so that we would be more aware of this dependence upon you. May that too sweeten our worship. And as we sit under the teaching of your word today, as we

sing your praises, please use these things to expose our hearts, and may we come away changed once again. We pray this in the name of Christ, Amen. Let's pray. Father, as we come to this time in our service, we look unto your word and consider its application to us. Help us to understand it through your spirit in a deeper ways than we have before and give us the strength to act on those things that you impress upon us and continue to make us more like your son. We pray in his name, Jesus Christ, Amen. Before I start today, I was going to state of the script, but I've already been impressed on the general subject that I'm going to talk about. What are we doing and why are we doing this?

I hope that as I speak and talk about the things I want to bring to the congregation today that you will notice how the other elders have exactly toned into what I want to talk about. We decided that I'd speak today on Thursday because Shawn wasn't up for it and I had this on my heart and just gave them a general description of what I was going to do and they've perfectly melded into what I was going to say. I see this as a supernatural part of a congregation that's operating together. I think we see it all the time in our fellowship groups when we meet together and we're praying for somebody and hoping they'll do this or that and they come and tell us how it's all worked out and it's worked out some other way than we ever thought it would.

But because we're all working in unison to do what God would have us do, we're excited to see how God works things out for people. And that's just a small demonstration of it. So now I'll start with my formal sermon. What are we doing or why are we doing this? I want to first read some scriptures and talk about them a little bit and then get into that subject. I want to reread Romans 9 1 through 5. I am speaking the truth in Christ I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. This is a continuation of the thought that Jonathan has taught us in the last two times he taught, that the Gospel came from the Jews first and they are God's chosen people. They are still God's chosen people. This section of scripture is incredible in that Paul is thinking that he could wish to give up his salvation for his kinsmen, the Israelites.

And note the last verse, to them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to their flesh, is the Christ who is God overall, blessed forever. Oh yes, the Bible just called Jesus God, and Paul is talking to his Jewish brethren about their Messiah. The next one I want to read is John 10.30, I and the Father are one. Short but sweet. Jesus says that He and the Father are one. They are perfect in unity, in nature, in actions, fact that could only be true if He were as much deity as the Father. Note for those people that say Jesus never called Himself God, here is the verse. In this verse also, the one is a neuter one. In other words, it's only speaking to the characteristics of the Father and the Son being one.

So it's not a jumping of the Father and I are buddies. We are the same, okay? The next one is Matthew 16, 16. Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Flesh and blood did not reveal that fact to Peter, but the Father in heaven did. So these truths are only revealed supernaturally. The language is plain, but only the Spirit of God can bring the life-giving meaning to you as he did to Peter, and to all of us. The only way we can understand these things is through God's Spirit. Behold the Virgin, this is Isaiah 7.14, Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.

That's Isaiah 7.14. 700 years before Christ's birth, Isaiah foretold the birth of our Savior. Then Matthew 1.23, Behold, the virgins shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Matthew 1.23. Matthew then clarifies the issue of the virgin birth.

Matthew calls the young woman in Isaiah a virgin, and tells us the meaning of this title, Emmanuel, which means God is with us. The next section is John 1, 1 through 5. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything that made, that anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it." John brings further testimony about his eternal internality. He was in the beginning with the Word. You've heard the old J. Verna McGee thing. Here's the beginning Jesus was here. Here's the beginning Jesus was here. He's before the beginning. He is the eternal Son of God. In this testimony also he brings about the idea that he brings light to the world. He brings the gospel. He shines the light on the darkness. Without him we would still be in darkness looking for the Savior.

The next one is an interesting one and kind of an oddball verse and I put it in here just because I'm famous for my rabbit trail, so here comes one. No one has ascended, this is John 3.13, no one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven. That's John 3.13. Those of you that had a King James Bible, you have that, who is in heaven. The other ones have a footnote saying that that's there. This verse speaks to the omnipresence of Jesus. Jesus was speaking with Nicodemus and said this, some manuscripts don't have who is in heaven, but I think a good case can be made that it should be in the text.

And for those that you are interested in these rabbit trails, I can refer you to some papers that have been written on it and so forth. Textual criticism is an interesting subject. And most of the time, they decide the text if it fits into the discussion and to the framework of what's being said and the rest of it. And this one, I think, is a perfect case, that Jesus is making it clear to Nicodemus, not only is he God who Nicodemus is asking him about, but he's actually telling him that he's omnipresent at the same time. The next one is John 2028. Thomas answered him and said, my Lord and my God. Thomas's testimony, my Lord and my God, is pretty clear.

But the big notation is, notice that Jesus didn't try to stop him from calling him God. He lets him call him God and accepts that worship. That's pretty incredible. Then Titus 2.13, we are waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Another verse. A man to Titus's testimony, we are looking forward to the appearing and the glory of our great Savior, Jesus Christ. Then in Hebrews 1.8 it says, But of the Son, he says, Your throne, O God, is forever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. This is God calling Jesus God. But of the Son, the Father, He says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever.

Pretty crazy, huh? Part of the Trinity calling the other part of the Trinity, God. For in Him, the wholeness of all deity dwells bodily, Colossians 2.9. Paul gives further testimony to the deity of Jesus. I could go on and on with these quotes. I actually talked a couple of Sunday nights ago about this part in our statement of what we believe, but the issue is Jesus is God and we are here to worship him. So the first answer to our question is what are we doing? We are worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ every week together as we corporately are bowing our knee to our triune God. As we do this as a local body we also minister to each other and to our neighbors who are in our circle of influence, and this is how it's been for 2,000 years. Why are we doing this?

The why is because we are Christians worshipping Christ. The result of our liturgy as we practice it is that it causes each and every one of us to change. We're either conforming to his image or we are moving away from his image. It is one or the other. We as elders are continually trying to teach and demonstrate this to our small flock. As we have confessed to you, our congregation, that we are learning this in a new and important way that we did not know before. We see that our worship continues to mold us and sand off our sharp edges. This works its way through our body by our personal applications of our faith because of our worship has made it more difficult for us not to apply it to our faith. We can't sit and listen to this week in and week out without being changed.

We can no longer hide in just our own personal Bible reading or adding to our biblical knowledge or our study of theology. We have to live it out. If we don't live it out, it's not real. God has promised to change us, and sometimes the changes are painful. This is why in our description of our church we see that are reformed, but we are still reforming. of this requires body life. As we learn these things, we are reforming each other, we are reforming our church, we are bringing the gospel new life as we are more like Christ. We see also that every Sunday cannot make this happen. Sorry. A couple of hours on Sunday cannot make this happen. You must continually, in every day of the week, every hour of the day realize there is not one thumbs width of our life that Jesus is not Lord over.

And as you meditate on that, you realize who God is and how his created universe is controlled and held together by him and for his glory. That's got to be life altering. When you realize that the very molecules in your body are being held together by the very God we're worshiping, that should change your perspective on, like Jonathan said, you have a flat tire you're late or whatever's happening the kids aren't obeying all the rest of it and it should make your looking at the outside world exactly what Jim was describing you know who made heaven and earth that we declare who did that God did it and by doing that and thinking about that it should alter the way you greet every issue of your life we live in In interesting times, we have had 2,000 years of the gospel influence in our world, and the difference between good and evil is clear to those of us who love the gospel.

And yet because sin has blinded their eyes, it is unclear to most of the world that the cure to their ills is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at the last century and see what No Jesus accomplishes. National socialism in Germany. Millions dead in the world war. No Jesus. Shintoism in Japan. Millions dead in the world war. No Jesus. Communism. Millions dead in attempted world domination. No Jesus. atheism and materialism as it is crept into our American constitutional republic. 55,772,015 babies dead from abortion. That's as of January 16 after Roe versus Wade. No Jesus behind that thinking. That's incredible, huh?

We're all under the gun. Now to Genesis 16, 7 through 12. Here is, in the beginning of our Bible, we have the angel of the Lord, who is, by the way, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ, our Lord, speaking to Hagar. The angel of the Lord found her by the spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shure. And he said, Hagar, servant of Sarai, Where have you come from and where are you going? She said, I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai. The angel of the Lord said to her, return to your mistress and submit to her. The angel of the Lord also said to her, I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for the multitude.

And the angel of the Lord said to her, behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael because the Lord has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him. And he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." Genesis 16, seven through 12. I find it amazing that Christ is stating the initial cause of what we have in the Middle East today. This is the start of the Jewish-Arabic relations. There is no final solution until Jesus returns or the gospel conquers the hearts of the two sides, both Jews and Arabs. Because remember, the majority of the Jews still reject their Messiah.

These verses are the birth of the Islamic state of Iraq and the Levant, one of the new titles that the radical Islamic people call themselves. And for those of you who don't know what the Levant is, the Levant includes Israel and that whole coastal region around the Mediterranean. The other sections of it are Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and whatever name or caliphate comes in the future. What is needed in this case is another Charles Martel, the hammer, to defeat these groups at a second battle of tours. The outcome of the first battle of tours was the defeat of the Muslims preventing France from becoming an Islamic nation in 732.

France could have used that last month. Our solution to the gospel of our Lord Jesus, our solution is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. You shall love your Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

That's the cure to all of this. Their message is convert or die. So what are we to do? We need to start thinking about being part of our society. We are the salt and we are the light, but in order for us to be salt and light, we have to be out and in the world. This is exactly what Abraham Kuyper meant in his lectures on Calvinism. If you haven't read them, you should. But if you don't have time to read them, we have them on our website. Glenn Wainwright has done a great job in reading the whole book and you can listen to it in your car on your way to work or when you're doing dishes or whatever. But he totally gets into how we need to involve ourselves in every aspect of our life. Politics, art, all of this. We have them available on our website, like I said, and this kind of thinking and application of our faith is most foreign to most of us. It requires us to engage in our world. Most of us have been raised in a bunker mentality that just wants us to sit at home and try to avoid all the evil that goes on

all around us and only go out into the world to evangelize. We need to apply our gospel thinking to every sphere of our life, whether it being repairing cars, fixing houses, selling parts, whatever it is you do coaching basketball games. All of it is part of God's universe and we are there to take dominion and to bring the gospel to it and gospel living. We need to apply Ephesians 4 principle of putting off and putting on. That's the great chapter for those of you that are into biblical counseling. Read that chapter 30 times and you have all the biblical counseling. You're doing this, stop doing that, and start doing this. Replace the bad with the good. It's as simple as that. For some of us this may be too much to expect when we have just come to the Lord or are young in our faith, but this is where body life should come into play. We should be sharpening each other to think of ways that we can apply ourselves in these disciplines in all our life. The other thing to always keep in mind is that this is a supernatural

endeavor. We can only get somebody in their humanness to do things, you know, stop doing that, okay, I won't do that anymore, and they, and they're doing it in their own strength, And they've not really changed. It's only through God's Holy Spirit that they can really change. So part of us wants to get and hammer, and yet the other part needs to recognize that it's God who does the work. We can offer the suggestions, we can help them along, but it's God who will change you from the inside. And sometimes when you're in the middle of it, it's a torturous process. You're thinking, how come I can't get this done? Why isn't this working out?

I don't understand. praying like crazy to get over this. He's just refining you. His press is exceedingly fine and he will squeeze you to the exact proportion that he needs to to get you to do those things. So be patient and be patient with the way that he's got you. Only God, the Holy Spirit, can indwell us and cause us to do the correct thing in godly wisdom. We must continually walk in His Spirit. That is the key to the Christian life. Most of what we struggle with and talk about in our life to life groups is just basic Christian living. We need to start understanding that we worship the Almighty God who is a creator of heaven and earth and through His triune existence being He has given us the power and the ability to go beyond the basics.

We can now go out with the power that he gives us and change the way you do things. You can alter your workplace just by your presence. Just the other night when we were talking and one man is working in a place that he's got a pagan that sits right next to him that doesn't like that he has Christian radio on and of course he doesn't like it that this guy is swearing all the time. And he is that salt and light and that square footage, whatever it may be, 20 by 20 feet, while both of them are there, one is the gospel presence, the other is the dark presence. And of course, the dark presence doesn't like the light of the gospel to be shined on him.

So he's constantly complaining. And yet, little victories were seen by this guy that he seems to be toning it down or where he seems to be going, hmm, maybe that guy really does believe that. So it's those little victories you need to see that can encourage you to keep on keeping on, okay? Because you can really get bummed out when things don't seem to be going your way.

Part of the Great Commission is teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded us. So let us not forget that the Great Commission is more than just getting people saved. It is also bringing people to maturity in Christ And that maturity will make them better citizens of our own communities and the world.

As we think about all that Jesus teaches us, I mean, I've been a Christian for a little while and I've studied the Bible quite a bit. I got a lot of theological knowledge. And it just stuns me the more you concentrate just on a simple little thing, like he is the one holding together the molecules in our own body. and he's holding together the very world that crucified him. And he patiently and long-sufferingly waits for us to come around and waits in an evil world that one more may come to him. That's unbelievable and an incredible testimony for who God is. As we look at the history of the past 2,000 years, we see that the gospel influence has come across the world from Israel to the West.

And at its done so, it has changed our world in amazingly good ways. The more familiar you become with history, you see that the gospel influence has caused government, science, art, invention, and any human endeavor to become richer and better through the influence of the gospel. Just in the subject of government, see how Calvinistic Protestant Christianity has brought us our American constitutional republic with all the freedoms that we have, the longest standing free government in the history of the world, where people govern themselves.

And how can we move away from that? What are we thinking that that's the foundation of it and we wanna give that foundation up? Remember all those trials of no Jesus type governments, what did they end up in? Murder and corruption. So as governments move away incrementally from the Calvinistic Protestant Christianity, the freedoms and benefits we have become incrementally less and less in those societies. As you look around the world, look at Protestant countries and see what their living standard is, and would you want to go there? Would you feel safe there? Then look at Roman Catholic countries. They still even have a faint imitation of the gospel in those societies, better countries than that.

But then look to third world countries that are just basically pagans. Now you're in a rock and a hard place. These are tough places to live. These are places that are very dangerous, especially in our world today. And those countries, even places like Nigeria and stuff of Boko Haram, how they're slipping even farther away as they turn away from the gospel. And yet, God is allowing the very Christians that are the light in those places to be persecuted under those people. How do we put that together? How do we remain patient, knowing that we have a long suffering, patient God that knows what he's doing? If he truly is sovereign, then he's in control of all of that.

And we need to learn how to live with that and be witnesses for that. That's a tough act. I mean, that's hard to stomach. Why can't we win? We should be winning. This is why we as elders want our youth in the worship service with us. We want them to be more mature than we were at their age. And having them with us holds us to the high standard of being an example for them as a constant reminder of our duty to them, to be their teachers. I think it's wonderful to see the opening of their eyes as they come across these principles, as you study and see them grow and understand historically where we've come from, and as they realize their biblical truths, and as they hold themselves and even parents sometimes accountable.

You know, you can see that look when you know you have to ask your daughter or your son for forgiveness. That's a good thing. That's a huge step in parenting. Now, don't use that as a weapon, kids. They are your parents, all right? One principle that we should always keep in mind at this point is what I'm trying to say is that the one of the attributes of God is his long suffering. When you think about God's long suffering, make sure that in your prayers you thank him for it. And without his long suffering, none of us would have ever come to him. Part of our problem is that we don't have this long suffering and we want God to come down and smack all the evil people right now.

But who are we to demand that when we were part of those evil people before God reached down and grabbed us and changed our hearts? So pray that God would keep each one of us on track to be those parts of His amazing plan, to bring His story, history, to its ultimate conclusion. Help us to always remember that our sovereign God is in control of all things and that there are no accidents or surprises with Him, even though we don't respond that way all the time. Help us to hold the tension that our triune God is totally sovereign and we are totally responsible for our actions. That's it. That's the message. And it's pretty simple.

And I think that if we just keep reminding ourselves that every time we come up against those things that it will make us better people. So let's pray. Father, we come to you after this simple message. I hope that I've been able to say it correctly and that you through your spirit have put it in people's hearts that they have the all powerful God behind them and thinking about them and is patient with them and is conforming them to the image of his son, as you promised in 1 John 3.2. Help each one of us realize that. Help each one of us be that in our community, in our workplace, and those far away places where we think, oh, the Bible doesn't apply here.

It applies everywhere. Help us to constantly remember that. We thank you, of course, most of all, for your son, for without his sacrifice, we couldn't even pray to you or worship you. He is the conduit to you, and we thank you for that. And it's in his name, Jesus Christ, we pray, amen. Okay, please stand and at this point we're going to have our offering and as usual it'll be brought forward as we sing and that will show that we're doing it together and thank you for that. The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1 22 having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Most of us read a verse like that and inwardly breathe a hearty amen to it. We like the sentiment that Peter is expressing and it certainly rings true with everything that we know about what Christians are supposed to be like. The question each one of us has to ask ourselves when we read that verse is, is our love for others sincere or is it sincere? What do I mean by sincere?

Think of what searing does to meat. When you barbecue a steak, one of the first things you do is put the meat on a really hot grill and sear the meat. You can already smell the aroma, perhaps the juices are starting to flow in your mouth right now. The purpose of this is to seal in the juices and keep the steak from drying out. The analogy isn't great, but in a similar way, sin seared love results when sin has seared us from expressing love sincerely, as Peter intends it. We keep, if you will, quote, the love juices trapped inside. Unlike a steak where searing helps make the steak even better, sin-seared love is no better than no love at all.

So how can you recognize sin-seared love? It's a love that holds back because of fear of rejection, or fear that it won't be reciprocated. It is when you know you ought to love, but the object of love is unlovely, and so it is easier to, quote, profess love in secret than show it in openness. It is a love that dualistically separates feelings of love with actual expressions of love through words and acts of selflessness. sincere love causes us to ask if the other person deserves to be loved and Ignores the fact that we often don't deserve love ourselves What would our lives be like if John 3 16 just read for God so love the world period Go ahead and stand Thankfully John 3 16 does not end the way I just read it Love that is sincere is a love that gives of itself even when it isn't easy or pleasant or reciprocated or even deserved.

Aesop is credited with saying familiarity breeds contempt. William Haslett, an English literary critic from the early 1800s, put a twist on that saying, he said, though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration. Week after week, we come together to fulfill our Christian duty of corporate worship. That familiarity may not breed contempt in us, but if we're not careful, it can easily take the edge off of our admiration for what God has done. God is at work to mold us into the image of his Son. Is he dragging you in different your indifferent soul along or is he guiding an eager pilgrim on the path to heaven? We all know what Jesus thinks about Luke warm Christians. And for the benediction I've chosen first Thessalonians 5 23 through 24. May now the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

Aesop is credited with saying familiarity breeds contempt. William Haslett, an English literary critic from the early 1800s, put a twist on that saying, he said, though familiarity may not breed contempt, it takes off the edge of admiration. Week after week, we come together to fulfill our Christian duty of corporate worship. That familiarity may not breed contempt in us, but if we're not careful, it can easily take the edge off of our admiration for what God has done. God is at work to mold us into the image of his Son. Is he dragging you in different your indifferent soul along or is he guiding an eager pilgrim on the path to heaven? We all know what Jesus thinks about Luke warm Christians. And for the benediction I've chosen first Thessalonians 5 23 through 24. May now the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, He who calls you is faithful.

Judgment is always on the basis of works. Salvation is never on the basis of works.

Good works are necessary to enter the kingdom of God, but these works are always empowered by the Holy Spirit. They’re never the basis of our salvation, but an evidence of it.

When God judges one of the unredeemed according to his works, His judgment is righteous, as the sinner’s works show that he deserves destruction.

When God accepts and glorifies one of the redeemed according to his works, His judgment is also righteous, as the believer’s works show that he is a Christian, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that any judgment of that believer has already been borne by Jesus Christ. God’s judgment is always righteous, and this judgment always showcases his just nature and brings Him glory.

Our works are consistent with our spiritual state. God is just in rewarding the redeemed, not because they deserve His favor in and of themselves, but because they’ve been enabled to do good works that merit a heavenly reward. God is just in punishing the works of the unredeemed because their works likewise reflect that they do not belong to Him, and that’s much of what this paragraph is about.

If we are among the redeemed, it will be reflected in our works every time. MacArthur likens it to breathing:

It is just as impossible for a person having eternal life to indefinitely fail to reflect something of God’s character as it would be for him to indefinitely hold his breath. Eternal life induces spiritual breathing just as surely as physical life induces bodily breathing. (MacArthur, 132)

If you are redeemed, it is inevitable that it will come out in your works.

Paul’s point in our passage for this morning is that Jews who lack good works will not escape God’s judgment (Schreiner, 114). And this has implications for both Jews and Gentiles in a lesser to greater application: if the Jew cannot escape God’s judgment apart from good works, how much less the Gentile? Paul’s teaches his readers here that the same principles of judgment hold true for the Jew and the Gentile alike.

Now, before we break down this passage, we must consider the context. We cannot understand this passage fully without a few reminders.

Paul wrote his letter to the Romans between AD 55 and 58. It was at the beginning of the reign of Nero. [Fun fact: Did you realize that Nero was just sixteen years old when he came to power upon the death of his stepfather Claudius? He had a bloody and tyrannical reign until his death at age thirty. Really prolific.

Anyway, Claudius had banished the Jews from Rome around AD 49, and that ban was lifted upon Claudius’ death. As any Jews exiled from Rome begin to return home, and as they returned to society and fellowship with the Gentiles once again, they all needed reminding of the principles of the gospel. And Paul says in 1:15 that he is eager to preach the gospel to them.

Not surprisingly, then, the book of Romans has a lot of content pertaining to both Jews and Gentiles.

Now in Romans 1:18-32 Paul teaches that the Gentiles are under the power of sin. In verses 18-27 he lists a host of abominable sins that would not be temptations for the faithful Jew, including worship of animals, gross sexual sins and more. In verses 28-32 he moves to more general sins, vices to which any person - Jew or Gentile - could be subject.

Then in chapter two he starts to go after the self-righteous Jew. He engages in what’s called a diatribe with an anticipated Jewish objector. He says this:

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? (Romans 2:1-3)

It’s easy to imagine that Paul could relate well to this mentality, being a very well educated and pious Pharisee prior to his own conversion. He knew well, based on his own study of the Old Testament canonical and apocryphal writings that it was a popular notion among the Jews of Paul’s day that God would be easier on Jews in judgment because they were His chosen people. Many supposed, in fact, that - the occasional Rahab or Ruth notwithstanding - the typical Gentile was beyond all spiritual hope of redemption. He was beyond God’s reach.

So Paul needed to make a case that the Jews were no better off inherently than were the Gentiles, and he does so in all of chapter two. He wants to make the point crystal clear that God shows no partiality in his judgment. God judges on the basis of works regardless of spiritual heritage, gender or ethnicity. The judgment reserved for the works of the Gentile, says Paul, is identical to the judgment of the works of the Jew.

The context provides one of the many reasons we can know that Paul is not talking about works as a grounds for salvation; he hasn’t yet entered into the discussion of salvation proper. He’s still in the long stretch of the bad news and will be well into chapter 3. He is bringing the bad news of man’s subjection to sin’s power before he issues a glorious message of hope near the end of chapter 3.

The point of verses 6-11 is that the Jews will not escape the judgment of God because of their spiritual heritage or because of their preferred status as God’s people. Being a Jew does not spare one from God’s wrath.

Now I think it’s safe to try to unpack verses 6-11. There will be two main points that we’ll examine, found in the middle verses of the passage. These points are bookended by verses 6 and 11. Let’s begin by looking at verse 6:

He will render to each one according to his works.

In 2:1-5, as we’ve already observed, Paul is talking about God’s righteous judgment. In verse 6 he says that in judgment we’ll all be judged according to our works. The word translated “render” in verse 6 is usually translated “repay.” The works the redeemed and the unredeemed merit certain repayment.

This is a familiar concept and even familiar language to the reader of God’s word. In various places in Paul’s writings, the Old Testament, the Gospels and Revelation, Scripture teaches that God will repay man according to his deeds.

But lest we get confused, here, look again at verse 6:

“He will render to each one according to his works,” not “on the basis of his works.” God judges us according to the fruit of our lives, what is borne out in our behavior. Paul is talking here about the basis of judgment, not the basis of salvation.

He moves on to talk about the two categories of humanity, and I’m not talking about ethnic (e.g. Jew/Gentile) or gender (male/female) distinctions, but rather the two categories of the redeemed and the unredeemed. This chiastic structure is bookended by verses 6 and 11, but in between we have our two points for this morning.

to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life…but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.

Now we move into the works themselves. These are the sorts of things that the redeemed do, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Though not works that save, they give evidence of salvation, and Paul is not afraid of this sort of language, though it might make us nervous.

to those who by patience in well-doing

The Christian will persist over time in doing good works. They persist in faithfulness. This is not to say that we are always obedient or that we never suffer relapses into old sins, but we won’t remain there. However, the one who is patient in well-doing is on a trajectory toward greater Christlikeness.

seek for glory and honor and immortality,

We are uncomfortable with this sort of language because it sounds self-serving. And it is true that the Christian ought to be principally concerned with the glory of God. All we do ought to point us to that end, and we ought to be looking to glorify Him always. That’s not just Christian churchy talk; it’s a life mission. But it’s not what Paul is talking about.

He’s talking about the glory that awaits us in heaven as God shares His glory with us.

That ought to be our eager pursuit. Consider what Paul says on this matter in other places.

Romans 8:18-21:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Romans 8:30: “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

2 Thessalonians 2:14: “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

2 Corinthian 4:17: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison….”

Colossians 3:4: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

So glory from God for believers is something that we can evidently look forward to. And more than that, according to Paul, it is something we should strive for.

The reality in all this is that our pursuit of glory and our obtaining it from God brings Him greater glory now and in the future. Therefore Paul does not hesitate to argue that the redeemed will seek for glory and honor and immortality.

As for immortality, we will wear this when we are - you guessed it! - glorified in heaven. The redeemed will put on immortality as a part of the first resurrection, the resurrection of the righteous.

The redeemed actively pursue these things. What else will He give the redeemed?

he will give eternal life…

We know that in Scripture, though it necessarily means it’s a forever life, the term “eternal life” refers to a quality of life whereby we know God. Christ said, “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

And to the one who has been granted eternal life, there are inevitable and clear fruits. The one who has eternal life will show it by his works, or it is safe to conclude he does not have eternal life.

Let’s jump down to verse 10 to see what else characterizes the works and judgment of the redeemed.

but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good,

Now this is what God renders to the redeemed. But remember that in verse 7 the redeemed “seek for glory and honor.” Here, Paul says God grants what they seek! What a remarkable promise! But that’s not all.

To the redeemed He also gives peace. As this verse parallels verse 7 this may be a synonym for the redeemed believer’s immortality, but we do know that once glorified, we will no longer be subject to the presence and power of sin, which will certainly be peaceful.

the Jew first and also the Greek.

Though I’m referencing this here under point one and the works of the redeemed, it’s worth noting that Paul uses this phrase twice in this passage, and the first usage is in the context of talking about the unredeemed.

Stated simply by one MacArthur, “As Paul makes clear, the Jew first means that being first in salvation opportunity also means being first in judgment responsibility” (MacArthur, 134-135).

Let’s turn to verses 8-9 and the works of the unredeemed.

but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek,

This is the central and innermost portion of our chiastic structure, and these two verses in tandem talk about the works and reward of the unredeemed.

but for those who are self-seeking

This is the person who has his own personal interests and gain in view. He is self-interested. He seeks glory for the wrong reasons, as contrasted with the redeemed who seeks holy glory in verse 7.

and do not obey the truth,

Disobedience to the truth is rebellious, and this is a hallmark of all of humanity. It’s why Paul says in 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness….” He was talking then about Gentiles and natural men, but is now making his case against the self-confident or disobedient Jew.

Such a one can be so self-interested and focused on his own morality and self-righteousness - or even his status before God as a child of Abraham - that he misses the point; he “can actually stifle the truth and love in the process” (Dunn, 92). It’s hard to argue that the Jews who got cranky with Jesus for healing on the Sabbath had a good grasp of the benevolence and love of God. Likewise with Jonah, who would have rather died than to have been part of a plan to rescue pagan Ninevites.

Commentator James Dunn suggests that “in treating Israel on different terms (and thus making more demands of the believing Gentile than God makes), they have ‘disobeyed the truth’” (87).

And we would do well to learn from this, when we find ourselves smug about unbelievers who get what they deserve; that reflects a failure to obey the truth of God’s character, kindness and love. It is self-satisfied and ugly.

but obey unrighteousness,

This is the positive side of the coin; the unredeemed may not obey the truth, but they do obey unrighteousness. But it’s a bit worse than that because the sense here is one of calculated obedience. It’s one of persuasion, having been convinced of unrighteousness. It’s not very flattering language, though it does call our decision to sin precisely what it is: deliberate obedience to unrighteousness.

So what awaits that unredeemed sinner?

there will be wrath and fury.

And of course the judge is God, so the one expressing this “wrath and fury” is also God. When He finally withholds His mercy and grace from rebellious sinners, He will give full vent to His wrath on mankind.

These words, “wrath and fury” are as bad as they sound, and infinitely worse that you can imagine when exercised by God toward wickedness.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil,

Paul usually uses “tribulation” to refer to believers’ suffering here in this life: trials, travails, and troubles that the Christian experiences along his spiritual way. But he now uses it in a final, eschatological sense. That means, in the end, the wicked will have trouble; they’ll have “tribulation and distress.”

On the heels of any mention of God’s wrath and fury, this seems like an understatement, but it’s effective, nevertheless.

the Jew first and also the Greek,

And again, in what some call a sort of ironic twist, Paul teaches that the Jews who are first in line for God’s blessing are also first in line for his righteous judgment of the works of men.

Finally, in the event that there are any that may misunderstand his message, Paul reiterates in verse 11:

For God shows no partiality.

He is making explicit what has been expressly implied previously in chapter 2: there is no partiality with God.

Return with me once more to the island of Lilliput and Gulliver’s Travels. Now, Jonathan Swift was one of the greatest writers of satire that the English language has known, so there were pretty obvious political and ideological undercurrents in the book. And I don’t believe that the Lilliputians represent the Jews (rather, they represent the British). Nevertheless, in their surprising humanity, they did the sort of thing we do all the time. Providence brought a giant to their island, and they became more confident that they were the supreme beings in the universe. The Jews Paul addresses are sort of like that.

They had been given the Law. They had been favored above other nations as His people. They had been shown mercy and blessing countless times despite their ingratitude.

And many of them responded with pride in their status, and disdain for the other nations. Paul says, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:4-5).

In His kindness, God gives us lots of warnings. This passage is no different. Yet we, like the Jews that Paul is addressing, can find ourselves oblivious to them, self-righteous, or suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.

By the time we get to verse 11, Paul is only about halfway through his indictment of mankind, who are all subject to sin’s power. Thankfully he does eventually bring good news, but in the mean time we’re all left without excuse. We have all sinned, and we are all at the mercy of God, who will repay us according to our works. Of that we can be sure.

But remember the good news for the redeemed: We will do good works that merit a glorious repayment from God, but we will only do them as a fruit of our salvation, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

What are we doing here? We have assembled as the people of God to worship God. We desire that God be glorified, and we set out to glorify Him each Lord's Day morning using a set of liturgical tools: a call to worship, confession of sin, consecration of ourselves as His servants, communion with Him and one another, and a final commission to go and obey. The verses and songs and particular themes vary week to week, but the constant aim is to honor God as our God, to exalt the Lord as our Lord.

God made men to worship Him. More than homo sapiens--thinking man, we are homo adorans--worshipping man. We think, we communicate, we adore. We sing, "You and I are made to worship, you and I are called to love, you and I are forgiven and free." It is possible to sing that all alone in the shower, but something special, something especially reflective of our Triune God, happens when we gather and sing together.

Our ultimate aim in meeting is to please God as we praise Him, but things happen to us when we do that. One thing that happens to us is that we are humbled. As our understanding of His infinite greatness grows, we realize how far short of His glory we fall. As we understand more about His beautiful holiness, we recognize the offense of our transgressions. As we behold His bottomless love for us--the helpless and unrighteous and rebellious--we know that we don't love Him or our neighbors or our enemies or one another just as Jesus loved us. Humility washes us and turns us to depend on Him.

A second thing that happens to us is that we are reshaped. Seeing Him as He is humbles us, but it also renews our understanding of who we are. He made us to worship Him. He made us to reflect Him. Sin messed that up. But His Son and Spirit and Word remind and renew and remake us. We are His creations, and we are His new creations.

Not everyone holds his shape very long. We cannot hold our charge. As we mature, our capacity to hold charge and the length of time we can hold it should grow. Yet we are prone to wander and forget who we are before God in Christ, to doubt His promises, to misplace our hope, and to forget our purpose. We need to worship because God commands and deserves it. We also need to worship because it is our gravity and compass and breath. Worship both identifies us (what God do we revere?) and forms our identity (what God do we reflect?).

This is one of the reasons that our worship is for believers. Unbelievers are welcome to be among us, but they must believe in order to behold and become (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6). Unbelief is blind to glory (2 Corinthians 3:14-16; 4:3-4), oblivious to real purpose.

A church consists of believers in Jesus and His gospel. A church in worship identifies its God and is reminded of its identity in doing so. Think about the reminders of identity in our service. We are creatures, made by God. We are believers, saved by faith through God's grace. We are disciples, taught by God's Word. We are sons and brothers, adopted into God's family and fellowshipping with God. We are witnesses, sent by God to represent Him.

Additionally, we are His sheep. We are members of His body. We are living stones that He is building into a holy temple. We are Christians. We are citizens of heaven. So we are not spending our time right now trying to get you into citizenship, we are affirming what sorts of privileges and duties you have as a citizen of His kingdom. Worship reminds us that we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and solitude into the domain of light and demands of family life.

Worship belongs to the members of the church. Worship and membership cannot be safely separated. Worship is for members and members worship. Members cannot be identified who refuse to worship. Worship cannot be identified apart from certain members.

I say all of this because people who are serious about worship can get fixated on form, emphatic about externals, and worship liturgy as the end. Those persons become well-ordered but increasingly dead. Also, persons who are serious about membership can get fixated on fences, painstaking about process, and worship the list as the end. Those persons become well-distinguished but increasingly alone.

We want liturgy that helps to keep us alive. We want membership that helps us to keep connected. Is it so impossible? Must we become the Society of the Staid and Stuck-Up?

Not if we worship well, where "well" means "appropriate to the situation," and if our members know who we are and what we're to do. We need to know our identity and our work.

One of the few passages in the Gospels that explicitly refers to the church is found in Matthew 18. It is included in the paragraph usually raised in regards to church discipline. There are important things about corporate life in verses 15-20, but first we should observe the paragraph in context. One of my favorite study questions is to ask, What is the point of the paragraph? I also like to ask, How does that relate to the point of the previous paragraph and the following paragraph? Let's look before and after and see if and how that affects church discipline.

Immediately preceding verse 15 is the parable of the lost sheep.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:10–14)

The little ones began the chapter. They are identified as those who, like children, are humble members of Christ's kingdom. Jesus tells His disciples not to despise the less esteemed, because if they are His, He will stop at nothing to go get them. That's the point: the Father wills the Son to pursue His own and the kingdom rejoices when one who goes astray is brought back.

How about the paragraph following verse 20? This paragraph reveals Peter response and question about how many times forgiveness is necessary. Jesus answers and then tells the parable of the unforgiving servant.

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21–22; see also verses 23-35)

What is the point? Those who have been forgiven so much must be ready to forgive so little by comparison. Stated conversely, it is inconsistent to be forgiven by God and fail to forgive others.

So, God loves to get His own (10-14) and God expects His own to forgive others (21-35). In between is the paragraph about dealing with someone who has sinned against you.

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (Matthew 18:15–20)

Consider three things about these connected paragraphs.

The goal is to gain your brother, to find the lost, and to forgive. The purpose is more than, though not less than, the purity of the church. Purity is important as 1 Corinthians 5 explains; a little leaven leavens the whole lump. But even there, the goal is the sinner's deliverance.

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (1 Corinthians 5:4–5, emphasis added)

The assumption in Matthew 18 is that there are sinners and that we've got a process to go get the sinner. The expectation is that we will forgive the sinner who repents.

Our tendency, our dispositional motivation, ought always to bend us toward the goal. As a shepherd cares for his flock, so he sacrifices to search for the lost. Our attitude should be one of earnest desire, of love and personal affection for one another. We should also have an attitude of humility and mercy and grace, since we ourselves needed great forgiveness from God. Jesus' answer of seventy times seven, along with His parable, intends to stress the expectation of forgiveness.

Our objective is to deal with sin in such a way that relationship is maintained, even strengthened. The feeling is that we should want the relationship and even that we should want it so much that we're eager to forgive. But there will be times when sinners won't repent quickly. There may be times when sinners won't repent at all. Then the church has authority, not just the leaders of the church, to affirm or not to affirm those who are citizens in this kingdom of forgiven.

In our series on membership last year I said these two things. First, the purpose of membership is to recognize and affirm heavenly citizenship. Second, recognizing and affirming a believer's status is body work. In other words, the church affirms her members.

Where two or three are gathered in my name refers to a corporate context (as "when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus" in 1 Corinthians 5:4). When a man who professes faith, who claims to be a "brother," but who adamantly refuses to live according to Christ's rule, including responding to those he's sinned against, that one cannot be affirmed as a citizen of that kingdom. The discipline is a lesson (just as a disciple is a "learner") that obedience is necessary.

As you'd think, this is sad and yet necessary, but it is for the purpose of restoring the brother as well as the purity of the body. The church must maintain the standard while being generous in forgiveness. Jesus repeated the same work to His disciples after the resurrection.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. (John 20:23)

The goal, the inclination, and the authority flow from who God is. Our worship praises His goal to save, His inclination to save, and also His authority to judge. We are reshaped into the image of the God we adore.

Discipline must be done by a forgiving church, and we won't be a forgiving people unless we regularly worship a forgiving God. Likewise, a church that doesn't discipline cannot claim to understand forgiveness, because forgiveness belongs to our God. We won't take sin seriously unless we regularly worship a God who does. For that matter, real forgiveness assumes that real sin was committed.

Our meeting and worshiping together glorifies God and reminds us of our identity.

We are the saints,

We worship as the forgiven, and we have work to do as the forgiven, seeing sin dealt with and eager to extend mercy and grace. The church in the world makes a statement about our position before God and our life among brothers.

Heading 6 in our What We Believe statement of faith.