Today on Summit Life with J.D.
Greer. God brings order to the chaos of creation. Why did God do it that way? To show us in the same way our lives are a formless dark void until God's word comes in to bring life and peace and beauty and order.
And when his word departs from our lives, our lives descend back into chaos. Happy Monday, happy New Year, and happy everything. Thanks for joining us today for Summit Life with Pastor J.D.
Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Okay, if you grew up in the Western world, you've no doubt heard the Genesis account of creation. God speaking the world into existence, creating animals, trees, and of course, his masterpiece, human beings. But have you ever asked why this story is in the Bible? Is it simply to satisfy our curiosity about where we came from?
Surely it's more than that. Well, today Pastor J.D. dives into the deeper purpose of Genesis, showing what creation reveals about God's design for us. It's part of our new teaching series titled The Whole Story, so let's get started.
Pastor J.D. titled this message In the Beginning. Genesis 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Tim Keller says that in these three verses, you can see three things that were present before creation began, each of which that has profound implications on how we live. Three things present before creation.
Here we go. Number one, before the creation, there was God. There was God.
You say, Well, duh. But you may not realize how unique this is in creation accounts. In most other ancient creation accounts, the universe comes from something. There are usually multiple gods, and our universe is the result of some cosmic battle. According to one myth, for example, the human race arises from the blood of a slain God. In another one, they're created from the remains of a dead sea monster.
In these accounts, humans are typically an accident or an afterthought, the result of larger cosmic forces that have nothing to do with them. Yet in the book of Genesis, everything starts with one God who creates all by himself out of nothing. And then Genesis says something else. It says that God made man and woman in his own image. Genesis 1 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
Verse 27. So God created man in his own image and the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them.
Here's what all that means. If all things come from God and God made us in his image, there are two things that we will only ever be able to find in him. The first is the measure of our lives. And by measure, I mean what is good, what is bad and what life's purpose is. You see, in order to say something that is something is right or wrong, you have to have a standard to which you are comparing it to say something is against the design.
You have to know what the design is. And if the universe is simply randomly colliding material particles, then there can't be any design or purpose, and thus there can be no right or wrong. So because we come from God, God provides the measure for our lives. And then because we come from God, we also find our meaning in him.
That's the second thing. You see, the human heart is designed so that it only works when God is at the center. The way the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible said it is that God has put eternity in our hearts. And what that means is that every man and woman, boy and girl, has this yearning in them that says there's something more than just what I see here on earth. Because you are made in the image of God, you will never find your place in life until you have found yourself in God. Number two, before the creation, there was love.
Let me show you this. In verse 26, God says, let us make man in our image. You read that, you say, well, who is us?
That's a great question. Go back to Genesis 1. What you see is that in the first three verses of Genesis, what Christians call the Trinity, that God, one God, one essence of God existing in three persons is there in the very first verses of Genesis.
But here's what it means for us. In God's very essence, from the very beginning, he's existed in relationship. God's love in the Trinity spills out onto the canvas of the universe. And then he invites his creation into that love. That's why one of the phrases you see repeated throughout Genesis 1 is the phrase, and God saw, and God saw.
You know why that phrase is all through there? Because God is like a good parent. What do good parents do?
They watch their kids all the time. Here's what that means for you practically. Listen, because we are created in the image of a God who exists in love, just like our lives will never be complete until God is at the center, our lives will also never be complete until we are living in love and community with others. The path of godliness always leads toward community, always. The path of godlessness always leads toward isolation. The path of godliness leads toward relationships and commitment and things like small groups. Don't you inherently know that community leads to life?
Don't you know that? The reason that you know that is because it's an inherent part of God's life too. You're made in God's image, and that's why your life will never be complete until you're in that deep committed community. I realize that things like small groups can be messy. I realize that sometimes it's easier if people don't know the junk that's going on in your life, but I'm just telling you that your life will always be deformed.
It will always be unhealthy when you're not in the kind of relationships that God created you to be in. Before I go on to number three, let me stop here to answer the two biggest questions that I get on Genesis 1 and 2. Here they are. First, for some people, they point out that there appear to be two different creation accounts. There's one in Genesis 1, and there's a second one in Genesis 2, and some of the order of the details is different between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.
They say, well, is this a contradiction? Well, like I pointed out just a moment ago, Genesis 1 is an artistic rendering. Genesis 2 is like an essay. Genesis 1 is not meant primarily to be a historical documentation of the facts. Genesis 1 is meant to be a poetic celebration.
That doesn't mean that it is unfactual, just that its purpose is celebration, not documentation. This is actually a really common pattern in Scripture. For example, in Exodus 14, we have the narrative describing Israel's escape from Egypt to the Red Sea, but in Exodus 15, you have the celebration of that event through a song that Miriam wrote. In Judges chapter 4, you have the documentation of the documentation of a battle that Deborah and a guy named Barak had over the Canaanites. In Judges chapter 5, you have a song, the song of Deborah celebrating that victory. It doesn't mean that Judges 4 is history and Judges 5 is a myth.
There's the history of Judges 4, the documentation, and then the celebration of Judges 5 that fit together. The same is true with Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. Genesis 1 is the poem that celebrates the who and the why of creation. You're not supposed to line the two up and try to compare details as if the author who put Genesis 1 and 2 back to back was so dumb that he didn't know what a contradiction was.
You see, you have to interpret Scripture the way that it's written, which leads to an even bigger question, and that is, does Genesis 1 teach that God created the world in seven literal 24-hour days, or does each day maybe represent millions of years, and maybe God used things like evolution as a part of the creation process, or maybe it's some mixture of the two. And what about the dinosaurs? Where do they fit into this whole thing?
Right? Now, a lot of Christians get really passionate and been out of shape on this question. I put this question in the Jesus Democrat or Republican category of questions, and I do not want to disappoint you, but I'm not going to answer those questions in detail here. Not because I'm a wimp, or not just because I am a wimp, but listen, because speaking solely from the realm of Bible interpretation, I don't think you can use the text of Genesis 1 to come to a rock-solid conclusion on that question. You see, again, whenever you interpret something in the Bible, you have to ask why it was written before you press it for answers. Genesis 1 is an artistic expression celebrating creation. It's pretty obvious that the author of Genesis 1 did not have in mind the scientific nuances of creation and evolution in debate when he wrote Genesis 1. The focus of Genesis 1 is not how he created, but that he created. The age of the earth is a question for scientists and theologians to explore together, but I don't think you can use Genesis 1 to slam the door shut on either option. Listen, I know godly, God-fearing scientists who think that God used the processes of evolution to accomplish just about everything.
And I know some others that are very well educated, went to some of the finest institutions in the land, who say that God specially created the big things and then let the processes of natural selection develop a lot of it from there. And to note, by the way, both those positions have been held throughout church history. You go back to the early church fathers, and by that I mean the guys who lived in the first 500 years of the church. They believed that the days of Genesis 1 were not literal days but represented long periods of times, not a literal week.
I would encourage you to get into the questions, study it out with an open Bible and an open mind, and not look at others, here's a key part, with disdain who are struggling with the question like you are. You see, people in our church who believe in literal 24-hour days sometimes look at those who don't and say, Compromiser, you're an enemy of the faith, you don't really believe the Bible. And that's not always true. And on the other side, people who believe that it's not literal 24-hour days will say back to them with disdain, you primitive knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. You prove the existence of cavemen because you're as dumb as one. But that's not true all the time. Many of them are very well read and are just wrestling with the implications of science and theology.
The point is to have this discussion charitably and not turn into dogma a question that scripture did not intend to settle. You're listening to Summit Life with Pastor J.D. Greer. I want to take a quick moment to tell you about this month's featured resource, which is available today for the first time. I love the idea of a fresh start, a chance to reset and refocus. And no other time of year seems to lend itself to that better than here in the first week of January. It's also true that whether you've walked with God for years or are just beginning to explore who He is, we all need opportunities to grow, to realign and to deepen our relationship with Him. One of the best ways to do that is by putting God's word into our hearts. Scripture helps us truly know Him, and it's essential for walking in step with the Lord. This month, we're offering a set of 52 memory verse cards designed to help you carry God's promises with you each day. There's a reason we offer this resource each January, and it's not just about growing in knowledge. Memorizing scripture is about embracing God's truth and promises in every area of our lives and being able to recall it in times of need. These cards are a practical, intentional way to grow closer to Him. You can request your set with a generous gift of $45 to this ministry.
Call us at 866-335-5220 or visit jdgreer.com to give. Now let's return to today's teaching. Once again, here's Pastor JD. Number three. Before the creation, there was God, there was love. Number three, there was darkness. Before the creation, there was darkness. Genesis 1, 1 again. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form.
It was void. Darkness was over the face of the deep. And then God says, let there be light. And everything began in like the second phase of creation. Now that's kind of odd because it seems like God has intentionally, intentionally first created a dark, empty mess. And only then after creating this dark, empty mess, only then does the word go to work. Now that is so significant because God is trying to show us two things that are so important for us.
Here's what He's showing us. Here's the reason God did that on purpose. Letter A, because the word brings order out of chaos. That's what God is trying to show us. Through the word of God, God brings order to the chaos of creation.
Why did God do it that way? To show us in the same way our lives are a formless, dark void until God's word comes in to bring life and peace and beauty and order. And when His word departs from our lives, our lives descend back into chaos. The writer of Genesis, Moses, second book Exodus, shows you this process in reverse. In Genesis 1, you've got God's word bringing order out of chaos.
In Exodus, you've got Pharaoh rejecting God's word. And so God sends to Egypt the 10 plagues. First, you may be tempted to think of the 10 plagues as like 10 really bad, you know, tricks that God did to punish Pharaoh.
But if you look deeper, there's more to it than that. There's a very logical, natural progression to the plagues. In the first plague, the Nile turns to blood. So out of the Nile that turned to blood come the frogs. From the frogs come the gnats. From the gnats come the disease. From the disease comes the boils.
Then the sun darkens. It's as if, listen, creation is unraveling. And there's a point that's being made. It's not just that God has power. If God had just wanted to prove to Pharaoh that He had power, you know, Moses could have come in and said, I have a word from God, and then levitated, right? Or he could have put the Darth Vader chokehold on Pharaoh or something.
That would have proven it. But the point is not simply that God has power. The point is that sin de-creates. In Genesis 1, God brings order out of chaos. In the plagues of Exodus, sin causes order to descend back into chaos.
The word of God creates. Sin de-creates. And the same is true in your life, right? Sin has destroyed some of your lives.
That's why you're bound up in an addiction. That's why your family's all messed up. That's why your self-image is all torn apart. It's because sin has come in and brought chaos and disorder. And it's messed you up emotionally. And it's messed you up relationally.
And it's just torn your life apart, which is why there's a letter B that you're supposed to learn from it. The author is showing us that the word will one day redeem what sin has destroyed. Where this story gets really good is John chapter one, when the apostle John starts with creation and then puts a twist on it. John 1, 1, in the beginning was the word. The word is going to be Jesus. That's the word in the Gospel of John. The word was with God. The word was God. All things were made through Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. And the life was the light of men. And that life and light stepped into a world of darkness where sin had caused chaos and destruction. And what you see is that Jesus' ministry is a series of Him putting creation back together again. So He begins to heal diseases.
He begins to heal diseases and opens blind eyes, literal dark eyes, and He makes the lame walk. And then He's going to walk on top of water, showing that He has got power over a chaotic, dark world. He's going to forgive adulterers and thieves and remove their shame and transform them into new people. So greedy thieves like Zacchaeus become excessively generous people.
And people that are bound up in impurity and adultery, they become people who live with generosity and character. He's going to raise the dead. And what you see is that wherever sin had left a dark void, Jesus stepped in and said, let there be light and life again. But then at the end of His life, at the end of the Gospel of John, the strangest thing happens. The one who is the life and the light goes back into darkness and chaos. When Jesus dies, the earth literally shakes.
It's like it's coming unraveled again. And a midnight light darkness falls upon the earth in the middle of the day. The Spirit of God quits hovering above Him.
In fact, Jesus will look up and say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Because God had turned His face away. And it's the greatest mystery. Jesus, the architect of the most beautiful creation is put into the darkness and void of sin so that we who had rejected the word could have light and life again through His death and His blood. Jesus allowed Himself to be de-created on the cross so we could be re-created in the resurrection.
By the way, here's like the best part. At the end of the Gospel of John, He points out a few things that just look to us like details, but they're really important in light of Genesis 1. John points out that Jesus died on the sixth day of the week of Friday. All right, what else happened on the sixth day?
That's when man was created. It's like Jesus is bringing an end to the curse of that creation. But then Jesus is resurrected from the dead on the first day, on Sunday of the new week, showing He is beginning a new creation. And then when Jesus in the Gospel of John first sees His disciples, He does something that's really, really odd.
And you probably just dismiss it when you read it as like, oh, that's just a, you know, weird Hebrew custom. Jesus finds His disciples. He walks up in their face and He breathes on them. You're like, well, I don't know what that's about, but we don't do that anymore.
They didn't do it then either. He is breathing into their nostrils the breath of life so that man can again become a living soul. And He says to them, receive the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is beginning the new creation. See, what that means is that if your life has been destroyed by sin, if you're bound in an addiction, if you walk in darkness, if your family is unraveling, if you turn to God by faith in Christ, He'll make all things new. And that just happens by the process of Him putting His word back inside of you. It's a gradual process. It doesn't happen all at once.
But as the word comes into you, life and light enter you again. I'm not saying that immediately when that happens that all your family's going to get put back together. I'm just trying to help you see that your real problem in life is not your family. Your problem is not your job. Your problem is not annoying people.
Your problem is not even your addictions. Your problem is you have a dark heart that is dead and separated from God. And that has colored everything in your life. And Jesus can come and make it new when you receive His power through His blood to resurrect you and forgive you and save you. So the first three verses of the book of Genesis shows you what God is up to in the world. It shows us that we're made for Him, that we're created for relationship, and that His word brings life and order out of darkness and chaos.
Let me conclude all this by showing you what that means for you in your role in life. You see, you and I are made in His image. If you were to only answer the question of what does it mean to be in God's image based on Genesis 1, what would you answer? What is God doing in Genesis 1? He's creating 12 times in Genesis 1. He creates. So if you were saying, I'm in His image and He's a creator, it means that we are co-creators. What you find in Genesis 1 and 2, this is really important, is that God puts us into a world that is incomplete.
It is imperfect. He puts us into a garden. A garden needs to be developed.
Plants need to be planted and cultivated. That's why the word, the phrase that God used over and over again in Genesis 1 is God saw it and it was good. That's right. Now, good is good, but good's not perfect. Perfect means cannot be improved upon. Good means raw materials are good, but there's still some work that can be done.
The way I've illustrated to you before is this. When you guys see my wife, when you guys see her, the woman is perfect. Her hair, her makeup, her clothes, literally a perfect tan, you cannot improve upon that woman. When I wake up next to her in the morning, she's good. Okay? She's good.
Raw materials are all there, but there's developments, right? God puts man into an imperfect world that's good. Now listen to this. It says you're a co-creator and I'm going to make you in my image so that some of you are going to be skilled as contractors and you're going to take the raw materials of sand and cement and you're going to make buildings that people can live in and some of you are going to take the raw materials of music and color and you're going to put together beautiful art and some of you are going to take the raw materials of justice and you're going to put together codified laws and you're going to be lawyers and I'm going to make you in my image and you're going to go throughout the world creating in a way that blesses other people. Y'all, and then as Christians, we are also bearers of his word, which means that we go into the darkness and the chaos and the void of sin and wherever there is darkness and chaos, we speak light and life. Wherever there is brokenness, Summit Church, there ought to be members of the Summit Church there speaking. That means in impoverished neighborhoods.
That means in racial tension discussions, in places of oppression. Wherever there is poverty or disease or the devastation of war, in every refugee community in the triangle, in every refugee community around the world, in unreached people groups, we, we are bearers of the word that bring light and life and recreate what sin has destroyed. You see, that's how you understand what you're supposed to do in life. Those two, I just gave you the two-part calling of every Christian.
Here's how we say it at the Summit Church. Whatever you're good at, do it well to the glory of God, right? Because you're made in God's image.
He made you good at something. Whatever you're good at, do it well to the glory of God and do it somewhere strategic for the mission of God. And that just means being in a place where there's darkness and chaos so that you can speak light and life.
Are you living out that calling? You see, Genesis 1 asks you these questions. Do you know God? Because He's why you were created. It's why your life doesn't make sense. Are you in community?
You need to get into a small group. Is His word present in your life? Is it transforming you? Is it the center of your life? Have you received His offer of salvation?
Because that's how He makes you new. Are you extending that word to others? Are you going into the places of darkness and preaching His light?
Who are you supposed to be telling about Jesus? Whose empty, dark life are you supposed to be speaking life into? Are you speaking life and light into the darkness?
That's a challenge from Pastor JD Crear. Here at Summit Life, speaking life is our mission every day through radio, the web, and now television. We're committed to bringing the gospel to as many people as possible.
When you partner with us, that's the mission you're supporting. JD, as we kick off the new year, one thing I love about Summit Life is our commitment to God's word so much that we emphasize scripture memorization every January. Why do we always begin here? Yeah, Molly, that's a great question. You know, everybody loves the new year because it really is a time of a fresh start. One of the things I always love to say around the Summit Church is that it's never the big dreams you dream.
It's always the small decisions you make. Most of us want to saturate ourselves more with scripture, to know and walk with God better. And we can desire that all we want, but until we change our habits, we're not actually going to change. And one of the things that we found is very, very effective in that is just having a memorization plan.
Don't let it scare you. We're not talking about sitting down and memorizing an entire book of the Bible. We're talking about a verse a week.
That's a great place to start. And we've chosen some verses that you can use to just read over, put on the dashboard of your car, put it up on your refrigerator, just memorize these verses and let them come out in times of doubt or in times when you just need to hear from the Lord. It's amazing how much He'll bring into your mind the things, God's Word that you've hidden in your heart. When you reach out to us, when you become just a supporter of our ministry, it's our way of saying thank you.
So you can get all that information on jdgware.com. Request your set of 52 cards today when you donate $45 or more to support this ministry. You can also get this resource by joining our team of monthly gospel partners. Call 866-335-5220.
That's 866-335-5220 or request the set online at jdgware.com. I'm Molly Bidevich. Tuesday, Pastor JD reveals why, if we're honest, we're not as good as we think we are and what we can do about it. Listen Tuesday to Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.
