Genesis 1: The Character of God

Sermon by Mark Johnson of Steiger Minneapolis

At our church, we have just begun going through the book of Genesis.  I am
convinced that Genesis is the most-read book of the Bible, because every New Year, people make resolutions to read through the whole Bible.  So they start at the beginning, usually make it through Genesis, and maybe they’ll finish Exodus, but by the time they get to Leviticus, they usually lose momentum.  But most of us are pretty familiar with Genesis.

This month, I want to look at the first chapter.  It’s about creation.  The wholepoint of the first chapter of Genesis is to show that God created.  And he didn’t create out of need or loneliness; rather, God existed in perfect fullness as the Trinity—such fullness that it couldn’t be contained.  Creation is like an explosion of love, joy, and creativity that came out of that perfect relationship, and I think any healthy community will result in a similar outpouring.

There are a lot of debates and ideas about the first chapter of Genesis—about how it fits with science, about how long it took for God to create, about all sorts of things.  And there are many ways we can reconcile science with Genesis, but we need to remember that the main point is to show that God created, and that he alone is the Creator.  In our culture, we grow up being taught that God isn’t the Creator and that we are all products of chance.  But that stands in dramatic contrast to Scripture, which tells us that God created.  We also see in the first chapter of Genesis that while God is the Creator, he is not his creation. He is different from creation.  He transcends all the dirt and plants and other stuff in the world.  He is apart from all that.  This means that you and I are not God.  We are created in his image, but we are not God.

I want to spend a little time thinking about God as Creator, because I believe creation itself can tell us some things about his character. 

First of all, creation shows that God is powerful.  To make something out of nothing is pretty impressive.  To just speak something into existence requires a lot of power.  And when we look at God’s creation, it screams out how powerful he is; it declares his glory.  Moreover, John’s Gospel talks about Jesus as the Creator.  Think about that for a moment.  Jesus is the incredibly powerful creator of this universe, and he squeezed himself into a man and walked among us in humility and love.  It’s amazing that the all-powerful God of the universe could do that.  That is the Gospel: Emmanuel—God with us.

Creation also shows that God sees what isn’t as though it is.  Nothing is impossible for him.  He saw the universe in his mind, spoke it, and it was so.  And he does the same thing today.  Jesus did that.  He would see what wasn’t as what could be.  He looked at Matthew and saw an evangelist, not a tax collector; he saw someone who would write part of the Bible.  And he kept doing that with disciples and other people he encountered.  Paul wrote that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.  God looks at us and sees what isn’t as though it is—in us.

We can also look at creation and see that God loves things that are different.  He loves diversity.  He created this world full of all sorts of different things.  God did not intend for everything, everyone, or every church to be the same.  Things are supposed to be different.  For example, trees all have a trunk, and branches, and some leaves, and they all use sunlight to turn green.  They all act like trees, but they’re different, too; they’re unique.  And, similarly, people should all act like people, but we’re not supposed to be the same.  We are called to be conformed to Christ—to have his character—but how that comes out will be different for everyone.  I think it probably depresses God (if that were possible) when we all try to be the same.  He enjoys things that are different.

I think that creation also makes it clear that God is extravagant.  He creates things that don’t make any sense.  I mean, for example, think about penguins.  They make no sense.  They’re birds, but they can’t fly.  They waddle.  Imagine God when he created penguins.  I think he loved it!  I think he was having a lot of fun creating penguins.  And in addition to making things that don’t make any sense, he created things that nobody sees!  There are all sorts of creatures at the bottom of the sea or in the middle of the jungle that nobody will ever see.  But God created them.  And think about things like the Venus Fly Trap.  Why does he create this kind of stuff—a plant that eats meat?  I think he creates it because he likes to, and because he’s extravagant.  Not everything in God’s world is purely utilitarian.  There are a lot of things he created simply because they are beautiful, and he loved them. 

It is easy to read the first chapter of Genesis and be bored.  But I think that God was excited and having fun creating.  God is extravagant.  When Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, he defended her to the other disciples, who thought she should have sold the perfume and given the money to the poor.  And just like Mary was being extravagant when she did that, God has been extravagant in our lives.  He has demonstrated his love for us in crazy ways that he didn’t need to do.  In fact, he demonstrated his love in such an extravagant way that he sent Jesus to lay down his life for us.

Creation also reveals that sometimes we have created God in our own image, making us think that he’s really weak, small, and boring.  But God is an artist—interesting, and extravagant.  And he looked at everything he made and said it was good.

Sometimes we are so afraid of worshipping creation that we go to the other extreme and destroy it.  That isn’t right either.  Yes, creation is messed up and has been marred by sin, but it is beautiful.  And it is here for a purpose—to declare who God is.  The Bible says that the heavens declare the glory of God.  So it is okay to love nature.  God wants us to; he created it!  We really should see that beauty in the world and in each other.

It can be overwhelming to think about this, because often our God has become too small.  If we have made everything so practical and scheduled in our lives that we have ruled out a powerful God who does extravagant things, maybe he wants to break through and show us how big he is.  I have been praying that God would show our church his glory.  I think this chapter can do that.  And he can reveal his glory to us when we are just walking around the world and looking at his creation.  It is okay to appreciate what God has made, because it reveals who he is; and he is amazing.  I believe we need God to give us a bigger picture of who he is, and maybe we can start to see that by looking around us at his creation.

Click here to see more sermons and articles