In the second half of 2008 we heard a lot about the credit crunch and the near collapse of the world's banking system. The experts are not optimistic about things being much better in 2009. Already unemployment has been rising. Woolies has gone and a number of other shops are in real danger of closure. Once again the Middle East is experiencing tension as Israel bombs Gaza not to mention the unresolved situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many folk are concerned and not a few are becoming very anxious.

Now many of you came this morning wanting to get away from all this. Surely in church we'll be free for a while from these down to earth anxieties! And here the preacher is reminding us about those unwelcome thoughts!!

Well rest assured I have no intention to go into an explanation of the economics of our time. However the Christian faith is a strong faith that enables us to face up to difficult circumstances in the real world. A faith which has nothing to say as to how we can conduct ourselves in our contemporary world is NOT Christianity.

Throughout history the Bible has spoken to men and women, boys and girls about how to live out their daily lives. We are not the first generation to be confronted with complex and somewhat discouraging situations – we probably won't be the last either.

But how is the Bible able to help us?

Well amongst other things the Bible provides us with a very clear and robust "world view" that we need to understand and to embrace whole-heartedly for ourselves. Now a "world-view" is the general way in which we understand the world we live.It refers to the framework of ideas and beliefs which we use to interpret the world and interact with it.

The first chapter of Genesis has much to say to us and if we take it's message on board we will be well positioned live peacefully in the world of today without being all the time worried about what will happen next and how everything will work out.

Genesis and its original readers

Before we launch into our text we need to stop a moment and ask ourselves some questions about the text. Who wrote it? To whom? Why?

Well we have no problems with the first question: Moses was the author as is testified in the NT as well as the OT. There are some indications that the book, as we now have it, was edited slightly by a later editor but the body of the work comes from Moses. This was certainly the view of our Lord Jesus and what was good enough for Him is surely good enough for us!

This at once helps us to see for whom the book was written. Moses had in mind the people of God that he had led out of slavery in Egypt. Now Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land and died with the people still outside the land that God had promised to their ancestors.

You can imagine the scenario easily enough. The people are nearing the end of their journey but to go in and take possession of the land will involve a long hard military struggle. And now to top it all their human leader Moses can't lead them any more. Small wonder that they urge the new man Joshua time and again to be "strong and courageous". The people of God needed the comfort of knowing that their God was not limited as to His power and authority.

They were facing difficult days ahead. Could they go forward? The answer of Genesis ch.1 was a resounding "Yes". Their God was no localized little deity who was taking them to untried regions. No, He was the Sovereign Creator who was in complete control of the destiny of the entire world. Knowing that their God was such a God was a tremendous strength for them.

And the same should be true of us who are Christians this morning. The economic situation may appear grim, new terrorist threats may break upon us in the coming weeks, any number of problems may shortly arise but the world-view presented to us in the Bible includes the comforting truth that Almighty God is in control. Indeed Gen.1 may be summarized like this:

The Sovereign God, who is King of the Universe,created the earth as His good Kingdom with His powerful word.

If the King is indeed in control then what comfort and reassurance that truth brings to us. It is important then for us to know who this King is and to be in a proper relationship with Him.

Now it's time to turn to our text and to consider some of its key themes.

God

Perhaps the thing that is most striking as we read the chapter is the fact that God is everywhere in it. The word is used 35 times in just 31 verses. No attempt is made to prove the existence of God. The chapter opens with a simple, clear, straightforward declaration:

v.1 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

In Hebrew there are just seven words – the number of perfection and completeness. The verb "create" only ever appears in Scripture with God as the subject – something totally new is brought about without materials being mentioned at all. The word is used five times in this chapter.

As you read through the verses you should be struck not simply by the repetition of the word God but also by the fact that He is constantly active.

He speaks – He sees – He creates – He makes – He calls – He blesses.

The God of the Bible is no mere idea or philosophical concept. He is alive and well and full of power. He is active and worthy of trust as He does all things well.

God is portrayed throughout the chapter as being real, active, powerful, totally in control, determined and meaningful in all He does. He is personal and not some sort of impersonal life force.

· We see God presented to us as Sovereign – He has operated to establish His kingdom on earth. This kingdom is well-ordered and filled with an abundance of living things over which He rules, totally in control of every step of the developing creation.

¹ No place for atheism in the Christian world-view. And that means no place for a "practical atheism" Monday to Saturday until we don our religious hat again on Sunday. God rules over the world He has made – we need not, indeed we dare not, therefore live as though He was not present actively working in the circumstances that cause us fear.

· We see God presented to us a distinct from His creation. The universe and the earth that He has made are not some emanation of His nature.

¹ God is not in some way part of the whole process of things. We are freed from the errors and meaninglessness of pantheism – of Mother Earth and Gaia type ideas.

Because He is not part of the process but outside and distinct from it He is able to help us as He is not bound by it! He is able to give us laws and commandments which are wholesome and good and durable. We have a solid basis for morality and meaning.

· We see God presented as One God. Creation has been accomplished by just this One God. Everything that is has come from Him. The entire universe is the result of a carefully ordered plan that has been accomplished to His complete satisfaction.

¹ Thus we are spared the vagaries of polytheism. Also we can rest assured that we are not the accidental result of some clash between warring deities.

· And God is presented to us Creator of the universe.

¹ So are we left as the result of chance happenings as proposed by naturalistic evolution or any other form of naturalism or animism.

No, the Bible declares that God is intimately involved in His creation – He has made the world a beautiful place for man to live in. He has made man in His own image so that man can function as His representative on earth.

And God said…

Again and again through ch.1 we read that God spoke as He accomplished His work of creation. He acts just like a sovereign sat upon His throne – issuing His orders and His commands – and as soon as He speaks the result is accomplished.

Moses presents the account to us a carefully ordered progression from an initial state where human life (or any other life for that matter) is impossible to a state where everything is perfectly ordered and where human life can not only exist but flourish.

We should note the harmony too – the Spirit of God is present and active as is the Word of God. This remains the essential pattern for the church too – the Word and the Spirit working together!

Notice the contrast between v.2 + v.31

v.2 "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."

This describes the initial materials that God created – we should not interpret the description to mean that evil existed rather that the conditions did not yet exist in which life could flourish. No hope of any natural evolution there! God must work and that is just we find Him doing in the subsequent verses.

Progressively the original "chaos" is transformed into the completed "cosmos" of v.31.

"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good."

We should bear this in mind when our circumstances seem unpromising to say the least. The same Lord who brought about order as He created is the Lord who continues to rule over the world He has made.

As God works to secure the finished world of His design He proceeds by a sequence of separation and distinction.

v.3, 4 "And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light…And God separated the light from the darkness." The unpromising beginning of utter darkness is the first item to be addressed. God speaks and light floods His newly created world.

And so the process goes on:

A breathable atmosphere is brought into being as the waters are separated by the expanse. Then dry land is separated from the seas. All merely by a creative word. God is in control – steadily He works to produce the world he wants, one totally suitable for human life. The first half of the creation week ends with vegetation growing freely.

The next three days parallel and develop the first three.

Light had been made on Day 1 now on Day 3 it is the turn of the stars, sun and moon to be made. Each has its own role to fulfil.

Have you noticed that in vv.14-16 the sun and the moon are not even mentioned by name they are merely referred to as "lights". Many of Israel's neighbours worshipped these astronomical phenomena. Egypt for example worshipped the Sun god. Do you see how Moses pricks the bubble of pompous sun and moon worshippers? Firstly, their names are not mentioned and secondly they're not even mentioned until the creation week is already half over!! Israel had no need to fear those who worshipped such entities as "gods" – these "gods" were only a part of the Creation that their God had made!

How foolish today then is the use of astrologers and their fanciful predictions based upon stellar movements. In times of crisis we are certainly not to turn to such things when there is a God in Heaven who rules over all things – we turn to Him with confidence and trust!

Days 5 sees the creation of birds for the atmosphere and sea creatures for the waters.

As we arrive at Day 6 – we find a special day. Land animals are spoken into existence and then blessed – God using His powerful word.

Then Moses suddenly slows everything down. Something special is about to happen and he doesn't want us to miss it!

God stops His activity and consults with Himself before going further – we've not encountered anything like that before – what can it all mean?

Then carefully and deliberately mankind is made. Uniquely man is made in the image of God – this was not true of any other element in the Creation!

v.27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

And with the creation of man everything has been completed. The earth has been so fashioned so that man, the crown of God's creation might have a good place in which to live. And no as God surveys His handiwork He settles back as it were and declares that everything is "very good". Nothing is out of place, nothing is missing, everything is perfect. God has been in total control!

God Identified

The creative word that produced such splendidly beautiful results is identified for us in the NT by John at the beginning of his gospel when he deliberately echoes the opening verses of Gen.1.

Jn.1:1-3 "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 any thing made that was made."

Jesus Christ was the agent of God's creative activity, the creative Word.

Paul, writing to the Colossians, put it like this:

Col.1:15-16; 19-20. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

The amazing thing to notice here is the commitment this living Word retains towards the world He has made. This Word became flesh – not to Lord it over mankind but to suffer and die to redeem lost sinners. The word made flesh would suffer death on Calvary's tree!

As John continues his gospel he does so in just the way Moses continued in Genesis by referring to light!

vv.4-5 "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."

Paul picked up on Moses words when writing to the Corinthians. On the spiritual front we are all unpromising material – but God is not hampered by that! 2Cor. 4:6 "For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

For the OT people of God it was a tremendously encouraging thing to know that God rules in a sovereign manner over the world and that because of that they could face uncertain days with a calm confidence.

For us it is all the more stunning to stop and meditate that not only can we trust the Creator God who rules over the world He has made but that He has so commended His love towards us that He sent His own Son, the Living Word of God, into the world to die for us!

As again Paul put it this time writing to the Romans:

Rom.8:31-32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

Surely it is reasonable for us to trust such a God!

Conclusion.

Plenty more could be said on this particular chapter but we have focused on some elementary truths.

God is. God is in control. And God can be trusted because of His great love!

May God's truth transform firstly our thinking as we receive His truth and then transform our lives as it is surely impossible to receive and understand such truths without them having a profound effect upon our lives.