Text: Genesis 1:1–31; Genesis 2:1–4
Topic: Creation

• Opening lines—such as "Once upon a time"—set the stage for a story.
• Genesis provides the opening line of God's story.
• Genesis 1 sets up the story, and Genesis 2 sets the characters in motion and gives us the plot.
• If we accept the statement "In the beginning God," then everything else about Scripture falls into place: the words "beginning," "spirit," and "water" are important later in the story.

• Genesis 1:2 tells us that the earth was formless and empty.
• The first three days of creation address the issue of formlessness; the next three address the issue of emptiness and lack of substance.
• The first account (Genesis 1) is a view of creation from heaven's perspective.
• The poet captures our ear with cadence and tempo.
• In chapter two, the poet changes his rhythm to describe the Sabbath.
• God is mentioned by name—Elohim—more than thirty times in Genesis 1, and he is the subject of all the verbs.
• The text is punctuated with grammar inclusio: "And God said … and there was evening and there was morning;" "And God said … and it was so."
• The first emphasis of Genesis 1is about the way we measure life; we are restricted as humans to measuring life in reference to time.
• Time is how we measure life and how we respond to God.

• Genesis 2 is a view of creation from the earth's perspective; chapter one sets the stage, and chapter two begins the story.
• In chapter two, God is called "the Lord God"—Yahweh.
• Yahweh is a covenant name, a relational term; with this shift, God and man began a journey together.
• Chapter two divides naturally into two pieces; verses 4–14 recount the creation and placement of man, and verses 15–25 are about relationships.
• If chapter one is about time, chapter two is about place, as location begins to take on great importance.
• God "put" or "placed" the man in the garden; the garden is named and given boundaries.
• The man, Adam, came from the ground, adamah.
• The man is mentioned 18 times, and the soil from which he came is mentioned 19 times.
• It's as if the poet is trying to help us understand that we are made of the same stuff as the world in which we live.
• If you're always looking for another place, then you will never be of any value where you are.
  • Illustration: Sackett describes how Gregory of Nyssa served the church by being content where he was appointed by his brother.

• First, meaningful, valuable work is something we were created to do.
• Second, we participate with God in creation; the creative nature of God is reflected in the creative nature of humanity.
• Next, we have a relationship with God in which there is incredible freedom.
• Marriage is also introduced in this passage.
• The woman came from the side of man, not from his feet or his head; that means we are companions and equals.
• While Jesus is never mentioned in Genesis 1 and 2, he is clearly there.
• Genesis 1:26 has its New Testament parallel in John 1:1–3.
• Just as Genesis 1 is the beginning of God's story, Mark 1 is the beginning of Jesus' story—the explanation of how God's story transforms humanity.

• Genesis 1and 2 serve one fundamental purpose: to confront the culture; God wrote his story to confront cultural statements.
• The spirituality of our world has no room for creation, because creation implies sovereignty and sovereignty implies submission.
• Now is a good time for you to make a decision to live the story and experience a new beginning where the creator recreates your life and makes it what it ought to be.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "All God Does Is Good."