Pastor Scott
Jonas
Genesis 5-9
The Flood
Welcome back to the beginning,
Genesis. Last week we covered Genesis 1,
everything was created over 7 days by the Words of God and he declared it all
good. Genesis 2, Man is formed from the
earth; woman is formed from man. They
are infused with the image of their creator who gives them stewardship over all
he made. Genesis 3, both Adam and Eve
spoil creation by defying God and following the serpent’s words. Genesis 4,
sin’s consequences are extensive.
They lose paradise, easy living, and a close relationship with the
Lord. They gain knowledge of evil,
trauma, and a murderous civilization that hits close to home. Their son Cain, viciously kills his brother,
Able.
Today
we go through the next five chapter which center on the Flood story. I read a
tweet from Ruth Buzzie yesterday, “Remember that the Titanic was built by
experts and the Arc was built by amateurs.”
We could also say the Titanic was built by moderns and the Arc was built
by primatives. That should humble us.
In Genesis 5, the violence and
effects of original sin are worsening.
There were those who were sons of God who lived in his image but they
were outnumbered by the sons of man.
“The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” Understand how extreme the
situation became. As bad as we think the
world is today, it was worse in the days of Noah. Despite everything we see on the news, there
was no human institutions organized to restrict sinful behavior. There was no church, no formal government, no
rule of law, no police, no hospitals, no charities. It was savagery beyond our
comprehension. A descendant of the
murderer Cain was named Lamech. He
bragged, “You wives of mine hear my voice.
I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for insulting me. If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then mine is
seventy- sevenfold.” Lamech is the
Bible’s first known slave owner.
The
plan is in place to send a Savior. It
was decided before the first seven days.
But that is a long term solution.
God needs to do something now about the decaying state of the
world. If he doesn’t, humanity could go
extinct. Wars, slavery, disease and
famine will wipe them out. Those are the
natural consequences of their decisions to prey on one another. If that happens then the righteous will get
wiped out with the unrighteous. Those
trying to live in the image of God will be wiped away along with those who only
live as a son of man.
In
Genesis chapter six we read a shocking verse.
Maybe it goes against the way you think about God. God doesn’t need anything, he is completely
at peace with in the Trinity. He has all
of the Love and peace available. We know
that God is all powerful as evidenced by his creation of everything seen and
unseen. It would seem that nothing can
hurt a peaceful, all powerful God.
Genesis
6:6, “And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved
him to his heart.” That’s the ESV
version. The NIV translates, “The Lord
regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply
troubled.” Another says “he was sorry he
had made them. It broke his heart.” How
is it possible to break the creator’s heart?
God
is all powerful, nothing in creation happens unless he allows it. And God is all knowing, nothing surprises
Him. Yet, when God created other beings
he opened himself up to disappointment, rejection and pain. What God is experiencing in Genesis is very
similar to what Jesus experiences on earth.
God didn’t have to create the world but he did and that made himself
vulnerable. Jesus didn’t have to be born
of Mary but he did and that made him vulnerable. Love makes you vulnerable.
What
can God do to restrict sin before people exterminate themselves? Modern people look at the Flood story and
decry the barbarism of a God that would wipe out most of the population. It comes down to a choice. Do you trust the loving creator in his plan
to restore all things? When you look at
the options it becomes clearer that he chose the most humane choice.
What
are God’s options to stop the world from suicide? Option #1.
He could simply remove free will.
God could look at the violence and say ,”Enough. I gave you my image. I gave you the world to take care of
including the land, oceans and animals, but especially each other. You’ve decided to make the destructive choice
over and over. Therefore I am removing
your ability to make moral choices.”
Then he would have to do something supernatural to remove his image from
us. We would be reduced to animals, who
can’t make moral choices. But at least
they don’t kill for the thrill of it.
God rejected the option to remove free will.
Option
#2. God could have ended the whole
thing. Rebooted the system. Wiped away the good with the bad. He could have started over. Have you ever done this with something you
created? Iv’e written whole sermons and
thrown it out and started over. Maybe
you’ve planted a garden that went south and it all had to be ripped up. Maybe you started a home project like
installing a sink and at some point you said, “There has been too many
mistakes, I’ve got to bring in a plummer to do this all over again. My family likes crocheting. I’ve seen them work for a couple of hours,
only to realize that they missed a stich.
They unravel the whole string of yarn and begin again with the first
stich. God could have unraveled the whole string of creation and began again.
But
God refuses to end the whole thing. That
is because he was not surprised by his unrepentant creation. God made no mistake here. Everything was created good. But created things have minds of their
own. They can fall. So God’s plan all along was to continually
recreate creation. It needed to
constantly be reformed so that it didn’t decay beyond repair and to prepare it
for the Savior.
So
God chooses the Flood. He calls the one
righteous family who he has given faith.
He tells Noah that the violence is growing too much. It has to end. Noah and his family are to make an arc,
shaped like this sanctuary only much bigger.
Imagine.
God
doesn’t give Noah the whole plan, just like he doesn’t give us the whole
plan. All Noah knows is that God is
going to stop the violence by flood therefore Noah’s job is to build an arc
according to the Lord’s specifications.
His family and a sampling of the animals will be spared. That is all he knows. He doesn’t know the rest of the story like we
do. Noah has a choice like we all do, Do
you trust the loving creator in his plan to restore all things?
The
plan could be to just save the animals.
Noah and his family are merely the necessary help until the flood is
over. When the water recedes then their
purpose is fulfilled and they are no longer needed. The world will continue without people. Noah doesn’t know anything more than build
the arc and fill it.
You
and I have so much more information than Noah.
We don’t even know if He had the story of Genesis 1-4. We have the complete old and new
testaments. Yet our task is as simple as
Noah’s. Build God’s church and fill it.
We
aren’t given any dialogue from Noah to God.
Nor do we get his inner thoughts.
But he is human. He must have
questioned God. He must have wondered how
this all is going to turn out. His
family must have thought at times he was out of his mind.
But
together as a family and God’s people they listen to the Lord’s words and
follow them. They see the violence rise
around them and they don’t despair but stick to the plan. Build the Arc and fill it. Then it rains from above and water erupts
from below. Everything happened as God
foretold. They are in that Arc with the
animals. It is almost like the Garden
all over again. Man and woman caring for
their fellow creatures, maybe even naming them.
The Flood wipes away the rest of creation, including the violence. It breaks the Lord’s heart.
We know the rest of the story.
You
and I are here because the Lord sent that Flood. If he hadn’t maybe creation implodes in
violence. The Lord wanted you to be a
part of his creation. He wanted you to
be born and baptized with water. The
water of Baptism wipes away your sin as well.
The words of Jesus are said over you.
From that day on you have a choice to make, Do I trust my loving creator
in his plan to restore me and all things?