Sermon - Lent Midweek 1 - 2019 - Genesis 1-3

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Out of God’s great love for us, He created us and this whole planet in order to care for us, and even through our fall into sin He promises to rescue us from our punishment of death. 

Today I would firstly like us to consider the immaculate care and concern God has given to provide for us, His beloved children, through the creation of the world. For we have not simply spontaneously appeared here on earth, as if by accident or mere chance, but God has created us and this whole universe that we see around us. His love for us is so magnificent that He put us in a fully stocked mansion, filled with all that we need to thrive.

On the first day of creation, He set up and got everything ready to build the earth and the heavens above. He called forth light out of darkness for God is Himself light and dwells in unapproachable light. He is the light of our hearts and will one day take us out of this miserably dark world and into His perfectly eternal light.

On the second day, Monday, He created the waters on this earth, the sky above the waters, and a roof over all of that. On the third day, Tuesday, He adorned the dry land with leaves and grass and trees towering up towards the skies, with plants yielding food to sustain our lowly bodies. He carved out the oceans and rivers and seas. 

On Wednesday He lit up the skies with two great lights, the sun to rule the day and the moon to govern the night. In the midst of that great expanse in the heavens He set stars to shimmer at night, with which we gaze at in wonder and amazement. No less, we look also to Christ our Lord who is our Morning Star, our Sun and Moon to shine upon the path which leads to Him.

On Thursday He filled the skies with birds and the waters with fish. On Friday He began the day by creating every beast that walks upon the earth, every domesticated animal which fills our barns or our houses, from the smallest creepy crawly to the largest animals as big as a house. He finished this day by creating us, the jewel of His crown, man. 

God took but a lump of earth, molded and formed it just so, shaping it with skill and precision so that every part of our bodies would be useful and graceful. Then at last He breathed into our bodies the breath of life and we stepped forth as a living creature of God. Free from every flaw, Adam was without sorry or worry, without fear and anguish. “And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

On the seventh day God rested, dedicating the day to Himself, a day upon which Adam and Eve would think of nothing  but Him, taking their rest in Him as their Lord and their God. But the devil just couldn’t leave the restful day to be still, so he stirred up unrest between God and man. Disguised as a serpent he deceived and tricked that dearest sweetheart of Adam, Eve the mother of all living. Adam standing beside her, the two of them transgressed God’s command and ate of that cursed tree.

All of the tranquility, all of the peace and the calm soon gave way to the nakedness and fear of sin. When the Lord called out to His people, instead of rejoicing they cowered in fear. Indeed the fruit of their womb gave birth to more sin: Jealousy, anger, envy, hatred, and lust. From the womb of Eve till today the fruits of the womb have been murderers, adulterers, thieves, liars, and cheats. Whence came I, a chief sinner barnone.

The fruit of this sin is nothing less than death. Out of the ground we were taken and out of the ground we’ll return. For we are durst and to dust we shall return. Until the day of our death we shall labor in pain by the sweat of our face. This earth which was once gentle and kind has become our greatest headache. The waters now drown us, the plants have become weeds and sprouted sharp thorns. The animals either flee or kill or eat us as is their will. Great winds now rise up, some cold enough to freeze us others hot enough to cook us. If we’re in the sun too long it burns us, if we’re not in the sun enough we go nuts. All around us creation groans from the pains of our sin.

 In response to this nakedness of sin and our fear of death, we’ve covered ourselves in but loinclothes of leaves; a joke to say the least. All of our self-justifying and prideful remarks leave us only worse off than before. We’ve made a royal mess of this creation and the fault is only ours.

Yet even in this sinful mess that we’ve made, our Lord God loves us still. While doling out punishments He delivers a promise: “the woman’s seed shall crush the serpent’s head, and the serpent shall prick His heel.” A Messiah, a Christ, a Savior shall come! The Virgin’s Son shall be beaten and bruised, He shall bleed and then die, then rest in a tomb, but restore us to our Lord’s Sabbath rest day. 

Just as on the first Friday God did make man, so on Good Friday has Jesus now redeemed poor sinful man, our sins are forgiven! Though we, like our first parents, try to clothe ourselves in our sinful righteousness which is no greater than leaves. God sacrificed a lamb for our parents, clothing them in its skin; now, God has sacrificed the true Lamb of God, our innocent Savior. Today Christ is our clothing, our new garment of righteousness, covering the nakedness of our sin. 

On the first Saturday God rested from His labors of creation, on the Saturday after Good Friday Jesus rested in the tomb. So will we too one day join Jesus in our graves, as we rest from our labors and wait until that final Sunday. When that blessed day comes, we shall all rise from our tombs, and enter into the eternal sabbath rest in our heavenly mansion.

For a new creation awaits us my friends! This first creation will soon waste away, it will be burned up to ashes, making way for the new. A new creation is promised to us, one without sorrow and death; no crying, no fear, no tears but of happiness will follow us there. In our Father’s house are many rooms which Jesus has gone on to prepare. 

So let us rend our hearts and flee from all sin, forsaking our childish ways. Let us cling to our Christ who now lives for us. Let us cry out to our God that the final Sunday would come, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens! Drop down, you heavens, from above!”

Here let us ponder, dear Christian, the love of our God. Take the comfort of Christ as your most prized treasure and let us pray: Dear Lord Jesus, thanks be to You for Your rest in the tomb whereby You have restored to us the first rest for which man was created. By my sins the Holy Spirit was chased out of me, but by virtue of Your rest the Holy Spirit is now to rest in my heart once again and lead me from one good deed to the next, and ultimately to our rest in heaven above.