The End of the Beginning
Sermon by Dr. Drake H Williams, III 
Minister of Spiritual Enrichment

One of the things that we enjoy doing as a family is reading.  We like a good story.  When Andrea and I were overseas together, we spent a number of nights simply reading together.  We read all sorts of things, but one author we enjoyed particularly was Bill Bryson, who is a very clever travel author.  He wrote some very funny volumes on traveling in Britain and hiking the Appalachian Trail here on the East Coast.  I would read a portion of a book, and then Andrea would read a part, and we would swap off like that together.  This is the way that we spent passing a very dark and cold Scottish winter evening.  In the middle of winter in Aberdeen, the sun would rise at 9 am and set sometimes at 3 p.m. in the afternoon.  Our first January that we were there in Scotland, we only saw daylight for 8 hours for the entire month.  Reading, however, was something that would lighten our spirits, and it got us through many a dark time and would warm our hearts, as we would read to each other at night.

I am happy to say an enjoyment for reading is also being seen in our oldest children Henry and Abby who both enjoy reading very much as well.  Henry seems as if he is always devouring some new book out of the Magic Tree House series, and now he is enjoying some of the Hardy Boys mystery series, a series that my father read to me when I was growing up.  Abby is our most amusing reader.  She will sit with a book and in her own words, "read by self."  She will turn pages, point, and rhyme the words to herself.  Sometimes though she gets a little impatient with her reading.  She may be half way through the book and then immediately flip to the end and say "the End."  Then oftentimes, she will close the book forcefully and then be on to the next story.

Today we as a church family come to the end of a very long read.  We started reading together in the book of Genesis back in January.  Now today in December we end this series on Genesis at the death of the two patriarchs Jacob and Joseph.  Before we simply say "The End," we ought to look back on what it is that we have learned.  We will pay special attention to the final chapters from Genesis, but the conclusions that I want to draw go far beyond that.  I want to draw 3 conclusions for us, 2 based on the nature of God and one for us on Biblical Literacy.

I.  God is not like we are.

The first point that I want to make about our reading together is about God.  From our reading of the book of Genesis, it is obvious that God is not like we are.  He is vastly different.  This might seem to be relatively obvious for us, and perhaps for many of us here today we recognize that God is not like we are.  I am worried, however, that there are many well-meaning Christians that are losing this sense of the "otherness" of God.  I am concerned that Christians are losing track of God as the great and transcendent God, the one whose ways are not like ours. 

I am not alone with this fear.  At the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twentieth century there are a number of pastors, scholars, and theologians that are finding that our view of God is too human.  Let me pass along quotes from a few of them.  A W Tozer, the great Baptist preacher and a well-known devotional writer whose works have inspired many Christians said this in the early 1960's.  "The [current] Christian conception of God . . . is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually constitutes for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity."  These are pretty strong words from a very influential Christian leader from many years ago.  There are many other theologians who are saying the same thing, too.  David Wells a well-known evangelical theologian whom I had the privilege to study under during my seminary days also writes this about our current conception of God in our day.  He says, "A God with whom we are on such easy terms and whose reality is little different from our own - a God who is merely there to satisfy our needs - has no real authority and will soon begin to bore us.  This is not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."  But this is the idea of so many Christians these days that God is a soft and cuddly God and a God who is only there for our needs as the Santa Claus in the sky.

            A.  He creates by speaking.

The God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and indeed the God of Genesis is not like us, for he is a great, powerful, and awesome God.  He is different from us and thus demands our awe and respect, for his ways are not our own.  Let's recall for a moment some of the great events of Genesis that reveal that God is not like we are.  The most plain and obvious event is the creation.  It is the very first thing that we encounter with God.  The first verse of the entire book says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  When there was nothing, God made something.  This is something that only God can do.  He is the one who creates out of nothing.  Remember how he created, too.  He creates by speaking. Genesis 1:3 says, "Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light."  God says, "Let there be, and there was."  Just by speaking, God creates.  This continues for the rest of Genesis 1 where God speaks, and as a result, he creates.

Many of us create as well.  Since it is the holidays, many of us are in the process of creating many things.  Many of us construct our own decorations and wreaths.  While I am thinking about this, let me compliment those of you who decorated the sanctuary.  It is very lovely once again, and it is obvious that your creating involved a lot of work.  Many of you make Christmas cookies and other goodies for people to eat.  Having sampled a number of your creations, I can tell you that many of you are quite gifted with your baking.  Some of us also during the holiday season create with lights.  Many of us put hours into hanging the lights outside or inside.  We spend long hours laying out the strings of lights, and then we spend a great deal of time checking to see whether all of the bulbs are in working condition.

My point with mentioning our holiday creations is that it takes a lot of time to do this.  It would be far easier for us to say, "Let there be light" and there would be light.  It would be much easier to speak things into being.  Think of the time that we would save.  Think of the agonies that we would be spared.  We would not have to spend hours looking for the one dead bulb in the string of lights; we would not need to climb onto our roofs and hang over the edge to fasten the lights.  As human beings, though, we cannot speak light into existence.  It is only God himself who can create out of nothing.  He speaks things into existence, and we all know that what he has created: mountains, deserts, rivers, valleys, stars, and the moon, and all of his works are awesome.  They are truly inspiring and breathtaking at times.  It is only God who can create such things, and it is only God who speaks things into existence.  He is not like us.

            B.  He is completely holy and awesome in his judgments.

A second way that God has been shown to be different than us is that he is holy and awesome in his judgments.  God's judgments throughout Genesis have been no less than fearful and downright terrifying when one thinks about it long.  We looked at God's fearful judgment in two places in Genesis at the flood and then also at Sodom and Gomorrah.  At the flood the entire world was evil and so God was "grieved and his heart was filled with pain" as it says in Genesis 6:6.  And as a result of that he concludes in Genesis 6:7, "I will wipe mankind whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am grieved that I have made them."  What a dreadful and frightening thing this is to think about.  Our God is capable of wiping out what was on the earth.  That was his righteous response to what he saw before him on the earth. 

Of course, when we think of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, once again we ought to be amazed at what he can do in his holiness.  In Genesis 19, he rains down hellfire and brimstone from heaven.  Once again this judgment is a response to the extreme violation of his character as the Lord says in Genesis 19:20, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down [i.e., for judgment] and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me."  If one thinks about these two key events in the book of Genesis and thinks about our God, his acts against blatant sin are no less than chilling.  It is very clear from these accounts that our God is not like us.  He is great and he is holy.

A God who is holy, awesome, and great is a very real part of our Schwenkfelder tradition.  Currently, I find myself retranslating out of the old German script and commenting on the translation and ideas of our spiritual forefather Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig.  This catechism is a document contained in our Corpus Schwenkfeldianorum, the collected writings of Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig.  What I am translating is a catechism, and thus it contains answers to such basic questions as who is Jesus Christ, how are we saved, and what are the basic things God fearing Christians ought to believe.  I believe that a document like this is quite important for us as a Schwenkfelder church and denomination.

While not commenting on the book of Genesis directly in this catechism, there is no doubt that it is filled with Schwenckfeld's amazement and respect for the great and awesome nature of God.  Schwenckfeld goes on for pages about the sinful nature of all humanity and the utter fear that this brings him and ought to bring every believer.  From this point, then he goes on for pages about the greatness of God's creation, and that the God who made the entire world can make us new creations ourselves as 2 Cor 5:17 says, "[We are] new creation[s]: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new."  He goes on and on for pages, seemingly pages on end, about his awe and amazement that the God who created the earth is now at work in us as Christians creating us anew as people of God. Truly, the holy, awesome, and great God, the Creator captured Schwenckfeld and many other important Reformers like Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli.

It is good for us as Schwenkfelders to cultivate and recapture this awe and respect of God that the Reformers had.  Indeed, the God of Genesis, the God of our forefathers, is the great and mighty one.  He is the awesome creator.  We dare not approach him like we would any other person.  We dare not deal with him casually like we would our friends or our family.  We dare not demand our own ways, too.  The God of Genesis is awesome and great, and he is the one whom we approach in this place and serve in our worlds during the week.  This is truly one thing that we know from God from Genesis.

II.  God fulfills his promises despite the obstacles.

It is time now to balance this picture of the great and mighty nature of God with a second attribute that we see from God in the book of Genesis.  God is compassionate and faithful to his people.  For those who are his people, the God of Genesis is as faithful as the day as long and as deep in compassion as the deepest parts of the sea.

A.  God promises to multiply his people.

There are a number of promises that God keeps throughout Genesis.  The two promises that I want to draw your attention to are the promises that God will make his people many and that he will make them fruitful.  We have talked about these promises many times throughout this series.  You might remember that these promises were given at the times of Abraham in Genesis 12.  Genesis 12:2 states, "I [i.e., the Lord] will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing."  That was a promise that God made to Abraham right at the beginning of his dealings with Abraham.

From a human perspective, it did not seem as if this promise had a chance of being fulfilled.  Abraham was promised to have a great nation, but he and his wife Sarah were barren and were not able to have children.  How can God create a nation from a man when he does not even have a child?  It seems impossible.  Moreover, Abraham waited until he was 100 years of age before his wife Sarah conceived, and she was 90 at the time.  What a tremendous amount of time to wait, and what a great obstacle to overcome!  How can one have a child at that age?  God, however, has a different agenda. When God speaks and gives his word, he will be faithful to follow through.  For "with God nothing is impossible" as Luke 1:37 says.

This promise is restated over and over within Genesis.  It is fulfilled in the lives of Jacob and Joseph and some of their final words that we read about them today from Genesis 48.  Some 36 chapters with Genesis later and over a hundred years after God promised to Abraham, Jacob testifies that the promise of having a great nation is continuing and is being fulfilled.  Notice how in Genesis 48:4 Jacob restates practically the same promise that was given to Abraham many years earlier in Genesis 12.  The passage reads, "The Lord said to me Jacob, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers.  I will make you a community of peoples . . .'" The connection has been recognized by many students of the Bible that the promise given to Abraham from Genesis 12 is continuing with Jacob in Genesis 48.  Instead of being a promise this time, it is already being fulfilled in Genesis 48 and 49.  Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, blesses his 12 sons.  They have memorable names such as Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, Levi, and of course, Joseph.  But they now are not only 12 sons. They are also called the heads of 12 whole tribes of Israel.  From a promise to Abraham, a man without a child, who had to wait until he was 100 years old before his barren wife Sarah of 90 years conceived, came 12 whole tribes which would be filled with hundreds of people.  Out of barrenness and human weakness, God still makes and keeps promises.  God is the one who is able to overcome every obstacle because he fulfills his word to his people no matter what the obstacles.  When God promises, he delivers because he is a faithful God.

B.  God promises to bless his people.

Notice how he also fulfills the second great promise of blessing his people, caring for them, and causing them to prosper.  No character in all of Genesis could testify to this more than Joseph.  Joseph was nearly murdered; he was sold into slavery; Potiphar's wife wrongfully accused him; he was then sent to prison and forgotten.  Yet despite all of the calamities and problems in his life, God would bless him and provide for him, because God keeps his promises to look out for his people.  Joseph is so convinced of this that he makes this great statement to his brothers, the ones who had hated him, the ones who had nearly murdered him, and the ones who had sold him into slavery in Egypt.  He says this to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 which are some of Joseph's final words within Genesis: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."  It is a great testimony.  God intends things for our good because he fulfills his promises to his people no matter what the obstacles are.

Now we have highlighted 2 promises within Genesis.  God has made them and kept them remarkably throughout Genesis despite human age and human wrongs.  The God of Genesis is a faithful God. 

The Christian faith, of course, is filled with hymns and songs and testimonies that speak of God's faithfulness to bless his people.  We have sung some of these great old hymns during this series.  Hymns such as "Great is Thy Faithfulness" testify to God the great promise keeper.  "Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not.  As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.  These verses speak of God's faithfulness."  Then there are verses from hymns such as "Amazing Grace" that speak of faithfulness.  "Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come, 'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."  There, of course, are many other hymns and songs that recount God's faithfulness to us throughout the generations.  God has promised and he has been faithful.  The patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph knew that God was faithful and he would be faithful to them in all circumstances of life.

This time of year, of course, is filled with times to remember God's faithfulness.  We do this in many ways.  As Christians we remember that God told us years ago that he would send us his Son.  His Son would bless our lives dramatically.  During this season we remember that what he promised years ago, he has fulfilled.  There are other ways that we remember his faithfulness, too, at this time of year.  It is very enjoyable for my wife and I to open Christmas cards from people that we have not seen in years and may never see face to face again.  Of course, we miss seeing them, yet these people have enriched our family's life over the years, and we are thankful that we can hear from them.  They have been a part of God's faithfulness to us, and likely as you think of childhood friends, college roommates, and others at this time of year when cards and letters are sent, they too are a remembrance of God's faithfulness to you.  Take a moment and thank God for them and his faithfulness to you before throwing away that card, or even better thank God for his faithfulness and pray for God's goodness to be displayed in that family or person's life.

At Christmas time, of course, some of our memories can be bittersweet.  Likely many of us feel the sting of the loss of a loved one in our lives.  There is not a Christmas that goes by when our family doesn't remember some of those family members that we celebrated with years ago such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, and others who have enriched our lives.  Yet, we are still thankful as a family to God that he has been faithful enough to us.  God has brought people into our lives, and even if they are no longer with us, they have made us better people.  It is worth taking a moment during this holiday season to thank God that he has been good and faithful to us even through these loved ones who are gone. Great was God's faithfulness to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to Joseph, and great is his faithfulness to us.

This can be help for us at the holidays.  No matter how barren we feel, no matter how wronged we may have been, no matter how much we may feel scorned, no matter how much we may feel forgotten, no matter how impossible our situations may seem, God is faithful. Do not forget the God of Genesis.  He is the great and faithful God.  His promises to bless his people will never be blocked or too great.  For his faithfulness is as Lamentations 3:23 states, "New every morning.  Great is thy Faithfulness, O Lord."

This is the God of Genesis.  On the one hand, he is awesome, great, majestic, fearful, and exalted in his greatness.  He is without human comparison in his holiness and in his power.  At the same time on the other hand, he is faithful to his people, so faithful that his mercies are new every morning and that his blessings to his people can never be thwarted or frustrated.  This is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of Joseph, the God of the Fathers.  We hope that this is the God that you have appreciated as we have made our way through Genesis.

III.  God blesses reading the entirety of Scripture.

I have one final conclusion that I would like to make from this series on Genesis.  We have concluded some things about God already.  This point that I wish to make now is a short point on reading and biblical literacy.  This series on Genesis emerged from our church's goals to learn the Bible more.  As a result, Rev. Karen Gallagher and I in November 2001 believed that in thinking of Biblical literacy, it was best to take it from the top.  In this case, it was good for us to take the top book of the Bible and go chapter by chapter through it.  Rev. David, Rev. Karen, and I are all in favor of this approach, going chapter by chapter and verse by verse. 

We read through Genesis largely chapter by chapter and verse by verse so that the entirety of the book might be brought to bear on our Christian thinking.  It is good that we do so for the entirety of Scripture needs to come to bear on our thinking.  Some people only want to hear the easy parts of the Bible.  We could have done an entire series on Genesis and speak solely about God creating, or about God overcoming people's problems such as being without children as Abraham and Sarah were.  That would have given us only part of the message of Genesis, leaving out critical sections like the sinfulness of all humanity and God's judgment on sin through the expulsion from the Garden of Eden and humankind and the flood.  These are equally important sections in Genesis.  Some want to emphasize the hard portions of Genesis such as Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that we need more teaching like that in our day, but that too would be unbalanced.  We may need more difficult Christian teaching in our day, but it must be balanced with teaching of promise and hope.

There are many promises in Scripture that are ours when the whole book of the Bible is brought to bear in total upon us.  I have listed a few on your sheet in your bulletin.  The one that I want to read for you is Joshua 1:8, a verse that speaks about knowing the entire book of Scripture.  This verse reads, "This book of the law [i.e., the entire book] shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful."  This is one of many promises that if we take into account, our Lord will bless our lives.

We plan to continue on with this approach in February going through 1 John chapter by chapter and verse by verse.  Why 1 John?  It is completely different from what we have read thus far.  It is a letter written in the New Testament.  We felt that this would be a change from doing narratives and stories from the Old Testament.  1 John is also fairly easy to read, and once again, we would hope that many of you would choose to read along with us each week.  It is a very encouraging letter, too.  All of these reasons make it a good choice.  This will be our plan for February.

In January, though, we will take on some difficult topics of family living from the New Testament.  We as pastors have been encouraged to pick up some difficult topics from leaders within the church.  So, we hope to share what we believe the Scripture says about marriage, divorce, and sex before marriage.  Each of us will take a turn dealing with some of these difficult issues.  They will be challenging and difficult at times, but it will be good for us to start discussing them.

In the past year, we have not dodged a difficult passage or minimized an encouraging passage.  There is no plan to dodge a difficult issue or passage or to minimize the encouraging ones in the future, but we do plan to keep it balanced and let the entirety of the Bible speak to us.

Conclusion

Well, we have now arrived at the end of Genesis.  But before closing the book and saying "the end," I would like to pass along a quote from some of my other reading, in this case from Winston Churchill from the year 1942.  Churchill you may recall was Prime Minister of Britain during the Second World War.  He helped rally British spirits after France fell to the Nazi war machine in 1940 and during the incredible bombings against Britain that following year.  During that time he had many notable sayings to encourage his beleaguered people to keep fighting despite the incredible odds stacked against them.

These words he said after the British had won their only great land battle against the German army without American help.  He said this following the battle of El Alamein in North Africa, which along with the battle of Stalingrad, proved to be the turning points in the Second World War.  Churchill said this, "It is not the end; it may not even be the beginning of the end. But it is undoubtedly the end of the beginning."

And so too, this series on Genesis should be seen in this light.  It is not the end of this approach.  It is not the end of speaking about God like this.  Rather, it is the end of the beginning.  There is more to come like this, although we will shift to different books.

There will be more to come about the otherness of God, about his awesome power and his absolute holiness.  There will be more to come about the tenderness of God, his unbelievable grace, and his tremendous faithfulness.  There will be more to come as we read the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse.  May the great and holy God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of Joseph, grant us grace and favor as we follow in his ways.

Sermon Delivered on December 14, 2002
Rev. Dr. H. H. Drake Williams, III