January 8 Order - It is good

I grew up watching sesame street. 

 

Any of you grow up on this amazing show? 

 

There was a segment that I remember loving as a kid. It was a song that I’ll attempt to sing in my amazing voice. . .. . Goes like this. . . 

 

“One of these things is not like the other, One of these things. . .doesn’t belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the other - by the time I finish this song.”

 

Hopefully my rendition of the song was a huge dose of nostalgia! 

 

What was the point of this segment? 

 

To identify what doesn’t belong. 

 

It was the most rudimental ways to help kids start recognizing things that fall into a specific pattern or order. It was a quick and easy way to start identifying things that were out of place. They were images or items that made sense together, but one was out of place. This was education at its most simplistic form, yet taught profound concepts for kids to easily grasp and understand. At first glance, one could see these items and realize that one was out of place.

 

This is wisdom.

 

It’s order in its most rudimentary form.

 

But this is how God designed order. 

 

It’s something meant to be easily identified and understood. 

 

You see, God isn’t trying to hide the purpose and plans he has for all creation - after all, his goal is that all things would be fruitful!

 

Fruitful. . 

 

That’s a biblical word. 

 

It can be confused when we hear it because it doesn’t necessarily translate easily into simplistic-every day conversation. 

 

But let me slow down for a minute. We need to jump into some text today in order to understand why this is even important to our conversation about Order and structure. 

 

Let’s read Genesis 1: 11-28

 

Then God said, “Le the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning- the third day. 

 

And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the starts. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the fourth day. 

 

And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning - the fifth day. 

And God said, “ Le the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

 

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 

 

So God created mankind in his own image, 

In the image of God he crated them;

Male and female he created them. 

 

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 

 

Then God said, “ I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food.” 

And it was so. 

 

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning - the sixth day. 

 

 

Now in this text, we read a very important piece of creation. 

 

Remember that wisdom was right alongside of God from the very beginning. Wisdom was in charge of making sure things worked the way they were supposed to work. Remember wisdom’s confession in Proverbs 8:27-31

 

I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the foundations of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundation of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. 

 

Wisdom was celebrating the order of creation. It was making sense. 

 

In fact, when God says the “good” about his creation, this word is deeper than him just liking something. Good is a word of completion. What he is looking at makes sense. IN other words, it is complete and fulfilling it’s purpose. The good in this is that it is beneficial the way it is. This is why the reverse is said about Man being alone. IN Genesis 2:18, God says it is not Good for man to be alone. This means that it is not complete. It doesn’t have the ability to fulfill it’s purpose in creation. 

 

We will talk more about this part of the narrative next week, because I want to dig deeper into mankind and our ability to be fruitful and multiply. 

 

But for now, just know that the good in creation was that each part was working properly inside of the canvas that was set for it. And listen to how you could tell it was working - It starts in vs. 11. See if you can hear it. 

 

“Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing pants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.” 

 

Did you hear it? 

 

How did he know it was good? 

 

Let me give you another example and see if you hear it here. 

 

Vs. 20

 

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky. So God cerated the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 

 

Didn’t hear it yet. . . 

 

How about vs. 24

 

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made th wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 

 

Ok, each time, when did God see that it was good. It wasn’t simply through the existence of piece of creation. It was as each piece was able to be categorized and reproduced according to its kind. 

 

IN other words, Each piece was perfectly aligned to fit into a specific part of the canvas of creation and with that, each piece was able to reproduce according to its kind. 

 

This SCREAMS order! 

 

God knew exactly how he wanted each piece to function, and inside of that functioning, there was the ability to be fruitful and multiply. 

 

Now understand that the word fruitful isn’t just producing like kind. It’s also a word that signifies the ability for something to thrive in a way sets the tone for more life to exist. Without fruitfulness, there is no healthy reproduction of life. First comes the fruitfulness that sets the tone for life, then comes the reproduction of life. 

 

And because each piece was set up and aligned in the order according to its kind, it was able to not only reproduce life, but also sustain it. 

 

So here is the hard part. 

 

Anything outside of this is rebellion agains the order of creation as designed by an intelligent God. 

 

It’s like this, Orange trees will always produce seed that crates oranges. 

 

Corn crop will always produce more corn crop.

 

Dogs will give birth to dogs and cows will give birth to cows. 

 

A dog and a bird will never be able to produce life, because its out of the order of creation. And if science ever twists things deep enough that a dog and a bird can have offspring, I can tell you not that it will not be good. Because God called things good according to their kind. 

 

Here is where this is important to us. . . 

 

There is a pattern and an order in which we can thrive. There is a set methodology in which God will bless us and say it is good. Anything out side of this echoes the words of God’s view of man when he was alone - “it is not good.. . . “

 

This is important, because if we don’t stop and wonder what God’s order looks like, we will miss the opportunity to create and thrive in a way that is good in the eyes of the creator. In fact, anything outside of the plan of God, reverts back to the dark and formless emptiness that was all consuming before God began to breath life into creation. It will produce lifeless, meaningless, emptiness. We will end up feeling unfulfilled and without form.  

 

So it is vital that in all things, we stop and ask, “What was God’s intent with this?”

 

“What did God really want to have happen here?” 

 

What is God trying to do?

See, we live in a society that would try and turn the tables here. Instead of asking what God wants, we continually try to prove that God didn’t say “not to”. 

 

But understand something - God started creation with how and what he wanted, not with how and what he didn’t want. What he didn't want already had its run of the cosmos. The darkness formless nothingness was consuming all signs that life could exist. But God stepped in and said 

 

“Let there be be.” 

 

He created life where there was nothingness that was trying to prevent life. To rebel against his plan is to go back to wanting that emptiness again. 

 

So we must stop and ask, 

 

What does God want? 

 

Matthew 6:33 reminds us to seek first the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness and everything else will be added to us. In other words, everything else will make sense if we seek out God first. Want what God wants, and everything else makes sense. 

 

So what does God want with our time?

 

What does God want with our resources?

 

What does God want with our relationships? 

 

What does God want with our language, our efforts, our habits or sexuality, 

 

What does God want with our lives? 

 

If we can seek this out, everything else will be added to us, and we will find that it is good. 

 

Otherwise, we will find ourselves in a spot where we understand the words of God when he said, “It is not good. . . “ 

 

So if you find yourself in a spot where things are not good, maybe it’s just the evil of the world making life difficult. Maybe it’s like Job where bad things happen to good people. But you should still do the work to stop and evaluate. The question you should ask is, “Am I doing things the way God would want me to. Am I seeking out what he wants for life and for every part of what I am putting my hands to? Do I really want what God wants?” 

 

Because if you can align with God’s plans and his order, he will take a dark, chaotic mess, and breath life in the middle of it so that you can experience what it is like for God to bless you and breath life into your situation, so that it can once again, be good!