1. FNG Friday, Jan 6, 2012 - Genesis
So here we are at the beginning of a new year, and the beginning of a new series. This
month we start our journey through the Bible, going through it book by book, asking the
question: what does this tell us about God? What can we learn about God in this book?
We proclaim that we are looking forward to spending an eternity with God, and since
eternity is a rather long time, it seems prudent to study the evidence we have been
provided with and see what exactly it is that we are signing up for.
We have spent quite a bit of time looking at various aspects of the big picture of the
Bible in the past programs, and I am sure that as we read through the Bible we will see
more pieces fitting into that big picture. It is certainly my hope that keeping that
framework in the back of our minds will help make the Bible more of a whole rather than
just a random collection of stories.
And so we begin in Genesis. In preparation for this evening I borrowed from the library a
Bible recorded on a set of CD’s so that I can just listen right through Genesis as I was
driving. When I was through, Kelley asked me what impression I came away with as to
what was the overarching theme in Genesis? I had two. The first one was that the
majority of the characters in Genesis would feel right at home on the Jerry Springer
show. But that is a reflection on the people of that day, and while it gives us great insight
into the circumstances in which God had to operate, it really does nothing to answer the
question: what can we learn about God from the book of Genesis? So tonight I’ll focus
on my second observation: God’s covenants.
Covenant is an interesting word. It has a contractual feel to it. It is a promise to do
something. Does anyone remember back in the day when computers were still a novelty
and we had the Atari’s and Commodore 64 where you had to type in a lot of the
programming yourself? There was a common and pivotal line in the programming which
was “If” “then”. “If” this action is performed or this result obtained “then” follow this course
of action. This is how we have come to view God’s covenants. “If” “then”. “If” you obey
my laws “then” you will be blessed, “If” you turn away from Me, “then” your life will
become miserable. And we have come to call these blessings and curses, and the Bible
is full of them. But the interesting part about God’s covenants in Genesis is that they are

2. unilateral. Anyone know what “unilateral” means? It means that something is: “relating
to, occurring on, or involving one side only” or to put it in legalese: “pertaining to a
contract in which obligation rests on only one party, as a binding promise to make a gift.”
I believe there is a reason for this. God is trying to communicate something to us. As we
looked at the big picture we have referred a number of times to the events in the first
part of Genesis chapter 3, which describes the fall of mankind, so I’m not going to spend
much time dwelling on it this evening. In essence, in eating the fruit, Adam and Eve were
saying to God: “we don’t trust You and we don’t need You”. The event was not so much
an act of disobedience, as it was a radical change in the relationship between Adam and
Eve and their Creator. They rejected the Lifegiver as a fraud, and whether intentional or
not, the consequence of this action was that Adam and Eve now felt more kinship to the
Serpent than to God in whose image they were made. They both made a stand against
God and they therefore now had a common enemy in God. And watch what God does.
In Genesis 3:8 God shows up in the cool of the day looking for Adam and Eve who are
now hiding in fear. The passage doesn’t tell us, but some believe that it was God’s habit
to meet with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. So God, knowing full well what has
happened, shows up as usual to meet with Adam and Eve. And guess who is missing?!
Adam and Eve. So God says: “Where are you?” Would you hazard a guess as to what
tone of voice God used when He said where are you? Was it a “come out or else” kind of
a “where are you?” or more of a playing hide and seek with your kids kind of “where are
you?”. Reading words off a page it is difficult to know what kind of a tone to read into
someone else’s speech, but I will hazard a guess that it was the later, since Adam felt
comfortable enough to come out of hiding and confess his fear, rather than trying to dig a
deeper hole to hide in.
You see, right there immediately after the fall, I believe God was trying to communicate
something. In asking “where are you” God was not seeking information. He knew the
exact ZIP code of the bush Adam and Eve were hiding behind! What He was
communicating to Adam and Eve, and even to us today is: I have not changed, I am still
here wanting to be with you, to meet with you. There is a change that has taken place in
you - because you are the one missing from this meeting. But your problem is not with
Me. When Adam mentions their nakedness, God’s question is: “Who told you that you
were naked?” In other words, this change that you perceive, this nakedness that you feel

3. has nothing to do with me, something else has gotten in between us, something has
changed in you, because I am still the same. And just to drive home the point, after a lot
of finger pointing, God’s first words are to the Serpent and notice what He says in verse
15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and
hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Mankind will not be allied with
the Serpent having God as the common enemy. No, God puts enmity between mankind
and the Serpent, making us allies with God and Satan as the common enemy. This, my
friends is a powerful message: God’s attitude towards us does not change and anyone
who would come between us and God and destroy the trusting relationship between us -
God will consider them as the adversary. In fact, that is exactly what the name “Satan”
means - the adversary. And here is also God’s first unilateral promise. Kinda cryptic and
very short on the details, but there it is none the less: I will fix this. I will restore our
broken relationship.
And so God continues to come and communicate with mankind. He is looking for allies
who are still willing to side with Him. In the antedeluvian world where the thoughts of
men were always evil, He found Noah. Noah was willing to listen, build a boat and offer
survival to everyone. There was no test or background check to pass - all you had to do
to survive the flood was to get on the boat! But only Noah and his family chose to do so.
God came to Abram and said: “I’ll make you into a great nation, and through you all the
people of the world will be blessed.” No “if” “then” - simply come with Me on this great
adventure, and I’ll just do it! Oh, and yes, all this land that I will show you - I’ll just give
that to your descendants! Just because… And this same promise was then repeated to
Isaac and Jacob.
But both Kelley’s and mine personal favorite one is found in Genesis 28. In a Jerry
Springer like episode, Jacob stole the blessing of his brother Esau and was now on the
run with nothing but the clothes on his back. He finally stopped for the night and using a
stone as a pillow went to sleep under the stars. We pick up the story in verse 12: “He
had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to
heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. There above it
stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the
God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your

4. descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to
the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you
and your offspring. I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will
bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised
you.” (Genesis 28:12-15)
Jacob is just trying to save his own skin and he’s catching a few z’s during his flight. He
has neither talked to God nor asked for His help. But God just shows up and makes all
these wonderful promises. I will make you into a huge nation, all the peoples on the
earth will be blessed through you, I will watch over you and I will bring you back here. I
just will - this is My unilateral covenant with you. But here’s the funny part - it is Jacob
who now engages in the “if” “then” kind of bargaining! It’s Jacob! “If God will be with me
and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and
clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the LORD will be
my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that
you give me I will give you a tenth.” (Genesis 28:20-22). I mean, what is God supposed
to do with that? He’s already promised to do all these things for Jacob regardless of
what Jacob did with it! But since Jacob feels the need to set some mutual terms here,
God seems to just roll with it.
Of course, as we have already seen, and will no doubt see a lot more of in the coming
year, people can promise you all kinds of wonderful things. To listen to them, man, it’s
like milk and honey are practically flowing out of their mouth. So you vote for them,
and….. nothing really happens. Or at least nothing that resembles the promised utopia.
But in Genesis 35 we see that God did indeed keep His covenant and Jacob, now a
wealthy man with a large family is reconciled with Esau and safely returns to Bethel, the
place where God made the original covenant with him.
So what does the book of Genesis tell us about God? This fascinating book that spans
well over 2000 years of history tells us so much about God that we will barely scratch the
surface tonight and tomorrow. But I believe that the primary message is that God is still
looking to be a part of our lives. He is looking to be our parent, our friend. When our
attitude toward Him changed, He did not change, He still wanted to hang out with us.
Our problem is not with God. And since we believed Satan’s lie that God cannot be

5. trusted, God set out to win our trust once again by voluntarily making promises,
unilateral covenants that bound Him to deliver on His promises and prove to us His
trustworthiness. Covenants that could not only tangibly prove to us His trustworthiness,
but would also be a showcase of the sheer generosity of our God. The individuals in
Genesis didn’t have to do something or behave in a certain way to get their gifts. Like I
said - many of them were ripe for an appearance on the Jerry Springer show! But all
they had to do was to open their hand and receive God’s generous gifts. And as a result
of their interactions with God, we see how their trust and relationship with God
deepened. We see the changes in their lives that came from their continued interactions
with God, as over time they began acting in better and more mature ways. But ultimately,
what the book of Genesis shows us, is that God really is the same yesterday, today and
throughout eternity, and He is here to stay, right by our side.