[0:51]So you notice that but I became a Christian, I didn't grow up going to church. I came to faith in my teen years. And one of the first things I did when I started to go to church was I started to teach Sunday school. Uh, I was week two of going to church. I was paired up with somebody. I started teaching Sunday school to five and six-year-olds as a teenager who knew nothing about the Bible. It was fantastic. I'm sure the kids could have had a much better teacher at that point in their time, but for me, I learned a whole lot. I learned a whole lot of scripture because I'd never really been exposed to it before. I grew up in Quebec and so I did go to a Catholic school, so there was some exposure to some, some extent in that regard. So like there would be a religious education class. But I didn't really know anything about the Bible. I knew some stories. And so then I get into teaching Sunday school. And I start teaching stories. And this is like a long time ago. It's the 90s. That's a really long time ago, which is kind of scary. And so in the 90s, we didn't have like televisions in every room, so I didn't have to flip through things. I had a paper multiple papers that I had to go through for the lesson that would come in these packages. And there'd be this thing called a flannel graph. It was beautiful. It was lovely. Some of you are familiar with those. And we would have like pictures of the stories and we would stick them. So it'd be like a big board with flannel pictures and you'd stick them and they'd stick on. It was fantastic. And I would teach the kids these lessons. And I did that for years. I would teach Sunday school. And that's a lot of where I learned scripture. Until I actually started to read scripture, and I realized, hey, these stories aren't the same. They're a lot nicer when I taught them to the kids. Nobody dies. Sometimes the stories that we teach our kids, which for good reason, are a little bit sanitized. They kind of hold back some of the details that might be a little more difficult for us to hear and to understand because some of the stories are awful. It's not that God is awful in the stories, it's just that the occurrence of history, the things that took place, are tough to listen to. One of those stories is the story of Noah. So many of us are familiar with the story of Noah, but there's so many details we actually miss. Because most of the time, we're familiar with what we think we know about the story of Noah. Like we think we know that two of every animal went on, but actually, it was 14. You can read it later. And we think we know how this all occurred. But a lot of times, we're just have these bits and pieces that go together. But the story of Noah is a pivotal story in scripture that helps us understand who God is in relation to us. It comes in a section in the early parts of Genesis. Usually the first 11 or so chapters of Genesis get called like the pre-history of people. And so like there's a long time ago. Lots of things happened. And it's the initial encounters of God and people. And the story of Noah comes at a place after what we talked about last week. Last week we talked about Adam and Eve and creation and how God made a promise with them about how they are supposed to be caring for the earth and they have a role to play and that one day, even though there was a fall, there was sin that entered the picture, God would redeem everything. But as the story goes on, it goes pretty fast. We see that it starts to spiral a little bit out of control. People start to make horrible decisions. It starts with Adam and Eve's kids and one kid kills the other because he's jealous. And then the story keeps going, and it sees how there's corruption and violence and all kinds of things that keep happening. Ultimately, it's pointing that these people were having these private realities where they were rebelling against God. But a thing about private rebellion is private rebellion becomes public ruin. When we internally choose to go against what God designed us for, what God invited us to do, eventually, there are consequences to that. And eventually that comes out. In the stories of early scripture, it's pretty intense. There's lots of murders. It's not so fun. For us, it's a little different. For us, it might be very small in comparison. But it might be secrets we keep inside. It might be things that we don't necessarily want everybody to know about. And so we privately sin. Whether it's tied to with what we view on the internet, or the thoughts we have about people, or practices we do that we don't want anyone to know, but eventually, those things come out. And it creates ruin. It unravels our lives. In the early story of Genesis, that's what's happening. As people are having these private realities that are distant from God. And they unravel and they tumble and get worse and worse and worse. And then we get into Genesis chapter 6. In Genesis chapter 6, the text starts like this. The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth. And that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. That's rough. All the time, every inclination. That's significant. Now, we could assume that there's some exaggeration in the text for sure, and we're going to get to why that is soon. But the point is, people are declining in perspective. They started in this garden where things were perfect, where God said, hey, this is what your responsibility is. If you, if you do these things, if you fulfill your purpose, you will have this reality with him and it will be good. But then people choose to go their own way, to not trust God, and they decline. And they progressively decline so much so that the text tells us that every inclination of the thoughts of human heart was only evil all the time. They're not thinking about the good that God has for them. Part of the good that God had for them was to be caring for the world around them, to for caring for all of his creation. And it seems like people have gone further and further away from that, partially we see it evidence in the scriptures because they're killing each other. They're devaluing humanity. The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. God is grieving what is happening. Some of us, we could look at that and go, wow, that's that's strong and yes, it absolutely is.
[7:53]And some of us we can, we can try to relate to it as best we can and we may think of like how maybe for some of us, we've had people in our lives who we've loved and we've tried to lead them into a good way, whether it's our children or family members or close friends. And we see how they progressively make choices that lead to destruction in their life and they don't realize it. And sometimes our hearts grieve and we go, wow, I wish this was not the way it was. It's a little glimpse of God's feeling towards humanity in this moment. I wish this wasn't the way it was. I wish people were making better choices. Were using what they were given. And he says that God regrets it. So the Lord said, I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created, and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground, for I regret that I have made them. Incredibly heartbreaking in this moment. It should be at least. All of creation should be wiped out, God says. Everything is not working. Everything is wrong. People have made choices over and over again to go away from the good that God had to do something else. And there's consequence to it. Over and over again, people are declining. And this isn't just like an isolated sin. It's just a systemic corruption. Everything is broken. There is so much violence in the earth, the text will tell us. For some of us, we can look around in the world today and think, there are some similarities. So much is broken, so much violence in the earth where we hear news of wars and the news that we don't hear of wars, or issues in various countries that are just unfolding. And it could be overwhelming, and there's just so much violence. And in this moment in scripture, God looks at all of that and says, I regret that we ever got to this point. That I even created people. Thankfully, that's not where the story ends. There's a pivotal word that gets brought up in the text right after this. A word that that comes up throughout scripture and is one of the most important words that you'll ever read in scripture, especially when something so dark is said right before it. And that word is but. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. The thing about the stories of God and people is over and over again, God is trying to bring them back to what could be, the good that they could have. And over and over again, people are resistant to it. They choose to go their own way. They choose to trust their own perspective. They think they know better than God. And so over and over again, human history devolves and gets chaotic and destroyed. But God always sees, it's not everybody. There's always somebody. The covenants in scripture are always about one or two or a few people who recognize that God is still God and God can be trusted. Who find favor in God's eyes. And God wants to use those people to restore what he always wanted in the beginning for us to be with him. In this case, it's Noah. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. There's something about Noah that God looks at him and says, he's not like everybody else. There's something about his faithfulness to God that he's keeping some of the promises that God and people made long ago. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, I am going to put an end to all people. For the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. God sees something in Noah, his faithfulness, his righteousness, his way of living, going, hey, you, you do what I've been asking people to do all along, just keep your end of the bargain. And so God says to Noah, guess what? You're going to get saved. The story goes, you're going to build a boat. It's going to be really big. And the earth is going to flood. And you're going to bring enough space in there for all the animals and all the birds. And you're going to make sure humanity survives. Because God's promise is that he will continue to be their God, even though in the midst of it all, there's grieving, there's anger, there's frustration of what people have chosen to do. God still desires for relationship with people. And so he says, I see this in you, Noah. You trust me, do what I ask and we'll see what happens. The story goes, he builds the boat. Everybody gets on the boat. All the animals get on the boat. And for about a year, actually, they're on water. And he sends out a dove. The dove comes back with an olive branch. We remember that cute little picture of a dove with a thing in its mouth. And he sends out another dove, and it doesn't come back and they're like, all right, time to open the doors. They open the doors, the water is receding. And there's an opportunity for all of creation to start again. God's covenants with people are always about bringing them back to Eden. As we're going to be in this series, every week is about this. God is trying to restore what was once good and inviting people to join in that. And we can be resistant to it, and too often we are.
[14:23]But when we join him, it can be oh so good. Jumping into chapter nine. It says, then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. The unfortunate reality of scripture is that people didn't eat meat until now.
[15:10]Those poor people for so long. But here God says, what does he do? He actually re-establishes what he established with Adam and Eve in the garden. He re-establishes this relationship with them. He said, actually, you're still supposed to have some dominion over all of creation. And in fact, now you're not just have the plants, but you have the animals to eat as well. There's a re-establishing to be fruitful and multiply. It's what God wanted from his people all along. And he says, Noah, you and your family, do what I've been asking all along. Just go and do it. There's no do this, do that. It's just like, hey, reminding you of what I told you in the beginning. There's no new rules that really get established in that first part. He's reminding them of what he's told them all along. And then there's an interesting little shift that happens. He says, but you must not eat meat that has its life blood still in it. This is something that continues throughout all of scripture. And for your life blood, I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal, and from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. God changes something here. When you read through the early chapters of Genesis, you know, murder doesn't happen in Genesis 1-3. There's there's nobody doing it. And then all of a sudden, they get really into the murder. And God's like, you should never have been doing this. Humans are made in the image of God. Humans all deserve dignity and respect and honor. All humans, all humanity, deserves life. And now there's a consequence. If you take that life, your life is taken. God re-establishes what was there at the beginning. Humanity is made in the image of God. That's a good thing. But you need to understand, you need to respect and honor that. As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it. The clear instruction is to keep going. God's given him this opportunity. God's given this this great reality that he has something good for them. That he had to kind of start over, press the reset button. But the story isn't over. The story keeps going. And that Noah and his family can be the people that bring this hope, this goodness that God has always intended for humanity into existence again. God doesn't abandon his design. He doesn't abandon us. He renews us. He gives us new opportunities to come back into relationship with him over and over again. Then the text shifts a bit where God establishes the covenant with Noah. All this is not the covenant. All of this is just what God's already said long ago. Do these things, care for each other, care for creation, be fruitful and multiply, continue doing what you were always meant to do. And then he's going to establish a covenant in verse nine. Says, then God said to Noah and his sons with him, I will establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you. And with every living creature that was with you, the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you, every living creature on earth. So he's saying, this covenant isn't just for you, Noah, it's for everything. It's for all of creation. Every bit of it. I establish my covenant with you: never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. God says, this is my promise. We're not resetting. We're not doing this again. You be fruitful. You be multiplying. You be trusting me. You do care for the creation the way you're supposed to. And we're not pressing the reset button. And he establishes with everything that's there. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant. I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. So not just the people in Noah's day, but for us as well. A promise that God makes to us for all of humanity that never again is he doing this. There is no reset. There's renewal. For all of creation. There's renewal. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. And we think of that and we think of that's a beautiful picture. This is nice rainbow. Beautiful colors. The word for rainbow really isn't rainbow. It's just bow. It's actually the same word that gets used over and over again in scripture for like a bow and arrow. What God does in this moment, isn't some beautiful decoration. It's a divine de-escalation. He puts down his weapon and says, I'm not doing this again. The sign in the sky is to say that God is not using this method again. It's more than just something we see in nature that's beautiful and we can appreciate. It should remind us of God's mercy. The imagery is like of a warrior who comes home after war and puts his weapon down and says, not again. God puts his bow in the sky to say, not again. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. So God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth. Everything. God is not at war with creation.
[21:52]God is not going to punish creation in physical means, the way he had to at this point. He puts down his bow. He says, every time you look at it, remember, I made a promise with you. I'm not doing this again. The amazing thing is that in this covenant, and usually there's two parties in a covenant, right? So there's there's the one who makes the promises, and there's the other one who responds to the promises with some kind of establishing of what they'll do and understand. In this one, it's just God saying, this is my covenant. I'm not doing it again. He doesn't say, and you've got to do these things. He just says, I'm not doing this again. Really, he's reminding them of anything of do what you were made for. Care for all of creation. He's not going to wipe it out again. He's not going to destroy it. He wants you to care for it. He wants you to be processing as part of the renewal. God chooses these people to restart what was broken to give it a new opportunity. God's heart over and over again is for restoration, for renewal, for not allowing the decline and decay to win. But to have renewal and change and hope. Even when everything feels like it is unraveling, God is rebuilding. And in the same way in our life, in our experiences, God is doing the same. Well, it is different than what we experience and what Noah experiences for sure. God is still using whatever the circumstances that are surrounded us, the evil of this age to rebuild, to renew, to restore. God still uses whatever we've gone through and whatever we experience to do the same. He delays destruction to deliver redemption. God continuously over and over throughout scripture, gives us another chance. The amazing thing in the story of Noah, is that it didn't take long. It's just a few verses later where Noah messes up. He gets drunk. He disobeys God. Even though God gave them chances, even though God chose these people to bring everything back to the way it could be, the way it should be. Nobody ever succeeds, but God never stops working. God keeps giving opportunities for change. The reminder of the covenant is that God is merciful to us, even in the midst of the reality that sometimes we choose to not trust him. Sometimes we choose to go our own way, to think we know better. God is merciful to us to give us opportunities new and fresh every day. Our mistakes don't have to define us. The same as it was for Noah. His sin, his defiance of God isn't what defined him. He was actually his faithfulness as best as he could. For us as well, the things we choose to do that go against God, don't have to define who we are. His mercy can. And his mercy can be new every day. Because God over and over again delays destruction to deliver redemption. Over and over again, God gives new opportunities to us to experience the goodness that he has. God is incredibly patient. And he's patient with a purpose, to allow us the opportunity to be in a relationship with him. The covenant that God makes with Noah, isn't something that's all that new. It's the promise he made with people long ago, right at the beginning, that he would be their God, and that he would care for them, if they would be faithful to him. And it's a promise that was for us as well. That even when in our world, where things seem so wrong, so often, he invites us to be like Noah, not the Noah who made those big mistakes, but the Noah who found favor in his eyes because you live righteously, you live faithfully to him. And that he finds favor in you to be people who do the work that he's always invited us to do, to care for all of his creation. To be good to all of his creation. To be reflective of the God whose image we are made in for all time. The story of Noah goes quick. Your story doesn't. Your story might not resolve as quickly as the story of Noah. But mercy and grace is always at work in our stories. Wherever we've departed, wherever we've chosen to go a different way from God and not necessarily trust him with what he has for us, he's always inviting us to go back to experience his mercy, to experience his goodness. And we always have that opportunity. The story of Noah is not mainly about the boat. It's about the bow. It's about the God who puts down the weapon. The God who says, you get another chance, that his mercy is new every day. The God who says that to Noah is the God who says that to us. Wherever we are on our journey, we are never too far away from the God who is merciful to us. For the God who has created us for a reason, who's given us an opportunity to be renewed in that, and to see our purpose, as to be co-workers in the great work that he does in this world. The covenant of Noah preserves the world, but it doesn't remove sin. We need another covenant for that. Not a covenant that is the flooding of waters, but it's the shedding of blood. And in Christ, that ultimately, we can be part of this creation that God has for us. We can be part of this renewed, new creation, and we can find hope and healing in that. To not be like the people of Noah's day, who did evil in the eyes of the Lord. But to live away that reflects the goodness of the one who created us, to be made in his image and to care for that which he cares for. The covenant of Noah is a covenant of mercy to remind us of the hope of the covenant that's actually going to fix everything that can only be found in Jesus. For some of us, we need to find that covenant more so than ever, to be reminded that through Christ, those flooding waters don't have the final word.
[29:03]That God is merciful, and he is kind, and he gives us opportunity every day to come back to him. And that he gives us new opportunities to do that. And that through Christ, we have this privilege, this opportunity to be with you, to know you as our God.
[29:39]A God who puts his bow down and does not use anger or violence towards us. That he doesn't enact justice, he does what is right.
[29:59]But as one who gives us opportunities for mercy every day. I thank you that you are that God, and I pray we come to know that goodness of you more and more each day.
[32:09]As praise in Jesus' name. Amen.
