Our God and Our Chaos

Posted by on June 25, 2000 under Sermons

Do you know someone who truly, genuinely misunderstands you? I do not mean that this person occasionally misunderstands what you said. I do not mean that this person occasionally misunderstands your actions.

I mean this person does not understand YOU. When you speak, this person rarely understands what you said. In fact, he or she responds by saying, “What you mean is …,” but it is never what you meant. This person rarely understands your actions. They never grasp your purposes. When he or she explains what you are trying to do, you just shake your head in disbelief.

You tried to help this person understand you better. You tried to build bridges. You kindly tried to correct incorrect thoughts and ideas. But it was hopeless. The harder you tried, the more he or she misunderstood.

Because this person misunderstands you, he or she also misrepresents you. He or she is not malicious. In fact, this person always tells others what close friends you are. This person loves to talk about how well he or she knows you. He or she is convinced, “I understand you better than you understand yourself.” But the truth is that he or she does not understand you at all. And the truth is the failure to understand you creates a lot of problems for you.

Do you know such a person? Do you have such an acquaintance?

Is this the way you represent God? Do you misrepresent God because you are so certain that you understand God–when you do not know Him well.

  1. The first chapter of Genesis, which is the Bible’s first chapter, is fascinating.
    1. Genesis 1 says something fundamental about our world, us, and God.
      1. It reveals God’s involvement in and interaction with the beginning of our physical world.
      2. It reveals some basic understandings about us.
      3. And it also reveals some basics about God.

    2. “What basic understanding about God does it give us?”
      1. The Bible opens with these words (Genesis 1:1,2):
        In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
      2. The words, “The earth was formless and void,” can be translated “the earth was waste and empty.”
        1. Before God’s presence expressed itself, there was chaos.
        2. When God’s presence expressed itself, chaos was destroyed.
      3. “So what does that tell us about God?”
        1. The presence of chaos is precisely the opposite of the presence of God.
        2. When God is present, chaos is destroyed.
        3. God replaces chaos with order.
        4. God’s order creatively brings into existence things that are “good.”
      4. God did this and continues to do this through the work of His Spirit.
        1. The business of God’s Spirit is using the presence of God to destroy chaos, to create order, and to bring good into existence.
        2. God always has used His Spirit for that purpose.
      5. Every time things move toward God’s order, the result produces good.

    3. That basic understanding is necessary if faith is to exist in any person.
      1. Do you believe that God produces order out of chaos?
      2. Do you believe that when God produces order out of chaos, good comes into existence?

  2. The fact that chaos and order are natural enemies provides us a basic insight into God.
    1. Evil is the enemy of God, and God is the enemy of evil.
      1. Evil opposes order and promotes chaos.
      2. God opposes chaos and promotes good.

    2. Consider that truth in a very practical way.
      1. God promotes order, stability, and good in human relationships.
        1. How many of you have a relationship that would be described as chaotic?
          1. I am talking about a relationship that causes struggles and problems.
          2. I am talking about a relationship that is more likely to experience bad instead of good.
          3. I am talking about a relationship that commonly causes you and the other person trouble.
        2. When this relationship moves toward God, it moves toward orderliness, stability, and good.
        3. When this relationship moves away from God, it moves toward chaos, instability, and problems.
      2. God promotes order, stability, and good in marriage relationships.
        1. How many of you would describe your marriage relationship as chaos?
          1. I mean it is very troubled and has frequent problems.
          2. I mean it causes both of you constant anxiety.
          3. I mean your interaction causes distress and frustration.
        2. When your marriage relationship moves toward God, it moves toward the orderliness of respect, the stability of love, and good produced by honor.
        3. When your marriage relationship moves away from God, it moves toward the chaos of disrespect, the instability of lovelessness, and the problems of contempt.
      3. God promotes order, stability, and good in parent-child relationships.
        1. How many of you parents would describe your relationship with your child as chaos?
          1. I mean it is commonly confrontational.
          2. I mean it is hostile because you antagonize each other.
          3. I mean your horrible attitudes, horrible words, and horrible treatment of each other end in frustration, anger, and distress.
        2. In those times that the relationship moves toward God, there is the orderliness of respect, the stability of love, and good produced by honor.
        3. In those times that your relationship moves away from God, there is the chaos of disrespect, the instability of lovelessness, and the problems of contempt.

    3. If you do nothing more than honestly examine human relationships, something becomes obvious.
      1. God’s creative force moves all human relationships to a higher level of good.
      2. Evil’s disruptive force moves all human relationships to a lower level of confusion and chaos.
      3. That is why respect, love, and kindness expressed in the proper treatment of people is a fundamental reflection of faith in God.
        1. It is not just a matter of commands and laws.
        2. It is not just a system imposed on us by divine authority.
        3. It is the intentional union of ourselves with the eternal force that opposes chaos.

  3. What God did in creation in Genesis 1, He did again through recreation in Jesus Christ.
    1. The man or woman who exists in Jesus Christ has been recreated.
      1. Listen to Paul’s statement to the Ephesian Christians (Ephesians 4:22-24):
        that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
      2. Listen to Paul’s statement to the Colossian Christians (Colossians 3:9,10):
        Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him-
      3. Listen to John’s statement about Jesus (John 1:1-5):
        In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
      4. Listen to Jesus’ statement about people and the light (John 3:19-21):
        This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

    2. The man or woman who belongs to Christ has been recreated by God.
      1. As God’s new creation, he or she opposes the chaos in his or her life.
      2. Behavior that sustains the chaos must end.
      3. Attitudes and emotions that sustain the chaos must end.
      4. That is the purpose of baptism.
        1. The one who trusts God by turning from evil’s chaos is baptized.
        2. He or she is baptized to let God destroy the chaos by recreating him or her in Christ.
        3. Baptism is not some mysterious religious ordinance.
        4. The person baptized consciously unites himself or herself with the God who destroys chaos and recreates the person.

    3. Consider the progression.
      1. God destroyed chaos and replaced it with good.
      2. God made man and woman and placed him and her in the center of every good thing God made.
      3. Evil could not replace God’s creation with chaos, but evil could pervert God’s creation by placing chaos in the lives of people.
      4. From the moment Satan introduced the world to evil, chaos plagued the lives and relationships of people.
      5. But God sent Jesus to remove us from the control of chaos and recreate us.

[Prayer: God, help us understand that You rescue us from chaos, and help us live by trusting Your deliverance. Be the source of our strength as we reject chaos in our lives.]

All of us struggle against the forces of chaos in our lives. Do you want to see how much you trust God? Do you want a genuine measure of your faith? We show that we truly trust God when we give our specific struggles with chaos to God in the confidence that God can restore order in our lives and move us toward good.

Is that what you do with your chaos? Or do you declare, “God cannot help me with this”?