Day 5: Fish & Sea Creatures (Gen. 1:20-23)
God gives abundant evidence for his existence and what he is like in the things he has made:
- Abundant evidence on Day 5
- What do people do with the evidence?
- Seeing and helping others see with new eyes
Summary: Creation is not only a theater designed to showcase the drama of redemption but a vast laboratory filled with evidence for us to investigate. God created with great variety (displaying his infinite wisdom) and quantity (displaying his infinite power). The evidence is thick. The question is what will people do with the evidence? We have closed both books on God and are therefore liable to his wrath and judgment. But God provided a wrath-absorbing gift of grace when he sent Jesus to be received by faith. When we receive him by faith, God no longer counts the abundant evidence of our rebellion against us and we get to live the rest of our lives enjoying peace with God and seeing (and helping others see) the world through new eyes.
Main Point: God wants us to know that he created birds and sea creatures with great variety and quantity in order show us more about himself.
Discussion Questions:
- Thinking about God's work in Gen. 1 in general and Day 5 in particular, how has God provided abundant evidence not only for his existence but also what he is like?
- What is the operating assumption that Christians should come with as they investigate the world? Why is it so important to start with that assumption?
- According Romans 1-2, what have people done with the abundant evidence God has provided with the result that they are liable to God's wrath?
- How has God made a way for us to be justified even though the evidence is stacked against us? (Cf. Rom. 1:16-13; 3:21-26; 5:1)
Application Questions:
- What ways am I closing God's books and resisting God's efforts to speak to my heart and lead me in his ways?
- What truths in the sermon did God help me see afresh or for the first time and who can I can help to see and be refreshed by these truths?
- Confess ways you've been resisting God's efforts to speak to your heart and lead you in his ways
- Praise God for giving Jesus to us as a wrath-absorbing gift of grace so that we can be justified in his sight despite the overwhelming evidence against us
- Praise God for giving us new eyes so that we can see the evidence and then learn and experience more of what it means to glorify and enjoy God
- Ask to help us see and help others see his world with new eyes
