Day 4: Lights: Sun, Moon, Stars (Gen. 1:14-19)

Day 3: Lights: Sun, Moon, Stars (Gen. 1:14-19)

           

Three Reasons God created the lights:

1. To give us powerful reminders of his holiness
2. To give us natural rhythms to reflect his holiness
3. To light up the stage for God to personally display his holiness

Summary: God created the sun, moon, and stars with great purposes in mind.  God set them in the sky and ordered them to rule over day and night and thus serve as very physical reminders and tangible signs that witness to the fact that God is holy.  God used these same lights to help organize time and seasons thus providing natural rhythms to our lives as we seek to reflect his holiness.  But of course our lives are out of rhythm and we have not reflected his holiness; therefore, God came to the very stage that he lit up with these lights in order to personally display his Light in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. 

Main Point:  God wants us to know that he purposely created the lights by His powerful Word.

Discussion Questions:

• What do the sun and the moon serve as tangible reminders of? (cf. 1 John 1:5)
• How did the sun and the moon provide natural rhythms for the life of worship among the people of Israel?  What are some of the patterns of worship in the life of a new covenant believer?  
• How did God personally display his holiness on the world's stage? (cf. 1 John 1:5; John 8:12; 12:36; cf. Psalm 8 and how it is quoted in Hebrews 2:5-11).
• Why is it so hope-giving that there is a Light that will outlast and outshine the lights? (Isa. 60:19-20; 30:26; Rev. 21:23; 22:5)
• Read & Discuss how the following texts both instruct us and give us hope: Matt: 5:14; Eph. 5:8; Phil. 2:15; Prov. 4:18; Matt. 13:43.

Application Questions:

• What rhythms of worship am I utilizing and which ones am I neglecting?  How is this effecting my relationship with God and what changes should be made?

Prayer Points:

• Praise God for personally displaying his holiness by sending the Light into the world
• Praise that we will shine like the sun in his kingdom soon and very soon
• Ask God to help us consistently implement rhythms  that will help us reflect his holiness in our lives in a way that will cause us to shine the light of Christ brighter and brighter

Day 1: Light Shines (Gen. 1:3-5)

Outline: Day 1: Light Shines (Gen. 1:3-5):

           

God's word is powerful: "and there was light"(v.3)

• God's delight in the light (v.4a)
• God's desire to distinguish light from Darkness (v.4b-5a)
• God's will for light to overcome darkness (v.5b)

Summary: We have seen that the condition of God's initial creation was characterized by barrenness and darkness, an intentional foreshadowing of the condition of the human heart after the Fall.  But the reader's hope was already kindled when we heard that the Spirit of the eternal God was hovering over the problem.  With the stage set in vv.1-2, we see the remedy introduced in vv.3-5: Light shines in the darkness! 

Main Point:  God wants us to see how he delights in the light and desires that light to be clearly distinguished from the darkness.

Discussion Questions:

• How does vv. 3-5 serve as the remedy to vv.1-2? 
• How do John 1:1-5 and Hebrews 1:3 help us understand the light, God's delight in the light, and the relationship between light and darkness in Gen. 1:1-5? 
• What does this mighty act of God in bringing light teach us about how God converts sinners? (see 2 Cor. 3:12-4-6, esp. 4:6)
• Discuss this statement: "God desires light and darkness to be distinguished from one another."  What does this tell us about the character of God?
• God called the light Day and the darkness Night.  The implication seems to be that God "labeled" light and darkness for us, that we might pay close attention to the labels.  What are some of the implications for us as we live as followers of Jesus (see. John 8:12; 1 John 1:5; Matt. 5:14-16; Rom. 13:12; Eph. 5:11; 1 Pet. 2:9; Col. 1:13)

Application Questions:

• How should a proper understanding of Gen. 1:3-5 shape the way I understand what in means to be converted? 
• Are there areas in my life where I am compromising with darkness, failing to follow the labels God has made to distinguish between what pleases him and what does not?

Prayer Points:

• Praise God for his holiness, the fact that he is light and in him there is no darkness at all
• Praise God for working shining the light of his Son into the darkness of our hearts by the veil-removing work of the Holy Spirit
• Confess ways in which you have failed to follow God's labels that are meant to set us apart from darkness and lead us in the way of light.  
• Ask God to help us be holy as he is holy so that he might be glorified and unbelievers might come to see the glory of his Son and so be saved

I Am a Priest in a Kingdom of Priests (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Outline: In 1 Peter 2:9-10, Peter tells us two things:

1. Who we are
2. What we do

Summary: This week we held the gospel "diamond" up to the light, turned it, and gazed at its beauty from 1 Peter 2:9-10.  Here Peter draws rich and lavish language from the Old Testament and applies it to the blood-bought, Jesus-trusting, new covenant people of God.  Yes it is those who submit to Jesus by faith that Peter refers to as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.  As a fulfillment of His OT promises, God made a new covenant with a new people who will render renewed spiritual worship to the One who has redeemed them by the precious blood of Jesus.    

Main Point: We are a chosen, privileged, and set apart people who belong to God.

Discussion Questions:

• What does it mean that we are a "chosen race" and on what basis are we chosen?
• How does being a "chosen race" relate to being a "holy nation"?
• How is God possessive in the best sense of the term?
• What does it mean that we are a "royal priesthood"? Why is this such a privilege?
• What are we to do in light of who we are?
• What are some of God's excellencies?

Application Questions:

• What effect should the design of divine election have on me (i.e. that God created a new race and chose me to be part of it on the sole basis of His own goodness and love)?  
• To what degree am I allowing who God says that I am (e.g. a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession) shape how I view myself?
• What spiritual service am I offering to God?

Prayer Points:

• Praise God for some of His excellencies 
• Praise God for choosing you in Christ before the foundation of the world to be part of a new race made up of people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
• Praise God for making you holy through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and for His loving ownership over your life.
• Ask God to help you to live a holy, set apart lifestyle that is noticeably different from the unbelievers around you, a lifestyle marked by a continual offering of spiritual sacrifices and a natural and habitual proclamation of God's excellencies.