by Peter Wallace | Jan 13, 2017 | Family Worship, Genesis
Reading Genesis 6-11 in Family Worship
At some point in these early chapters, I call attention to the literary structure of the book of Genesis. The phrase “These are the generations of…” signals a new section of the book. And as the phrase suggests, the following story is about the descendants — the generations — of the person named.
- Genesis 2:4 — These are the generations of the heavens and the earth
- Genesis 5:1 — This is the book of the generations of Adam
- Genesis 6:9 — These are the generations of Noah
- Genesis 10:1 — These are the generations of the sons of Noah
- Genesis 11:10 — These are the generations of Shem
- Genesis 11:27 — These are the generations of Terah
- Genesis 25:12 — These are the generations of Ishmael
- Genesis 25:19 — These are the generations of Isaac
- Genesis 36:1 — These are the generations of Esau
- Genesis 37:2 — These are the generations of Jacob
So, for instance, the whole story of Abraham is told under the heading “these are the generations of Terah.” The effect of this story-telling device is that the book of Genesis is constantly reinforcing the theme of the seed. “I have told you about so-and-so. Let me tell you about his children.”
Genesis 6
If you look back at chapter 5, verse 1-3, you can see how Adam having Seth in his own image and likeness parallels God’s creation of Adam in his own image and likeness. It is worth noting that chapter 4 did not speak in this way of Cain or Abel. There is something unique and important about Seth. So the sons of God (in 6:2) would appear to be the line of Seth — whereas the daughters of men are the line of Cain. In other words, the holy line is becoming corrupt. So corrupt that God decides to bring judgment on all the earth.
Why does God say that he will destroy ‘man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heaven’? After all, it was only man that sinned. Why does everything else get judged with him? The answer is simple: God had given man dominion over the earth — and so man’s sin affected the whole earth: “the earth is filled with violence through them.”
But God establishes his covenant with Noah — because Noah “found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” (6:8-9) Noah reminds us of Enoch — who also “walked with God.” But Enoch was taken up by God. Noah will serve a different purpose. Noah will be the one through whom salvation will come to humanity.
What do our children need to understand about the Flood? Two things: first, this is what sin deserves. If God dealt with us according to strict justice, he would wipe out the earth completely. But second, when God brings judgment, he always provides a way of salvation. Noah is a picture of Jesus — the one righteous man through whom God saved the earth. That’s why 1 Peter 3 will use the Flood as a picture of baptism — the waters of judgment through which God saves us by the resurrection of Jesus.
Psalm 29, Psalm 14, PHSS 174, PHSS 180
Genesis 7-8
What happens in the flood? In the beginning God created the three realms of the heavens, the earth, and the seas. In the beginning God gave Adam and Eve the command to be fruitful and multiply — and to have dominion over the earth. But in the Flood the waters have dominion over the earth (when it says that the waters “prevailed” — that’s the same word as “dominion”). The picture in Genesis is of the creation returned to a watery chaotic state. Everything under the heavens is effectively unmade — all that is left of creation is found on the ark.
At the end of chapter 8, Noah builds an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings of every clean animal on the altar. And God said, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (8:21) In other words, the Flood didn’t work. In chapter 6 we were told that the intention of man’s heart was only evil continually (6:5). So God got rid of all the bad people — leaving only righteous Noah and his family. And yet God says of righteous Noah and his family — “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” If God keeps destroying the earth because of man’s sin, then God will constantly have to destroy the earth. Here God teaches us that there must be another way.
And we see a hint of that way in the covenant of chapter 9.
Genesis 9
God starts by blessing Noah with an echo of his blessing to Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (9:1) But the central theme of the Noahic covenant is the theme of blood: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.” (9:6) When you strike a man, you strike the image of God — and thus, you strike God.
And the sign of the Noahic covenant also teaches us something important about salvation. The bow in the sky points upward. Every time you see a rainbow, remember that God has promised that he will not destroy the world by Flood. God is saying, “May I be shot with my own bow before I break my promise.”
But then we hear the story of the disrespect of Ham for his father — and the curse of Canaan. Why does Canaan get cursed? Because Canaan was the guilty one. (Note verse 24 — “when he knew what his youngest son had done to him” — whose youngest son? Not Noah’s — since Ham is the middle son. Ham’s youngest son, Canaan, is the guilty one — therefore Canaan is cursed.) And this begins to prepare us for the later story of the Canaanites.
Psalm 8, PHSS 219
Genesis 10
This is where you can have some fun. Little kids particularly enjoy repeating funny-sounding names. (Honestly, you don’t have to be good at Hebrew pronunciation — these are strange-sounding names, and any way you say it, the kids will enjoy saying it after you!) But in between all the funny-sounding names, there is a story unfolding. There are 70 nations here. Humanity is multiplying — but humanity is also dividing. The table of the nations shows us how the story of the Bible connects to us. We are here in the table of the nations — as our ancestors spread out across the lands. (Isaiah will use the table of the nations to speak of God’s coming blessing upon the nations — a blessing that will be fulfilled at Pentecost!).
Genesis 11
But how did the nations get so divided? Chapter 11 explains the division of language in the Tower of Babel. Even as humanity multiplies, the problem of sin and rebellion does not diminish. Man wants to build a tower in order to make a name for themselves — so that they may not be dispersed across the face of the earth.
But because of sin, division is good for us! (Do you realize that the doctrine of total depravity played a key role in shaping our political institutions? Separation of powers is a crucial component in Christian political thought because we know that too much power in any one hand is not good.) God divided the languages of the earth in order to prevent us from uniting and destroying everything!
It is interesting to watch the generations shorten in the genealogy at the end of chapter 11. It drops abruptly in the days of Peleg (during whose days the earth was divided — as we were told in 10:25 — probably a reference to the Tower of Babel). How did they live so long? I don’t know. Numbers frequently have symbolic value in the Bible, but sometimes the exact meaning is lost. At the very least we should understand that sin and rebellion has taken its toll on humanity. Division and rebellion lead to death and misery. Lord, have mercy!
PHSS 167
by Peter Wallace | Jan 6, 2017 | Bible, Family, Family Worship, Genesis
Family Worship
I have been thinking about how to encourage family worship. So over the next few weeks (months? years?) I will walk you through our family practice — which I hope will be helpful for you in your homes. I started this practice as a bachelor, so I trust that it can be fruitful for singles as well (although when I was single I always looked for others to do this with).
First, a couple thoughts on basic principles:
1) The point of family worship is love of God and neighbor. In Deuteronomy 6:7 Moses says that you shall teach the words of the LORD “to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” This is the end of a paragraph that begins: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them…” (6:4-6) The point of family worship is first and foremost that we might love God.
2) Family worship by itself does not fulfill Deuteronomy 6:7. If you have family worship every night, that is only the beginning of putting Deuteronomy 6 into practice. The goal of Deuteronomy 6 is that we might become the sort of people who are characterized by the Word of God, both in what we say and in how we live — that we would love God with all our heart. But we are also creatures of habit — and our habits express what we truly love. Therefore, the habit of family worship is an important way of helping form our desires and loves by practicing that which we seek to love.
Second, a couple of notes on our family’s practice:
1) At first we bounced around the Bible, but after a couple years of that, we decided to read through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. It generally takes us around 4 years to read through the Bible — and we are just beginning our fifth read-through as a family. At this pace, each of our children should read through the Bible 4-5 times during their years at home (in addition to their own individual Bible-reading) and provides some basic biblical instruction as a family.
2) Our Bible-reading has changed several times based on the ages of our children. When they were little, the readings would be shorter, and the discussion more geared to age-appropriate themes. Now that they are older, we can read more – and the discussion continues to grow along with the children. When the children were little, we did a lot of fun things to help them follow along. One thing that this does is help the children to focus on the reading — it works wonders for building their attention span. (I sometimes marvel at my children’s attention span — but it was cultivated over many years, it didn’t just “happen”). I will try to remember some of those things in my weekly notes.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
Reading the Bible Together This Week
Genesis 1-5
With Genesis 1, it can be helpful to draw a picture of what the text is describing. Rather than using the modern “space-based” paradigm, I generally draw the picture from the standpoint of someone on earth. Day 1 speaks of the creation of day and night. Days 2-3 speak of the creation of the three realms — the Heavens (day 2), the Seas (day 3), and the Earth (day 3). Then day 4 speaks of the creation of the rulers of day and night, days 5-6 speak of the filling of the three realms, concluding at the end of day 6 with the ruler of the three realms (man). Then God blesses the seventh day and made it holy “because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” Here it is especially helpful to show our children why we rest from our labors–and particularly, as Hebrews 4 points out, our weekly day of rest not only points backward to creation, but also forward to the New Creation rest (which is why our Lord rose on the eighth day — the first day of the new creation).
Songs: Psalm 19, Psalm 104, PHSS 197, PHSS 212
The whole point of Genesis 2 is the creation of Woman. The Garden is designed as the “sanctuary” of Eden — the holy place where God meets with his people. But there is something “not good” about this holy place. Adam cannot do part of what God had commanded him. He needs a “helper” — which, as we have seen throughout the Psalms, always means “someone who does for you what you could not possibly do by yourself. Adam cannot “be fruitful and multiply” alone. He needs someone who can “help.” (At this point, fathers, you look at your children and say, “If I hadn’t had a helper, you wouldn’t be here!”)
Songs: Psalm 127, Psalm 128
Genesis 3 tells the story of the fall into sin. It is helpful to point out the nature of temptation: temptation rarely offers you something inherently evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good. What the serpent said was true: “God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And when Eve and Adam ate, “the eyes of both were opened.” Temptation will generally come in the guise of doing something good — but in the wrong way. Genesis 3:16 then provides the first promise of the gospel — how the seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent — but in the context of God’s curse upon the very things that he had given Adam and Eve to do: Eve would “help” by bearing children — now she will have pain in childbearing; Adam had been called to work the ground — now it will only yield bread through pain and sweat. All of creation — not just humanity — now labors under a curse.
Songs: PHSS 180, PHSS 189, PHSS 192, PHSS 204, PHSS 205
Genesis 4 is then a brilliant demonstration of how sin produces misery and death. The corruption of sin quickly results in murder, as Cain kills his brother Abel. And yes, “Abel” is the same word that is translated “vanity” in Ecclesiastes — it literally means “vapor.” Why did Eve name her son, “Vapor”? Perhaps she understood something of the transience of life under the sun now that they had been banished from the Garden. Certainly she understood it after his death — and it may be that only after his death they gave that nickname, which would be the only name by which he was ever known to posterity. Genesis 4 then goes on to chronicle something of the history of the line of Cain — as Cain’s descendents become the “culture-makers” of the ante-diluvian world (ante-diluvian means “before the flood”). While Cain and his descendents are building cities, playing music, and forging bronze and iron, Seth and his son, Enosh, “began to call upon the name of the LORD.” We should not be surprised when those who have rebelled against God produce fine cultural objects. There is no biblical reason to suppose that Christians will outperform non-Christians when it comes to culture-making.
Songs: Psalm 41, Psalm 116, PHSS 222
Genesis 5 is the first of the biblical genealogies. But the details reveal how this is an integral part of the story. First, we see how the language of “image and likeness” is used not only for the creation of Adam, but also for the birth of Seth. The image of God may have been marred by the fall, but it was not entirely obliterated. And the human race continues to pass down the image of God from father to son — and as the generations pass, there are moments of hope (Enoch, who walked with God) in the midst of the painful toil and misery of this age. Hence we long for Noah — for relief. One way to engage children in the genealogies is to have them repeat the names. (Don’t worry about mispronouncing names — they won’t know any better than you!) Or with slightly older children, you can have them recite other parts — e.g., tell them “when I pause, you say, ‘and had other sons and daughters’ — a recurring line throughout the chapter.
Songs: PHSS 207
PHSS 187 — “Hear, Israel” — Deuteronomy 6, set to music — works well for any passage!
by Peter Wallace | Nov 4, 2016 | Family, Pastoral Notes, Pastoral Practice, Worship
You Are What You Love — Liturgy and Habit
“The mall is a religious site, not because it is theological but because it is liturgical. Its spiritual significance (and threat) isn’t found in its ‘ideas’ or its ‘messages’ but in its rituals. The mall doesn’t care what you think, but it is very much interested in what you love. Victoria’s secret is that she’s actually after your heart.” (p41)
With this in mind, James K. A. Smith launches into a liturgical reading of the shopping mall — rightly seeing the architecture of the mall as an echo of the Gothic cathedral. He notes that “here one finds an array of three-dimensional icons adorned in garb that — as with all iconography — inspires our desire to be imitators of these exemplars. These statues and icons (mannequins) embody for us concrete images of the good life. These are the ideals of perfection to which we will learn to aspire.” (p43)
“This temple — like countless others now emerging around the world — offers a rich, embodied visual mode of evangelism that attracts us. This is a gospel whose power is beauty, which speaks to our deepest desires. It compels us to come, not through dire moralisms, but rather with a winsome invitation to share in this envisioned good life.” (p43)
We then enter “one of the chapels” and are “greeted by a welcoming acolyte” and we make our way through its labyrinths, “open to surprise, to that moment where the spirit leads us to an experience we couldn’t have anticipated.” (p43) Having found the holy object, “we proceed to the altar that is the consummation of worship” where the priest of this “religion of transaction” transforms our plastic card into the object of our desire, and we leave “with newly minted relics, as it were, which are themselves the means to the good life.” (p45)
The Notre Dame lunch group has been reading and discussing James K. A. Smith’s You Are What You Love — a thought-provoking essay on “the spiritual power of habit.” The chapter for this week “Guard Your Heart: the Liturgies of Home” reminds us that the patterns and practices that shape our hearts will also shape the rhythms of our life (or is it the other way around?!).
Smith shows us how the basic patterns and rhythms of worship (historic Christian liturgy — like what we do at MCPC) should form and shape the patterns and rhythms of life. “Embedded in the church’s worship are important pictures of what flourishing homes and families look like.” (p114)
The Problem of Compartmentalization
In the modern world we have compartmentalized life into “family,” “church,” “work,” and “play.” When we compartmentalize our lives, then you hear me saying this: The pastor wants me to spend more time doing “church” things. And while I do encourage families to read the Bible, pray together, sing together, memorize the catechism together — these things only scratch the surface of what I mean.
When the worship of God becomes the pattern for our lives, we realize that in our baptism, we have been united to a new family in Jesus. My “family” is redefined in Jesus. Our society — like many before it — has idolized the family and turned it into an ultimate end (ironic, because our society is destroying the family — but that in itself should prove the point: idolatry always destroys the very thing that it seeks!).
Likewise, our work — not just the thing we get paid to do, but the labor that characterizes our creational callings during the “six-days shalt thou labor and do all thy work” — that work is redefined in Jesus. How should I think about my six-days labor? Well, what we do every Sunday in our liturgy reminds us of our true identity in Christ. Christian liturgy is designed to draw us back into the story of what God is doing in history. (As I said it last Sunday, our problem is when we think that the story is about us — when in fact, the story is about Jesus!) Only when we see that the story is about Jesus do we see where we fit into his story.
What God has done in Jesus is not just “save our souls.” He saves us body and soul — he feeds us, body and soul — unto everlasting life. Therefore, since we participate in this grand and glorious story, we can take a long-term perspective and realize that God brings change through the power of his Holy Spirit working in his church, bringing renewal and regeneration throughout all the earth.
Re-Forming Daily Habits
So how can we re-form our daily practices — our routines and rhythms of life — in ways that conform to the heavenly liturgy? Here are a couple suggestions: 1) If the church of Jesus Christ is our new family, then look for ways to connect what you are doing during the week with others in the body of Christ Do you go shopping? Develop a pattern of shopping together with others who share a common desire to conform their shopping practices to the Word of God. Do you watch college football? Invite others to watch with you who will help you avoid the dangers of modern sports idolatries. In short, if we are seeking one thing — if we are seeking to know and love and see the living and true God — then we should look for ways to connect everything that we are doing to that one thing.
