Over the weekend we concluded a summer series through Genesis at IDC. Finishing a sermon series through a given book is a bittersweet occasion for me. It’s sweet because I sense a fresh understanding and love for the book at hand. Treasures have been discovered and cherished. However, to be honest, leaving a book behind is one of the hardest things I do in pastoral ministry. Clearly, the book isn’t forever forgotten in my life. Yet, I do think, “Will I ever preach through the book again?” If I’m being honest the answer is, “Probably not.” That’s a sobering thought. Also, a bitter flavor comes from the fact that it’s only when I’ve finished preaching the book that I actually feel ready to preach it.

Maybe that’s why I couldn’t sleep on Saturday night after preaching the life of Joseph—”bittersweetness” kept my soul awake. Lest I lost the moment, I decided to list the various things I learned about Genesis and from Genesis while preaching through it this summer. Here they are, in no particular order, ranging from the clearly spiritual to the not-so-clearly-spiritual.

What I Learned in Preaching Genesis

• God is the Lord of all. This is the truth to rule all truths.
• It is quite literally impossible to understand the Bible apart from understanding Genesis.
• You can preach through narrative texts quite quickly (and probably should), but you better be a good storyteller if you do so. I need to find a local storytelling fair to learn this skill.
• From the very outset God wants us to see He is the Sovereign who: 1) makes promises and 2) keeps promises. He deserves our faith.
• He also deserves our fear. Jacob didn’t call Him “the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac” for nothing. Just ask Er and Onan.
• While I’m on Jacob, was he more a scoundrel or a saint? I’m still not sure.
• The victory over the serpent will come slowly, but surely. (It’s quite appropriate here bust out singing, “Victory in Jesus / my Savior forever . . .”) Patient faith in God’s promises is the jet fuel for Christian living.
• As it is the book of beginnings Genesis shows us the beginning of just about everything, including why we should all eat meat to the glory of God.
• God is undeniably and unalterably sovereign. He chooses godless and idolatrous Abraham to be the father of many nations. He selects Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, and Judah gets the nod over Joseph. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!“
• Holiness is important, like really important. So much so that if you tell modern man how important it is, he tends to get uncomfortable. As he probably should.
• Someone should also tell modern man how perilous worldliness is. He may brand you with the scarlet “L” for “legalist,” but you wouldn’t deserve it. God put Israel in Egypt for centuries to protect them from the temptations to worldliness in Canaan.
• If you preach the life of Joseph—chapters 37-50—you’re silly at best and senseless at worst.
• Nothing exists outside of God’s providence rule. Put your finger on any page in Genesis and you see this played out. Yet, it’s also apparent that God is often content to work subtly and silently in the background. One reason surely is to increase his people’s faith. “We live by faith, not by sight.”
• Speaking of sight, Genesis consistently shouts, “Seeing is dangerous!” Eve sees the fruit, takes it, and we get death. Ham sees Noah’s nakedness and then shamed his father. Shechem sees Dinah and then rapes her. Judah sees Shua and takes a Canaanite wife. We should often remember the little diddy from Sunday School, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see.”
• A man should only have one wife. Enough said.
• God consistently cripples our self-sufficiency, but blesses our dependency.
• God is a terrifying judge—see the Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and Judah’s wicked sons.
• God is a trustworthy Savior—see the patriarchs.
• Grace abounds to the chief of sinners.