Green: God Creates Good
Genesis 1:1-2:3
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
These aren't just the opening line of the Bible—they're a statement of reality that shapes everything else that follows.
The Gospel Story in Five Colours
We're starting a new series called "Colours of Life," and some of you might know it as the Jesus Beads. It's a beautifully simple way to tell the entire story of the Bible using just five colours.
Here’s the quick version:
Green is creation: God created all things and made us in His image for perfect relationship with Him.
White is that perfect relationship with God.
Black is sin: we rejected God's light and chose to wander in darkness, rebelling against His way and trying things our own way.
Red is Jesus: God sent His Son to die on the cross, shedding His blood to pay the penalty for our rebellion so we could be right with God again.
Yellow is heaven: we get to be with God forever eternity.
That's the Jesus beads in a nutshell. Over the next few weeks, we're unpacking each colour in depth. My hope? That this serves as a reset for 2026. That whether you've heard this hundreds of times or you're hearing it for the first time, you'll experience it afresh, with a renew mind focused on God, rejoicing in salvation through Jesus, and forever thankful for the Spirit dwelling in us.
In The Beginning
The Bible doesn't start with advice, rules, or religion. It starts with a statement of reality: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
It is this truth: before time, before matter, before space, before history, before there was anything, there was God. Everything that comes after is dependent on Him.
Genesis 1 gives us a picture of the unique, glorious, amazing, joyous, wondrous God behind the creation we enjoy every day.
Living in the Shire, we have the beach on one side and the bush on the other—between two beautiful wonders of God. During COVID lockdowns, we appreciated the outdoors more than ever. We were desperate to get out into nature. But as soon as restrictions lifted? Back inside we went. We take for granted the things around us. But in the ocean, the beaches, the bush, we see the supreme and unique, glorious God who spoke this world into being.
Creating With No Reference Point
Here's what makes God's creation so remarkable: He had no point of reference. No style guide. No inspiration board. He created from scratch.
When we create, we need reference points. We need to think, "Okay, frogs are green, pigs are pink, how do we make this work?" God didn't need that. He spoke into darkness and fleshed out the wonder of light and creation and all we see around us.
As John Piper says, "God created the universe to display the fullness of His glory and for the purpose of the joy of His people."
All this is created for His glory and for our joy, not to take for granted, but to rejoice and delight in.
The Poetry of Creation
Genesis 1 has this beautiful rhythm:
"And God said… let there be… and there was…."
Six times this rhythm repeats. When God creates, there is order, beauty, and purpose. It's not chaotic, frantic, violent, or unplanned. Everything has intention behind it.
Look closer at the structure. The first three days mirror the last three. He creates and then fills what is created:
Day 1: Day and night → Day 4: Sun, moon, and stars (to fill day and night)
Day 2: Sky and water → Day 5: Birds and fish (to fill sky and water)
Day 3: Land and trees → Day 6: Animals and humans (to fill land and trees)
This beautiful piecing together of Genesis shows that God's creation has intent, purpose, order, and meaning. It's not slapped together, rushed or an accident.
After every act of creation, "God saw it and it was good." Until the final moment: "God saw all that He had made and it was very good."
C.S. Lewis captured this beautifully in The Chronicles of Narnia when Aslan (who represents God) sings Narnia into being. He sings and stars appear, he sings and trees grow, he sings and creatures wake up. The children realize the world exists because someone loves it into being. That's Genesis 1, a God creating out of love, order, purpose, and delight.
A Silent Sermon
Psalm 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Creation isn't giving us a hint or a mere suggestion. It's a declaration. Creation is preaching a sermon. Every sunrise, every galaxy, every DNA strand, every shooting star, every wave of the ocean, every mountain range, all shout from the top of their voice a silent sermon that there is someone who made them.
And as part of that creation, we as humans are a silent sermon, declaring that someone made us.
Walking, Talking Statues
Genesis 1:27 says: "So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."
God made us in His own image. To be relational like Him, to love like Him, to know like Him, to experience joy like Him.
Throughout history, people have built statues and monuments to kings and pharaohs as a form of legacy in order that people would look at them and remember who they were. Here's the thing: Genesis 1:27 tells us that you and I are walking, talking statues to the glory of God.
We are image bearers of the glorious God who created all things. We're meant to reflect the God who made us. This world is full of billions of statues all declaring there is a Creator.
You are not here by mere chance. You were put together intimately in your mother's womb: lovingly, painstakingly, and with care. God knows every part of who you are because He made you in His image so that you would know Him, love Him, and most importantly, glorify Him in how you show Him to others.
And you do that even just by walking around. Pretty good, isn't it?
We get to glorify God by just existing: walking, sitting, sleeping. When people see humans, they are meant to see the glory of God, our Creator. The whole earth, not just humans but all creation, is declaring the fullness and glory of God.
What Does This Mean For Us?
God created this world perfectly. But when we look around, we know it's far from perfect.
Why? Because we rejected the way God wanted us to live. We rejected His perfect world to do things our own way, on our own terms. We discarded God and tried to be better than we thought.
No matter how much we try to do things right, we still fail. No matter how carefully we choose our words, they often don't land right. Our actions are never quite enough. Sometimes we deliberately do things we shouldn't.
We need Jesus. But we also need to understand who we are.
Because when we're saved by the blood of Christ, we're saved to be who we were created to be, image bearers of God who glorify Him, love Him, and want everybody to know Him.
Will You?
This God who spoke light into darkness, who sang creation into being, who made you and I in His image, He still invites us into relationship with Him. He's inviting us to be who He made us to be.
He's inviting you and me into that relationship.
The question is: will you?
This sermon is part of the Colours of Life series, telling the gospel story in five simple colours. Soul Revival Church gathers across the Sutherland Shire [Kirrawee, Yarrawarrah, Miranda, Cronulla] and Ryde.