In Crisis; will you Worship God? | Genesis 8:15-22
Read Genesis 8:15-22
The Point: Worshiping God changes the Christian’s life; it changes perspective, it gives hope and it glorifies God giving true hope to God’s people and the world.
The first question when reading this text for me was: What is true Worship? What is biblical worship that is pleasing to God?
God has given His people His word to reveal Himself; to make Himself known. Noah would have learned about God and God’s word through the generationally righteous upbringing found in Genesis 5. He would have been taught Genesis 1-3, he would have been taught about the laws of atonement which will be written down by Moses in Leviticus 16 and 17. Remember, Moses would have been taught God’s word, God’s torah, orally but he wrote the scriptures down to preserve God’s teaching with God’s people and for their future generations. God has made it very clear on how to worship Him, how to glorify Him and how to be with Him.
Noah and his family had just lived through a crisis. They lived through God’s judgement of the unrepentant people in the world; the unrighteous. These unrepentant people drowned and were killed by God’s flood waters because the penalty of sin is death. Noah had just lived through a crisis! He lived through an apocalypse of the world. This was a world ending event, a world changing event and Noah had front row seats.
Yet he did not waver. He did not doubt. He did not worry. He waited for God’s call, God’s instruction, and the next step which God will tell him to take.
- God spoke to Noah. Noah is in a relationship with God and this gave Noah peace in a time of crisis.
“Then God spoke to Noah, saying, ‘Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply the earth.’” –Genesis 8:15-16
This piece of text is significant. It gives us insight into how close Noah was to God. Noah waited for God to give him instruction before leaving the ark. There is a closeness between God and Noah even though God is perfect, holy and set a part. Remember, look how God views Noah:
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually…but Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. These are the records of generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man.” –Genesis 6:5, 8-9.
God was pleased with Noah; Noah lived righteously, Noah glorified God and did what God had commanded him, his obedience showed God how much Noah loved God. This relationship rings true in the New Testament.
“Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:1-3
If you love God; you will live righteously, you will want to please Him, you will want to worship Him, you will be hungry for His word, His law and direction in your life. Noah continually turns to God throughout the story of the flood and the ark. Noah is turning to God in this moment, he worships God amid crisis.
True worship lowers the worshiper and elevates the deity being worshiped. It takes the glory off the worshiper and puts the glory on God. Noah is doing that in this moment, after the flood
is complete, after the dove returns with an olive branch, after God tells him to leave the ark, he then turns to God in repentance, and glorifies God.
- God has clearly instructed Noah how to worship Him, how to communicate with Him and how to glorify Him.
There are consistent types of worship in which God establishes in His word. We find this first and foundational form of worship for God’s people in Genesis 3: 21 when the first animal was killed toc clothe Adam and Eve, it is now continued as the Jewish form of worship in Genesis 8:20-22.
“Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, ‘I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.”
--Genesis 8:20-21.
The heart of worship is found within this text. Noah builds the altar to worship God, to turn back to God and to give Him the glory for their salvation. God is fulfilling the covenantal promise He made to Noah earlier in Genesis 6:18 by being pleased by the soothing aroma of Noah’s worship; glorified worship of God pleases God.
“But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife, and your sons’ wives with you.”—Genesis 6:18
Hebrew word for Covenant:
בְּרִית bᵉrîyth, ber-eeth'; --so called from the idea of cutting, since it was the custom in making solemn covenants to pass between the divided parts of victims. A pledge, alliance, constitution between two parties. The difference between a compact and a covenant is that a compact is a written/ signed agreement between two parties and a covenant is an agreement that demands action to follow—not just a verbal promise but a promise that is backed up by action.
God is establishing an institution of worship for Noah to do with his family to pass down to the generations that come after him—God is instructing His people in how to please Him, how to glorify Him, how to worship Him. This atonement sacrifice must happen to cover the sins of Noah and his family, this innocent, spotless animal must become a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to God to appease the forgiveness of sin. God even provides the means for Noah to do these proper atonement sacrifices in Genesis 7:2-3.
“You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.” –Genesis 7:2-3
God provides the means for Noah to continue worshiping Him even before the flood takes place. After the flood has happened and God then fulfills His promise to Noah—that He will lift the curse of the ground from mankind and Noah turns to God in worship as a response to God’s fulfillment of his many promises (Flooding the world, saving Noah and His family, and multiplying the earth through Noah’s family).
“‘I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.” –Genesis 8:21
God promises this to Noah back in Genesis 5:29 “Now he called his name Noah, saying, ‘This one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the Lord has cursed.’”
– Genesis 5:29
This highlights the power and relationship held between Noah and God. This shows their intimacy and their connection. God fulfilled His promise by telling the world that Noah would be the deliverer for God’s people, the salvation from the flood judgement of the world. Now, Noah will continue to teach God’s people about this covenantal worship; this promise made between God and His people. This is why Noah worships God; to give Him thanks, to show everyone who orchestrated both this judgement and salvation from that judgement.
God has continued to work in a similar way throughout the entirety of scripture to preserve proper worship for Himself and to remind His people of the wonderful covenantal promises that God has made towards His people. When God’s people worship Him they are reminded of His goodness, of His good news for us, of His salvation for His people from eternal death and bringing them into eternal life. The original atonement sacrifice provided salvation for the Jewish people (God’s people), they would participate in the atonement sacrifice as witness to encourage them with God’s hope for their lives.
If we look towards the book of Leviticus we learn about the different types of altar sacrifices used to worship God, to cover the sins of the people and to remind them of a need for salvation from God. Their worship was a reminder of how much they needed God and how much God loved them in His forgiveness of their sins.
There were many animals used as a sacrifice for various purposes such as:
Lambs: Num 24:9, 28:4, 21, 29:10, Ex 12:4, Lev 14:10, etc.
Bulls: Num 8:8, 2 Chron 30:24, Lev 4:4, 20, 21, 8:14, 16:11, etc
Goats: Lev 3:12, 9:15, 16:9, 15, etc
Doves and pigeons: Lev 1:14, etc
Heifer: Deut 21:3, 4, Num 19:5, 6, 9, etc
Different animals were used depending on who the covering sacrifice was for (priest or the congregation) and based on what God’s people could provide. “Aaron shall enter the Holy place with this: a bull for sin offering and a ram for burnt offering…” Lev. 16:3,
“He shall then offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons, which are within his means. He shall offer what he can afford, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. So the priest shall make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the one to be cleansed.”
–Leviticus 14:30-31
The context of Leviticus 14 is that of a cleansing of a leper and a leper’s house. A bird is used to clean the leper and heal him of leprosy. Two male lambs are then presented and prepared for two types of sacrifices: A guilt offering and a sin offering. One covers the consequence of sin found within the person and the other covers the sin nature itself. These sacrifices symbolize the covering of sin for the sick person, the person in need—it was the form of worship for the Jewish people, it took place in the temple and outside of the temple (typically the assembly would be outside while the priest was in the inner holy chamber).
- God has continued to reveal to us today how to worship Him, how to communicate with Him and how to glorify Him.
As modern Christians, God has continued to call us to worship Him, He has still given us a continued way of true worship found written in His word just as Moses wrote it for the Jewish people in Genesis 3-8 and in Leviticus 14-17 now we have the NT which has brought us away from the covenantal worship of animal sacrifice and into the new covenant of worshiping the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.
“Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” –Hebrews 10:11-14
We no longer gather in the tent to observe animal sacrifice because the perfect, sinless God/Man of the Universe has come down into our world, and died for the sins of humanity, for those who are in repentance to Him, who put their faith in Him. We are saved through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our sins have gone up onto His perfect body. He is the one who has forgiven us, who has brought us into eternal life. We deserve sin, we deserve to die and go to hell because of our sin, because of our imperfection but Jesus has offered to transform our lives, to bring us from death into life with Him. This is good news for us to hear this morning.
This is why we gather every Sunday. This is why we worship God with song, with music that sings about his attributes, about the work He does in our lives. This is why we must do communion often, more often than once a month one day, because it shows us the image, the symbol of his broken body, His spilled blood that gives us life and transformation, it gives us hope. We gather every Sunday to worship God and not ourselves, to remind ourselves of the gift of the gospel and to built each other up in God’s love, in his mercy and truth in our lives.
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent, He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.”
--Psalm 27:4-6
When we wrap ourselves in worship around God; it’ll change our lives. We will see the world as God sees it, we will become more like Him as He sanctifies our lives. We imitate and become like the things / people we worship. So worship God. Wrap your entire beings around Him, around His statutes and commands. Take the worship of God seriously and use worship to form your life around Him, not just on Sundays but every single day.
Noah lived through a crisis yet he did not waiver in his worship of God. He sought God, obeyed God and God did a mighty work through Him. Genesis 8:22 ends on hope, on the continuing of seasons, on an abundance of life to come knowing that God has continued humanity to live on.
The Point: Worshiping God changes the Christian’s life; it changes perspective, it gives hope and it glorifies God giving true hope to God’s people and the world.