Genesis 1:3b "... and God divided the light from the darkness."

Who can divide light from dark but God? We can go into a dark room and turn a light on, but there is still darkness, it’s just obscured by the light. The moment we turn the light out, the darkness is revealed. Is darkness inherently evil? Is light inherently good? No, all things are from God, so darkness and light must both be good creations.

So, where does dark get it's bad rap? Well, bad things tend to happen in the dark. It’s not the dark ... it’s the people in the dark. People do bad things in the dark. We take an aspect of God’s creation and leverage it for our own purposes of sin. Guns don’t kill people but people who point guns at people and pull the trigger kill people. It’s an act of the free will that God allows us to exercise.

Genesis 1:2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. NKJV

From the beginning, God has been present and at work in dark places. He is not content with formless and void, but desires to bring creative expression where the destructive forces of sin have wreaked havoc. When we feel like we are drowning in the deep, God calls us out of the dirge.

Genesis 1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. NASB

One of the most difficult lessons for us to learn is that in darkness, God invites us to draw near to Him. Sometimes, what we perceive as a dark place is actually God's refuge. Daniel, while in the den of lions, was in the safest place he could have been. In the pit, God had shut the mouths of lions. Outside the pit, men were out to kill him. Notice, though, that when Daniel was pulled out of the den and his enemies thrown in, what was safety for Daniel became death. 

Such is the contrast of life for those who love God. It's a paradox that is beyond our comprehension. How can God be in the darkness? How can danger be safety? How can death bring life? It's the mystery of contrast in the life of God's kids.

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Today, Calvary of Birmingham had our first service. It was an incredible time. We started with Matthew 1:1 (Thursday we will start with Genesis 1:1) and we continued through the genealogy of the first 17 verses. Most well adjusted pastors would probably have just touched on the genealogy, but I'm not a well adjusted pastor and Calvary of Birmingham is not your usual church. I've made a commitment to the Lord to teach verse by verse and chapter by chapter and that's what I'm going to do ... relentlessly.

When the Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70, they also destroyed all the genealogical records (which were publicly available in the Temple). To this day, there is no Jew who can officially trace his genealogy back to Abraham, and none that can trace his genealogy back to David ... except for One ... and here in Matthew, this is His genealogy recorded by the Holy Spirit for our edification and encouragement.

Jesus' genealogy is replete with sinners. I don't know about you, but I was not able to choose my family, although I couldn't have chose better. Jesus, however, was able to choose his family and He did not exactly choose the cream of the crop. The real kicker is that these people made it into His genealogy because they were sinners, not despite that fact. To this day, Jesus continues to choose sinners for His family ... me, you. Incredible. God is so good!

John 1:11 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. NLT

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Matthew 5:19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. NKJV

One day, I was sitting outside a Kmart in Mt Airy when an older couple parked their late model pickup a few spaces in front of my line of sight. The lady was driving. She exited before the man and walked around behind the vehicle to the other side. Before she got there the man opened his door. As the man disembarked from the truck a bottle fell out and onto the ground. I watched as he placed his foot in top of the bottle and applied full weight until the bottle flattened against the tar. As he did this, the lady helped a young boy from his seat to the ground. Absently, as he lumbered forward, the man kicked the bottle a few feet ahead and it lodged under the front wheel of a parked car. He walked toward it as if he was going to pick it up but then turned toward his wife and the boy and kept going. As the lady shut the passenger door, another ball of trash fell to the ground.

I couldn't help but wonder how this lack of concern by these adults for the world around them was rubbing off on this young boy. My next thought was that I shouldn't be so judgmental and I wondered how many absent minded things I must do every day; who is observing and being influenced. My mind turned to the young boy and what he learned by watching absent minded actions ... Not just theirs but mine.

It's so easy to cast blame towards other people. In quickly judging these people, I discerned something about myself. That's great ... but am I going to make something of it or absent minded kick it to the back of my mind?

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