Emma Stark: Am I My Brother’s Keeper? Yes! (Genesis 6:11)

00:00 - God is a family, and we are made together in his image, male and female.

00:00 - And of course we read that Adam it was not good for him to be alone and Genesis chapter one probably up to Genesis chapter 11, we are learning that families, tribes peoples, nations, acting together is truly, like God.

00:00 - You can I say something very strong and very direct to you.

00:00 - You cannot therefore, reflect God fully as an individual.

00:00 - You cannot reflect God fully, by yourself.

00:00 - - Come on. - You cannot reflect God fully, just by being within a tribe who are exactly like you.

00:00 - You cannot represent God fully just by being a cohesive denomination political party, or small grouping.

00:00 - You can only reflect God, in diversity, being together.

00:00 - Different things matter. You represent God, best in unity, in diversity.

00:00 - The Trinity and that is the story of Genesis one to chapter 11 and I’m gonna go through this and I am going to teach you some things here.

00:00 - In Eden, they are naked, Adam and Eve.

00:00 - This is pre the fall and their differences are physically obvious.

00:00 - But they are different, with no shame.

00:00 - Now what happens when sin comes in, is it starts to fracture, and it fractures the unity first, of a husband and wife.

00:00 - And so husband and wife see their differences, they nitpick back at each other as to who’s to blame and sin fractures unity.

00:00 - Now, when that is left unchecked, it starts to fracture families.

00:00 - Of course Cain killed Abel this monster sleep evil thought, come out of the brothers mind am I my brother’s keeper? And he’s basically saying in great partnership with Satan this is a real demonically inspired line in scripture.

00:00 - That comes am I my brother’s keeper. He’s saying, look, do I have responsibility for those I consider my opponents? Do I have responsibility for those who I think are a threat? Do I have a responsibility for China who I might be a bit wary off? Do I have responsibility for a political party that I think stands against me, that am I my brother’s keeper them over there which is this demonic line that goes against the concept of fruitful responsibility for each other in diversity.

00:00 - So let’s keep going, we split a family in the first few chapters of scripture.

00:00 - We are only in chapter four, okay And we are seven generations in two man.

00:00 - And we get this guy called Lamarck or the lmarck.

00:00 - And he is where we start to see city fracturing or community members in fracturing.

00:00 - So we seem to race through offense, disunity polarization division from a husband and wife to families, to whole communities.

00:00 - It is there in the biblical text at warp speed, okay So by Genesis chapter six, you get this concept.

00:00 - The earth was full of reading to you out to Genesis six verse 11.

00:00 - The earth was corrupt and full of violence.

00:00 - And that is a play on words from earlier that were supposed to tell us that the earth was to be was to be full of humans and fruitful.

00:00 - But by six chapters, it’s full of corruption and violence.

00:00 - And we see this violent mindset come in, you’ve got to watch this because we see that in some nations in the earth, right night a violent mindset, a violent mindset comes in on the back of layered sin, That I have the right to storm something.

00:00 - I have the right to be violent as a greater fracturing of relationships.

00:00 - And Satan gives the gift of violence into situations of layered sin where the purpose is destruction, even more of any unity.

00:00 - And we have lost all sense of the fact that we are a family, but different.

00:00 - And so by the time you get to Noah’s Ark, you get this we are only seven, eight chapters in discripture.

00:00 - Come on i hope we’re learning this morning or this afternoon because I’m gonna keep going here that it has to be a flood.

00:00 - Why does it have to be a flood? Cause it’s got to wash with water the blood of the violence of disunity that had been spread.

00:00 - No, stay with me, cause this is really robust biblical thinking.

00:00 - You must understand this from scripture. All right. Not just because a prophet said but understand it from scripture, Genesis chapter 10.

00:00 - Oh, it’s majestic. you must read it. And Genesis chapter 10 is called the table of nations.

00:00 - Just one you want to dance. By the time you get to Genesis 10, don’t you? the table of nations, this concept of a family of nations and 70 are listed there.

00:00 - Now there’s more than 70, who were in existence but this is God with this artistic license saying look, I’m gonna give you a number that gives you the concept of perfection.

00:00 - The family of nations this common unity through Adam and Noah.

00:00 - And he’s saying God is saying to us there look all nations, all tribes all people groups have a common source.

00:00 - You are all made in the image of God. You’re supposed to be after the unity of the international community.

00:00 - Why? Because you have common origin. Are you, this is mass thinking about nations.

00:00 - You must not be unto another nation. You must not be suspicious of other nations.

00:00 - You must have your differences. Even in nations, as secondary to the fact that you are in the family of humanity and in the image of God and how you look at the Chinese or the Asian or the Europeans or the Africans really matters because we must know that we are all even the political party.

00:00 - I don’t like we are all first in the image of God.

00:00 - We have a common origin birth by God for God.

00:00 - You must think family nations, family of nations tables of nations and hatred and violence and the suspicion puts us against our spice.

00:00 - It puts heads against our children. It puts us against our community.

00:00 - It puts us against our church family. It puts us against a political party.

00:00 - It puts us against another tribe. And that puts us into the place of national Wars.

00:00 - How are you and I going to stop civil war? How are you and I going to stop international world war threes? We are going to go back to Genesis 10.

00:00 - And we are going to understand that we are in the image of God, a family of nations.

00:00 - Are we are gonna lay hands on our own stinking thinking.

00:00 - And we’re gonna say, God, give me a family of nations mindset, about everybody I know.

00:00 - And every group that I meet. .