Tag Archives: Genesis 6

The Work

Genesis 6:14-22

Warren Wiersbe, in his study on Genesis entitled Be Basic, talks about some things we can learn from Noah. Yesterday I shared about the fact that Noah was a believing man who walked with God. What a privilege we have of that same walk with God as we believe on HIs Son.

Today I concentrated on the second of Noah’s attributes that are imitation-worthy. Wiersbe says Noah was a faithful man who worked for God. I’d like to described as a faithful woman who works for God.

Throughout Scripture we are told that faith and works go together. James tells us faith without works is dead, meaning that if you aren’t actively working for the Lord, you’d better check your faith-pulse.

But we’re also told that we are saved through faith and not our works. I think Noah is a great example of the truth if it.

It started with Noah’s faith. God didn’t find favor with Noah because Noah was a nice guy. Noah was the only person (and by extension his sons and family) in the world who still honored God. Noah demonstrated his faith to the world by obeying God’s instruction to build a big boat on dry land. Not just a big boat, mind you. Probably the biggest structure built my any man at that time.

Plus… it had to be seaworthy.

For 120 years Moses dragged lumber, mixed pitch, pounded nails, all the while explaining the importance of what he was doing to the masses who simply laughed at him. Regardless of their opinions, Noah kept working for God. God was providing the means of salvation for anyone who would believe. And Noah would not be deterred from being instrumental in that work.

You say you’ve placed your faith in God. What does that look like? God has provided the means of salvation for anyone who believes. Are you being instrumental in HIs work?

Moses could have had all the faith in the world. But without doing the work God had given him, things would look quite differently today. Have faith in God. Then get to work.

Righteousness

Genesis 6

Warren Wiersbe (Be Basic; David C Cook publisher; 2010; p 105ff) challenges us to be men and women who have the same attributes as Noah. Genesis 6:9 gives us four traits to emulate. Noah was righteous, blameless, and he walked with God. Verse 22 tells us Noah was obedient.

I’m going to consider each characteristic separately for the next four days. So today the question is: what is righteousness?

Is righteousness the same as religious? Is it something I can aspire to achieve? The Apostle Paul has quite a bit to say about that.

In Galatians 2:21 he says that if we could be righteous through the law, meaning being good and following the rules, then Christ died for nothing. So, no, we can’t be good enough to call ourselves righteous. If we could, Jesus sure went through a lot of grief for nothing. And we know He didn’t die for nothing.

Religion doesn’t save, nor does God accept our good deeds as a trade-off for sin.

Again in Titus 3:5 Paul says:

He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness comes from God, from his own mercy, and not from anything we do. Righteousness, or being right before God, isn’t something to be bartered.

And in 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul explains:

For our sake he (God the Father) made him (Jesus) to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might becomes the righteousness of God.

Did you catch that? In Jesus we BECOME the righteousness of God. We don’t earn it. We become it through faith in the risen Savior. Paul emphasizes our need of God’s righteousness when he quotes an Old Testament passage:

There is none righteous, no, not one. (Romans 3:10)

The precious truth is that even though we can’t hope to be right in God’s eyes because of our sin, Jesus – who IS righteous – places His own righteousness on anyone who believes. We become the righteousness of God Himself!

Proverbs 21:21 says:

Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.

Pursuing righteousness doesn’t mean trying harder to be good or acceptable to God. It has nothing to do with how “good” we are. Pursuing righteousness means pursuing Jesus.

Commit your way to the Lord, trust him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. (Proverbs 14:34)

The Lord’s righteousness, His perfect standing before God, becomes mine and He who IS light will shine through me as bright as broad daylight.

When you consider Noah, God’s light shown through him all those years he was hammering on that big boat and preaching the need for repentance. He stood out like a sore thumb in a world of sin and rejection of God. So should we.

Are you pursuing Jesus? Have you submitted to Him and allowed Him to dress you in His righteousness for all the world to see? This is my prayer for us all.

Compromise

Genesis 6:1-8

Wiersbe uses the word “compromise” in his commentary on these verses in his Be Basic study series. Before the flood, godly people began marrying ungodly people. The godly people knew better.

Maybe they told themselves, “you can’t help who you love.” Maybe they thought, “my body, my choice,” or “God wants me to be happy.” Oh, they knew that joining together with God’s enemies was wrong according to the Law given them by God. But they did it anyway.

They might have convinced themselves that through their bond with them, the ungodly people would recognize their wickedness and cross over to the godly side. But a good apple never makes a barrel of rotten apples good. In fact, a good apple tied to a rotten apple doesn’t even make that one rotten apple good.

You and I, as children of God through the blood of His Son Jesus, are called to be a holy people, separate from the world, standing firm in our faith and on the Word of God. One compromise isn’t insignificant.

Compromise is just a dressed up word for sin.