Believing in God

Genesis 1:1-5; Isaiah 64:8; Romans 1:20; Ephesians 4:1-2;

Good morning. Last week we were talking about preparing for the Wedding Feast, and welcoming others to join us in the banquet that the Lord our God has prepared for Christ for all who believe and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. With some help from the pastoral training that the Church of God requires us to go through before becoming ordained, and the pastors I look up to as mentors, guides, spiritual leaders, we’re now going to start a series about what it is that the Church of God movement believes that will carry us all the way into January. It is a wonderful journey through scripture, as well as church history that helps us to reaffirm what it is we believe. Much of today’s message comes from Pastor David Colp.

It is also a great way over these coming months, to introduce others to what believe, and why, that they might decide to join us whether that’s in person or online. We live in a time where Christians are abandoning their faith. Some real statistics for us.

SLIDE In 2020, 27% of congregations say they had lost 25% of their worship attendance and that was pre covid. In 2023, 30% of churches report a similarly steep drop. This year 54% of churches in America are experiencing a decline to some level.

If we look around the country, many who claim to be followers of Christ use scripture to attack, offend, hurt and cause people to run from the Lord, rather than sharing Christ in service, in love and kindness. Hypocrisy of professed Christians is the leading cause of people doubting the Christian faith. Where in many cases young adults who grew up in the church, aren’t able to stand on scriptures as they face discussions and questions about their faith. They attended church, but didn’t fully understand the word and grow in their faith in ways that could keep them from falling. That is a far too common them for many of us in our lives. At the same time, surveys this year show that 74% of US adults want to grow spiritually, and 77% say they believe in a higher power.

Which is why, What we believe, about the bible, about God, about Jesus Christ is critical, to our ability to walk in faith, walk in His righteousness, because we have none of our own. What we believe, is critical to walking in obedience, and holiness, so that the words that come out of our mouths, and the activities we engage in. The way we treat others, whether they know the Lord or not, demonstrates the love, the joy, the hope that we have by the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus. Part of the question all of us has to answer, not at the final judgment, but every day, is do I really believe, what I say I believe.

In this series that will last longer than three months we’re going to talk about what we believe about God…What we believe about the Bible…is it trustworthy? What we believe about Jesus…is what we know about him and what Christ came to this earth to do reliable? Did he literally rise from the dead?

We are going to talk about the question that doesn’t go away…that has caused more people to walk away from faith than any other…the question of Evil…the problem of evil…why there is evil in our world if there is a God that is good…we are going to talk about it all and what the foundations of the Church of God, to which we belong. “Every blood washed one.”

But, let’s start at the beginning…with what we believe about where we came from…where it ALL came from…

“The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be.” Carl Sagan. That was the opening line to Astronomer Carl Sagan’s book Cosmos. That line encapsulates one of the most pervasive ideas in our culture. The idea there is no God…the idea that everything we see, feel, touch, think…is all the result of natural forces at work. That nothing exists beyond the natural world…there is no supernatural…there are no spiritual events, or spiritual explanations that speak to the deeper questions of life and why we’re here.

A similar idea, and honestly a misperception is that science and faith are at odds. That any conversation around the origins of our universe that steps outside the naturalistic viewpoint isn’t valid… The idea there is no place in serious scientific discussions that says there is a God engaged in our world…engaged in the creation of our world.

The world we live in would summarize this idea by saying Science is real and faith in a God is fairy tales… myths created by ignorant human beings to explain things they couldn’t understand. Now, It hasn’t always been that way…for millennium leading scientists were people of faith. The foundations of science were built by people of faith…

People like: Isaac Newton who formulated the laws of gravity and motion but who actually wrote 10X’s more on theology than physics. For example, Newton wrote: “ “When is it that Nature does nothing in vain? And from where arises all that order and beauty which we see in the world? . . . Was the eye contrived without skill in optics? And the ear without knowledge of sounds. Does it not appear from phenomena that there is a Being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent, who in infinite space . . . sees the things themselves intimately, and thoroughly perceives them, and comprehends them wholly. This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all. . . . The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect . . . and from his true dominion it follows that the true God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being. . . . He is not eternity and infinity, but eternal and infinite; he is not duration or space, but he endures and is present.” [

Many other important scientists in our history. Robert Boyle known as the Father of Modern Chemistry who was also a devout believer noted for his writings in theology. Michael Faraday best known for work in electricity and electrochemistry, who as a follower of Christ also found time to be an elder in his church for more than 20 years. George Washington Carver a key agricultural scientist whose discoveries still influence farmers today was a man of great faith.

Carver said, “Religion is necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other”. Let me repeat that. “Religion is necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other”

Slide: “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind” Albert Einstein.

We don’t want to be blind…we don’t have to be afraid of science…we don’t have to check our brain at the door of the church. Our faith needs to be built on a solid foundation… It was Socrates who wrote, which became the basis for the oft-cited Socratic principle of inquiry, “We must follow the argument wherever, like a wind, it may lead us.”

So this morning lets follow the argument in answer to the question every worldview must answer… Where Do We Come from? Is there a God? Is there a God that is behind and engaged in all that was, all that is and all that ever will be? I will suggest this every week as long as the Lord calls me to be with you. If you know someone that isn’t here. Isn’t watching on line. Maybe walked away from the faith, whether they are participants in this church family or not …invite them…or share the link with them… Maybe by the end of this series all of us can be assured of our faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!

And for those of us who believe an accepted Christ into our hearts, wherever our walk may be in a lifelong journey of increasing obedience, holiness and serving others in the name of Christ, this is a season to strengthen your faith, and your ability to share your testimony about what we believe. And by the way, believe with absolute certainty that God exists, that His word is true, and that He cares and loves each of us in a powerful and meaningful way. Amen?

Slide: 1 Peter 3:15, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”

I wanted to share a couple of resources that were extremely helpful if you want to dig a little deeper than what we have time for. “I don’t have enough Faith to be an Atheist” by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek

“There is A God” by Anthony Flew…notorious atheist philosopher who came to believe in God as creator…it’s the story of his journey. Helpful podcast – “Cold Case Christianity” by J. Warner Wallace.

If we’re going to talk about what we Believe… we should start at beginning…at the beginning of God’s word to us…but also at the beginning of everything!

Slide: Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Truth . What we just read in Genesis 1:1 is the foundation for three major religious worldviews that answers that all important first question

Where did I come from? “In the Beginning, God created” is Theism: the idea that God made all. The Major Theistic religions are Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There is a personal God who created the universe but not completely part of it. It’s the difference between a painter and their painting. Or as Isaiah so clearly stated 64:8. But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”

The 2nd of the three major worldviews is what could be described as Pantheism. It’s the idea that God IS all… This would be the worldview of someone who believes in an impersonal god. Lower g. So instead of MAKING the painting or molding the clay…the pantheist would believe god IS the painting. God didn’t create everything, god is in everything that exists…grass, sky, you, me. Major pantheistic religions would be Hinduism, some forms of Buddhism, many forms of New Age. The 3rdMajor Worldview would be Atheism, although in fairness many atheist’s don’t see atheism as a worldview…we might call it Naturalism. It’s the idea there is NO God AT All

If we follow the analogy of the painting…the Naturalist would believe that what looks like a painting has always existed and no one painted it. Religious Humanists would fall into this category

So again…Theism – God MADE all; Pantheism – God IS all; Atheism/Naturalism – NO God AT all

Slide: Slide: Theism – God MADE all

Pantheism – God IS all

Atheism – No God AT all

I know we live in a world where we love for everyone to be right…our culture loves this idea that something can be true for you but doesn’t have to be true for me. That all truth is relative, so it doesn’t ultimately matter what we believe. But, that idea violates the basic laws of logic. Opposites can’t both be true…they can both be false but they can’t both be true at the same time in the same sense. One of the most fundamental laws of thought is the Law of Non-Contradiction. It states that something cannot be both true and false at the same time in the same sense.

Here it is simply… If it is true that God exists, then it is false that God does not exist. If theism is true, then atheism is false. So…if Christianity is true, then any view contrary to Christianity is false. In short…all views can’t be true…truth matters…what we believe about God and salvation and Jesus…it matters. It matters in our families, in our communities, and in eternity.

And despite all that’s going on in the world, what we believe individually and as a congregation matters in how we demonstrate that to others. Paul, from prison, writing to the Ephesians. “4: I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Paul’s not writing about bearing with one another in condemnation, but in love. Not discord of anger, frustration, and separation, but a unity. A Unity of the Spirit. God’s Spirit, in a bond of peace that holds us as Christians, together. As a shining beacon of hope high on the hill, that others might see us and come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

What I believe what we believe, about the bible, spirituality, morality and though it is often seen in negative meanings, what we believe about religion matters… because False ideas about truth lead to false ideas about life.

There isn’t anyone in this room, who doesn’t know in the very core of your being, that God exists! Let’s go back to Genesis 1:1, “In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Scientifically, A World of Causes Points to a First Cause. Everyone in this room, has lived long enough to know that there is cause, a reason that everything happens. The lawn got mowed, not because of random chain of events, and then suddenly it was, just well mowed.

On a regular basis I see dozens of bird species, because I have songbird and hummingbird feeders sitting right outside the windows where I can appreciate God’s creation. I see rabbits almost daily, and deer regularly. Chipmunks and squirrels too. They don’t just appear out of thin air magically, randomly, and then disappear when we’re not looking because we aren’t there to see them.

We talked about scientists, who believed in God, and that applies to philosophers as well. In the time of Plato and Aristotle, the Greek philosophers, a time of reason and logic… we said at the beginning today that there is evidence pointing us to the truth of God. The Cosmological argument…cosmos is a Greek word that means world or universe, which you can also find discussed and debated as the First Cause. So, it’s the argument from the beginning of the universe, the Big Bang theory even, that Everything that has a beginning has a cause…you don’t get something from nothing. Truth even in a Billy Preston song. Nothing from nothing leaves, nothing. You’ve got to have something. The Universe has a beginning, therefore, the universe has a cause

Slide: A World of Causes Points to a First Cause

Francis Bacon (the father of modern science) said, “True knowledge is knowledge of causes” In other words, science is a search for causes. We see in every facet of our universe that things that happen always have a cause. Most of us probably don’t remember back in

science class talking about the theory of Spontaneous Generation that life can come from nonlife…It was rejected back in the 18th century…

It was the idea that frogs come from mud…that pieces of cheese and bread wrapped in rags and left in a dark corner were thought to produce mice…leaving meat out to rot creates maggots… Something doesn’t come from nothing…living things don’t come from nonliving things. That first piece of the logic, Everything that had a beginning had a cause is the Law of Causality…the law of cause and effect

What about the 2ndpart…did the universe have a beginning? Most of us have at least heard of Einstein’s theory of Relativity…his theory gave scientific evidence the universe had a beginning… debunking the idea non-theists used to have that the universe was eternal. There has been in the decades since a wealth of other scientific discoveries that point to our universe having a beginning. And from that beginning point expanding…

Consider the 2nd law of Thermodynamics…it states in a closed system (like our universe) the amount of useable energy is decreasing. In short, the universe is running out of useable energy. Agnostic astrophysicist Robert Jastrow admitted that reality when he said, “Minute by minute and year by year, as hydrogen is used up in stars, the supply of this element in the universe grows smaller”

Anyone who drives a car knows the basic concept…in the closed system of your car you fill up the tank…you drive the car and it eventually runs out of energy…gas…and back to the gas station we go

So, if there is still energy in our universe as there is…then it’s not been here forever…the universe is not eternal

It had a beginning

AND Again…if everything that had a beginning had a cause

THEN the Universe had a cause

Just so we’re clear.

Slide: Either someone created something out of nothing (The Christian View), or no one created something out of nothing (The Atheistic View). From “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist

Is the most logical conclusion that the cause was an intelligent designer…God…or Nothing? Do you believe God caused something or Nothing caused something… I love the title of the book mentioned earlier…I don’t have enough Faith to be an Atheist… We have a rational foundation for our faith in the uncaused cause which is our God!

But…Oh Wait…there is more

Design Points to a Designer

The 2nd piece of evidence pointing to our God can be described by another big fancy word as the Teleological argument. It gets its name from the Greek word Telos which means design. It’s the evidence that points to God from Design. Now here’s the Logic

Every Design has a Designer. The Universe has a highly complex design. Therefore, the Universe has a designer

It was Isaac Newton who marveled at the design of our solar system writing, “This most beautiful system of sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being.”

And it was William Paley who is credited with making the common-sense argument…every watch requires a watchmaker. You don’t walk down the street…find a diamond studded Rolex and conclude it must have come as the result of wind…rain…erosion…a lucky combination of random natural forces. That’s ridiculous. There is no question there is a watchmaker, a potter, somewhere who assembled this finely tuned timepiece that is the universe we live in.

Science continues to discover example after example of the finetuning of the universe. Finetuning that has resulted in scores of improbable and interdependent life supporting conditions that make our world as we know it livable

Slide: Design Points to a Designer

Let me give you some examples of that design…of the finetuning for life we see in our World

21% of oxygen in the air is just right for life (more and we would burn up, less and we would suffocate).

The sun is just the right distance from the earth (closer and we would burn up, farther we would freeze).

The 23% tilt of the earth if just right for life (otherwise it would get too cold at night and too hot during the day).

IF the rotation of the earth took longer than 24hrs, temp differences would be too great between night and day…earth unable to sustain life

If the rotation period were shorter, atmospheric wind velocities would be too great…again no life

If Jupiter were not in its current orbit, the earth would be bombarded with space material…Jupiter’s gravitational field acts like a ginormous cosmic vacuum cleaner in space attracting asteroids and comets that would otherwise strike earth

Any of the laws of physics can be described as a function of the velocity of light 186,282 miles/sec. Even a slight variation in the speed of light would alter the other constants and preclude the possibility of life on earth

Those are only a few of the more than 100 narrowly defined constants that powerfully point to an intelligent designer

Astronomer Fred Hoyle concluded, “A commonsense interpretation of the facts suggest that a super intellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature”

The fine tuning of the universe requires intelligence…requires a God.

Morality Points to a Moral Lawgiver

The third and final piece of evidence we have time to share for the existence of our God goes like this…

Every Law has a Law Giver

There is a Moral Law

Therefore, there is a Moral Law Giver

It’s hard to argue with the fact that we have a moral law written on our hearts. A prescription that defines the basics of right and wrong. Some call that prescription “conscience”. Others call it “Natural Law”. Our founding fathers called it “Nature’s Law”. As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence…Nature’s Law is “self-evident”. That moral law…that moral standard prescribed on the hearts of all human beings points to a moral law prescriber. Every prescription has a prescriber.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there are not debates and disagreements about certain things that are right and wrong. Some suppress the truth just like Romans 1 refers to…suppress the truth that absolute morality exists. But, clearly in our world there are basic principles of right and wrong that everyone knows. We all know it’s wrong to kill innocent human beings for no reason…now people might …ignore that knowledge . . . or pretend it doesn’t apply to them. Murdering innocent people is wrong for everyone … everywhere… America, India, Zimbabwe

Illus: I’m reminded of the trials of Nazi war criminals following WW2 in Nuremburg when the world came together to form the international military tribunal. Nazi Germany leaders stood trail for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity. With those crimes being defined by the Moral Law we collectively hold as human beings.

The world recognized there is a law that all people inherently understand. We couldn’t have said the Nazi’s were absolutely wrong unless we knew what was absolutely right

As CS Lewis said, you don’t know what a crooked line is without having some ideas of a straight line.

God has written that straight line on our hearts…

This moral law written on our hearts points to our moral law giver

God is our moral law giver!

Conclusion

I love what Robert Jastrow said in the conclusion of his book, “God and the Astronomers”

“For the Scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries”

Science and Faith are not at odds…in fact I love the foundation that science helps us build…a foundation our faith stands on…BUT, At the end of the day…both the Theist and the Atheist are people of faith and its honest intellectually to acknowledge that… I either believe by faith…not blind faith…but a reasonable faith that God created…that God is the great uncaused cause OR I believe by faith there is no God and so all that is came from nothing

Either someone created something out of nothing (The Christian View), or no one created something out of nothing (The Atheistic View)

I’m choosing by faith to believe God the great uncaused cause who is totally beyond what I can comprehend with my limited intellect…created everything we know

As Mortimer Adler observed, “our conclusion about God impacts every area of our lives. It is the key to finding unity and diversity and ultimate meaning in life. It is literally the most important question for every human being to address.”

You might be here today and there have always been hurdles to putting your faith in God

There are so many things in our world…in science in rational thought and logic that point to a God who created

Well that same God wants to be in relationship with you!

But, we must come to him by faith

Putting faith in the person and work of his Son Jesus Christ and what he did for us to make a way for us to be in relationship with God

We don’t want to merely have an intellectual agreement that God exists. But we must put our faith in Him…in his son as our Savior. As I pray in just a moment will you put your faith in Him? Or ask Him to move you into a deeper, stronger relationship by the power of His spirit, that others may come to know Jesus Christ through what they see the Lord doing in you.

Are you here today or watching today and you know someone that needs Christ?. Lift them up in prayer. Pray for opportunities to love them and help them take a step towards God. Maybe even using something we talked about today, as the relationship grows into a place where you can share God’s word, not force God’s word, but share His patience, His love, His Joy, with them.

As technology cooperates we broadcast live Sunday mornings on Facebook. Share the sermon across your Facebook pages. Inviting others to come join us, in person or on line.

Slide: 1 Peter 3:15, “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect”

(Prayer)