Creation

RETOLD

Part 1: Creation

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago when we lived in Alabama, we built our very first house.   It is the first house we ever built, and I am not sure I have the desire to ever build again.  It was 8 months of constant decisions.  From where do you want the light switches and which switch should turn on which light to size of doors, windows, color of paint….you get the drift.  When we first started the house, we were so excited.  Rachel was pregnant with Ellie and was finishing her residency.  We had bought land in a subdivision, and we had a couple of acres.  We had bought our architectural plans from a Texas architectural firm (of course), and our builder was set to start.  We had our budget in place.  The week before we were to start digging the footers, I got a bit of bad news.  Actually, it was really bad news.  My builder called me and said that when they tested the soil, it was too soft.  I, being a novice, asked what that meant.  “Oh, about 10-20k more dollars,” he said.  As Rachel woke me up from passing out (I kid), I asked him why.  How could our calculations be off? We were on a tight budget…Very tight…like we cannot have any mistakes budget.  He let me know that in the corners where our house would sit, we would have to dig 12-15 feet and maybe even twenty to firm ground to anchor the home.  I asked him what would happen if we did not. He said he informed that I better get sink hole insurance and maybe not ever occupy the home. 

****TRANSITION****

When it comes to our faith, many of us can fall in some sinkholes and be destroyed, because we are not anchored in some foundational truths.  

The rest of this year, we are going to focus on some of the most important stories in the Bible.  You will probably know most of the “what” to the stories.  But the “what” never forms us foundational.  The “why” does.

The “why” behind these stories helps us understand God uniquely and that understanding truly shape to how we live, how we relate to one another, how we love one another.  This truth shapes our identity.  

So, let dig in and dive in for today.

BIG IDEA

God is the Creator.  Everything (love, marriage, sex, relationships, identity) is centered upon this belief.  

John Calvin says it this way (paraphrased): If you do not recognize God as creator first, you cannot know Him as Lord, redeemer, savior, or mediator.

And, I think its true.  If he is not the creator, then everything falls a part.

BIBLE VERSE

Genesis 1:1  

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

BIBLE VERSE

Genesis 1:26-27 - 26 

Then God said, “Let us make man[a] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Looking at this passage (really all of Genesis 1), I noted three points.  Write this down.

1:  God is the origin of all life.

Genesis 1:1 is full of meaning.  This brief segment is pregnant with meaning.  I could probably teach 6 weeks of this passage alone.  In this passage we get our Doctrine or belief of God.  The language used for God here is plural, so we get our doctrine of the Trinity.  Furthermore, we see the working of God up close.  God is the creator.  

God created everything.  There was nothing before him.  He is eternal.  It completely boggles my mind when I think about it.  God has always been. 

Genesis employs a special Hebrew verb for the act of creation (bārā’) the subject of which is always God. No other subject is employed or implied. Man, too, “creates” (poetry, music, literature, architectural wonders, for example) but not in this sense. “To create” is exclusively an act of God, and by employing it in the first and last verse of the creation story (1:1 and 2:4), the writer is employing something that looks like “bookends” that encase the central idea that God is at work. 

But not only did he create.  He created out of nothing.  This is unique in the ancient world.  The cradle of civilization (ancient near east) had Gods, but they all created with stuff or matter, but our God made up the stuff, and then created it.  Think of the power.  Can you imagine? Look with me at Genesis 2:5-10:

BIBLE VERSE

Genesis 2:4-10

4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. 5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

So, here is the idea…

GOD IS THE ORIGIN OF ALL LIFE

GOD IN CREATION DECLARES ALL THAT HE MADE AS GOOD.

EVERYTHING IN ITS ORIGINAL INTENT DECLARES GOD’S GLORY

ALL LIFE IS SACRED BECAUSE GOD IS THE CREATOR

Now, God does give commands that man is the supreme creation.  We are to have dominion and should steward the earth.  He has provided animals, vegetation, for our pleasure and our sustenance.  Some people miss this.  One of my closest friends from College is a pastor of a large church in Tulsa 

The major paper in Oklahoma did a story on him and put a huge picture of him in the paper.  Now, Jamie is a hunter.  He goes to Africa while he is on missions trips and he uses his own money to go on these big game hunts. He has killed zebra, antelope, huge deer like creatures (sorry, not a hunter) and he has them all over his office.  When the paper came out, the picture had him standing in front of 8 animal head that he killed.  They serve the meat to villagers etc, but anyway he called me recently and said he has had hate mail, hate phone calls, editorials written about his hypocrisy and being a killer of God’s beloved animals.  

Listen, sometimes we miss the point that God creates life.  But, the supreme creation is human beings.  God does not give animals to think or feel.  Listen, my dog Max does not love me.  He just knows that I am the dude that gives him food….and scratches his belly…he operates off of instinct.  But man, has been given intellect, emotions, freewill (Max can’t decide he is going to drive a car) and thumbs.  We are supreme in his creation, but that supremacy brings about responsibility.  WHY? BECAUSE WE ARE MADE IMAGE OF THE ONE WHO BRINGS ABOUT LIFE.

2: God is the one who brings order to the world.

Have you ever wondered why it took God one day at a time to create.  After all, he really did have the power to do it all at once.  

Get this….he wanted to display his awesomeness.

If you have ever been to another country especially one in Asia, it can be stimulation overload.  There are so many things to see, it is hard to focus.  Most of the time, I stick to one area or a routine because my mind and body cannot take it.  

It is the same thing with creation.  It can be so vastly overwhelming.  You can’t take it all in.  

So, I think when God created, he created….and just soaked it all in and sat back and went….I’m awesome.  

Think about it.  He divides the land and the water….then he starts thinking…it is time to make some funky stuff….BOOM: (pic) rainbow shrimp, BOOM (pic): seahorse; BOOM (pic): a stinking fish with a horn known as a narwhal.  Then a day later: BOOM (pic): baby hedgehog

Not only that, he created their instinct, what they would eat, who would be their predator, or who would be their prey.  There was a divine order and detail.  He controlled them all.

One OT scholar believes that what you really see in the creation account is not so much material creation but creation that is functional…the purposes behind the creation itself.

Look what he does with man.

BIBLE VERSE

Genesis 2:15-18

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.16 And the Lord God COMMANDED the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

LOOK AT WHAT HAPPENS…

GOD MAKES MAN

GOD GIVES MAN A PURPOSE OR FUNCTION

WITHIN THAT FUNCTION THERE ARE RULES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

But, because of rebellion, we resist all of it.  God may have made us, but I get to decide where I want to go, when I want to go, how I want to go and NOBODY CAN STOP ME.

WHY DO WE DO THIS? BECAUSE WE HAVE MADE OURSELVES AN IDOL. 

WE ACTUALLY THINK IT IS UNFAIR OR UNLOVING FOR ANYONE (INCLUDING GOD) TO TELL US WHAT TO DO.

What are you saying Jason?  I am saying God created and he set the rules in motion.

There was a moment in Job when Job (lost everything) and he makes this statement as he making his case of his own righteousness…he says to God….Oh that I had someone to hear me. Answer me.  He was convinced that he was holy.

God does answer him and says this: (38:3) He says alright big boy….I’ll answer you and says….where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth (it gets worse from there) for the next four chapters God lays it down.  

JOB 38/39

Vs 16: have you entered the see or walked the deepest parts?

Vs 34: Can you lift up your voice to the clouds and cause a flood?

Vs: 39: Can you hunt the prey for the lion or satisfy their young?

39:19: Do you give the horse his might?

Vs 26: Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars?

LOOK AT HOW JOB RESPONDS:

BIBLE VERSE

Job 40:3-5

3 Then Job answered the LORD and said: 

4 “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. 5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.” 

God continues to ask Job where was he and ultimately Job relented by saying:

BIBLE VERSE

Job 42:2-6

2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  4 ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself,  and repent in dust and ashes.” 

These few chapters in Job don’t just point to Jobs rebuke, but they point to the God who is in charge.  He makes the rules, and because he created us all, he has every right to make those rules….

I know, I know, some of you want to respond, but that’s not fair….ok, just try to go to the deepest part of the ocean and take a walk.  

God is mightier than us.  He knows all…..EVERYTHING.  Nothing escapes his knowledge.  He set everything in motion, therefore he sets the order.  

Now, don’t get me wrong.  Question God.  He is big enough to answer.  Just know how he is going to answer.  Simply, he is God.

So, what do we do with this? God’s creator, he sets the order or makes the rules, I acknowledge that…

3: Faith and hope begins with a recognition that he is creator.

When you acknowledge Him as creator, faith can begin to swell in your heart.  

Listen, I have never been a part of a true healing miracle.  I know there are some who have and I do not doubt their experience.  Why?  Because, I believe in a God who can make something out of nothing.  The worldwide flood, no problem (God created something out of nothing, he can certainly flood the earth with a miniscule thought (by the way every culture that has been discovered has a flood narrative in the history).  

I am not asking you to believe that the earth is 4800 years old or 1 million years old (and theologians debate this)….that honestly is a distraction.  But, if God created something out of nothing, then would this be impossible for him? No.

Faith begins with the knowledge that there is something bigger than you out there. Something that has infinitely greater knowledge than you.  

Look at what Hebrews says: 

BIBLE VERSE

Hebrews 11:1-3 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Then the writer of Hebrews goes on about the great acts of faith accomplished by God’s people.

Next week, we will look at the original purpose of marriage, at some point in this series, we will talk about gender issues, but listen if you do not recognize him as CREATOR first, then you will NEVER be able to make the leap to Lord and redeemer.  Everything flows from this belief.

CS Lewis says this (and I have grown to love his wisdom and insight…brilliant)

“[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.” 

PRAY