Sermon Tone Analysis

/In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth/…

 

/This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created./

/When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens — and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground — the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being/.

Any description of the Living God is doomed to disappointment.

This is due in no small measure to the impoverishment of human language.

We are compelled to speak of God in less than precise terms which are mostly disappointing.

We might list His attributes (all of which He has revealed to us) and thus to a degree gain insight into His character.

When we adopt such an approach to understanding the Lord God, we consistently encounter one term which seems best suited to speaking of God: God is Love.

At the beginning of the Creation account God is the focus and in that account He reveals His great love both for man and for the whole of His creation.

While the word *love* is not employed the demonstration of divine love is evident from the text.

God’s Care — So very often we mortals have permitted ourselves to be deluded into thinking that the Living God does not care for His creation.

We live as though God somehow initiated the universe, setting history in motion, and since that time He has been unconcerned for what occurs.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

From the beginning God has demonstrated His care and concern for His creation always revealing His love toward man, the apex of His creation.

The text of the message speaks of God’s care for creation as He demonstrates His rich provision for the earth.

Listen to the words of the text.

/When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground/.

Over twenty-five years ago, in the December 1973 issue of *Reader’s Digest*, there appeared an article by the historian Arnold J. Toynbee.

The title of Professor Toynbee’s article is *The Genesis of Pollution*.

It was his belief, as set forth in that article, that the blame for pollution in our present world, if not in whole then in the main, may be justly laid at the feet of monotheistic religions.

In particular he has Christianity squarely in his sights.

Professor Toynbee sates:

 

*The thesis of this essay … is that some of the major maladies of the present-day world—in particular the recklessly extravagant consumption of nature’s irreplaceable treasures, and the pollution of these not already devoured—can be traced back to a religious cause*.

Briefly, the foundations presented for this assertion may be summarised as follows:

 

1.

Pre-monotheistic man worshipped “Mother Earth”.

2.         Upon the implementation of monotheism, greed became unrestrained, resulting in the exploitation of nature by man.

3.         Western Christians are responsible for the overthrow of the traditional balance between man and nature.

Professor Toynbee merely verbalises what many of our contemporaries hold to be truth in the back of their minds.

Humanism has polluted our thinking so very much that we are powerless to think otherwise without the intervention of the Spirit of God.

Allow me to touch each of these points in order.

First, note that *There was no Pre-monotheistic Man*.

The earliest accounts of man clearly portray a race which worshipped one God—the Lord God, Creator of Heaven and earth!

Think rationally!

We have no earlier accounts than those which God has Himself provided, and those which He has given begin *in the beginning*.

So many thoughtless individuals assume because they wish to believe there is no God, or because they wish to exclude God from their lives, that earliest man was polytheistic and only later did man learn to worship one God.

In the passage before us, we are introduced to !yhil¿a> hw:hyÒ—the Lord God.

Were we to literally translate His Name we would learn that He is the Self-existent God.

There is no God other than the Living God.

Those are powerful words which Isaiah has written.

\\ /To whom, then, will you compare God? /

/What image will you compare him to?

/

/…To whom will you compare me? /

/Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.

/

/Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: /

/Who created all these?

/

/He who brings out the starry host one by one, /

/and calls them each by name.

/

/Because of his great power and mighty strength, /

/not one of them is missing/.

/Why do you say, O Jacob, /

/and complain, O Israel, /

/“My way is hidden from the LORD; /

/my cause is disregarded by my God”? /

/Do you not know?

/

/Have you not heard?

/

/The LORD is the everlasting God, /

/the Creator of the ends of the earth.

/

/He will not grow tired or weary, /

/and his understanding no one can fathom/…

 

/This is what the LORD says to his anointed, /

/to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of /

/to subdue nations before him /

/and to strip kings of their armour, /

/to open doors before him /

/so that gates will not be shut: /

/I will go before you /

/and will level the mountains; /

/I will break down gates of bronze /

/and cut through bars of iron.

/

/I will give you the treasures of darkness, /

/riches stored in secret places, /

/so that you may know that I am the LORD, /

/the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

/

/For the sake of Jacob my servant, /

/of Israel my chosen, /

/I summon you by name /

/and bestow on you a title of honour, /

/though you do not acknowledge me.

/

/I am the LORD, and there is no other; /

/apart from me there is no God.

/

/I will strengthen you, /

/though you have not acknowledged me, /

/so that from the rising of the sun /

/to the place of its setting /

/men may know there is none besides me.

/

/I am the LORD, and there is no other.

/

/I form the light and create darkness, /

/I bring prosperity and create disaster; /

/I, the LORD, do all these things…/

/For this is what the LORD says— /

/he who created the heavens, /

/he is God; /

/he who fashioned and made the earth, /

/he founded it; /

/he did not create it to be empty, /

/but formed it to be inhabited— /

/he says: /

/“I am the LORD, /

/and there is no other.

/

/I have not spoken in secret, /