The Why.

Scripture Reading

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.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Introduction

So Foundations.

Last week we talked about the where. Where do we come from?

That was important because that’s the first question we need to ask. Where.

We were created by God who’s infinite, but more importantly, loves us and has a personal connection with us.

We talked about how an IMpersonal God or the belief that we were just created by probability and chance, has a hard time explaining things like human rights, social justice, and just the intrinsic ideas of love and value that we see around us.

Today we’re going to go another step deeper and talk about Why.

Okay so maybe God did create us, but why did he create us.

We turn to this passage Genesis 1. The most famous piece of literature in history. In humanities and AP composition I think I did an essay on this chapter.

You guys know the chapter right? Been in church long enough.

God says a bunch of things and they happen and he made the world.

A lot of people look to this chapter to try to understand the how and people debate over the how a lot.

But as you guys know different books or movies or shows have an intention right?

I don’t know what TV shows you guys watch nowadays, but you don’t watch Friends to learn about the social psychology and as a social commentary about friends in the 21st century.

You watch it to just have fun or get a laugh or just have it in the background while doing work.

You don’t watch Game of Thrones as a historical documentary. You don’t see people saying, wow Game of Thrones sucked it had dragons in the show. How unrealistic is that? 0 out of 5.

I actually haven’t seen Game of Thrones actually, I think it’s rated R too right? So yeah don’t watch it.

But when you watch something you have an understanding of what it’s trying to do.

Same thing with Genesis here.

The purpose of Genesis isn’t to explain how the earth was created and go into detail scientifically of what God exactly did.

The purpose of Genesis is more important than how we were created.

It’s to explain why we were created.

If I flick Josh in the head randomly. He’s not going to be like, “hmmm how did PJ exactly flick me”.

Did he use his index finger or middle finger. How much pressure did he exactly apply.

He’s going to be like “DUDE PJ why did you flick me??”

The how can be very interesting don’t get me wrong, I watch a ton of YouTube videos of how things are made, but it’s not as important as the why.

Sure maybe you want to learn something to be able to get a job or be smarter, but see that’s a reason why you watch those videos.

So today, we’ll break it out into 2 sections of why God created us.

1. We can see why God created us by who God is.

2. We can see why God created us in God’s response to creating us.

Let’s pray

Prayer

Thank you God for another Sunday that we are able to gather to worship you and praise your name.

You are truly tremendous and amazing.

Today we come before you with a humble heart.

We realize how small we are compared to the universe. We realize how fragile we are. We realize how mean spirited and selfish we can be.

So God we look to you in search of something greater. Help us realize your love here today as we explore who you are and why you created us. We seek your word and wisdom this morning.

As lacking as I am, use your scripture and the words out of my mouth to penetrate our hearts and minds today.

God we pray for those not with us today. We pray for health and safety of all our brothers and sisters and our families.

Please be with us today and we continue to rely and lean on you.

Be at the center of our worship this morning.

We love you. We praise you.

We pray all these things in your more wonderful name.

Amen.

God of Community

#1 we can see why God created us by who God is.

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.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

We see God the main subject here creating, but what goes overlooked is God isn’t the only one here.

We see clues.

It says the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Spirit is also active in the work of creation hovering like a mother bird.

You probably heard of this as the Holy Spirit.

Now this isn’t to be taken as something that’s separate from God, but it’s a distinction withing the one God himself.

For me it’s so hard to comprehend what that means. Separate, but still the same?

Some people use the idea of multiple flashlights shining a beam into one single location.

We’ll tackle that for another day, but for today we see God and also the Spirit during this creation process.

If we look a little closer we see something else.

And God said, “Let there be light.”

Why does he have to say it? Couldn’t he just snap his fingers instead?

Instead we see that God speaks things into existence using words.

If I say “let there be light”, it’s not my words that create light… it’s June in the back turning on the lights for me.

But we see here that the words themselves do the creating.

What’s so significant about words?

In John 1 it becomes more clear.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

It’s talking about Jesus.

Jesus was there at the very beginning and was part of this process of creation.

God, Jesus and the Spirit.

Now I don’t want to get too much into the trinity here, but that’s what we believe and here’s why it’s so crucial to our belief.

Point #1. Our God is a god of community. God is community

Love isn’t something that God created out of nothing.

Love is something that was always there within this community.

Father, Son, Spirit just enjoying one another’s presence filled with love and glorifying one another.

God didn’t create us because he was bored! or lonely.

God wanted to expand this circle of community.

He created the universe because the universe can take part of this community to praise God and glorify him.

Just like David sang last week, the moon and stars and all of nature is just so beautiful it reflects God’s awesomeness and beauty.

Here’s the implication of this idea.

Every other creation account such as myths and other religions, creation comes out of conflict or violence.

Right some god fought with another or something exploded or we were formed by sand.

This is so important because the idea of love and community and value wasn’t created out of nothing.

It wasn’t fabricated by anyone or anything in order for things to be happy.

It’s intrinsic (SAT word, you guys study for those tests right?) to who God is. It’s built-in to who God is.

So we don’t need to feel bad about enjoying things like other religions and philosophies do, because God created all nature and life out of this expanding of community.

God the source of love and beauty created the world out of nothing so there is value in this world.

Other ancient religions had this idea of having to be apart of this world or transcend this world or escape this world. That this world isn’t good. Separate yourself from this world.

But out of the Christianity came science right? The scientific revolution. That this world is worth looking at and discovering.

That this planet is worth something. Social justice, that things are worth fighting for. We just don’t let things happen.

Obviously we don’t live for things of the world, but we live for God who created everything in the world out of love and so we don’t feel bad enjoying them.

Others may fear nature, don’t care about nature, or even worship nature, but we see God’s beauty in nature and all creation.

Isn’t that such a wonderful way to live?

God created us and created the world because he is community and he wanted to expand that community to his creation.

Father Son and Holy Spirit just filled with love and glory, and one day they decided let’s expand it.

It’s who God is. Community is his nature.

Enjoyment

The 2nd point.

As you read through Genesis you see some repetition happening when God is creating all these things.

After he creates something what does he say?

God saw that the light was good.

God called the dry land Earth and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

The earth brought forth vegetation, plant yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

In verse 31, he says it’s VERY good.

God is enjoying this process haha.

I’m not as big of a foodie as PRich. But when you eat something really good that you’re craving.

I might be the opposite of PRich. He’s always on the lookout for nice food, but I’m a big fan of fast food.

Do as a I say and not as I do alright? I don’t know if parents are listening. Fast food is bad for you, but man is it delicious...

The Big 3. Jack in the Box, Del Taco, In-N-Out. If you’re ever in a situation where you’re like, dang I want to get PJ some food, what should I get.

I refer to the Big 3. It cannot fail. I will enjoy it. It’s automatic.

But whatever the case may be, if you finally eat something you’ve been craving or something that’s so good.

You’re like dang that was good.

If you like music and you hear a great song. Or maybe you’re into anime, I know a lot of people just love the openings and the ending songs.

You say mmm that’s so good.

When I was younger, I thought this phrase “God saw that it was good”. I thought he was just doing a quality check right?

Like God is in this assembly line and he’s like checking off things. Yep it’s good, it meets the specifications.

It’s within six sigma because God’s a six sigma black belt. Sorry an engineering joke.

No! God isn’t just checking off the boxes. He’s enjoying himself. He’s having a good time.

He’s an artist that is just having the best time of his life creating something so beautiful and amazing.

He wanted to create us.

He wasn’t lonely or had to create us or created us accidentally.

No other agenda other than he wanted to and he wanted to expand this infinite and perfect community of Father Son Spirit.

He wanted to enjoy the world and us together as part of his community.

Conclusion

Let me end with this thought as we conclude.

We’re going to cover it in the coming weeks about our fallen and sinful nature in a bit more detail.

But here’s a sneak preview.

This circle of community that God expanded to his creation and to us.

We fell out of that circle because we didn’t want God and wanted to pursue ourselves. We had selfish motivations and just wanted to worship ourselves.

And because we fell out, there was no way to get back into this community with God by ourselves.

We were forever fallen away with no path to get back. No hope just death and not being able to experience this community.

But again here’s just how much God loves us.

Father, Son, Spirit.

In perfect harmony and love and glory for before even the universe began.

Jesus willingly left that circle.

As he was on the cross he cried My God My God why have you forsaken me?

He become void of that community and was left in the void, alone, and was emptied.

Jesus did that for us.

Jesus did that so that we have a path back into community with God.

It’s just the craziest love story that you can’t even make up.

Father Son and Holy Spirit in perfect community decide to expand their community through creation.

Creation turned it’s back. And Jesus faced not just physical suffering, but the spiritual suffering of being separated.

This is how much we are loved.

As I mentioned, through this foundations series, I really hope God reveals to you guys more his love for you.

Your entire perspective and world changes. How you view school, friendships, life.

I’m still getting to know you guys, but you guys are just so wonderful, just seeing you guys after service.

Each and every one of you guys are unique and beautiful.

I want you guys to have joy and happiness and love.

And I pray you guys start to see that all joy and happiness and love started from before the universe even began.

It’s who God is. So let’s get to know God more and draw near to him.

End Prayer

At this time let’s all stand and bow our heads and close our eyes.

June if you can turn off the lights in the back.

Let’s spend this time in prayer.

Let’s call out to God and ask him to reveal his love for me.

Maybe you don’t see it quite yet, but you have to just ask.

God I don’t really know what PJ is going on about, but I like happiness and joy and I think love is good.

I don’t know where these things come from, but scripture says it’s from you.

Please show me your love in a way that I cannot ignore.

Let’s spend some time in prayer. 1 on 1 with God for a few minutes.

Let’s pray.