In the beginning, God created . . .

Where: College Baptist Church

When: August 26, 2001

Why: To motivate to give God glory as Creator; to show that as the Creator is separate from His creation.

Text: Genesis 1:1-2, 31-2:1

Introduction

"I feel a disturbance in the force." "Use the force, Luke! Feel the force flowing through you!"

There are a lot of different ideas about God out there, aren't there? For example, that Star Wars idea that God is an impersonal force that permeates all things which can be controlled.

And then there's the circle of life idea. Animals cheer as a new cub is born. The ongoing cycle of unity and interdependency with the life force of nature rolls on.

Who's that we see on the big screen? Pocahontas running on through forest, leaping on the winds. She is one with mother nature. She runs with the wind. She talks with the trees.

Presumptions about God are made everyday, often unconsciously. Our understanding of who God is affects how we make decisions and the values that we have. For the teacher it influences things taught and how they are taught. For the student, it helps us filter out what we know to be right and wrong. For the parent, it impacts how we raise our families and relate to our spouse. For the employee, it affects attitudes and decisions at work and the reputation one has.

Consider, for example, the medical profession? As doctors care for us, how does the mindset about God's relationship with His creation effect their practice? Is God completely divorced from His creation? Are we simply by-products of random-like evolutionary struggle ruled now by scientific laws based on cause and effect? Or are we integrated, spiritual/physical creatures that must be harmonized with the energy fields of nature?

What we believe about God makes a difference in what we do and who we are. It makes a difference in how we respond to situations, in the decisions we make, in the direction our life takes.

The leadership of our church solidly stands together with the conviction that we need understand and embrace the God that is revealed in the Bible. He needs to saturate our convictions, our belief system, and our worldview. Who He is needs to be the filter through which we sift the daily data that bombards us.

We begin at the beginning.

Transition

As Christians, to begin to understand God and His relationship to creation, we must go to the beginning. Knowing what happened at the beginning profoundly impacts what we believe about God and how we view our world- His creation. Knowing God as Creator deeply impacts daily Christian walk.

A couple fundamental assumptions

The first fundamental assumption- one so fundamental to Christians, that I nearly overlooked it as I considered these things- is that God is. God is, and He is personally involved with His creation.

There is a second fundamental assumption upon which we base all of our knowledge about God and His involvement with His world. God's Word is absolutely true and authoritative.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17. ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Since Scripture is from God and is true and authoritative, we look to the Bible as our source of teaching, guidance and inspiration. As we turn to our text, we bear in mind that this Scripture is God-breathed. This inspired account is given so that, as it may be applicable, we can be taught, rebuked, corrected, trained, and equipped.

Read Genesis 1:1-2, 31-2:1.

Some important questions

Now, just reading and considering this text raises some important questions. This is big. This morning we can't address the wide diversity of interpretations that Christians as well as non-Christians have put forward as they have tried to understand and reconcile the creation account. I say reconcile because a face value reading and acceptance of this account flies in the face of human and scientific wisdom and understanding of the world.

Our purpose today is to know that God is Creator. This truth profoundly impacts who we are, how we think, and how we interact with the world around us.

How do we accept something so big and profoundly life impacting (that flies in the face of the mindset of everything that we are told doesn't make sense)? By faith. Hebrews 11:1, 3. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ² This is what the ancients were commended for. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Why are we given the creation account?

1. Genesis 1:1 is for our instruction and hope. Romans 15:4. ⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Hope? There's a plan. Someone is in control. We are not all here as a result of random chance and struggle in which the only fittest survived.
2. Genesis 1:1 is the foundation of all redemptive history. Hebrews 1:2, 3a. In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
3. Genesis 1:1 reveals to us foundational truth about God that profoundly impact our understanding of Him and our relationship to Him.

What does the Genesis account reveal to us about our God?

1. His existence transcends time and space. In the beginning God . . .

In the beginning He already was. He is pre-existent and eternal. He is of a dimension and nature that is profoundly beyond our ability to conceive.

It is a bit like the image of fish and water. We are like the little fish whose whole world was the pond. His whole existence and understanding of the universe was dictated by his dependence on the water in which he existed. His experiences and understanding of the universe was that pond and the limitation put on him by the pond.

One day he made friends with a tadpole who in time grew up to be a frog. And as all frogs do, he hopped out of the pond. And can you imagine how his worldview changed when he realized first hand what it was like outside of the pond, when he experienced atmosphere.

Shortly, he hopped back into the water and found his little fish friend. "You can't believe what I discovered!" And he tried to explain about trees, and leaves, and birds. With his limited view of reality, the little fish tried to put it together in his mind, but the best he could come up with was an images that were all based on the pond. A bird was a fish with feathery fins. A tree and leaves looked very much like wet, squiggly pond plants.

In the beginning God is. God said to Moses, "I AM that I AM" (Exodus 3:14). Time and spatial relationships are our pond. It is virtually impossible to conceive and communicate outside the parameters of our pond of time and space. But God is bigger than our pond.

2. He is a person- He has personality. He is an unique and identifiable entity. And He is more complex than just being a single entity. Though He is a single entity, He is three person in one- all of whom were involved as Creator in the creation event.

1. Genesis 1:2. . . . and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
2. Colossians 1:16. Speaking of Jesus, ¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
3. John 1:1-3. Again, speaking of Jesus, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

1. He is a person who has unlimited power.

1. Genesis 1:3. And God said . . .
2. He spoke and things came into existence out of nothing. Hebrews 11:3. ³ By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
3. This week Stephen and Shannon were creating some wonderful things out of homemade playdoh. Shannon was making wonderful hearts and moons and elephants. Stephen had a restaurant going making various forms of pasta and spaghetti. They worked (that kind of work that is so pleasurable that is play) bringing into existence from squishy stuff things first formed in their imagination- and it was fun.

1. He created everything. In the beginning God created heavens and earth . . .

Colossians 1:16. ¹⁶ For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him

Isaiah 45:12. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

He created it all- not just the world we see but the things we can't see too. Yes, there is reality that we can't see. The angels, both those who serve God and those who have fallen.

2. He created for His glory and pleasure. Revelation 4:11 (KJV). ¹¹Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. The word that the King James version translates as "pleasure" is also "will" and "desire." It was God's own pleasure and will and desire that He create the universe and all that it is in it.
3. He is separate from His creation. He transcends His creation. He is not a part of His creation.

A house builder finds great satisfaction in completing a well-built house, but he is not a part of the house. His personality can be seen in the handiwork, but he is not the house. He is not in the structural essence of the house. He is not a part of the house. He is separate from the house.

A band or orchestra director finds great fulfillment in drawing the best out of a unified, committed and disciplined group of musicians, but he is not a part of the music. His stamp may be on the music. His feelings may come through the music. He is separate from the music.

A coach leads and guides a team, bringing the best out of his or her players, developing a synchronized, disciplined, smooth running unity that can respond under to his or her insight under the stress of competition and win games. But the coach is not the team. He is separate from the team.

A mother cooks a wonderful meal for the delight and nourishment of her family- smell the aroma! But she is not the meal (thank goodness!). She is separate from the meal.

The Creator is separate from His creation, far greater than His creation. In this lies the unfortunate error of New Age influence and worldviews based on Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism. God is not, and cannot be a permeating essence of His creation. He is not a force or energy field that flows through His creation. The Creator is far greater than the essence of the creation. He is not in everything; He is separate from His creation.

4. He has created things which are very good. Genesis 1:31. ³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning- the sixth day.

How does our understanding of God impact our lives as Christians?

Knowing God as Creator does deeply impact our daily Christian walk. Let me suggest a few ways this truth impacts our lives.

1. As the One who made all things of nothing, He has absolute ownership over all things. Psalm 89:11. ¹¹ The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.

God gave mankind stewardship over His creation. God maintains ownership.

John Piper applies this truth. "God owns all things absolutely. We may think of ourselves as owner only in relation to other people. That is, they have no right to take certain things from us without compensation. But in relation to God we own nothing, absolutely nothing and he has every right to dispose of us all our so-called possessions exactly as he pleases. This means that with regard to our possessions we are stewards or trustees of God's estate and with regard to ourselves we are slaves of the Almighty. It is very wrong to think that a tithe of our income belongs to God and 90% belongs to us. It is all God's absolutely, and we have no right to dispense it in any way but what pleases its Owner."

Does He own you? Have you recognized His Creator-right over your life, over who you are, over what you have, over you?

Here's a second way this truth impacts our lives. . .

2. Since God is Creator and we are His creatures, we are totally dependent on Him for everything. And He is totally sufficient. There is great security and joy in this truth. Though we are like the weakest baby, His power and pleasure are more than sufficient for any and every need we will ever have. In this way the glory of His sufficiency is demonstrated every day of our lives.

Are you enjoying the blessing of His sufficiency in your daily walk?

3. Through the truth of creation and God as Creator, we see that everything as a purpose and reason for being. If God didn't create the world, if we are the result of an arbitrary, evolutionary struggle then anyone's goal and purpose is as good as anyone else's. There are no absolutes. As many philosophers have concluded, then everything is aimless and absurd.

Resources

Piper, John. "He Commanded and They Were Created." Sermon preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church, October, 4, 1981. [Online] Available: www.desiringgodministries.org.
Christianity is the true worship and service of the true God, humankind's Creator and Redeemer.
"Cosmic phenomena are so complex and beyond our ken that it would be especially arrogant to assume God couldn't do what He said He did simply because we can't imagine how. Our imaginations are very limited, but God's is not. Even in cosmology, all things are possible with God (Matthew 19:26). Every human theory needs to conform to the knowledge the word of God gives us. Regardless of the complexities of cosmology, we can know that the world is young because of clear Scripture in clear context, such as Exodus 20:11, 'For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth . . .' Our privilege, our mandate, is to try to discern His methods and thoughts, and to give Him all praise and glory throughout." (Russell Humphreys, Ph.D. Physics (ICR), http://www.icr.org/starlightandtime/starlightandtime.html.)

"A chance of 1 out of 1,000,000,000,000,000 (quadrillion, 10 with 14 zeros) is considered a virtual impossibility. But when DNA co-discoverer Francis Crick calculated the possibility of a simple protein sequence of 200 amino-acids (much simpler than a DNA molecule) originating spontaneously, his figure was 10 with 26 zeroes after it.

"Those who remember one fad of the past will appreciate British scientist Fred Hoyle's view of the odds against evolved life. 'Anyone acquainted with the Rubik's cube,' he wrote, 'will concede the impossibility of a solution being obtained by a blind person moving the cube faces at random.'

"Mr. Hoyle's best-known analogy, however, has a tornado in a junkyard taking all the pieces of metal lying there and turning them into a Boeing 747. It might be possible for two pieces to be naturally welded together, and then two pieces more in a later whirlwind, but production of even a simple organic molecule would require all of the pieces to come together at one time." (Marvin Olasky, "Things Unseen," World [4-14-01])