September 13th, 2009.....OY: "Creation"

We begin at the beginning, Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 1.

Scripture Reading: Genesis 1.31-2.1

Essential Impact: God reveals Himself through His creative activity.

Main 1: Slow down and look for God in Creation.

“In the beginning God…”

1. God Exists: Four very significant, noteworthy, momentous, meaningful words that show us that God exists. Prior to anything else that there is He was. He has always been. He had no beginning and He will have no end. He is eternal. {Psalm 90.2 Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.}

Both of my sons have asked me, on numerous occasions, “Who made God?” The answer is no one made God. He has always been. I know that is hard for them to understand…but I also know that all of the adults in the room understand it fully. [Right] I do know it’s true and that’s as much as any of us can appreciate. The Bible does not answer all of our questions. No one ever said it had to.

2. Understanding “eternal”: The idea that someone or something is eternal is difficult to grasp. So the idea gets filed under one of two categories. One: romantic [i.e. star crossed lovers in a movie who finally end up in each others embrace and profess the love for all eternity. Nope. Two: impossible [i.e. nothing last forever] Nope. God is eternal and it is a matter of faith but not some kind of “throw my hands up in the air and call it good faith” but rather a faith in God and that He has always been and always will be.

Two illustrations:
i. the never ending library where you pick up the only book and turn to the fist page and that page represents one day…now the thing about this library is that every time you turn a page another book is added to the library…in both directions. A limited illustration but at least it is one we can fathom.
ii. space travel at the speed of light. If you travel at the speed of light you would circle the earth 7 times in one second. You would be past the moon in 2 seconds. Past Mars in four mintes. Past Pluto in 5 hours. At the speed of light, you will reach the closest star in 4.3 years, which means each second of those years you travel 186,000 miles —a total distance equivalent to 25,284,000,000,000 miles.
The band of stars you see in the night sky is part of a gigantic family of stars called the Milky Way Galaxy. Traveling at the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to cross it from one side to the other. There are an estimated 100 billion galaxies in the Universe, many comprising billions of stars. Galaxies come in clusters and super-clusters. There are about twenty galaxies in our cluster, and thousands of galaxies in our super-cluster. At the speed of light, you will reach the next closest galaxy in 2,000,000 years …and the next closest cluster of galaxies in 20,000,000 years. At this point you have only begun to travel the Universe.

Main 2: Appreciate that God is the ruler of creation.
“God…created the heavens and the earth…”

1. Created = the activity of God
2. He created it. He owns it. He rules it.

illustration of Missionary in Papua New Guinea. As he walked around the village he would ask whose paddle is that or whose canoe is that? The tribesman would always answer, “that is so and so’s paddle.” The missionary asked, “How do you know?” They would answer, “Because so and so made it.” Taking it a step further the missionary asked, “Would it be ok if I broke this paddle.” The emphatic response came, “Only if you want trouble with the creator.” Finally the missionary asked, “Would it be ok if the creator broke it?” The tribesman thought for a moment and replied, “I guess that would be ok, he made it.” Creation is God’s doing and He is the owner and so He rules His creation.

3. Creation takes:
i. Power (-all): no raw materials, no blueprints
{Psalm 147.5 Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.}
ii. Knowledge (-all) no how to books, no architect
{Job 38.4-7 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?}
iii. Presence (-all) no shop or studio
{Jeremiah 23.23-24 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD, “And not a God far off? “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the LORD. Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.}

{Jeremiah 51.15 It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.}

4. Creation was good

a. lights [camera; action] Day 1
b. earth, water, expanse Day 2
c. land + plants Day 3 = kinds
d. Sun, Moon and Stars Day 4 = Order
e. sea life + birds Day 5 = kinds
f. beasts + Man Day 6 =kinds
- perfection reflects a perfect Creator
- intimate details reflects a creative Creator
- Mankind
~ in His image
~ companions [Adam and Eve]
~ the Garden

g. for His glory {Revelation 4.11 “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”}
h. mankind was His friend
i. Creation was complete and good {Genesis 1.31}


Application:
1. Knowing God as He has revealed Himself to be
2. …informs our worship
3. …leads us to consider / contemplate our relationship with Him
4. …leads us to consider / contemplate our relationship with His world
5. …leads us to consider / contemplate our relationship with each other.