Sermon
Nuggets Mon, March 5, Creation
Verses Gen
1:3-31 (NKJV)
In the
beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The
earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters.
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and
there was light. 4 And God saw the light,
that it was good; and
God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God
called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the
morning were the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in
the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus
God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from
the waters which were above
the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the
firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the
heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was
so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering
together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth
grass, the herb that yields
seed, and the fruit
tree that yields fruit
according to its kind, whose seed is in
itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the
earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields
seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So
the evening and the morning were the third day.
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and
let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the
earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great
lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the
night. He made the
stars also.17 God set them in the firmament of the
heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule
over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And
God saw that it was good.19 So
the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with
an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the
face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God
created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the
waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to
its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And
God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the
seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”23 So the
evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth
the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of
the earth, each according
to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the
beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and
everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our
image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So
God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of
the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every
herb that yields seed
which is on the face
of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be
for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to
every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in
which there is life, I have given every green herb
for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw
everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the
sixth day.
Creation
Last week I began a series on the book
of Genesis. We looked at how God wanted to introduce himself as pre-existing,
everlasting, permanent, all powerful, all knowing, loving, caring,
transcendent, even giving us hints of his triune nature.
Today I want to look at the rest
of the chapter describing creation, fully aware that I don’t have the time to
deal with lots of questions that come up. But remember this marvelous chapter
was written for all ages, all cultures, all people of the world for all time
and to present the creation story as remarkably as it does has to be the work of
God. It is not a scientific explanation of creation as it is an introduction to
explain the power and awesomeness of God in a way we all can understand and
worship. It is wrong to insist that everything in the first chapter of Genesis
provide detailed explanation of how God did things. It has a quite different
purpose in mind. On the other hand, it is equally wrong to view it as merely
teaching religious truth. It does speak about nature and physical life, and it
is accurate in those areas. What it says is exactly true.
In a quick way I want to address
faith and facts in the story of Creation as
we marvel at the handiwork of God.
A fellow BGC pastor Rick
McKinnis told the story that when his
oldest she received what every 16 years old dreams of and that is a drivers
license. He and his wife were trying to figure out how to adjust their budget
to get a third car so their daughter could drive to work They concluded they
could only afford a clunker.
One afternoon Rick gets a call from his wife. "Ok,
what's going on." he says, "what do you mean, what's going on?"
She says, "you know what I'm talking about." I go, "honey, I
have no clue what you are talking about." She says, "Don't play this
game with me. You bought Marilyn a new car didn't you?" I said,
"No." She said, "Then how come there's a brand new Ford Aspire
in our driveway with a note on it that says, 'Happy Birthday Marilyn ... love
Dad'?" I said, "I have no idea. I didn't put it there.” “It's on the
bill of sale, and there's even a note from the car salesman to her."
So, he gets home and sure enough there the bill of sale
and the note from "Dad" (that he didn't write). He called the
dealership and they said it was legit - the car really does belong to Marilyn,
courtesy of an anonymous friend.
Now I know there are lots of
teens praying something miraculous like that would come about, but the only way
something like that happens is that someone put it there and caused it to
happen. Creation didn’t just happen. Nor was it anonymous as the secular world wants
us to believe. It points to an order and marvelous design explained in no other
way that God.
I quote from Dr. Stedman, “From
empty space with no force, no matter, no energy, and no intelligence, matter
would have to become existent. Even if this could happen by some strange new
process unknown to science today, there is a logical problem. In order for
matter to come out of nothing, all of our scientific laws dealing with the
conservation of matter/energy would have to be wrong, invalidating all of chemistry.
All of our laws of conservation of angular momentum would have to be wrong,
invalidating all of physics. In order to believe matter is uncaused, one has to
discard known laws and principles of science.” Or as Bill Hybels puts it:
"if there was a big-bang, who pulled the trigger?"
Creation is a huge billboard pointing us
first and foremost to the faith of our amazing Creator by whom, for whom, and
from whom all things exist.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Tues March 6 Forming
Verse Gen 1: . 2 The earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…
Creation is Presented as a matter of Forming.
For reasons that can only be explained
as God’s sovereign wisdom, He created this incredibly vast universe and chose
to lavish special attention and care on a tiny planet in a small solar system
located in the galaxy known to us as the Milky Way, itself an island universe
shaped like a lens and estimated to be 100,000 light years across. When we
realize the millions of such galaxies exist in the universe proper, we cannot
even begin to comprehend the rationale behind God’s choice of us to be His
chosen people. He then desires to be known by each individual who will open
their hearts to Him by faith.
After we are introduced to the eternal
nature and power of God, he describes creation coming from darkness and chaos.
Darkness filled the ancient man with horror and the deep terrified him as well.
While things were out of order, the Spirit of God was there, hovering over the
water. When you look at the first three days of creation you find God forming
the world. Creation is presented as a matter of forming.
The first day God formed light and
separated the light form darkness. The second day he formed the water and the
seas, and the third day he formed the dry ground and the earth. The
characteristic verbs that tie together days 1-3 are separate and gather. These
are the verbs of formation.
Right now I am in the midst of my
least favorite tasks, doing taxes. I feel like my table if full of void and
chaos with receipts, notes, and forms in a mess. Although God created from
nothing, I on the other hand have something to work with, but it needs
organizing. I have to divide the taxes deductions from receipts that are non
tax deductable. I am trying to bring piles into some understandable form.
Notice that, in these verses, there is a moving toward
order out of disorder, and form out of formlessness, something comes out of
nothing. The first step God took, according to the records, is to create light.
Light, as we know now, is absolutely essential to life of any sort. Without
light there can be no life. Scripture desires to underline for our
understanding the fact that light is from God. We will talk about how can there
be light without the sun when we look at the forth day, but understand first,
that light is also a symbol of God.
Light can be viewed from three levels. There is first
physical light, which is now filling your room and by which we can see one
another. That is the physical level of light.
There is also a figurative level of meaning for the
term. For instance, we speak of light as knowledge, or truth. Someone says,
"Could you give me a little light on this problem?" He does not mean
by that, turn on a lamp. He means, explain the nature of it to me. Paul uses
the figurative meaning of light in 2 Cor 4:6, when he says, "For it is the
God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ,"
So light occurs on the level of mental or
emotional reaction. Moral knowledge is light, and God intended the term to be
used in this way.
There is still a third level of meaning, the spiritual
level, which deals with the nature and character of God himself. John says,
"God is light and in him is no darkness at all," {1 Jn 1:5b}. That
light is equated also with the very life of God. In speaks of Jesus in this
way, "In him was life, and the life was the light of men," {John
1:4}. Jesus said of himself, "I am the light of the world. If any man
follows me he shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of
life," {cf, John 8:12}.
I think this can help us greatly as we come to this
book of Genesis. Don’t miss the deeper truths by only focusing on the physical.
Don’t miss what God is saying about Himself through the creation story. Notice
how the forming of creation points to a Divine power that has design and cause
and purpose behind all He does. The steps God took to accomplish this are
recorded as several great creative acts occurring in certain progressive stages
which logically succeed one another.
The way in which God brought form to
the formless world says that a world as ordered and complex as ours implies
that there must be a Designer. In other words, not only has something caused
the cosmos to exist, it seems to have done so with planning and reason and
logic. Genesis doesn’t provide detailed explanation of how God did things, and
I believe if it did, we couldn’t understand it, even as God presented to Job
those questions that are beyond human explanation.
Again, like light, the world
needed an atmosphere to sustain water above the earth in great quantities or
there would be no plants, there would be no animals, there would be no human
beings, there would be no life on this earth. Our planet is unique in that we
have thousands of times more water than would be expected in comparison with
our neighboring planets, and that water is distributed completely around the
earth in great quantities. It is this enormous amount of water that changes the
character of earth and makes it different from the other planets.
And the third day there was the forming of the lands
and the earth was a division needed to prepare the way for the filling of the
world.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Weds March 7 Filling
Verses Gen 1: . 2 The earth was
without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…
Creation is Presented as a matter of Filling
Days 4-6 of creation are given to
the Hebrew word that means filling. The verbs that unite those days are teem
and fill and be fruitful and increase or multiply. God first formed light and
now he filled the skies with the sun and the moon and the stars. On day 2 God
separated the water from the expanse forming the heavens and the seas. On day 5
God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let
birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the
heavens.” He created fish to inhabit the lower waters and birds the upper
waters in the clouds.
In
the days 3 when God formed the earth he also formed vegetation. Likewise in the
6th day we see livestock, creatures that move along the ground
and wild animals, and then man to inhabit the dry ground. Food for the
creatures was formed before he filled it with life which needed that food to feed
upon.
According
to my Old Testament professor at Bethel Seminary some 30 years ago, Dr Ron
Youngblood, we see the striking horizontal and vertical relationship between
the various days it can hardly be accidental. It demonstrates the literary
beauty of the chapter and symmetry and orderliness of God’s creative activity.
God
showed gracious loving concern to the animals by blessing them and making
it possible for them to be fruitful and increase in number. Man is the climax
of Gods’ creative activity. God has crowned him with glory and honor and made
him ruler to take care of his creation.
The sun and moon and stars exist,
first, to give light upon the earth. We know the speed of the earth as it
rotates on its axis determines the 24-hour day we have. Yet that speed is
regulated by the moon which acts as a brake upon the earth, raising and
lowering the tides. It restricts the speed of the rotation of earth to the
exact time that makes possible the 24-hour day, which is the length of time
best adapted to the needs of man. Is that not remarkable? Other planets have
entirely different lengths of days. On some of the planets a day would occupy
months and even years of our time. On others they go much more rapidly. God has
designed a 24-hour day for our planet because it precisely fits the need of
humanity.
Second, they exist to measure the
process of time, "for days and for years." says the Scriptures. They
are the means by which we measure time. The orbit of earth around the sun determines
the length of the year, which, again, is just right for human needs, providing
a harvest once every 365 days, the right length of time needed to preserve
human life upon the earth. The orbit of the earth around the sun is determined
by two factors: the gravitational pull of the sun, and the velocity of the
earth. Here we are told that God has ordained the sun and moon to provide
measures of the time which mark off the segments of life we call days and
years.
Third, they are designed to mark
significant events; they are "for signs and for seasons." This is
exactly what the sun and moon and stars do. We are all aware that eclipses, for
instance, are like mileposts in human history, marking off certain dates. We
can study events in ancient history because the eclipses have been recorded.
Anyone familiar with the Bible knows how the sun and the moon and stars have
served as great signs, whether in introducing Jesus to the Magi, or winning
wars with Joshua, or sign to Hezekiah. People measure history by the stars and
heavenly hosts.
When we talk about the filling of
the heavens and earth with birds, insects, animals and humans this might be a
good time to make some brief comments on evolution and creation. Clearly
species change within species but “after their kind” has still been shown to be
consistent. Science is at a total loss to account for the sudden appearance of
true man, with his amazing faculties not found in the animal creation. Through
the decades since Darwin, scientists have been looking for the links that would
establish a connection, but these links do not exist in fact.
Adam and Eve were
intentionally created by God in his image. This is important doctrine which one
cannot harmonize with the randomness of evolutional theory. We cannot conjecture
how long Adam and Eve may have been in Eden and animals roamed the earth. It
could have been 1,000s of years before the fall.
These
details of creation have never been a problem for me, as they are for many
others. Once you have met in a personal way Jesus Christ and come to understand
the greatness of God and the beauty of his World, I have come to believe in the
power of an almighty God that can create a world in one day not six. He can
create with everything completely mature according to scientific dating. That
doesn’t bother me. I can believe in a God so creative and with eternity in mind
that he can use all the time he wants to develop whatever he wants in his own
timing, eternity is in his hands. For me these discussions are interesting, but
people miss the forest for the trees. None of us were there. We can talk theory
all we want, but the more I reflect on the design, but the more I am filled
with wonder and love to the great Designer whose ways are beyond our ways.
Genesis
begins with a personal God who deliberately created the universe and made
humankind in his own image. We are not the result of blind chance and natural
selection. He created all the intricate complexities of life which no one can
duplicate and it points us to the wonder of a God who wants our worship and our
hearts.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Thurs March 8 Fruitful
Verses- Gen 1: 22 And God
blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the
seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”23 So the
evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living
creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the
earth, each according
to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the
beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and
everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good.
29 And God said, “See, I have given
you every herb that yields
seed which is on the
face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall
be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth,
to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in
which there is life, I have given every green herb
for food”; and it was
Creation is Presented as a matter of Fruitfulness
Which came
first the chicken or the egg? I am not
if people give this question the thought that it was given among the
philosophers of old.
Those who
were involved with logic without divine revelation would conclude it is
circular argument that cannot be answered. It is like asking if X and Y are
needed in both cases how can you produce X without Y or Y without X? It does pose
the question of evolutional beginning or creational beginning. The theory of evolution states
that species change over time through mutation and
sexual reproduction. They will point to mini cells and amebas that are non
sexual and by some unknown cause (accident) mutation occurs making it into a
sexual cell requiring x and y chromosomes to reproduce.
Actually a
couple of British scientists in 2010 found that
a protein found only in a chicken's ovaries is necessary for the formation of
the egg. The egg can therefore only exist if it has been created inside a
chicken. "It had long been suspected that the egg came first but
now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came
first," said Dr. Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University's Department of
Engineering Materials
The argument in favor of evolution without a
creator would say there was something pre-existing of both the chicken and the
egg that brought about unexplained changes to lower species until both the egg
and the chicken accidently came about at the same time. Therefore there would
have been an earlier substance (egg like) to have had to develop. Now some
scientists are questioning that.
The Genesis story has
the command, “Be fruitful and multiply”. There was a man and woman created in
order for multiplication to occur. There were fish and birds created in order
for their fruit to produce.
The grace and
goodness and marvel of God created species as well as all organisms to
re-produce and develop after their own kind. The first cause will be debated
among mankind forever if they try to come up with a godless plan. Evolution is
not a bad word. There are changes over time within species and inbreeding. But
that is not the first cause.
The food we
eat, the animals we enjoy, the flowers, grass and trees- all living thing are
created in a unique manner to “create” offspring. And we benefit by this create
design in many ways that aren’t even discovered yet.
Jesus used this principle of
fruitfulness recorded in John 15. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a
man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can
do nothing.” (John 15:5)
Pruning and preparing and managing
is something man can do to increase produce. Planting and watering and weeding
is part of the work to make the environment for a plant to geminate and come
forth. Dividing and replanting and changing flowers and plants by cross
pollination is part of the command by God that says, “Be fruitful and multiply”.
But without Him we can do nothing.
To produce fruit within the
Christian we need the Holy Spirit. To make a species multiply God had to jump
start the process.
And God saw that it was very good.
Pastor Dale
Sermon Nuggets Fri March 9 Fulfillment
Verses Gen 1: 31 Then
God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So
the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Creation is Presented as a matter of
Fulfillment
As we see
the completion of the creation there is a climax of the seventh day which is
the day of rest, a day of holy unto God. It is the reflection of the
fulfillment of the works of God. We see the works of God completed.
The heart of
the meaning of Sabbath is rest, when God gave these instructions to Moses. When
we have been working hard and are weary and tired we need rest in order to
restore our strength. But this is not the significance of the word here. It
simply means the ending of activity, the cessation of effort. God was not tired
by his creative work. He did not stop because he needed to regain strength. He
stopped because he was through. He had done all he intended to do with creation
and he stopped..
To
understand Jewish Sabbath is to see it as a shadow, a picture of that rest. All
the Old Testament shadows pointed to Christ. They were predictions, of the
coming of the One who would fulfill all these remarkable things
. Every lamb
that was brought as an offering was a shadow of the work of Christ. Every burnt
offering, every bit of incense that was offered, was a picture of the fragrance
of Jesus Christ. The tabernacle was a shadow of Him. The high
priest, in his garments and his office, was a shadow of Christ as our High
Priest. Read the book of Hebrews and you will see how beautifully all this is
brought out. These Old Testament shadows were looking forward to the coming of
the One who would fulfill these and thus end them. When the work of Jesus
Christ was finished the shadows were no longer needed.
Before Judi
and I were married, I had her picture which I looked at often. I would read her
letters and they were very important to me. When we got married I seldom read
the letters and the photographs became more historical images of our
relationship. When the reality of her presence is with me, the symbols of her
presence aren’t as important.
This is
exactly what happened with these Old Testament shadows, including the Sabbath.
When the Lord came, and his work was ended, making possible the true fulfillment
of God's intention in the Sabbath, the picture was no longer needed. The weekly
Sabbath ended at the cross. Paul specifically says this. In Col
2:13, Because of the work on the cross let no one pass judgment on you in
questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a
Sabbath. These are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs
to Christ.”
That is what the true Sabbath is, to cease
from your own labors, your own efforts, your own activity; to cease from your
own works and depend on the work of God. For just as the creation has God
forming and filling so in our lives He formed us and now by his grace fills us
with his Holy Spirit and we are then living in his rest and fulfillment for all
eternity.
God Himself
is the divine provision to produce fruitfulness and abundance of victory in a
Christian's life. God did not rest until he had finished the work he had been
doing. In a similar way Jesus did God’ work faithfully and urged other to do
the same while there was still time. An even as He was being crucified for your
sins and mine, only then He was absolutely certain that His work of redemption
was complete did he say these word in the hearing of all who were at the foot
of the cross, “It is finished.”
There is the
physical reality of the creation, There is the psychological reality of the
creation, the fulfillment of our understanding and sense of well being in the
whole. But don’t miss the reality of the spiritual demonstration of creation
that points us to trust in a God who began all there is and has completed all
there will be and invites you, and me to join him in the best that is yet to
be. He even provided the way. Come and rest in His fulfillment.
Pastor Dale
