Genesis 1- Creation the wonder of it all
Creation - The Wonder of it all
David Anthony
Audio version
On Sunday David did a great job of showing us how God has revealed himself through creation.
His talk was based around Gen 1-2v3
Gen 1v1 – This shows that it was God who did the creating, God spoke + it happened
Gen 1v2 – This sets the context – God brings order to the formless, and fills what was empty
Gen 1v3-31
Order
1. Light & Dark
2. Sea & Sky
3. Land & Sea
Fullness
4. Sun, Moon & Stars
5. Fish & Birds
6. Animals & Humans
He went on to make the point that science can’t answer the question of how and why life began, but latest research does point to a creator God
He also made the point that the purpose of our life is to know our creator, and if we don’t know him we’re missing out on a fundamental part of our lives, which is why people talk about feeling that there’s something missing in their lives. He likened it to getting a new car, but only using the CD player in it – not driving it at all.
Gen 1v says that we are made in God’s image, as opposed to modern thinking that would have us believe that we are a mistake. If someone believed that creation was a random chance, what consequences would that have for how they lived their lives?
We know we have been purposefully created by God, in the image of God.
– What consequences does this have for the way we live our lives?
Following on from this: How should we treat one another bearing in mind that they have been purposefully created by God, in the image of God?
David also made the point that mankind has the choice of following God's ways, or going our own ways – thinking that we know better.
What are the consequences of going our own ways?
And
What are the consequences of going God’s ways?
Full notes
Theme: God purposely created us for him and his glory in his perfectly ordered creation. Because of our rebellion, ultimately we can only bear fruit by being in Christ and following his word.
Aim: To challenge the secular notion that we are products of chance so that people see their place and purpose in God’s creation and glorify him by living in Christ and following his ways.
Pray
I wonder what you think the most amazing piece of technology in the world is?
Blackberry, Sat Nav story, Robot vacuum cleaner.
They’re all incredibly complex devices that can do astonishing things.
Well I’m afraid you’d be very wrong.
The most amazing piece of technology in the world is you.
It’s obvious isn’t it. Humans that can make all these inventions must be more amazing than what they’ve made.
“Catch”. Catching a ball seems like a simple thing to do, but once you begin to think about it, it is an astonishingly complex feat. You have to have eyes that can rapidly auto-focus on a moving object. A brain that computes the likely path of the ball through the air.
Quick reflexes that can quickly move your hands to the right position. We are nowhere near creating a robot that can do this.
Then consider that our bodies build themselves, breathe, circulate blood, heals problems, all so much without us thinking about it.
I’m amazing!! You’re amazing. We’re all amazing!
Amazing facts about Creation.
• Nearest star?
– 100,000 yrs away if travelling at 50,000 km/p/h
• Number of stars?
– 1000, million, million, million!
• Number of cells in your body?
–10,000, million, million
• A single yeast cell has the same number of components as a boeing 747
So where did we come from?
How did this amazing world with all its beauty and complexity come to be?
Well like with our inventions, if this world is amazing, its maker must be even more amazing. Or so you’d think.
But some people say that this universe suddenly began of its own accord and then given enough time, random events led to the complexity of life we now observe. There was no purpose or design behind it. It was all by chance.
And this has huge significance to our status and value.
Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins are the leading atheistic scientists in Britain.
Dawkins is Britain’s Professor of the public understanding of Science.
GIVE their quotes p. 40 of Life’s Big Questions.
“If the history of life teaches us any lesson, it is that human beings arose as a kind of glorious, cosmic accident, resulting from the linking of thousands of improbable events.” - Stephen Jay Gould
“We human beings have purpose on the brain. It is a nearly universal delusion”, and “to ask what it is, is a silly question.” - Richard Dawkins
So are we Accidents or created?
Now Genesis 1 & 2 are some of the most hotly disputed passages in the Bible even amongst Christians.
Jesus said that Genesis 1 & 2 are the Creator’s own words. That’s in Matt 19. So we ought to listen carefully.
I’m going to guide us through what we can be agreed upon and then allow you to make up your own minds about the less important questions.
And it’s Genesis 1v1 that makes the most important point. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” God did it. That’s where we come from. He did it.
God is our Creator -
Time written, nations thought lots of gods – big battle. Blood spilled-> earth created.
No, this world not an accident. There is one God and he intentionally created it.
Like a designer he looks at his work and at each stage says “good”, good, very good.
God did it. Not an accident.
Science may show us that he possibly used a Big Bang but God is the explanation of the source of all that matter and energy and why it started when it did.
In the rest of this passage we see God’s description of the process of creating this world and his purpose.
A great controversy exists as to whether the 6 days mentioned here are literally 6 24 hour periods. Or is it a talking about 6 periods of time? Or is a just a metaphor. Christians are divided on this. What I want to show is what the author tries to emphasise by using these days. A good rule whenever you handle a tricky passage is to look at the context. And verse 2 of chapter 1 is nearly always overlooked as people rush on to the different days.
Verse 2 “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
It is against this background that the rest of the chapter makes sense.
Notice about the world –it was formless and empty. God creates form & order where it was formless. Then fullness where it was empty and barren.
he ordered life by his word
Notice on days 1 to 3 how God separates out different things. = order
On day 1 light and dark are separated.
On day 2 sea and sky are separated out.
On day 3 the seas are gathered together to leave dry land.
God is ordering what was formless like a master artist, gathering the pieces into the right place to provide just the right backdrop to his masterpiece.
On days 4-6 he then fills each of these areas. What was empty is made full.
On day 4 the light and dark created on day 1 are filled with sun, moon and stars to serve the purpose of providing seasons and time.
On day 5 the sea of day 2 is filled with fish and the sky of day 2 is filled with birds.
On day 6 the land created on day 3 is filled with animals and humans.
Do you see how the last 3 days correspond with the first 3?
The author is using the vehicle of the 6 days to make a profound point. It is God who has created this ordered and fruitful world full of life.
And they are the two key things that atheistic scientists have not been able to explain.
Apologies to any of you who find science dull, I’m just going to spend a few minutes talking about how the latest scientific discoveries back up the existence of a Creator God – an intelligent designer behind the universe. It’s important to do this as many people today think Science has disproved the existence of God. Far from it.
The order of this world and the existence of life. Only a Creator God can explain these.
Astronomers and physicists wonder at the order of the universe. It is so well ordered it is like a finely tuned engine.
The speed carbon resonates,
the difference in mass between neutrons and protons,
the strength of the electromagnetic force,
the strength of the force that holds atoms together.
All of these independent factors if changed by only a fraction of a percent would mean life would be impossible. It is as if a designer has constructed every factor incredibly carefully in order that life may exist.
The probability of all these factors being in place = shooting rifle at 2p coin on other side of universe and hitting it!
And that’s exactly what the Bible is saying. God has designed the universe, in it’s incredible complexity – so that you could exist. God ordered this world by his word.
And God created life.
Science journalist Greg Easterbrook sums up “Science doesn’t have the slightest idea how life began. No generally accepted theory exists and the steps leading from a barren primordial world to the fragile chemistry of life seems imponderable.”
Most simple celled organism still has 500,000 letters of DNA. Where did the code come from?
Fossil records refute gradual change vital to evolution.
Experiments show that creatures lose genetic information as they mutate, not gain it.
Certain complex systems cannot evolve – e.g. blood clotting.
A leading non-Christian scientist called Michael Behe caused a big stir in the biology world by talking about how complexity disproves evolution.
Take blood clotting as an example. We need it. Without it we’d bleed to death when we got cut.
But the first creature to evolve blood-clotting would instantly die – all its blood would clot. To have blood clotting you need to have the capacity to sense where it needs to clot, how much needs to clot, to clot only in that place and nowhere else etc. It is an irreducibly complex system. You need all the factors in place for it to work. With only one or some, the system would not work and so would not be advantageous and so would not be passed on to subsequent generations. Even worse as we’ve seen here, clotting blood on its own kills its host! It is a disadvantage without all the other features. All these factors cannot have suddenly and simultaneously evolved through one chance mutation. That is ridiculous.
This ties up with Genesis 1’s insistence that animals, trees, birds and fish were created “according to their kinds” which to me seems to be a firm declaration that they do not evolve from one form into another.
These atheistic evolutionists have failed utterly to face up to the fact that their theory has been disproved by the evidence.
It is evolutionists not Christians who are living by blind faith, its atheists thinking this incredibly complex world we see everyday is down to chance!
The evidence points to design by an intelligent creator.
If your interested in this I’d really recommend this book – Lee Strobel’s “The Case for a Creator”. It looks at all the latest scientific evidence and shows how it logically points to a divine designer.
OK if not a scientist you can come back from your snooze.
Final thing is simplicity with which God creates. He speaks it happens. V3 “Let there be light” and there was light. That is the definition of power – what you say happens. E.g. Blair and Bush. They speak, people do it. God speaks, the universe obeys! That is awesome.
The main application of this amazing creation is WORSHIP
As Psalm 139v14 says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
That is right reaction.
I think we can often underplay God’s role as Creator. I know for myself, preparing this talk, that I noticed how the constant bombardment of godless evolution in the media had reduced my sense of wonder at creation. Doing this talk, reading bits of Scripture about creation and reading lots of books on it has helped restore that sense of wonder.
Somehow in our culture, we’ve stopped enjoying nature –what a disaster.
I used to never watch nature programmes on TV, but I’m starting to really enjoy seeing just how amazing God’s creation is and you also get to see God’s sense of humour with some of the wacky creatures he’s created.
As we look through Scripture time and time again it is not just God’s rescue of us that the writer’s celebrate, but the wonder of creation.
When Job confronts God with all his suffering, God’s reply is primarily to point him to the glory of his creation. It points to his majesty. Do we in our prayers and praise celebrate this side of God’s character enough?
Which is why it is vital we understand this in relation to non-Christians as well. Creation is the inescapable truth of God’s existence.
Psalm 19 – Creation preaches God’s glory.
“1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.”
=24 hours a day creation preaches God’s glory, universal language, every part of the planet, unmissable (like groom at wedding), nothing hidden.
When you see a wonderful mountain view, when you smell a beautiful flower, when you taste some aromatic dish, when you are breath-taken by the beauty of some person. All of these things scream out that we have an incredible designer who deserves our worship.
The thing I’m left wondering about some of these atheistic scientists like Richard Dawkins is – does he look into his wife’s eyes over a candlelit dinner and say “honey, you’re such a wonderful accident?” What a romantic!
No, we are creatures made to be in awe and wonder at the world we live in. We are made to worship our creator.
Creation is God’s preacher that’s meant to make us seek God. But by nature, we suppress this truth and substitute the real God for pale imitations as we want to live life on our terms not his.
WE EXCHANGE GOD’S GLORY FOR OUR OWN
We so easily take for granted this world we live in. Remember what you were like as a kid. The world was amazing. You asked question after question. Why’s this, Dad? Why’s that Mummy? I think we need to recover some of that long-lost wonder.
It’s only when we’re ill that we start to realise how amazing a machine our body is when in fact we should be praising and thanking God for it when we’re healthy.
So that’s the primary application of this first half of the talk. If God is our Maker, who ordered life by his Word, then we ought to worship him.
Which is why it’s only on the sixth day that God sees the world he’s made as “very good”. God creates beings that can know him and appreciate him. On that day God comes to the pinnacle of his creation - mankind. Take your finger and point at the person sitting next to you. They, yes they are the pinnacle of God’s creation. Look at v26 “Let us make man in our image.”
Humans unlike any other creature are made in God’s image. = our status. So we could not be more valuable. Every one of us in this room is made in God’s image – you could not be more precious. Many of you may not feel that way at all, but that’s how God values you. Society says identity and value found in wealth, possessions, looks, job, sexuality, clothes, car.
We need to be rescued from this wrong thinking. These things don’t define us.
This may be something you want to pray through, either after the meeting or in cell groups this week.
What does his image mean?
God is relational – notice he refers to himself as “let us”. We learn later in the Bible that God is 3 in 1 – Father Son and Spirit.
Keeps switching between Plural – “them/us” and singular – “he” in verses 26-27.
As he is relational so we are made for relationships - with God and each other.
We alone are spiritual beings – aware of our own existence, and our Creator’s existence. We were primarily made to know God our Creator and be in right relationship with him. = REST.
Imagine if your parents bought you the car of your dreams for your 18th birthday. But you looked at it and thought – what a great stereo system it has and then the only thing you used it for was playing your CDs. It’s a car – it’s to be driven. You’ve missed the whole purpose of its existence. Well, the same with us. IF we’re not living in relationship with the God who made us – we are missing the purpose of our existence – no wonder we feel empty and things go so wrong.
God doesn’t want that. He’s our Creator and he wants what is best for us- which is knowing him. And it also means living as he intended. As our Creator he has total authority over this world he has created.
God is our Ruler
He is God, so he has the right to say how we live in his world and treat his creation.
Pottery illustration from school. It’s my pot, I have the right to say what’s done with it.
God as our Creator is by rights also our ruler. He has right to say how we live and treat one another.
Try putting yourself in God’s shoes. You have made the person sitting next to you. How would you feel if they were lied to, used, manipulated, hurt, robbed or even murdered? God cares for each of us. He made us.
So we should treat each other with utmost respect. How we treat each other is how we treat God’s creations. As Creator, God has every right to dictate how we treat one another. He doesn’t want to see his creatures hurt and abused – it hurts him.
What a wretched world we’ve turned this place into. How much it must hurt him to see the misery we cause one another.
It’s because we’ve abandoned God’s order.
Just as God created everything else with its own purpose and function, God has created us with a role to fulfil.
So order your life by his word
V28 “God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."”
God speaks to us, he tells us how best to live. We are to lovingly rule and care for this world He has created. We rule under him – we are stewards. Not left to run it how we want, but under his guidance and rule.
- dominion does not mean exploitation. How does God rule – sacrificially and for benefit of others. Other person centred. (Opposite of Selfish Gene idea)
We should lovingly care for this environment that God has created and the other creatures in it. – especially humans.
We’ve heard we are precious.
Which means we ought to treat each other with such value.
If God were sitting next to you how would you treat him? How would you speak to him? How would you think about him? Well the person sitting next to you is made in His image.
Homeless person, third world, office or school nerd. Supermarket checkout person. Spend a minute thinking of someone you ought to value more and how you can practically do that.
God has given us huge help in this. Just as God has built every cell with a code that it follows in order to be fruitful and multiply, God has given us a code, his word to follow in order for our lives to be fruitful. A code that spells out how we can best get on with each other – loving and serving one another as we follow the God who loves and serves us. He is our Creator, he knows best how we work. Notice how blessing is connected to what God SAYS in v22 & v28. “God blessed them and said…” The blessed way of life is doing what our Creator says. He’s given us the instruction book. And it tells us that life is about living in right relationship with God and each other. So need to be reading his Word.
Do we see it as a chore or the way to blessing?
Blessing = Life in order not prosperity gospel. Ordered = at peace and rest. Paul able to be content in every circumstance as in right relationship with God.
So question is will we follow his ways or do we think we know better?
We see in this passage how what God says happens. His word is powerful.
What God says happens. So it will have powerful consequences on us if we don’t go our Creator’s way.
God has ordered the Universe in a certain way. To rebel against that order is rubbing against the grain. Will break and destroy us.
The problem is all of us by nature do rebel, causing great disorder
I’m not going to look at the spiritual consequences of rebelling against God’s order today, but I am going to show us some of the natural ones. The example I’m going to us is homosexuality as its very topical. The issue of gay marriage is in the headlines frequently
Genesis 2 sets up the order for marriage – between one man and one woman . The New Testament re-affirms – see 1 Cor 6
“v9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
But In its wisdom our culture has decided to bin its Christian heritage, bin the Bible and set its own morality. If two people want to marry, it doesn’t matter if they’re both the same sex. Forget what God says about marriage, our wants and desires come first.
Society says both consent so OK. But does God consent?
Biggest taboo is saying homo is wrong. Called homophobic.
I want us to look at the reality that the media never tells us.
Listen to these statistics to see where abandoning God’s order leads:-
Read p129 of What some of you were which quotes Thomas Schmidt’s survey called “Straight and narrow?” This surveyed 200 research reports undertaken by those neutral or positive about homosexuality.
Out of 10 gay men aged mid 30s in San Francisco:
4 are in relationships, but only 1 faithful, and even that 1 won’t be by year end.
4 never had a relationship lasting over 1 yr. Only 1 over 3 years.
6 regularly having sex with strangers, averaging 2 partners per month.
3 occasionally take part in orgies.
4 have history of acute depression, 3 seriously contemplated suicide, 2 have attempted it.
8 have history of STDs, 8 currently carry infectious pathogens, 3 suffer from digestive / urinary probs.
3 are HIV infected. 1 has AIDS.
Average life expectancy is 25 - 30 years lower than normal.
(25-30% decrease in life expectancy – quoted from p.120 of Pure Sex. (Matthias Media))
If this is an issue, pray with someone.
We Christians mustn’t be judgemental. Love them. All of us sinful in different ways. Not a worse sin than others
Turning away from God, as Adam and Eve did is disastrous.
How can we have a restored relationship with God? How Return to order?
Jesus is this Creator God.
Mark 4 Calming the storm. Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?
Only the Creator God can do that. And how did he do it. He spoke. “Quiet be still.”
Just as God ordered creation in Genesis 1 and it happened, Jesus speaks and creation obeys him in the gospels. He proved he was Creator.
Turning Water to wine. John 2
John 1 All things made through him
Colossians 1 – all things created by him through him and for him
Walked on planet = proved he’s God the Creator.
Carpenter!! Good at making things!! I like working with wood and trees!
So we should worship Jesus not just as Saviour but Creator.
Inter-faith / Multi-faith movements try to say that Jews, Muslims and Christians all worship the same Creator God.
Well, if they’ll willingly worship Jesus then yes we do. Otherwise we don’t. Cos Jesus is our Creator.
Matt 11v28 “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you Rest” – Jesus is the one who can restore us to right relationship with God. = SAVIOUR
Recognise this restores order. = acknowledge right to rule and what he says goes, acknowledge rebellion, ask for forgiveness. Ask for his Spirit to help you start living his way.
Colossians 3v10 “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
In Him we are fruitful.
Bible often compares men to trees. Gen 1 – both to be fruitful. Psalm 1 – righteous man is like a tree planted by stream. Meditates on Word day and night.
In Christ, we can be fruitful. People see Him through us. Fruit contains seed of other’s conversions.
John 15 If abide in him, by obeying his word, we’ll be fruitful.
If you’re a non-Christian and you don’t believe there is a Creator or designer behind this Universe then you must at least be consistent.
If you want to carry on believing that life happened by chance it means your life has no value or purpose. You are a meaningless bunch of atoms destined to perish. So people can treat you accordingly. Deep down you know that’s not true.
But this world screams out that we were made by an intelligent and loving designer. We were made to know him and have a relationship with him through Jesus and we were made to live his way. That is the blessed and fruitful life. You fit in God’s world if you follow his word.
