Beginnings – Creation – 12/30/07
Date: 12/30/07
Sermon Series: Beginnings
Sermon Title: Creation
Text: Gen. 1:1-2
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 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.” (ESV)
Theme: This message will deal with the characteristics of God that are plainly visible in the account of creation. We will learn about God’s creative character and the implications for the believer. Just as God forms and fills the creation He forms and fills the Christian. This passage teaches us to be concerned about stewardship (man’s role in God’s plan), orderliness, and creativity towards God.
Introduction: Making something.
Transition: The reason for this series.
I. What Creation teaches us about God’s nature
a. He exists
i. The Bible no where offers a philosophical argument for the existence of God. It approaches the subject from the point of view of Rom. 1:20 – His existence is self evident.
b. He is A God – not part of a hierarchy or one of many God is one God
i. Probably the most important piece of Hebrew scripture is called the Shema it is found in Deut. 6:4 – Hear O Israel the Lord is our God, He is one!
c. He is the only pre-existent thing in the universe.
i. He predates all matter and energy. Before the creation there was only God.
d. God is separate from creation.
i. Creation is not to be worshipped, that honor is solely left for God. This rules out any kind of pantheism or universal mind.
e. Creation is not all that there is.
i. There exists something beyond the natural world tat we can see and taste and experience – there is a supernatural realm.
II. What Creation teaches us about God’s Character
a. He is incredibly creative
i. He loves making and designing newness. Sometimes He does this out of completely non-existent material as He did in the creation of the world, and sometimes He makes something brand new out of material that is already there. – 2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:1-10 – Especially 10.
ii. Warren Wiersbe put it this way – “God works according to a plan: first He forms then He fills. He formed the earth and filled it with plants and animals. He formed the firmament and filled it with stars and planets. He formed the seas and filled them with living creatures. He can form and fill our lives if we yield o Him. People who have done so are a part of His new creation.”
b. He is orderly
i. God creation involves organization rather than chaos.
ii. Dr. Hugh Ross in his book Creation and Cosmos relates how this creation story is the only one in all of the religions of the world that has a plausible explanation for the creation of the universe.
iii. He organized the process into six very distinct works that showed His design and plan.
III. What we can learn from the creation process.
a. The need to be stewards of the creation.
i. There are several things in the creation account that speak to man’s responsibility to be a responsible steward of the creation
1. God has man name all of the created beings (except man)
2. He gives man charge of all of creation.
3. He ties man into the creation – (out of the dirt you will make a living and return to)
b. The need to be orderly
i. Worship
1. Give thought to our worship. Paul cautioned the Corinthian church in the strongest possible terms because of the disruptions that were occurring in their worship services.
ii. Living
1. Our lives should also reflect the orderliness of God’s character.
c. The need to be creative and excited about worshipping God.
i. Finally I think that it is important that the main reason that God gives for creation is so tat he will be glorified. We along with everything else was designed t be instruments of Glory that shines back on the creator. Psalm 33:6-9
