TRINITY
SUNDAY
June
14-16, 2014
Pastor
Timothy J. Spaude
Text:
Genesis 1:1-2:3
CREATION DECLARES THE GLORY OF GOD!
1.
He
is wise.
2.
He
is powerful.
3.
He
is loving.
4.
He
is Triune!
So how important do you think it is to
know that God created the world just like He said He did? How important for the
future of a nation? How important for your salvation? I don’t know if you know
it or not but many visible Christian churches, including most of the mega
churches really take no stand on how the world was made. You can believe what
you want. Well let’s listen to how important God says it is. I’m going to read
to you from Romans chapter 1. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven
against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by
their wickedness, 19
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible
qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God
nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish
hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the
glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man
and birds and animals and reptiles. Because of this God gave them over.” And it goes on to
describe what happens when God says enough. Taking the glory God deserves as
Creator and giving it to something else brings God’s wrath. Many in our country
have exchanged the glory of God, not for man made images but the man made
scientifically foolish concept of evolution.
But we have not!
We look at the way God created and we see His glory. On this Trinity Sunday
where the majestic nature of God is on display join me in looking at the
Creation account again and see how it declares the glory of God.
The first thing
it points out is how wise God is. The book of Proverbs, God’s book of wisdom,
points out that it is wise to plan before you do something. We all know how
true that is. Have you ever had it happen for a major project that you did poor
planning and then all of the sudden there’s all these extra expenses to be
paid? Poor planning can also result in re dos. Oh, oh, we forgot to put the
weed barrier in the raised garden bed. All that dirt we put in has to come out.
When it came to creating God certainly had a plan. Everything was done in an
orderly way. Paul reminded us of that when he talked in 1 Corinthians about how
God wants to be worshipped in an orderly way because He is a God of order, not
chaos. Now let’s look at how that played out in creation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s
the straight up fact. “Now the earth was
formless and empty.” Not ordered. So God put it in order. “And God said, ‘Let there be light.’”
God put all the energy into the world. Fools calls this the Big Bang. Then he
shaped the earth. “And God said, ‘Let
there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’” God
creates seas and the sky or atmosphere. “And
God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry
ground appear.’ Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation.’” God
creates dry land and vegetation. Are you seeing this in your mind how
everything is going from disorder to order? It’s kind of like God is getting
world ready for something—or someone! “And
God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky.” He now creates
the sun, moon and stars. They have a purpose, to give light and mark the
seasons, days and years. “And God said,
’Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.”
Fish and fowl. “And God said, ‘Let the land produce living
creatures.” And all the land animals were formed. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image.’ Male and female he
created them.” Land animals and man on day six. And day seven? “By the seventh day God had finished the
work he had been doing’ so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
I suppose we could say God created rest. But did you notice in the full text
how God wisely created the world to keep going? Everything produces after its
kind. It replaces itself. This is why fools never find the missing link of one
species changing into another. It can’t happen. God says so. Each after its
kind means the species are fixed. You can have all kinds of variations with a
species, all sorts of different breeds of cats and dogs but you can’t have a
dat or a cog. God wisely created the world to refresh itself. Rain cleans a
polluted atmosphere. A continuous river runs through oceans spreading nutrients
and dropping pollutants to the sea floor. Seasons let the earth rest for a
time. Creation shows us how wise God is.
And how powerful
God is. Let’s do a little experiment here. Everyone think of your favorite food
you would like to have right now. Maybe a juicy steak, pizza, wings, a donut.
I’m partial to Big Macs. OK, now hold out your hands and tell it to be. “Let
there be a Big Mac!” Hmm, nothing. And yet God can say, “Let there be light and
land and sun moon stars and plants and animals and people,” and they are! Immediately. You know a simple bathroom
renovation in our school is taking several weeks with many, many workers
putting in hundreds if not thousands of hours, but God created all things in
just six short days. We know He could have done it in an instant, but more on
that later. Builders and renovators have to use things already made. God made
it all from nothing. He simply said and it was. Creation shows us how powerful
God is.
And Creation
shows us how loving God is. Did you ever think about why God created the world
in the first place? Think about it. God is independent of all things. He is the
only one who needs no one and nothing. Remember when Moses asked God who he
should say sent him to free the Israelites in Egypt? God identified Himself
then as “I AM.” That is to say the eternal independent supreme being. The Bible
also tells us God is love. Love looks for an object, something to show love to.
Here is a reason God created, to show love. And what wondrous love this is. You
can’t help but tell that human beings are special to God. We are not the most
advanced animals as the fools proclaim. We are God’s special creation. You can
tell. If you read Genesis 2 you will see how God gives souls to people. The
creation account tells us that all the rest of creation is placed under the
care and control of people to rule and manage for God’s glory. The last
creation of God is people. You know how it is when you have guest coming over
and you work hard to make sure everything is ready and just right? I’ve even
heard of people who have a cleaning or maid service “cleaning” up before they
come! That’s funny. What’s loving is how God made sure everything was just
right before He made people. All the beauty was there. What they needed to eat.
Even the sun moon and stars to mark days, seasons and years. He created a week
to govern our calendars. Nothing else in Creation needs to mark time. Bu people
do. God creates a day of rest not because He needs it but because we do. But
you know what shows God’s love even more? Sin. God went ahead with creation
knowing full well that Adam and Eve would sin and He would have to send Jesus
and punish Him for sin to free people from what they deserved. Creation shows
how loving God is.
And on this
Trinity Sunday we can’t help but notice how God shows He is Triune. Did you
pick it out? The one God says, “Let us make man in our image.” He is
careful to tell us that “the Spirit of
God was hovering over the waters.” Later in the New Testament we are told
about Jesus before He took on human flesh, “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.” Jesus is the Word. He was there
in the beginning. Creation shows us God is Triune.
Besides Trinity
Sunday in the Church Year our nation is observing Father’s Day this weekend. If
you have been blessed with God fearing caring Father, thank the heavenly Father
for that. If not, understand that your father’s treatment of you is not what
God expected. Look forward to heaven when it won’t hurt. For those of us who
are fathers or will be fathers, our Father in heaven is an impossible standard
to live up to. He is all wise, all powerful and perfectly loving. We, not so much.
But when we try to be loving like He is, we join the rest of creation in giving
God the glory He deserves. That makes us wise in God’s eyes. Amen.
