TRINITY SUNDAY June 14-16, 2014 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Genesis 1:1-2:3 CREATION DECLARES THE GLORY OF GOD!

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.