Creation

Some of you may be familiar with Neil Degrasse Tyson, who’s sort of a celebrity scientist - he was the narrator of the most recent version of the series that Carl Sagan made so popular, Cosmos. Over the last several years during Christmas, Tyson has gotten on Twitter to send out that haven’t been received very well - and for good reason.

A couple of years ago he sent out tweets talking about how Santa couldn’t live at the North Pole since the North Pole, up in the Arctic, isn’t even a land mass, just a frozen mass of ice - so it’s uninhabitable.

This year his tweets pointed out the fact that it would be impossible for Santa to deliver toys to all the good boys and girls at Christmas since it would require him to deliver to 25,000 households every second in order for him to do that in one night.

I don’t know if he thinks he’s promoting science by doing this or he had a terrible experience one Christmas when he was a kid, but man, talk about being a Mr. Bah Humbug.

Reason I bring up Neil Degrasse Tyson is because of his connection with Cosmos, the TV series popularized by Carl Sagan. Sagan had a quote which he wove throughout the series and in his lectures, a view Tyson embraced as well.

Quotes is this: The Cosmos is all that is and ever was and ever will be.

Interestingly, he would always capitalize the cosmos. Sagan had a deep reverence and awe for the universe. But I want you to consider that quote for a second, and what it’s saying…the cosmos, the universe - earth and moon and the sun and our solar system and on out to the Milky Way and the billions upon billions of galaxies beyond us - that’s it, that’s all that exists. That’s way it’s always been - and that’s all that will ever exist, the material universe.

The Bible tells a very different story. We’re going to start that story today, right from the very beginning.

Over the months to come, we’re going to go through the story of the Old Testament, beginning with Genesis.

Start this morning with Genesis 1, the story of creation according to the Bible. And it begins at a very different place. it makes an astounding claim right from the very start, the very first words…In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Turns out the cosmos isn’t all there ever was - and in fact, at one time there wasn’t even a cosmos. But God has always been.

In fact, Sagan really is making a cosmos a god-substitute, he’s just taking what Bible proclaims about God, that he is eternal, is, always has been, always will be.

And this is hugely significant - because where you start matters greatly on where you end. We talked a lot about this in our series on Tough Topics, this question of what is the story of reality, what is real and true and good? Because from this we derive our understanding of who we are, why we are, what’s our purpose, what’s right and wrong, what’s our destiny?

In fact, if the cosmos is all there is and ever was and ever will be - we have no purpose, we’re random accidents, nothing we do, in the end, matters or has any significance. We’re just random specks in a cold indifferent universe.

Thankfully, that’s not the true story of reality, story of creation. I want to spend our time together this morning going through that story. Lengthier Scripture passage, as I want to go through the entire story in the first chapter of Genesis.

**Genesis 1:1-2:3, The Story of Creation** (slides here)

One of the things that is immediately evident is the repetitive, rhythmic flow to the creation narrative, it has a poetic aspect to it.

Over and over again, “And God said, Let there, or let the...” And then, at the conclusion, “and there was evening, and there was morning - the first (second, third day).

The story is not trying to give us the exact details of how everything came to be, the focus of the story is simply to tell us that it was God, out of his divine power and glory and wisdom and goodness, that he, and he alone, made the heavens and the earth.

That he did so in the midst of chaos and darkness - that’s what we see in the very beginning, earth was tohu and vohu, untamed and uninhabited, formless and empty - and God simply spoke everything into being. Don’t miss that, God is truth. What he speaks, is. And so, creation comes simply because “God said, let there be”. And it comes to be, just like he says (that is divine power).

What we see through days of creation is God acting against the chaos and emptiness, by forming and filling. That’s the pattern we see here, God forming through the first three days, and then in the days four, five and six, God fills what he has formed.

So, God forming - Day 1 he forms time, by creating light, and separating the light from the darkness, forming day and night. Day 2 God forms the waters. In ancient times the sky was viewed as a vault, a dome. So here God is separating the waters above, the sky from the waters below, the seas. On day three, final day of forming, God separates the water creating dry ground, land. He finishes day three with a sort of bonus, filling the earth with vegetation, he is finalizing the forming, preparing the earth to be filled with living beings.

Now, God forming against the chaos reveals his power. Chaos is all about disarray, things falling apart, not working. God creates order, he puts his laws, his design, his purpose into place.

Think about how much time and effort we spend trying to design and organize, create order out of chaos.

Examples: traffic, Christmas mess, blizzard (restoring power, water), law and order, teachers in classroom, we have “organizations”, forest management, wildlife management, business management - the list goes on.

By the way, this is all work we do to join in on God’s creation work, his sharing dominion with us

In midst of complete and utter chaos, God speaks and everything is formed: the day and night, the seasons, sky, waters below, earth.

Richard Dawkins, an avowed atheist, has a quote that says it all, “Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose.”

As much as he wants to deny the existence of God, he cannot deny that everything sure looks like it’s been designed - the forming that is evident in all of creation.

As it turns out, the fine-tuning of the universe, how perfectly it is designed in order for life to exist, is one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for the existence of God (whole reason the multi-verse theory was created).

After God forms, he fills. Notice that the days of filling correspond to the days of forming. Day four corresponds to day one, God creating the lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day and night, the signs and the seasons. So God fills the sky with the sun, moon and the stars. Similarly, day five corresponds to day two, in which God formed the sky and the seas by separating the waters. Here he fills the sky with birds of the air and the seas with sea creatures. Finally, day six filling what was formed on day three, the dry land. So God created all the living creatures, livestock and beasts and creepy, crawly things. And again, just like on day three, there is a bonus creation on day six, this time the creation of humanity - male and female, made in the image of God. Made not simply to be like God, but to share in his work - so we are given dominion, rule, over the rest of creation - to form and fill, or as the text puts it, to fill and subdue.

Just like God formed against the chaos, God fills the emptiness, the void. The heavens and the earth, brimming with life.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly God’s creation fills whenever and wherever it has the opportunity. It can drive us nuts, because we’re trying to manage it (forming work) - but how quickly vegetation grows - mowing grass, trim bushes, prune trees - and those darn weeds, they grow everywhere!

Stories of wildlife showing up in National Parks when the Covid lockdowns first hit, those pesky humans are gone, the place is ours now!

All this speaks to God’s power and glory and might, his wondrous creativity - when we stop and think about the vast array of creation that fills the earth, amazing variety of birds, sea creatures, animals. When we were in Portugal birding (48 species in one day!), our tour guide showed us his set-up, motion-activated cameras with lights, watering hole - showed pictures of this mammal that he had taken. We were talking to some of the folks who lived in Portugal, in that area, they had no idea this animal existed!

I was talking to my nephew, Tim (he’s 16), volunteers at his local Science Center, sometimes at the zoo they have. He loves looking in section with animals that are well less known, to be able to teach about them. Isn’t it fascinating to think that we instinctively know that our role is share in God’s forming and filling work - all conservation efforts, protect endangered species, work to teach children (and adults) about all different types of animals and birds and so on, to appreciate and enjoy God’s wonderful creation? (although be forewarned, if you make a donation to a wildlife fund, you will get on every mailing list - can’t tell you how many free return labels we’ve gotten that have cute animal pictures on them).

One of the things we have lost a sense of today is our own role in being fruitful and multiplying. This is God’s command to us - all part of his plan and design in creation is for us to bear children, have families.

So, what does all this mean for us? There’s so much we could go into - God’s creation sets stage for everything else. But I want to talk about part of the creation story that we often skip by, day seven.

God has looked at all of his creation and declared it good. Not just good, but at the end of day six, he’s excited, it’s tov meod, very good. Exceedingly good. It’s awesome. Just way God planned it to be.

And so, on the seventh day, God rests. God blesses the seventh day, he makes it holy. Which means he sets it apart, it’s not just a regular day, but to be used for special purpose (by the way, that’s where we get word “holiday” from, it’s a holy day, so, Happy Holidays). So God blesses it, makes it holy, and then rests.

Tim Mackie makes an interesting point in his Genesis 1 video (posted it on Facebook page), that rhythm we’ve seen throughout the creation story is broken here. There’s no mention of evening, morning, the seventh day. The story ends with God resting on seventh day.

Mackie says that this is because it’s pointing us to whole purpose of the story, this day doesn’t end. It’s purpose of creation - we are to join with God in his rest. We are to be with God, sharing in his creation with him.

We actually see this same idea reflected in Hebrews 3 & 4. Now, I have to be honest here, because the line of reasoning laid out by the writer of Hebrews is a little convoluted, it’s hard to follow. The gist of it is as follows: In Psalms, there’s a passage talking about God’s people, Israelites, in the wilderness hardening their hearts against God, rebelling and being disobedient, and therefore, would not be able to enter into his rest. So the offer for rest, for Sabbath rest, the rest that God entered into after finishing the work of creation, still stands.

Hebrews 4:9-11...There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

We enter that rest by trusting the message, the good news of Jesus Christ. That through him we can be with God, we can enjoy life, we can enjoy all of his creation, with him.

Everything about the story of creation is pointing us to life with God. He made us in his image. He shares his rule, dominion with us, he is inviting us into life with him, this Sabbath rest, to be with him.

Spiritual Disciplines

If God’s power and goodness are revealed through his creation (and they are), then spend time this week, as a spiritual discipline, in what Maureen Convoy describes as a way of experiencing God’s goodness and love by becoming deeply absorbed in creation. Talk a walk outside and pay great attention to the sights, sounds and colors of nature. Go to a park, the more remote the nature, the better. You can take a notebook and jot down everything you see, as if your mission were to canvas the area, and you had to convey to someone else the fullness of what you’d seen and heard and experienced. Or view the scene as God’s great artwork and you as the art student, paying close attention to the Master Artist’s work. Be attentive to God through his creation.

Second discipline brings us to the idea of entering God’s rest. This is exactly what the discipline of keeping Sabbath is all about, to enter God’s rest. The goal is to take a 24 hour time period and focus on four elements: Stop. Stop from your normal activities, your work, your to-do lists, errands, etc. Second, Rest. Sleep in. Take a nap. Spend time in quiet. Contemplate - be with God. Spend time reading and reflecting on Scripture. Praying. Simply being in God’s presence. Finally, Delight. Do something that delights you, that you truly enjoy, brings you joy. Stop. Rest. Contemplate. Delight.

Inspiration

I want to share with you another quote from Richard Dawkins as we wrap up this morning: “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.” That’s quite a cheery outlook, honestly, I’m not sure what gets him up in the morning.

What a difference when you know the true story of creation. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” To look at the universe, the cosmos, and not see blind, pitiless indifference, but to see the divine power and glory of the God who created it all. He is the God of wonder, God of glory and majesty and power and wisdom and might. God who made his wondrous creation good. In fact, very good. In fact, he’s not indifferent at all - he made us to share in this life with him and to share in the wonders of his creation.

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