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Jul 17, 2016

Experience the Wonder of God's Presence in the Proclamation of Creation

Passage: Genesis 1:1-2:3

Preacher: John Huizinga

Series: Experiencing God through the Wonder of . . .

Category: Practicing the Presence of God

Keywords: creation, heart, illusion, light, mind, nature, presence, soul, strength, temple

Summary:

The Wonder of God’s Proclamation of Creation. Last week we began our practice of the presence of God. We understood that human beings are made to experience and respond to the Lord’s presence, who is God-with-us. But we also admitted that because of the sin and the brokenness of this world we miss the presence of God. But the Lord is gracious, and reveals his presence in many ways. One way is through creation. Genesis 1 proclaims that nature is created for the glory of God. Applying the love of God with our heart, soul, mind and strength to the wonder of creation helps us pay attention to God’s presence in nature. So we’ll encourage one another in faith exercises on the wonder of the Creator God. As article 2 of the Belgic Confession says: We know God . . . by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters

Detail:

 

We’re beginning our practice of the presence of God.

We understand that human beings

are made to experience and respond to

the Lord’s presence, who is God-with-us.

But we also admit that because of

the sin and the brokenness of this world

we often miss the presence of God,

the one thing we’re looking for.

But the Lord is gracious,

and reveals his presence in many ways.

One way is through creation.

Genesis 1 proclaims that nature is created

for the glory of God.

As article 2 of the Belgic Confession says:

We know God . . . by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe,

since that universe is before our eyes

like a beautiful book in which all creatures,

great and small, are as letters

to make us ponder the invisible things of God . . .

 

As soon as we say that,

there are those who say not so fast.

Experiencing the presence of God is an illusion,

says computational biologist John C Wathey.

He interprets our various conceptions of God

in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum

left over from infancy.

We are tricked by chemical and electrical reactions

in our brain

into thinking we are experiencing what we are not.

God’s presence is an illusion.

- The Illusion of God’s Presence by John C Wathey

 

How would you answer him?

Here’s my answer:

Just because we can describe

what the brain is doing at these moments

can we fairly draw the conclusion

that these are just electrical pulses that trick us

and nothing more?

Similar descriptions and inferences

about the brain’s activity

are made when we talk of love,

charity, guilt, and even fear.

Are these all just chemical reactions,

and therefore not really what we experience

them to be?

If that’s the case,

isn’t even a theory like this

just a chemical reaction in our brain,

and our understanding of it just a chemical reaction, and therefore not worth the thought either?

It doesn’t seem constructive or true

to think that the most important aspects,

practices and understandings in life

can be chalked up to human beings

being tricked and fooled about living.

 

Why not see in the physical working of our minds

how we are designed for God, made for God,

created to live by faith

in relationship to God

who is our Father, our Lord, our Savior?

 

This is the proclamation made

in the first words of scripture,

Genesis chapter 1:

revealing that nature proclaims

the creative presence of the Lord God.

Genesis 1 is not a simplistic account of our origins

by people who didn’t know better

and were naïve and ignorant

about life, the universe, and everything.

All scripture is God-breathed, revealing

all we need to know and love the Triune God.

To illustrate the complexity of Genesis 1

consider its mathematical intricacy:

William Brown points out that

the seven days of creation

contain 10 commands of God.

Ten times we read, And God said, “Let there be . . .”

tying the ten commandments

given in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5

to the creation order and wholeness.

The account goes on to record 10 times

God calling, dividing, making,

and setting the cosmos in order.

For the seven days of creation,

seven times God saw what he had made

and declared it seven times to be good.

The word for earth or land appears 21 times,

a multiple of seven and three,

pointing toward God’s perfect work.

The word God is used 35 times,

another multiple of seven. 

The first verse has seven Hebrew words.

The second verse 14 Hebrew words,

another multiple of seven. 

And the final account of creation’s reality

in verses 1-3 of Genesis 2

has 35 Hebrew words, again a multiple of 7,

also matching the number of times

God is mentioned.

The total word count in the original language

is 469 words, again a multiple of 7.

Why is seven so central?

The culmination of creation is the seventh day.

It is the only day declared holy.

There God rests.

He is at home as Lord over all and God with us.

 

By now you should have a renewed wonder

about the creation account in Genesis.

There is much more going on here

than all the creation-evolution debates reckon with.

The intricacy and precision of the creation story

is meant to reveal the beauty and wonder

of God’s creative acts in nature.

By paying attention to nature’s revelation

we are able to sense God-with-us

as Creator and Redeemer.

 

What are the first words God speaks?

Let there be light!

Why light?

Why not: let there be love, or truth, or amino acids?

Light is a sign of God’s presence,

grace, blessing, and being:

Let the light of your face shine on us, says Psalm 4.

Light is an indication of life with God:

Psalm 36 says, For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

Light indicates God with us:

John 1 describes Jesus’s coming:

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness . . .

Jesus says of himself, I am the light of the world

and, I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.    John 12:46

 

The creation proclamation is that

this is my Father’s world,

the Lord does speak to me everywhere,

and life is given me to live in praise to God.

 

In fact, a growing number of Bible scholars

are noticing how the creation account in Genesis 1

describes creation not as

a scientific treatise on origins

but to make us think of creation and all of nature

as an ancient temple,

all for the worship of the One True God.

The universe is God’s sanctuary.

An ancient temple had three rooms.

Days 1, 2 and 3 give the formation of creation,

its rooms,

days 4,5, and 6 show how creation’s form is filled.

Day 1 says, let there be light,

day 4 gives us the making of those lights.

Day 2 gives us the skies above and the waters below,

day 4 the birds of the sky and the fish of the seas.

By day 3 we get the making of land and on day 6 the making of human life to be stewards of that land, filling it with the image of God.

All to bless the seventh day.

As the holy day, the point of it all!

God with us

and life to praise the Lord.

 

So the seventh day breaks the symmetry

of days 1,2, and 3 and days 4,5, and 6.

This day declares the completion of creation: everything began formless and empty,

after the work of creation everything is filled.

Now is time for rest, for praise,

for life lived in God’s presence and for his glory.

 

In 1 Kings 6 we read

of the building of God’s temple by Solomon,

and as creation is described taking 7 days,

there Solomon’s temple is noted

as being built in seven years.

Ancient temples had images of heathen gods.

Genesis 1 declares it is our place, humanity’s place, to bear the image of God

in our work and rest, labor and leisure, life and faith.

 

So what do you think of that?

I think it helps us recover the good news

of these first words of scripture,

liberating us from the extreme views

of naturalism or the literalism of creationism.

This allows us to respond in faith

that recognizes God as Creator

welcoming science as the blessing

it is intended to be,

and not the idol it can become,

like so many other things.

 

I am able to leave room for natural processes

but also God’s creative work.

I can read and celebrate that God said,

Let us make mankind in our image,

and also read God using natural processes

when I read, Let the land produce vegetation

and, Let the land produce living creatures

according to their kinds . . .

while also seeing God’s creative hand

in the wonders of life as I read:

God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds . . .

 

But most of all,

in my spiritual need

to experience the presence of the Lord

and live for him,

I can wonder at my place in creation

to praise our Creator,

made in God’s image to glorify the name of the Lord.

 

The goodness and order

and simple beauty of Genesis 1

clashes with the hurt and pain

that is so much of the news today

and that our world experienced again

just last Thursday and Friday

with yet more attacks and terror.

There is hope here

and promise that we so sorely and surely need.

And are called to share.

 

When I love God

with all my heart, soul, mind and strength

and apply that love to the Creator God;

when through the woods and forest glades I wander

and wonder at the maker of mountains,

yet who formed me in the hidden places for his glory,

I can receive the blessing of his presence

and image grace and truth

to a graceless and deceived world.

 

Wonder is needed for a healthy spiritual life –

says Richard Louv.

He sees that we are disconnected from nature,

and when we miss the wonder of nature,

we miss that first step in our spiritual development.

That moment of wonder

is the source for all spiritual growth.

 

There are some suggested practices

on the back of your worship handout

to help us practice our wonder.

Will you take that home,

and try one of the suggestions this week?

For we are made to live with God

and know his presence.

 

Here’s one faith exercise:

This is a way to love God as creator with all our soul   . . . the way we connect with God.

Take the Scriptures outside.

The Bible is full of descriptions of nature

in praise to our Creator.

The Bible isn’t a moral code,

a long list of do’s and don’ts,

or a fairy tale telling of a superstitious people. 

In the Bible we find an invitation to life

with the living God,

a belonging by faith that brings hope,

love, joy and peace into our lives,

drawing out proper gratitude

and blessing from our lives.

Read Genesis 1, or Psalm 104, or Psalm 19 outside. Be quiet and listen for a bird’s call,

or the rustle of leaves,

or maybe the noisy cicadas,

then give praise to God for creation.

How will I love God’s creation proclamation

with all my soul . . .

 

Remember, that God became one of us.

Jesus, took on human flesh

and lived and died

for our forgiveness and redemption.

It is an amazing grace

that God experienced creation first hand in Christ.

Colossians 1

16 For in Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

 

And since God came to earth not as the wind

or as a force of nature

or any other creature but as a human being,

this commands us to value the life

of all other human beings.

Given all the racial tension today,

can we respond to God’s gift of life,

and Christ’s lordship over life

by committing to one concrete act

loving our neighbor this week?

A neighbor who is not like us.

Who has a different skin color.

Who lives in a different neighborhood.

Who lives a different lifestyle.

Since human beings are the crown of creation,

our care and protection of life says much

about our love for the Creator God.

What one act of service or care to a neighbor

or person in need will you offer this week?

What one giving of thanks to God

for another person will you offer?

How will I love God’s creation proclamation

with all my heart . . .

 

Love God with all our mind . . .

rationally practice the wonder of creation –

when was the last time you read a scientific article

or watched a nature documentary?

Or visited the Field Museum

or the Shedd Aquarium

or the Adler Planetarium

or even the Art Institute?

Reading a book

or even using our abilities

through artistic expression

through music

or other arts

may be a way for you to wonder

about God’s creation proclamation.

How will I love God’s creation proclamation

with all my mind this week . . .

 

Love God with all our strength . . .

doing something differently for Jesus’ sake.

We are called to be stewards of creation.

So what one practice can you commit to

in order to care for creation?

Is there a wasteful habit for you to stop doing?

How about examining the way you eat

and making a choice to use local products

and consume healthy foods,

giving up a couple of processed foods

for the rest of the summer?

How will I love God’s creation proclamation

with all my strength . . .

 

The first words of the Bible proclaim

the Creator God who is known and experienced

in the wonder of the universe.

Here is a praiseworthy way

to practice the presence

of this same one and only Lord who is with us.

Blessings on your practices this week.