Creation: Everything was Created Good, part 2 (Genesis chapters 1-2; Psalm 8; 19)
Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church on Sunday, October 11, 2020
Please take a moment to recall the story I began last week’s sermon with:
In Chuck Colson’s book, “How Now Shall We Live” he writes about a father going on a trip to Disney World with his daughter. He planned the trip with his daughter because he was having problems with her. They had found marijuana in her purse. Additionally, she was no longer interested in church. Then, as they walked through Disney World they had time to talk. However, first he noticed something on one particular ride. They were on a ride in which Bill Nye, was talking about how everything developed. But he traced everything back to a naturalistic worldview. Nye talked about how everything simply evolved the way it was. The dad then realized the problem. He then realized that ever since kindergarten his daughter’s education had been against a foundational Biblical teaching. He was questioning what happened with her faith, but ever since kindergarten she had been taught at school that we are merely accidents. She had been taught macro-evolution at school. Macro-evolution means large scale evolution. Macro-evolution means that everything has evolved across species.
I am in a sermon series on having a Biblical worldview. The Bible exhorts us to Examine everything carefully (1 Thess. 5:21). Every form of media is giving us a worldview. Every news source, every movie, every video game, every form of literature, every commercial, really everything that we watch, read, or listen to is giving us a worldview. Certainly, some things are fine. Some commercials, or books, or movies, or news sources are not corrupting our worldview. However, we must test them. This is important for us as well as our children. This is important for the church.
Today, my theme is that everything was created good. Today, the focus will be on an overview of God creating in Genesis 1.
My application is: examine everything carefully.
Let’s read Genesis 1:1, 31:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Verse 31:
God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
- God created, let’s walk through creation.
- Recall last week I spent a lot of time focusing on the high importance of seeing God as the creator. If you were not here, I highly encourage you to read that message or listen to it. Now, we will talk more about God as creator and then about the creation process.
- God created and this also means that God is separate from His creation. God is not the same as His creation. God is separate from His creation.
- God created the earth. Now, the first two verses are an overview of the creation of time, space and matter. Starting in verse 3 God gives order to this matter. God arranges His creation so it is not such a mess.
- So, the rest of this chapter deals with the details of the earth and its surroundings. God chose to create everything in 6 days.
- On day 1, God creates light, this light may not be the sun. Most have believed the light is light emanating from God. On day 1, God also created the idea of the day and night.
- On Day 2, God creates the atmosphere. Notice the waters are already there.
- On day 3, God creates land and vegetation.
- On day 4, God creates the moon and the stars.
- Notice that the Bible doesn’t use the noun “sun,” or “moon.”
- If you study the ancient religions of the Middle East you can see that they worshipped the sun and the moon. So, Moses was careful not to use those terms. In fact, if you really study this text, you can compare it with the other religions of the Middle East. In comparing you can see that Moses is writing this correcting those religions and showing that there is one God and He is supreme.
- On Day 5, God creates the creatures of the sea and the air.
- On day 6, God creates the land animals and humans. Humans are the only creation specified. Humans are also created in God’s image.
- Notice also that it takes male and female to reflect the image of God.
- If we read on to Genesis chapter 2, we see more specific detail about the creation of Adam and Eve.
- God created everything, seen and unseen.
- Nehemiah 9:6: “You alone are the Lord.
You have made the heavens,
The heaven of heavens with all their host,
The earth and all that is on it,
The seas and all that is in them.
You give life to all of them
And the heavenly host bows down before You. - Col. 1:16: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.
- Nehemiah 9:6: “You alone are the Lord.
- Scripture affirms the direct creation of Adam and Eve.
- Wayne Grudem writes:
- The Direct Creation of Adam and Eve. The Bible also teaches that God created Adam and Eve in a special, personal way. “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). After that, God created Eve from Adam’s body: “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man” (Gen. 2:21–22). God apparently let Adam know something of what had happened, for Adam said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” (Gen. 2:23)[1]
- In Genesis chapter 2 the Bible gives great detail about God creating Adam and Eve.
- Now, I know that I am being somewhat simplistic. Today, my goal to teach that God created everything good. That is important to the Biblical worldview. Today, my goal is not to teach on evolution versus creation and the evidence for a young earth creation. I have preached and taught on that before and will again. Today, my focus is that the Bible teaches that God created and He created everything as good.
- I don’t think I have to convince you about the importance of creation. I think I have to convince you of the importance to test everything (1 Thess. 5:21). Every form of media is trying to counter the Christian worldview.
- Death, pain, and destruction is not how God meant for things to be.
- If you read through Genesis 1 and 2, we see that God created everything good.
- There was no death.
- Listen, we were not created to die. In the Garden of Eden there was the tree of life (Genesis 2:9) and because of the tree of life humans could live forever. Genesis 3:22 shows that the tree of life is what allows us to live forever.
- Some day God will restore creation and we see in Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14, and 19 that the tree of life will be part of the new heaven and the new earth.
- Apply
- God created everything, we must worship Him as the creator.
- God is the creator, this means that He owns everything.
- God is the author of life, this means that we must submit to Him as the ruler.
- God is the author and that means that He has a purpose in creating the world and us.
- If we have a purpose that means we are designed, and life is NOT meaningless.
- Being that we are not the author of life we do not have the authority to destroy life.
- Being that we are created this means that life is sacred.
- We must not insult God by failure to attribute things to Him.
- We must trust God; why shouldn’t we, if He is powerful enough to create everything we see, then He is trustworthy.
- God created. All of creation, seen and unseen comes from God.
- We must NOT worship creation. Worship God.
- God created, we must not be afraid, He is the creator and He is in charge.
- When we see beauty, we must worship God who created it.
- God created the world good, this means that when we see pain and suffering and bad things this is not as it was meant to be.
1 Thess. 5:21 shares that we are to examine everything carefully.
J. GRESHAM MACHEN shares:
False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here or there, if we permit the whole collective thought of a nation or of the world to be controlled by ideas which by the resistless force of logic, prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion.[2]
Where did history come from? God created everything and everything was created good.
My challenge to you is that you go home and test things. This week tests every form of media: movies, music, news, books, and notice what worldview it is teaching. Make sure that you hold true to the Biblical worldview.
Pray
[1] Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 2004), 262–314.
[2] Colson, Charles. How Now Shall We Live? (p. 27). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
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