Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon – Genesis 1 Created by God
New Covenant Church
January 7, 2018
We are beginning today a four-week celebration of the Arts Ministry of the church. Under the direction of Elder Nancy Carol Willis, the Arts Ministry is producing four banners to beautify and adorn our sanctuary. This builds upon the history of banner making in our church which has resulted in banners for our vision and closing song. We have also made banners for our mission partners in Kenya. This month we will be looking at the designs for the banners. As they are completed they will be permanently displayed in the sanctuary.
Our first banner is entitled, “Creation, Let us make Man in Our Image”. The themes of this banner are drawn from the first chapters of Genesis and the Gospel of John. We will take a closer look at what it means to be created by God, but first, let’s pray.
“We praise you, God Almighty, for the power you have shown in creating the world. We thank you for your love in redeeming us from sin and in creating us anew in Christ. Grant us strength in this life to honor you, Lord God, both in worship and in witness, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.”
Two and a half millennia ago a Hebrew fisherman was casting his nets in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast from the port of Joppa. He had been fishing since before dawn, but now as the sun was setting he had few fish to show for his hard work. He decided to cast his nets into the water one last time before returning to the shore. When he looked up at the setting sun he saw storm clouds gathering. He felt the wind pick up. And the sea became choppy. He knew from his long experience that a bad storm was coming so he quickly pulled in his net. But the storm came upon him faster than he anticipated and he was pushed farther out into the sea. By the time the storm ended that fisherman had lost all sight of land. With the heavy clouds overhead he couldn’t see the stars and didn’t know which way led to home. The moon provided no light. The fisherman sat in the dark in his boat wondering who would provide for his family if died, because death was the most likely outcome to his situation.
This is what it is like to live in a world without a creator God. The Bible describes it this way:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.
This is a world without a creator God: formless, empty, dark. There is no purpose. There is no direction. There is no light. All we have, like the fisherman, is a world of darkness which we live in until we die. There is no hope. There is no salvation. There is nothing.
As the fisherman sat in his boat getting ready to die he felt a gentle wind push his boat. As the sun rose for the new day he saw, with relief, that the wind was pushing him to shore. He was going home. He would not die. He would live to fish another day. He would be with his family.
According to the Bible, this is what a world created by God is like:
2b and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good.
A world created by God has purpose and direction. There is salvation. There is goodness. There is light. There is hope. Thankfully we live in a world created by God.
God used the stuff of the world, the atoms, space and time and shaped them into a good, purposeful, and hopeful world for us to live in. And he has blessed us with the ability to shape that world for our purposes and his good pleasure. He has made us co-creators. He has blessed us with the ability to create art and music and literature and architecture and marvels of engineering. And all he asks is that we use what we create according to his will and purpose. The Bible puts it this way:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
So we are created in the image of God. This does not mean that we look like God. Rather it means that we do what God does. We create. We have dominion over animals so that we can create agriculture and provide food in abundance. We can shape the clay and iron and coal in the earth into buildings and bridges and roads and rockets to the stars. We can shape cotton and wool into clothing and beautiful banners.
God has given us the ability to create. But he has also told us to use this gift responsibly. Here is what Bible says:
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God’s command to us is that we use our blessings to create a world of abundance. God has given us all we need. Now we are to use what God gives us to create fruitfully. God gives us plants, and we are to figure out how to plant and care for them so they provide food in abundance. God gives us animals, and we are to figure out how to breed and raise them to produce food for us and help our labor. God has created the building blocks of the world which we are to use to create a world of abundance. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
Romans 8:19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
So all of God’s good creation is waiting for us to use it, to shape it for our purposes in a way that is pleasing to God. So create. Make things. Use things. Shape the creation you have been given into a world of abundance.
So what should be our response to this great blessing from God? First, we are to use what God gives us and multiply it. And then we are to rejoice at the bounty God provides. The psalmist puts it this way:
Psalm 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. 12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. 13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord.
The Hebrew fisherman sat in the darkness of his boat before dawn. He had no hope of ever seeing his family. He had no hope of surviving the night. But a wind picked up and drove his sail toward the shore. Who was this who saved him? Who blew on his sail gently guiding him home? Who was his savior? Who was with God at creation and gives us hope and direction? It was our savior, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter put it this way:
1 Peter 1:20 He (Jesus Christ) was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him, you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Jesus Christ is the one who blew on that sail and brought the fisherman home. Jesus Christ was his savior. And Jesus Christ is our savior. He blows on our sail bringing us to where we belong.
And as Jesus was blowing the fisherman’s boat the sun rose and revealed the good news that he was returning home. Who was this that enlightened the world so that the fisherman would be filled with hope and confidence? The one who brings light into the world is none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus put it this way:
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
So the wind that filled the fisherman’s sail was the spirit of Jesus Christ. And Jesus was the light of the world that gave him hope that he had been saved. We too a filled with Christ’s spirit and light. As a result, we are filled with joy and hope and faith and we live in a world of abundance. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for filling our sails with your Spirit to guide us. And we thank you for filling our world with light so we can see where we are going. Help us to shape God’s good creation into a world of abundance for all. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.
Sermon – Genesis 1 Created by God
New Covenant Church
January 7, 2018
We are beginning today a four-week celebration of the Arts Ministry of the church. Under the direction of Elder Nancy Carol Willis, the Arts Ministry is producing four banners to beautify and adorn our sanctuary. This builds upon the history of banner making in our church which has resulted in banners for our vision and closing song. We have also made banners for our mission partners in Kenya. This month we will be looking at the designs for the banners. As they are completed they will be permanently displayed in the sanctuary.
Our first banner is entitled, “Creation, Let us make Man in Our Image”. The themes of this banner are drawn from the first chapters of Genesis and the Gospel of John. We will take a closer look at what it means to be created by God, but first, let’s pray.
“We praise you, God Almighty, for the power you have shown in creating the world. We thank you for your love in redeeming us from sin and in creating us anew in Christ. Grant us strength in this life to honor you, Lord God, both in worship and in witness, for Jesus Christ’s sake. Amen.”
Two and a half millennia ago a Hebrew fisherman was casting his nets in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coast from the port of Joppa. He had been fishing since before dawn, but now as the sun was setting he had few fish to show for his hard work. He decided to cast his nets into the water one last time before returning to the shore. When he looked up at the setting sun he saw storm clouds gathering. He felt the wind pick up. And the sea became choppy. He knew from his long experience that a bad storm was coming so he quickly pulled in his net. But the storm came upon him faster than he anticipated and he was pushed farther out into the sea. By the time the storm ended that fisherman had lost all sight of land. With the heavy clouds overhead he couldn’t see the stars and didn’t know which way led to home. The moon provided no light. The fisherman sat in the dark in his boat wondering who would provide for his family if died, because death was the most likely outcome to his situation.
This is what it is like to live in a world without a creator God. The Bible describes it this way:
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.
This is a world without a creator God: formless, empty, dark. There is no purpose. There is no direction. There is no light. All we have, like the fisherman, is a world of darkness which we live in until we die. There is no hope. There is no salvation. There is nothing.
As the fisherman sat in his boat getting ready to die he felt a gentle wind push his boat. As the sun rose for the new day he saw, with relief, that the wind was pushing him to shore. He was going home. He would not die. He would live to fish another day. He would be with his family.
According to the Bible, this is what a world created by God is like:
2b and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good.
A world created by God has purpose and direction. There is salvation. There is goodness. There is light. There is hope. Thankfully we live in a world created by God.
God used the stuff of the world, the atoms, space and time and shaped them into a good, purposeful, and hopeful world for us to live in. And he has blessed us with the ability to shape that world for our purposes and his good pleasure. He has made us co-creators. He has blessed us with the ability to create art and music and literature and architecture and marvels of engineering. And all he asks is that we use what we create according to his will and purpose. The Bible puts it this way:
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
So we are created in the image of God. This does not mean that we look like God. Rather it means that we do what God does. We create. We have dominion over animals so that we can create agriculture and provide food in abundance. We can shape the clay and iron and coal in the earth into buildings and bridges and roads and rockets to the stars. We can shape cotton and wool into clothing and beautiful banners.
God has given us the ability to create. But he has also told us to use this gift responsibly. Here is what Bible says:
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
God’s command to us is that we use our blessings to create a world of abundance. God has given us all we need. Now we are to use what God gives us to create fruitfully. God gives us plants, and we are to figure out how to plant and care for them so they provide food in abundance. God gives us animals, and we are to figure out how to breed and raise them to produce food for us and help our labor. God has created the building blocks of the world which we are to use to create a world of abundance. The Apostle Paul put it this way:
Romans 8:19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
So all of God’s good creation is waiting for us to use it, to shape it for our purposes in a way that is pleasing to God. So create. Make things. Use things. Shape the creation you have been given into a world of abundance.
So what should be our response to this great blessing from God? First, we are to use what God gives us and multiply it. And then we are to rejoice at the bounty God provides. The psalmist puts it this way:
Psalm 96:11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it. 12 Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. 13 Let all creation rejoice before the Lord.
The Hebrew fisherman sat in the darkness of his boat before dawn. He had no hope of ever seeing his family. He had no hope of surviving the night. But a wind picked up and drove his sail toward the shore. Who was this who saved him? Who blew on his sail gently guiding him home? Who was his savior? Who was with God at creation and gives us hope and direction? It was our savior, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter put it this way:
1 Peter 1:20 He (Jesus Christ) was chosen before the creation of the world but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him, you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
Jesus Christ is the one who blew on that sail and brought the fisherman home. Jesus Christ was his savior. And Jesus Christ is our savior. He blows on our sail bringing us to where we belong.
And as Jesus was blowing the fisherman’s boat the sun rose and revealed the good news that he was returning home. Who was this that enlightened the world so that the fisherman would be filled with hope and confidence? The one who brings light into the world is none other than Jesus Christ. Jesus put it this way:
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
So the wind that filled the fisherman’s sail was the spirit of Jesus Christ. And Jesus was the light of the world that gave him hope that he had been saved. We too a filled with Christ’s spirit and light. As a result, we are filled with joy and hope and faith and we live in a world of abundance. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we thank you for filling our sails with your Spirit to guide us. And we thank you for filling our world with light so we can see where we are going. Help us to shape God’s good creation into a world of abundance for all. This we pray in your glorious name. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment