The Good Creation

Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 7 views
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

Genesis 1:26‑31

The Good Creation

God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

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.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food.”  And it was so.

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.  And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

S

eeing a Kansas tornado rushing toward one’s home as hale smashes to the ground and the wind begins to blow in gusts up to one hundred miles per hour, it is hard to think of creation as good.  Trapped in the nightmare of a prairie blizzard, creation seems anything but good.  Treed by a raging sow grizzly, the fact that creation is good is likely to be far from your mind.  Caught in the raging waters of a West Texas flash flood, one is hard-pressed to think of creation as good.  Yet God, assessing the work of His hands, looked on creation and pronounced it good.  What is good about creation?

Creation as we know it is not creation as God saw it when it was first completed.  Paul describes creation in pitiful terms in his letter to the Romans.  I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.  Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently [Romans 8:18-25].

Creation, the world about us, even in a beautiful setting such as Jasper National Park, reminds us of a bride dressed in her finery on her wedding day.  At the last moment, just as she is ready to walk down the aisle she is informed that her groom has been killed.  Now, resplendent in her wedding finery she sobs, heart-broken and crushed.  The contrast exacerbates an already tragic picture.  The organ grinds out the wedding march even as the choirmaster sobs and grieves for the sorrow felt by the bride.

Creation Is Complete — Creation is not occurring today.  In an earlier study we saw that scientists endeavouring to explain the Divine work, postulated in years past what has become commonly known as the Steady State Theory of origins.  They postulated that somewhere in deep space far beyond the limits of observation, creation was continually ongoing as hydrogen was continuously condensed into great cosmic blobs which were destined to become stars.  These atoms were somehow transformed by a process yet undiscovered into the multiplied atoms found in the makeup of stars and the condensed gases were set blazing as though great cosmic furnaces through nuclear fusion.

These blazing stars were in turn imparted a rotational motion by unknown forces and as they spun they began spinning off planets and moons and components of their unique planetary systems.  As the planets and associated bodies cooled, some of them would no doubt begin anew an evolutionary cycle resulting in the creation of life through the mercies of time and chance.  No one could see any of these processes occurring, but based upon the evolutionary model of origins, creation of necessity had to be ongoing.  That was the view of science for decades until recent years.

Today, the prevailing view of origins within the scientific community appears to be the Big Bang Theory or some variant thereof.  This theory postulates that at some far distant point in time all the atomic matter found within our current universe was condensed into a giant sphere.  This great sphere in some manner unknown to contemporary science condensed and the matter compacted until a critical mass was obtained and no further condensation was possible.  The gaseous sphere exploded with the greatest explosion ever known in the history of the universe.  The blast flung particles of the great sphere into space at speeds approaching the speed of light.  As the various particles travelled through space, some cooled and condensed to form stars.  The condensed gases began to rotate as they cooled—some even spinning with a retrograde motion.  As the stars cooled still further they spun off planets and satellites and formed solar systems.  As the planets and moons cooled, some of them formed atmospheres conducive to the formation of life and the great evolutionary process began.  This, in a nutshell, is the most popular contemporary explanation of how we arrived at this state.

Thus, even within scientific circles compelled to embrace evolutionary dogma in order not to experience ostracism from their peers, there is no thought of ongoing creation.  At last, even the scientific community seems content to accept that the First Law of Thermodynamics actually holds true for all systems.  It is always good to see scientists on the forefront of knowledge.  At last they have arrived at the same point the Bible presents in its earliest chapter.  God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.

There were no improvements required when God finished His work.  All creation was in harmony and man, the acme of God’s work, stood in perfect relationship to his Creator.  No doubt the first man knew what it was to commune perfectly with His God.  Our first parents knew what it was to walk with God in intimacy, to speak with God, to stand before God without shame as well as enjoying one another without shame.  Our first parents knew how to perfectly enjoy the presence of one another as co-regents over the Creation which God had prepared.  Nothing further was required for God’s work to be perfect in beauty and perfect in harmony.

As an aside, I note that the conflicts we experience in our service to God and to one another today were evidently unknown to our first parents.  An article received via the Internet seems somehow appropriate to this particular point.

Funny how a $20 bill looks so big when you take it to church, but so small when you take it to the market.

Funny how long it takes to serve God for an hour, but how quickly a team plays 60 minutes of basketball.

Funny how long a couple of hours spent at church is, but how short they are when watching a movie.

Funny how we can’t think of anything to say when we pray, but how we don’t have difficulty thinking of things to talk about to a friend.

Funny how we get thrilled when a baseball game goes into extra innings, but how we complain when a sermon is longer than the regular time.

Funny how hard it is to read a chapter in the Bible, but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a best selling novel.

Funny how people want to get a front seat at any game or concert, but how they scramble to get a back seat at church services.

Funny how we need 2 or 3 weeks advance notice to fit a church event into our schedule, but how we  can adjust our schedule for other events at the last moment.

Funny how hard it is for people to learn the simple gospel well enough to tell others, but how simple it is for us to understand and repeat gossip.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but how we question what the Bible says.

Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, or to think, or to say, or do anything.

Funny how you can send a thousand ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord people think twice about sharing.

FUNNY, ISN’T IT?

Are you laughing?

Are you thinking?

Spread the Word!

What must it have been to commune with God … not simply to say prayers, but to enjoy the presence of God?  What must it have been to enjoy the Living Word of God and not feel the struggle of self-control to learn His will?  We cannot imagine what it must have been to find ourselves lost in wonder and fascination with the Lord our God, though the few times it has happened has filled us with determination to ensure that this situation ever continues—until the mundane of daily life once more captivates our souls.

On the sixth day God’s Creation was finished.  All that He had made was perfect.  The completed creation was pronounced good.  Had man not plunged the universe into ruin through his rebellion there would have been no need for regeneration.  Likewise the promise of a new heaven and a new earth are necessitated by man’s sinful rebellion against the Creator.  This present creation is in a state of ruin and decay and must pass away as evidence of God’s grace in the face of man’s sin.  Even the wicked among us recognise that nature is beautiful even if it is marred by sin.

Creation at the First — What was God’s creation like?  How could we describe the world when God had completed His work?  It was unlike the world in which we live.  There were no carnivores.  Man was a vegetarian, as were all the animals.  Nature was in balance—the animals serving man and man ruling over the animals.  Try as we might, we cannot imagine such a world; it is utterly foreign to our thinking and to our experience.  Try to think through the meaning of what God said to the man and the woman at the first.

Though I addressed the issue of man in a previous message, I do note one issue which should be addressed at this point.  God made man and designated them male and female.  Sexuality is part of God’s good creation.  Gender is part of God’s good creation.  God is not characterised by gender, as some have fatuously attempted to do in this day.  Interestingly enough, neither does God designate the animals by gender in the creation account, though He notes the diversity of gender for the animals after the flood.  Only together as male and female can man be man.

There is a second matter which is significant in this account, and that is that man is not a species.  Man is man.  We emphasise race and culture in our world, but God saw man as man.  There is no inferiority of race since man is man by creation.  Race and culture result from the Fall of our first father.  Likewise, the exaltation of one race against another is a result of the Fall.  Nor should we be so naïve as to imagine that only white people are racist.  I have ministered enough among blacks and Chinese to realise that they are every bit as racist as are Caucasians.  There is no justification for racism in the Word.

When God had made the man and the woman He blessed them, giving them the mandate which made sense only in a perfect world.  The divine blessing related to reproduction and responsibility.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

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.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.”  And it was so [Genesis 1:28–30].

What God creates He preserves.  What He brings into existence He provides for.  Our first parents were given seed and fruit to eat and the animals were given the leaves.  Before someone decides on the basis of the creation account that we are to be vegetarians I remind you that God Himself gave the animals to feed man following the Fall.  Moreover, we who are Christians realise that God has blessed all living creatures as food for us.  We who are Christians are taught that everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer [1 Timothy 4:4,5].  I’ll continue to eat steaks and chops, thank you.

God appointed the man and the woman to serve as rulers over Creation.  The rule which was assigned our first parents was not to be exploitive, but compassionate.  The man and the woman were a source of wonder and joy to one another as they together administered the world God had created.  Created in the image of God, our first parents were perfectly suited to commune with God and with each other.  There was no competition for supremacy, but instead there was a sense of confidence in one another and in the Creator.  All the living creatures which God had made were to serve man as he administered the work of God, though man killed none of them for his own use.

We are hard pressed to imagine how the bear and the lion served man.  At the first they were not carnivores.  The animals which we speak of as carnivores then ate vegetation, as did those creatures we today identify as herbivores.  Did the bear have claw and fang?  Are the claw and fang inherently part of carnivores as God created them, or are they evidence of the entrance of sin into the world?  When God first created the great cats or the great bears were they strong as now, holding their strength in check?  Or did they obtain their strength to kill as result of the Fall of our first father?  In this context it may be significant that during the Messianic era

The cow will feed with the bear,

their young will lie down together,

and the lion will eat straw like the ox

[Isaiah 11:7].

It is as though God has determined that He will restore the earth to its pre-Fall condition during that glorious period.  We can only marvel at His plan.

How did the fish of the sea serve our first parents?  In what way did the birds serve them?  Today man attempts to train dolphins to detect materials under water, but we cannot imagine how sea mammals or fish were harnessed for the welfare of our first parents.  We know that Adam and Eve had power to rule over the fish since God appointed them to do so, but in what way the creatures of the sea served man we cannot even begin to guess.  Man can enjoy the beauty of the fish and of the birds, but this requires that these beautiful creatures be caged or restrained in aquariums.  Surely our first parents did not restrain the birds and the fish.

What is evident from this account before us is that our first parents respected life.  They recognised and respected a relationship between human righteousness and the welfare of the earth.  It is only because of sin that man can even think to justify the wanton destruction of any living creature, much less the despoiling of the environment.  Sin utterly contaminates the prosperity of the earth and those living therein.  The sin of our first father brought God’s curse upon the earth [Genesis 3:17] and the later wickedness of human society was the cause of the utter destruction of the whole world in the Flood.  Human life bears responsibility under God for the wise administration of the environment.  Mankind is held accountable for the world which God has created, for man was appointed to govern God’s creation.

This properly balanced view of man’s place in the creation destroys forever the position of the extreme environmentalists, and especially that of those espousing the animal rights movement as it is called.  Man is not an animal, but rather he is appointed to be regent over the animals.  The language God employed is the language of majesty.  Older versions of the Genesis account speak of man holding dominion over the animals.  Our text speaks of man ruling over the animals.

Whereas many activists today speak of specism as being as reprehensible as they might speak of racism or sexism, it nevertheless remains true that man holds a special place in creation.  The place occupied by the vilest man is so superior to that of any animal that any attempted comparison is detestable.  Consequently, this provides a sufficient basis to formulate a rationale for the sanctity of life in the womb and against euthanasia (whether passive or active).  Man is not an animal; He is in the image of God.

When God inspired Moses to write down the account of His creation, I find it interesting that He spoke in distinct terms about the sixth day.  As He completed each day of creation the notation occurs that there was evening and there was morning—and then the day is numbered with an ordinal numeral.  Rather literally we would say there was a first day, a second day, a third day, and so forth.  However, as God speaks of the sixth day a definite article is employed.  Your translation no doubt treats each of the days as identical in God’s assessment, but in the thirty-first verse God speaks of the sixth day.  It is as though God is emphasising the work He accomplished on this day.  This statement is in accord both with God’s words that all He had made was very good and with the fact that He gives greater attention to the work of this sixth day than He did to any of the other days.  In fact, if we include the detailed account provided us in the Second Chapter, the work of this sixth day receives more attention than all the days preceding together.

As He worked throughout this sixth day the Creator was doing that which would bring Him the greatest pleasure.  All that had preceded was for the benefit of that which He would bring into being on this sixth day.  The division into earth and sea was for the benefit of man.  The heavenly bodies were positioned so that man could regulate his life through the division of time.  The plants which blanketed the earth were to provide food for all living creatures and especially for man.  In some way unknown to us the birds and the fish were provided for the benefit of man, as were the animals which God created early on the sixth day.  All creation was brought into being for the benefit of man.

God's Assessment of Creation — Throughout the Creation Week God provided a continuing assessment of His work.  During His work on the third day God separated the sea and the land and He stated that this particular act was good [Genesis 1:10].  Later that same day He caused the plants to appear and the appearance of the vegetation upon the earth was seen to be good [Genesis 1:12].  At the conclusion of the fourth day when God had created the stars, the sun and the moon, He said His work was good [Genesis 1:18].  The creation of birds and sea creatures was seen to be good [Genesis 1:21], as was the creation of animal life [Genesis 1:25].  Each step of creation was seen to be good.  In isolation, each part of creation is good, but in its sum, creation is very good [Genesis 1:31].  Before anything is said about evil, or pain, or sin, or disorder, we hear this note of excited pleasure.  What God made is good!

I fear that when we see or hear that word good, it is in our mind a neutered word.  It is like the word nice.  Should someone say I am a nice man, it is likely a rather meaningless statement.  Shall I conclude that I smell nice?  Perhaps it means that I don’t say anything unkind?  It really doesn’t say anything about meGood has taken on some of those same neutered trappings as nice.  However, when God employs the word good, we should take care to discover what He means.

Good embraces the thought that that which is declared to be good carries something of the glory of God within.  God Himself is the Good and there is no good apart from Him.  He is the source of all goodness.  Our Lord made this quite clear when He declared No one is good—except God alone [Mark 10:18].  No man can know good unless He knows God because he is in right relationship with Him and because he does God’s express will.  Since God is good, all that He does is necessarily good.  The creation was declared good because disorder, disruption, evil and sin which now prevail throughout the world was unknown.  There was no rebellion and everything reflected the good will of God.

It is not in its relationship to man that a thing is declared to be good, nor is it that a thing brings pleasure to an individual which makes it good; it is as a thing delights mankind and glorifies God that it is declared to be good.  Good is not an ideal, but rather good refers to the concrete acts of God in the lives of His people.  That which God does to the glory of His Name is good and we are the recipients of His goodness.

Those people who know God rejoice in His goodness, a goodness which is revealed in His grace to them.  Thus they delight to do good as a means of glorifying their Creator.  This is the basis for celebration and enjoyment of God’s world.  Art and music, drama and dance can all be employed in the celebration of God’s goodness in our world.  David to the embarrassment of his wife danced before the Lord with all his might [2 Samuel 6:14], in celebration that the ark had been brought to Jerusalem.

There is an extravagance of praise and adoration in the celebration of Mary pouring precious ointment over the feet of Jesus [John 12:3].  Julian of Norwich could see the wonder of God’s creative love in a little hazelnut.  “In this little thing I saw three truths.  The first is that God made it; the second that God loves it; and the third that God sustains it…  In the littleness of the hazelnut, in the ordinariness of creation, Julian sees the creative and sustaining love of God.[1]

In the seventeenth century, the English mystic Thomas Traherne wrote:

You never Enjoy the World aright, till the Sea it self floweth in your Veins, till you are Clothed with the Heavens, and Crowned with the Stars: and Perceiv your self to be the Sole Heir of the whole World: and more then so, becaus Men are in it who are evry one Sole Heirs, as well as you.  Till you can Sing and Rejoyce and Delight in God, as Misers do in Gold, and Kings in Sceptres, you never Enjoy the World.[2]

Closely associated with the pronouncement that all was very good is the blessing which God pronounced on man.  Previously had God blessed the animals [Genesis 1:22].  Then He blessed man and woman [1:28].  At the last He blessed the seventh day [2:3].  Without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater [Hebrews 7:7].  We tend to use the word bless rather loosely.  How would you know if you were blessed?  Consider the blessings of the Creation week.  God blessed the animals, pronouncing fecundity for them.  When He blessed the seventh day it was to set it apart as holy to Himself.  Apparently the divine blessing can incorporate propagation of the species and a setting apart for divine purposes.  When God blessed man the blessing entailed reproduction and responsibility.

The Word of God rebukes contemporary attitudes toward children.  Throughout the Word of God those with children are considered blessed while those who are childless considered themselves cursed.  Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…  We are not quite certain that children and grandchildren are a blessing, but we stand in opposition to the blessing of God if we permit ourselves to think in such fashion.  Zero population growth is an idea which has gained ascendancy in our day.  Even among the people of God the idea has taken root, though few dare openly espouse the concept from the pulpit.

I am bold to state that those who promote childlessness speak more out of their own selfishness than out of concern for the earth.  Just so when we determine that we will take charge of our own lives and ensure that we have no children, we deny that God’s blessing is good.  God’s command to fill the earth has never been tested.  The nations which twenty years ago were predicted to experience massive famine by this time are today net suppliers of food because of technological advances in the agricultural sciences.

God gives fertility and fruitfulness to man.  That nation whose birth rate is shrinking is a dying nation.  Despite every appearance to the contrary, when deaths begin to outnumber births a nation is dying.  Life is God’s gift.  Woe to the nation which despises God’s good gift.  Think this issue through.  Procreation means quite literally creation on behalf of another.  In this instance procreation is creation on the part of Him who is Love—God Himself.  Human creativity, and especially human procreativity, is part of the outworking in our histories of the creative love of God in us as His image.  All life is thus seen as God’s gift.  His blessing, as with all blessings, confers not only a gift, but also a task.

The blessing of God requires not only that we fill the earth, but that we exercise dominion over the earth.  I know that this concept has been perverted in the past to imply permission to rape and pillage the earth, but it is no answer to go to an opposite extreme and treat the earth as though it were divine.  True rule according to the blessing pronounced entails facilitating servanthood which maintains an environment in which people reflecting something of the nature of God’s love and creativity can be at home. 

Perhaps this responsibility can be better seen by looking forward to the exercise of Adam’s responsibility within Eden.  Genesis 2:15 informs us that the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.  In other words man was to cultivate and protect.  Work is not a curse, but it is part of the blessing of God.  That which God pronounced good was that to which He gave form from that which was formless.  God arose when He gave order to chaos.  Just so, man does good when He reflects the divine order and within society and gives form to advance within civilisation.

God’s self-revelation in history was an ever-growing revelation of His goodness.  Man was made in the image of God and as result of that special position was expected to fellowship with God.  Even when man flouted God in the Fall, God’s loving interest in man continued.  He showed His goodness by immediately taking steps to undo the disastrous effects of the Fall.  He elected Israel as His holy people, brought them out of Egyptian bondage, entrusted to them the Law, delivered them repeatedly from servitude and defeat, entrusted to them the promises and the coming of Messiah—all to attract the Gentiles to life in Him and to reveal His goodness.  The incarnation, the atoning death of Jesus the Son of God, the resurrection of the Christ from the tomb, and the ascension into glory were all evidences of the goodness of God.

Scripture makes clear that history is not haphazard; it is a meaningful working out of God’s divine plan with the promise that all shall ultimately consummate in Christ the Son of God.  God’s children have a vital part in this plan in that they are to reveal the goodness of God through worship of God and through inviting others to share in the grace of God.  One day His goodness will be acknowledged by all creation, and He will be all in all.  Because of the Fall man is by nature corrupt and is capable of doing nothing that is really good.  Because of God’s provision in Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit, man can live a life of obedience to and fellowship with His Creator.  Amen.


----

[1] David Atkinson, The Message of Genesis 1 – 11, The Bible Speaks Today, InterVarsity Press (Downers Grove, Ill., 1990), pp. 42,43

[2] Quoted Angela Partington (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, Oxford University Press (New York, 1992), p. 701

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more