Creation is a sermon preached by Ryan Rogers for the Palmer SDA Church service on June 13, 2020. It is the sixth sermon in the Fundamentals sermon series. This series is a study of the 28 Fundamental Beliefs held by the SDA Church. We are seeking go deeper with God by reviewing the fundamental truths He has revealed in Scripture. This study will be divided into four series of seven sermons over the next four years.
Fundamental Belief #6: Creation
God has revealed in Scripture the authentic and historical account of His creative activity. He created the universe, and in a recent six-day creation the Lord made “the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” and rested on the seventh day. Thus He established the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of the work He performed and completed during six literal days that together with the Sabbath constituted the same unit of time that we call a week today. The first man and woman were made in the image of God as the crowning work of Creation, given dominion over the world, and charged with responsibility to care for it. When the world was finished it was “very good,” declaring the glory of God. (Gen. 1-2; 5; 11; Exod. 20:8-11; Ps. 19:1-6; 33:6, 9; 104; Isa. 45:12, 18; Acts 17:24; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; 11:3; Rev. 10:6; 14:7
A belief in Biblical Creation is foundational to our understanding reality. We have been guilty of limiting the topic of creation to nature appreciation and debates about the age of the earth. There is more! Biblical Creation offers the truth about origins, purpose for today and hope for the future.
Consider these 12 fundamental realities of Biblical creation that still speak life to us today!
1. “IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED” GENESIS 1:1
The very first words of the Bible declare God’s eternal existence and creative power. From the beginning there was God’s and there was design. These first words are the beginning of our understanding of reality.
When we attempt to try to explain origins by what we see around us we are working backwards. Origins explain life not the others way around. Instead of looking at creation to determine how it got here we must look at the Biblical reality of how it got here so we can understand what we are looking at.
Science requires observation. God was the only eye witness of creation. This is why He can set Job straight by asking him, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). He wasn’t there! Creation was not observed by us and it is not repeatable by us. So our understanding of origins cannot be based on a study of natural processes but on the belief in a supernatural event… in the beginning God created.
2. “THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH” GENESIS 1:1
Creation points to it’s creator. As creator of the heavens and earth…
…God is Sovereign!
Isaiah 45:18 For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
…God is worthy of all worship!
Revelation 14:7 “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
…God displays His glory!
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun (see also Romans 1:19-20)
3. “AND GOD SAID” GENESIS 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 24, 26
God’s method of creation is to speak. When a child asks “why?” too many times the parent eventually replies, “because I said so.” Take out the frustrated tone and that is God’s explanation for creation. Why do you exists? Why are the stars in the sky? Because God said so!
“And God said” tells us of the power of God’s word!
- Psalm 33:6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
- Hebrews 1:3 …he upholds the universe by the word of his power
- Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
- Matthew 8:8 …just say the word and your servant will be healed.
“And God said” calls us to obedience to God’s word!
Psalm 33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
Creation obey God’s voice but obedience to what God says is a choice for humanity (Gen 2:16-17). And the very fist attack on humanity, the one that led to the fall, was to question what God said (“Did God really say…” Genesis 1:3).
When God speaks there is life! When we obey there is life!
4. “IT WAS GOOD” GENESIS 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31
We were created with an appreciation for beauty but in our world we see a lot of ugly. God is not to blame for it. An enemy did this (Matthew 13:28). After everything God creates He is able to say “it is good”. God didn’t just make trees, he made them “pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9).
Human intelligence has theorized that our existence is made possible by a process of death. Let’s get this clear, death is not the method of creation but the result of sin. What God makes is good and He does not depend on any “necessary evil” to accomplish His purposes.
5. “EVENING AND MOURNING” GENESIS 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31
Why not just make an eternal day? An endless summer? Well, it is God’s design to have signs and season, days and years, night and day (v.14). No, God didn’t intend frozen water pipes and slippery roads. He didn’t design lonely tired nights. But God intended creation to have rhythm, cycles, systems, processes, patterns, and change. Don’t resent the changing seasons in your life. It is part of a balance and flow that God designed.
6. “EACH ACCORDING TO IT’S KIND” GENESIS 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25
Biodiversity is intentional and original. We don’t get “kinds” from a process that starts with one simple life form. “Kinds” are not an adaptation but an intention. God designed life in a way that it has the ability to adapt. But that is not how we get different kinds of life, God made each according to it’s kind. If I were to write a book on the “kinds” that we see in the creation story I might title it “The Origin of Species”.
Creating “each according to it’s kind” shouts of God’s love for distinction and diversity. He didn’t just make birds and berries. He made sparrows and strawberries.
7. “BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY” GENESIS 1:22, 28
God desired the waters to “swarm” with living creatures (v.20). He desired humans to “fill” the earth(v.28). Creation is not the bar-bones model. God designed it to be full of life.
This also means that every human being in history (other than Adam and Eve) come from the same original parents. Why did God set it up this way? To make the earth full he could have just spoke and made it full of life. Instead He called His creation into the joy of procreation by commanding them to be fruitful. And this method of filling the earth makes is entirely clear that all of us belong to the same family.
Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
If we arrived here by the “survival of the fittest” then we need to seek superiority. Life is a competition for survival. But since we are here by creation, in which we are all brothers and sisters, we can enjoy community. It’s not about competition but companionship.
8.“IN THE IMAGE OF GOD” GENESIS 1:26, 27
The most fundamental identity that we have is that we are created in God’s image. Our struggles with identity and self-worth end with the acceptance of this truth!
Psalm 139:13-14 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
When we get this we can stop trying to prove our worth by what we can do and we can accept that we are valuable because of who God has made us to be.
Being created in the image of God includes the capacity for a personal relationship with Him. In Genesis 1 the phrase “and God said” appears 8 time before God’s creative acts. Then in verse 28 it appear a 9th time but with two new words, “And god said to them”. There is a relationship between God and those created in His image in which He speaks to them and they hear His voice.
If we throw out design purpose and identity are left to us to define. And we come up with miserable definitions. Identity and value are rooted in the truth that God created us. Purpose is revealed in the truth that God pursues a personal love relationship with us.
9. “LET THEM HAVE DOMINION” GENESIS 1:26
Having dominion just sounds impressive. But the point is that God employs humans. He has given humanity ability and responsibility. God put the first people in a garden to “work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15).
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
10. “MALE AND FEMALE” GENESIS 1:27
The image of God includes both male and female. Part of the significance of this reality is that God designed companionship and relationship. God said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). God instituted marriage (Genesis 2:24) right in the creation account. It is not a practice we have picked up as a way of advancing our species (though you can’t multiply without the two genders). Love relationship is God’s intention and He joins people together (Mark 10:9).
11. “GOD FINISHED HIS WORK” GENESIS 2:1, 2, 3
We all have those unfinished projects. But God gets His work done (and before the weekend!). Now we know that God is always working(John 5:17). He still has creative power and He displays it in making us new creations (2 Cor. 5:17). But His work of creation was done on day 6. There was nothing lacking. It didn’t require any extra time. It wasn’t evolving into something better. It was finished.
The doctrine of justification by faith is seen in this first Sabbath when God rests in His completed work and invites us into that rest. The declaration of God’s finished work in creation was echoed on the cross when Jesus cried out “it is finished”.
When you consider God’s promise to make you a new creation are you an evolutionists or a creationist? Do you have in your mind that you will eventually evolve to a place where you are good enough that God will accept you? Like pond scum competing for survival you are competing with all your might to be good enough to be saved. When David cried out, “create in me a clean heart of God” (Psalm 51:10) he was not asking for an evolutionary process but for a miracle. Now, God is doing a work of sanctification that continually conforms us into the image of God. But get this… the work of salvation that makes you a new creation is finished. We have a creator who finishes His work!
12. “GOD RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK” GENESIS 2:2, 3
The conclusion of God’s creation is rest. The ultimate “end” of our existence is not an artificial intelligence takeover, a superhuman race, finding life on mars, or our species going extinct. The end result of creation is resting in God’s completed work.
We have access to that rest now, in the midst of the mess, by entrusting ourselves to our creator. The one who spoke the world into existence is able to sustain us.
1 Peter 4:19 “Let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.”
Finally, we have an eternal future of rest in God’s promise to recreate. The future of our species is not dependent on reducing carbon emissions but on God making all things new (Revelation 21:1-5)!
Isaiah 65:17-18 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create…”