Intro If we were to view human history in broad, sweeping strokes, we would find a long-simmering war between the religion of mother earth and the religion of Father God. And what is this religion of mother earth? It’s putting your trust (which is, faith) in some part of creation instead of God, the Creator.
Main Body Long ago, some worshiped and trusted in the sun or the moon for their well-being. Others looked to the spirits that they thought lived in trees or mountains. Today, many place their trust in money, which is just another part of this created world. Either way, it’s idolatry, for such a view trusts in some part of creation instead of God, the Creator. And then there are those who place their trust in science. After all, haven’t we advanced beyond all the superstitions of the past? In our technological wisdom, we can now scientifically explain a lot, even down to subatomic particles. And the wisdom of this age tells us that evolution is how we came into being. If true, then no personal God exists. Instead, we came into being through chance, random developments over billions of years, in which dead matter eventually formed into living beings. And these living beings developed over time into the many plants and animals that we see today. In this way, every living being is connected because we are all joined somewhere on that evolutionary tree of life. Oh, it’s true that we are all connected. But we are all connected because we have the same Creator. So, it shouldn’t surprise us then that we share much of the same DNA with the other animals. For we have the same Creator, don’t we? But where does trusting in science for our eternal good leave us? It leaves us back with the pagans. For if no eternal Creator exists, then nature, the stuff of the universe, is what lasts forever. With such a worldview, only the material world is real and lasting. And so, once again, we wind up revering the creation instead of God, the Creator. Do you see how, in one way or the other, all the idolatry of the human heart places its trust in some part of creation instead of the Creator? It’s the continuing cancer of Satan’s lie to pull us away from Father God to mother earth. It pulls us away from the Lord of heaven and earth to some part of creation, which we mistakenly trust as all-powerful in our lives. We humans aren’t those who merely happen to have higher mental function than the other animals. God created us differently from any other part of creation. Only Adam was created in the image of God. Consider how God created everything before He had created the first man, Adam. God spoke everything into being through His Word. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Light existed even before God created the moon and the stars. And so we find that God even created time, by marking day and night even before there was the sun to shine light on this earth. God spoke into existence the birds of the air, the creatures of the sea, and the animals of the land. But there was one being who was different: Adam. For we learn in Genesis, chapter 2, that God formed Adam from the dust of the earth and then breathed into him the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). In Hebrew, the word for “breath” is the same word for wind or spirit. It’s ruach. So, God enspirited Adam with His Spirit, breathing into him what directly came from God. That’s why only Adam was created in the image of God, for no other animal came to life from God breathing His Spirit and breath into it. That’s why God gave mankind a greater value and status than the other beings of His creation. That’s why God gave human beings a unique role as stewards of His creation. For having received directly from God His breath that gave us life, God then made us managers of His creation. God said to Adam: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Genesis 1:28). God only told those who bore His image to be the overseers of His creation, managing it, caring for it according to His purposes, as His representatives. God even commanded us to subdue and rule over His creation. In that way, we were to continue His work of keeping His creation in perfect order. That was what God had set up in the beginning. But, when you look at creation today, you see it deformed into something that God had not created it to be. From our fall into sin came the seed of all that is wrong within creation. All the wrong that we see is but the continuing aftermath of us further ruining what God originally created as good. Imagine what creation would be like if we humans hadn’t fallen into sin! How different the world would be. Yet, we continue to ruin and further distort this created world by what we do. It’s bad enough that we brought death into this world by our fall into sin. But we mess it up even further by our violence, murder, and wars. And so the question we should ask is not, “Why does God allow this evil or that evil to exist?” That’s a faulty question, which only shows that we are trying to shirk our responsibility for the mess that we’ve made of this world. This world’s mess is we humans reaping what we have sown. The honest and blunt question to ask is this: “Why isn’t the world more messed up than it is?” Before we fell into sin, all was good. There was no death, evil, or decay. That creation also fell, and became cursed with us, when we plummeted into sin, shows that God set us to rule over His creation. If that were not so, then our fall into sin would have only affected us, not the rest of creation. But that’s not the case (Romans 8:19-25). Death is the wages of our sin. We have turned away from God, and what He created us to be. We weren’t satisfied to be under His authority, live according to His will, and be what He created us to be. Instead, we wanted to run our own lives and be accountable to no one. We wanted to treat creation, not as something that belonged to God, over which He made us stewards, but as something that belonged to us to use in whatever way we saw fit. Even worse, we corrupted and broke the image of God within us, cutting us off from eternal life as a child of light. But, thank God, that’s not the end of the story! The same God who created us in love has entered His fallen creation to recreate us in Christ. Scripture says that Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). What does that mean? It means that in the beginning, when God originally created us, He created us in Christ, the eternal Son of God. From the beginning, Jesus was the heart and source of our life. And so to restore to us the image of God, which we had ruined, the Son of God came and shared in our humanity. In Jesus, God became man to imprint again on us His image, the image of God. When God created, He did so through His Word. He spoke, and it was so. “Let there be light,” and there was light. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. Through him, everything came into being … And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:1-2, 14). To renew creation, Jesus became a part of His creation. He became your blood brother, taking your place under judgment and becoming accountable for your sins. Just as all creation groans, so He groaned and breathed His last for you on the cross, breaking the curse of death, freeing you from your bondage to decay. That’s why His blood cleanses, renews, and makes everything right between you and God the Father. Even creation foretells and foreshadows the saving work of Christ. Did you notice how the creation account marks the days? It’s not morning and then evening the way we usually think of it. Instead, we find the days marked by evening and then morning. First, it’s darkness; then it’s light. First, it’s the shadow of death; then it’s the light of life. Jesus dies in the darkness of Good Friday to subdue creation. He then rises at the dawn of Easter morning, ending death and bringing about a new creation. The Scriptures say that no night will exist when God creates the new heaven and earth, for God’s glory will be its light, and Jesus Christ will be its lamp (Revelation 21:23). And that Light of Christ has already shone, and continues to shine, on you! Scripture says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old is gone and the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As the Spirit of God hovered over the waters at creation, He also gave new life to you in the water and Word of baptism. You descended into the depths and rose again with Jesus to a life that never ends. So, don’t think of the earth as your mother. Instead, think of the Church as your mother through whom you have received your spiritual birth. For this ancient saying of the Church still rings true: “You don’t have God as your Father if you don’t have the Church as your mother.” Conclusion In Christ’s Church, you find the Source of your life: Jesus Christ. Here, you find your Savior, who continues to speak His powerful and creative Word. He says, “Your sins are forgiven,” and they are. He says, “This is My body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” and it is. And so, in faith, we repeat what God has said to us in His Word, after His first creation: It is very good! Amen. -- Rich Futrell, Pastor Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Kimberling City, MO http://sothl.com Where we receive and confess the faith of the Church (in and with the Augsburg Confession): The faith once delivered to the saints, the faith of Christ Jesus, His Word of the Gospel, His full forgiveness of sins, His flesh and blood given and poured out for us, and His gracious gift of life for body, soul, and spirit. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
