Genesis 1: 1 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
There are two aspects that I would like to talk about today.
Creation
The Creator
When we go to School we learn about things of this world. We learn about creation. We are living creatures so we can study different aspects of creation. We learn about what can perceive through our senses and we study shapes, colors, then numbers and letters and words. We do our basic learning and we study about biology and physics we learn history and literature. Learning is a great thing and as human beings we deposit all these things in our memory banks and exercise our intellect through learning and learning about the world around us. We mainly learn about Creation and things that other humans created. We learn about art and Science, computers and we also add some social learning and we know about entertainment and movies and TV series.
Eventually we come across the subject of God and we try to learn all the historical aspects of God and religion, culture and superstition. We learn that there are so many religions and we get into anthropology sociology and we try to use knowledge to try to figure out God.
Romans 1:25 (NLT)
They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
1. WHO DO YOU WORSHIP?
One of the reasons I do not like to study philosophy is because you don't really study much about the philosophical ideas but the main focus is to learn about the philosophers and their lives. Though this can be interesting for some people I don't see a point in having a degree because I know everything about the life of a big thinker.
Well this said let me tell you that God is not to be studied, but instead we are to worship Him. This doesn't mean that we will not learn about God but if we approach the things of God in the perspective of accumulating knowledge we can completely miss the point. Some people go to Church to analyze the preacher or the preaching and they fail to understand that the Word of God is not a text book but that God wants to speak to us individually even today through the preaching of the Scriptures. Don't trade worship by knowledge!
Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen!
1. First we see that these people "Knew God" or "About God"
2. Second instead of Worship they decided to apply Wisdom and logical thinking by using the same methods of Creation Study to place God at the same level of Creation. This is like saying that mankind created God as a figure of their imagination.
3. Doing this they Worshiped Creation rather than the Creator
Let me tell you that our text on Genesis 1:1 is not about Creation but about the Creator. Yes we can analyze the Creative process and there is nothing wrong with studying the Bible but if we fail to see the Creator and worship Him for who he is and not for what he did we miss the point and this can have disastrous consequences.
2. CHARACTER IS SHAPPED BY OUR WORSHIP
Failing to Worship the Creator produces all kinds of character flaws. Our society and even our Churches have people as the ones described by Paul in the book of Romans. This passage specifically mentions gay/lesbian relationships and then goes on to describe what we can identify as a perfect picture of our society.
Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
We can fail to understand that this can happen to us. Very often Christians think that this is speaking about the world around us. But see who are the recipients of this Scripture.
Romans 1:7 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
So Paul is in fact talking to the Church! When a Church is more interested in a building than the creator, when Church people judge their leaders and criticize those that give their lives for the cause of the gospel. When people think they have a better doctrine than their pastors their character slides from saints to slanderers, insolent, inventors of evil, disobedient, and all the other 24 things on this list.
The good news is that true worship will develop in us the exact opposite of these. As Christians we are called to be Christ-like. If we decide to worship The Creator instead of creation something supernatural happens in us and God's Spirit will produce fruits in our life.
Let me ask a simple question; "do you believe Mother Theresa was a godly woman?". I honestly do but I have a different doctrine since I am not a Roman Catholic. Is she in heaven or in Hell? Some Christians think that Roman Catholics are idolaters and will burn in hell because they have bad doctrine. This is despicable and wrong.
God is looking for worshipers and our main concern must be how to worship the right way. My doctrine tells me that there is only one way to be saved and that is through Jesus Christ. I firmly believe in this and this is the message that I preach. However I understand that there are people that truly and honestly try to please God and worship the Creator that have a different doctrine than mine. I know that God personally revealed Himself to me through His Son Jesus Christ. I have seen His grace, His miracles, His power. I received His Holy Spirit and His presence is ever present everywhere I go. I decided that I will judge anyone's faith just because they don't believe as me.
3. WHAT IS THE RIGHT WAY TO WORSHIP GOD?
Genesis 1: 1 1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.
We didn't create GOD but He is the Creator. How can we worship Him? This passage shows multiple aspects of whom he is.
1. God "The Creator" – The Father
2. God "The Spirit" – The Holy Spirit
3. God "The Word" – Jesus Christ
God revealed himself in many ways but finally decided to come and dwell among us by sending Jesus Christ. GOD is one but He revealed himself to mankind in multiple ways. The Holy Spirit is described as "The Spirit of Christ". Jesus is also "The Creator" as the Bible reveals in the Gospel of John.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
The Creator became just like one of us and communicated at a level that we can understand. In fact Genesis 1 is talking about Jesus Christ and not about Creation. Without Jesus nothing existed.
John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
So we learned that God is the Creator and that people tend to change worship into knowledge. Paul said that people change truth for a lie and that the lie is to make God a subject of human study. In this Scripture we see that Jesus Christ commanded us to worship and established very simple rules.
1. Worship God (The Creator)
2. Worship in spirit and in truth (Our spirit must supersede our knowledge)
Yes God is one God. Some people get lost into the study of doctrine and miss the point completely. You are not called to know doctrines but to worship the Creator of all things. When you come to Church open up your heart and ask God to speak to you. If we fail to put God first in our lives we miss the point of our existence. We were created to worship Him.
Some people get lost in their knowledge and say that Christianity is confusing because we worship three deities. Others deny the Holy Spirit and diminish Jesus to an historical figure and a prophet. Notice that Jesus didn't say, "Worship me" but he said Worship God (worship the Creator). He didn't want us to make images of crosses or of himself. Jesus said "I am one with the Father". Is this confusing? It might be a little bit if you try to explain it in the level of the intellect. Spiritual things cannot be discerned by simple knowledge.
Some people get lost in this and say that you cannot pray to the Holy Spirit or that you cannot worship Jesus. Others say that you can only pray to the Father. Some people get offended when we baptize someone "in the name of the Father, The son and the Holy Ghost" because they say that the correct doctrine is to baptize "in the name of Jesus"
The question is "do you really want to worship God"? Or do you want to tell others how much you know about doctrines?
God reveals Himself to us in the spirit. If you came to Church with the attitude of learning and receiving you will be blessed but if you are here to judge this message, compare the preacher with your favorite speaker or affirm your superior knowledge of Scripture you just missed the point for being here.
Let me bring this message to conclusion but first I would like to leave with you a brief word of warning.
4. DON'T ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SEDUCED
It is hard to keep a testimony of our faith in a World that worships Creation and ignores the Creator. People that deny God refer to nature as "Mother Earth". Others in their superstition study the stars and the Zodiac.
Deuteronomy 4:19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars- the whole heavenly creation- you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world.
Different things can seduce us. Seduction is not just sexual in nature but in fact spiritual seduction is as strong as the physical aspect of deceit.
1Timothy 4:1 The Spirit says clearly that in later times some believers will desert the Christian faith. They will follow spirits that deceive, and they will believe the teachings (doctrines) of demons.
Spiritual deceit comes in the form of doctrines or teachings.
Being a preacher for 25 years I have been many times criticized and attacked and this is normal. Whenever you have a public profile you fall under scrutiny and some people will like you and others will hate you. The main attack that comes against preachers is to criticize their doctrine. I do not claim to have a perfect doctrine. I strive to have it but nobody is perfect. Only Jesus had a perfect doctrine and he spent his entire ministry defending himself from all kinds of attacks on his teachings. The priests ended up by killing Him because of doctrinal issues. At the end Jesus didn't try to defend himself but went to the cross in silence as a sheep goes to the slaughterhouse. Doctrines are important and I am not telling you that it's OK to have a bad doctrine, however let me tell you that God is not looking for people with good doctrine but he is seeking for Worshipers, people that worship him in Spirit and in Truth.
King David was a murderer and a liar but God restored him and forgave his sins because he was a worshiper. This said I'm not saying that it's OK to join the Mafia as long as you worship God, but yes you could have been a liar and a murderer but God is merciful and he is willing to accept you just as you are with the condition that you worship the Creator above the Creation.
Conclusion
The reason why you came to Church today is because in His great Love God wants to remind you that Worshiping the Creator is the reason for your existence.
If you don't worship God or if you have been mislead to study the Bible to get knowledge of Scripture I am here to tell you that as you get close to God he will get close to you. If you decide today to put God first and love Him above all things your life will change for better.
2 Corinthians 3:6 "who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
There is nothing worse than a religious person that affirms to be a Christian and spends precious time attacking other Christians because of doctrinal issues. We are called to worship God in spirit and in truth. We are called to worship the Creator.
I would like to challenge you to make a choice and decide to Worship God above all things. We are called to Worship the Creator and not the created.
