APOSTLES’ CREED: Recognizing the Creator
The Apostles’ Creed begins simply and boldly: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.” Our God is the Creator of the universe, and more importantly, he is the Creator of us. He says in Isaiah 45:12, “It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.”
In today’s scientific world, is it still reasonable to believe that God is the Creator? Science reveals a lot about how the universe was formed, but it doesn’t tell us how the universe first came into existence.
Cosmologists tell us that the entire universe emerged from an infinitesimal point, much smaller than an atom. “The Big Bang Theory” is surprisingly consistent with the poetic description of Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.” At the very beginning of the universe, matter and energy were formless, with matter and light and even the laws of nature emerging from the astoundingly rapid expansion of the quantum flux. That fits the beginning of Genesis (but not creation narratives of other religions).
What was the origin of that quantum flux, from which the universe came into being? There are three possible answers, all involving faith. One answer is that there wasn’t any origin; going back in time and space, everything disappears smoothly into nothingness. In that faith system, it is meaningless to ask what is before or beyond the universe; the universe is all there is, and “the universe creates itself.” (Reference: Stephen Hawking, the Grand Design, p. 180)
A second answer is that the universe arose from a kind of quantum vacuum—that beyond the universe there is a reality that generates multiple universes, of which ours is just one. This multiverse theory takes a leap of faith, to assume that the laws of THIS universe have always existed. Dr. Paul Davies, not a Christian, recognizes that, “The problem has simply been shifted up a level from the laws of the universe to the meta-laws of the multiverse.” Science cannot explore beyond the bounds of the universe; only faith can go there.
The third answer is simpler: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (=the universe).” Doubters might say that we have merely shifted the problem up a level. In a sense, we have, but we are honest when we do so. The origin of the universe is creation by the infinite, eternal, glorious God we worship.
Our faith is as reasonable as any faith about origins. In fact, it is more reasonable, because it aligns with what can observed within the universe. Even though we can’t fully comprehend God, we see reflections of his glory in the intricacy and beauty of nature. We see patterns in the history of his people that indicate his nature: the Father, Almighty. We also see his glory as he enters the universe, in the Son, Jesus Christ—but that is later in the creed.
If we believe in God, the Creator, the next question is…
WHAT IMPACT DOES OUR FAITH IN GOD AS CREATOR HAVE ON US?
We believe a lot of things that don’t have much impact on us personally. If I hear that a new frog species has been discovered in a rain forest, I might say, “That’s interesting.” If I hear that a meteor is on track to destroy the earth in 6 months, I will say, “That’s changes everything.”
What we believe about God as Creator changes everything.
Recognizing God as Creator GIVES LIFE MEANING.
Imagine an Amazon Alexa and a Google Assistant talking to each other, perhaps through devices in your family room. Alexa asks, “What is the meaning of life?” Assistant searches the internet, and provides an answer. Assistant then asks Alexa whether the answer is consistent with answers people give across the vast human platform monitored by Amazon, and Alexa explains the nuances of what people say and do through their devices, and what it indicates about the search for meaning in life. Alexa and Assistant are conversing, with artificial intelligence, but what gives their conversation meaning? Humans are the source of meaning for machines!
What gives meaning to human life?
Carl Sagan was the well-known host of the PBS series, Cosmos. He famously said, “The universe is all that is, or ever was or ever will be.” Sagan understood what that meant for humanity, as he said, “Whatever significance we humans have is that which we make for ourselves.” Sagan died in 1996. How often do you think about him? Do your children or grandchildren even know who he was?
I don’t know what you have planned for today. Maybe you will spend time alone, or with family or friends. Maybe you will watch a ball game, or read a book. What gives meaning to those activities? Is it your own self-fulfillment, or the people in your life? What will be the meaning of your life when those people are dead and gone? Even if they remember you, or their lives are changed because of you, how can they be an ultimate source of meaning?
Christians have a deeper source of meaning. We believe that God created the universe, and filled the earth with people who could bring glory to him. Our lives matter to the One who created us for glory.
Read with me, in unison, Psalm 8.
God created us in his image. He created us to reflect his glory. He instructed us to take care of the world and its animals. He gave us an eye for beauty, and enjoying nature. He created us to seek relationships with others, with whom we share love, work, and good times. He gave us the ability to choose good or evil.
We can do all of that for the glory of God! Art, music, poetry, creativity, and the words we speak can reflect his glory. Science and technology reveal the glory that God has hidden in nature.
Richard Smalley was a Nobel Laureate, known as the “father of nanotechnology.” Near the end of his life, he was honored as an alumnus of Hope College. Too ill to attend the festivities, he wrote about his journey as a scientist and a Christian: “When God made the universe he wired into the laws of physics and chemistry a path to make this Armchair Quantum Wire, and to do it with great cleanliness and efficiency. If so, all I have to do is go find that path that God put there in the beginning…Recently I have gone back to church regularly…The purpose of this universe is something that only God knows for sure, but…We are somehow critically involved in His purpose.”
We are involved in God’s purpose for the universe. We have a place in the ultimate plan of God, which Paul states so eloquently in Ephesians 1:4-10, “God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”
God created us for a place in his eternal purpose, revealed through Jesus Christ. Our lives have meaning, because we have a place in God’s plan.
Recognizing God as Creator GIVES US WISDOM.
We were having some people for dinner, and I decided to smoke some ribs on my Traeger grill. I got up early in the morning, so the ribs could cook for about six hours. The instructions from Traeger are always the same: Leave the cover open for 5 minutes, so the fire can get a good start. I thought I was short on time, so I closed the cover after 2 minutes, and threw the ribs on the grill. Twenty minutes later, the temperature was headed down, not up. I had to shut down the grill, wait for it to cool, empty the unburned pellets, and restart. Five minutes turned into an hour, because I ignored the maker’s instructions. How foolish of me!
Romans 1 tells a similar story about fools who refuse to follow the Maker’s instructions: “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.” (Romans 1:20-25)
It only makes sense that the Creator of life knows how life works. Psalm 19 begins with, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Then the writer recognizes that the Creator who made such an awesome universe gives direction for living, which the wise follow: “The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.”
Think about what happens when God is not recognized as the Creator, and his instructions are not followed. How many diseases and health problems are preventable? How many problems at work are due to ego-worship? How much strife between nations could be avoided if people would live God’s way?
Recognizing God as the Creator GIVES VALUE TO HUMAN LIFE.
The Creator gives us a solid foundation for life. It goes beyond laws, to the values and patterns of our lives.
One of the values that guides us is the value of human life.
I believe God used evolutionary processes to shape humanity, but if we do not recognize God as the Creator, we debase humanity. Charles Darwin looked into the future, to see what might happen if humans tried to play God: “I could show fight on natural selections having done more for the progress of civilization than you seem to admit…Looking to the world at no distant date, what an endless number of the lower races will have been eliminated by the higher civilized races throughout the world.” “At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races.”
Darwin also said, “The support which I receive from Germany is my chief ground for hoping that our views will ultimately prevail.” Several decades later, that ideology of “survival of the fittest” was embraced by Adolf Hitler, when he said, “A stronger race will supplant the weaker, since the drive for life in its final form will decimate every ridiculous fetter of the so-called ‘humaneness of nature,’ which destroys the weak to make place for the strong.” The holocaust followed.
Why does human life have value? God said to Noah, “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for IN THE IMAGE OF GOD HAS GOD MADE MANKIND. (Genesis 9:6)
Because God made humans in his image, all have value: strong and weak, rich and poor. Proverbs 22:2 says, “Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all.” Proverbs 14:31 gives the moral implication of that: “Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”
God cares about life, and he cares about our lives—our health, both physical and emotional. In The Ten Commandments, God commands his people to schedule time to decompress and refocus. The instruction of the Maker is, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11) Not only do you need a break, but your servant needs a break, as well as your animals! Although we are not legalistic about Sunday observance, we recognize the instruction of the Creator, to de-stress and worship regularly.
Recognizing the Creator gives value to all kinds of human relationships, including sexual relationships and family relationships. The foundation for sexual relationships is already in the Garden of Eden, as the Creator establishes a whole-person relationship in marriage. Jesus quoted Genesis 2:24, when he talked about marriage in Matthew 19:4-5, “Haven’t you read…that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?” What would our world be like if everyone valued people and relationship as the Creator intended?
Recognizing the Creator gives humans a key role in caring for the earth and its creatures. The earth can be used, with science and technology already in mind, as God says, “subdue the earth.” Yet people are to take care of the earth, since the earth is the Lord’s: “Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” We don’t rule over the animals or the earth because WE have the power to do so, but because God gives that authority and responsibility to humanity.
What would the world be like if everyone recognized their God-given responsibility to take care of the earth? How would animals be treated? Would sustainable fisheries and agriculture be more prevalent? Would the use of natural resources and climate of the earth be more conducive to human flourishing?
We could go on, and maybe you can think of other ways that life would be better if people and nations and cultures followed the instructions of the Creator. Yet the place to begin is with ourselves: Am I looking to God for meaning and purpose in my life? Am I following his instructions, and seeking his direction as I live on this earth?
The author of Ecclesiastes says, “Remember your Creator in days of your youth…” Some of us are past that! Yet as long as we have breath, we can recognize that we are created for a relationship with God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth. And through faith in Jesus Christ his Son, we can restore the relationship for which God created us, to his glory.
