GOD’S WONDERFUL GIFT OF CREATION
Genesis 1:1;Psalm 19:1-6;Col 1:16
GIFTS ARE NOT MOTIVATED BY NEED BUT BY CHOICE
GIFTS ARE AN EXPRESSION OF LOVE
I GOD HAD US IN MIND WHEN HE CREATED WHAT HE CREATED
Isaiah 45:18 For this is what the LORD says-- he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited-- he says: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Some of us may by our Christmas gifts early, but usually we know WHOM we are buying them for. God knew who He was creating for – US!
A We do not know the extent of God’s creation
1 Every time we look in a telescope we see something new
2 Every time we look in the ocean we see something new
3 Every time we go into the jungle we see something new
B We do know the makeup of God’s creation
1 God made it out of nothing
No resources. If you can remember the Tom Hanks film, “Castaway”, you can get a glimpse of what it means to be without resources. Here is Hanks, a FedEx employee, stranded on a deserted island, with his only companion being Wilson, a basketball, Hanks has drawn a face on.
As the days, weeks, and years progress, Wilson develops a persona of his own, and Hanks, slips slowly into a neurosis. The movie reveals the depth of his predicament, when Hanks, in a effort to construct some type of boat to leave the island is forced to retrieve a final piece of self-made rope from a spot that he had tested for his own suicide.
Ultimately, Hanks is found, and then begins to rebuild his life, starting all over.
God, on the other hand had less material than Hanks had in order to create all that you see.
God started with nothing – ABSOLUTELY nothing.
You and I can comprehend being short of something, like an ingredient for a cake, but we cannot comprehend being short of everything!
2 God made it out of superior products
If you were to read the creation account, you would find that God declares the end of each day good. See, everything God made was perfect. The environment, the animals, the land and the sea. Some of that perfection is still quite evident today. The distance our planet is from the sun is precise. A little farther, and it would be too cold, a little closer and it would be too hot.
3 God individually produced it
We are not part of some sort of assembly line production. In the universe, man is unique. Many in the world of Science Fiction are basing their literary works on this premise – the uniqueness of man.
God is in complete control of His creation!
God Values his creation!
4 God used good craftsmanship
There was no need for revision. God had no recalls on creation. God did not have to return and redo the work. The Scripture tells us that when the act of creation was over – God rested. God ceased from working on creation.
How was God able to accomplish this? Because
Why -- God is: ALMIGHTY (He can do what he wants, when He wants)
SELF-EXISTENT (God is not dependent on anyone else to exist)
SELF-SUFFICIENT (God does not need anyone or anything else to
II GOD HAD HIMSELF IN MIND WHEN HE CREATED WHAT HE CREATED – Psalm 19:1-6
A God’s creation declares God’s perfection
The term “declare” literally means are declaring – in a constant state of declaration concerning God’s glory.
Aristotle said, “Should a man live underground, and there converse with the works of art and mechanism and should afterwards be brought up into the open day, and see the several glory of the heavens and earth, he would immediately pronounce them the works of such a Being as we define God to be”.
1 God glory is the sum of his perfection
Psalm 19:2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
Verse 2 tells us that each days pours its declaration about God into the next day – hence each new day affords us ever more increasing revelation of God’s person and glory
2 Everything God is declares his perfection
God cannot be anything other than perfect and still be God
3 Everything God does declares His perfection
God can do no wrong. If God did do wrong, he could no longer be God!
4 God’s creation declares God’s complexity
GOD IS VASTLY MORE COMPLEX THAN HIS CREATION
5 God’s creation declares God’s intention
a God intended EVERYONE to discover Him
b God continues His general revelation about Himself even today so that man can know Him.
As long as there is creation there is a testimony to the person and glory of God!
III GOD HAD JESUS IN MIND WHEN HE CREATED WHAT HE CREATED – COL 1:16
A God made Jesus the INSTRUMENTAL cause of creation
This means that when God was creating, He was using Jesus as the instrument of creation. In other words, Jesus was that part of the Godhead responsible for creation. So back in Genesis when it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth – think God the Son, Jesus!
B God made Jesus the FINAL cause of creation
C God made Jesus the CONSERVATION cause of creation.
God gift of creation to us is so present that God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, is actively involved in its upkeep, and will continue to be involved until the very end!
What we can say is that we have been both given a gift in creation and we are a gift of creation.
At the same time God blessed us with this world, and prepared us to be a gift for Jesus.
CHRIST CREATED IT – WE SHOULD BE LOOKING TO CHRIST
D We were created for Christ – What does that mean?
1 We were created so that Christ could love us as a groom loves a bride
2 We were created so that Christ could love us the was a hen loves her chicks
3 We were created so that Christ could love us the way a mother loves her child
Can you imagine a God who loves you so much as to give you such and awesome gift as the very planet you are standing on?
Can you imagine a God who loves you so much as to give you a daily visible image of who He is?
Can you imagine a God who loves you so much as to give His very life for you?
Creation truly is an wonderful gift, overshadowed only by God’s greatest gift, SALVATION – the gift of eternal life.
In the next few moments, I would like to take the opportunity to tell you about this great gift too!
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