When I was in high school I used to work for the YMCA by my house. The first thing I ever did there was work in the nursery where parents would come and drop their kids off so they could go and work out. The ages for the nursery spanned form 6 month old babies to 6 year olds. Because of the large age span, obviously we would need to focus more attention on the 6 month old babies because they were more dependant on adults for help.
To help us get by, we used to have the older kids do all sorts of different activities to try and keep them occupied. The most popular activity was drawing. We would get out paper and our bucket of crayons and you would see their eyes just light up with excitement. They would sit there at the table and work so hard drawing a masterpiece that would rival the work of Leonardo DaVinci.
Their eyes would be squinted, of course helping them to concentrate better. Their tongue would be slightly sticking out which helps little kids do anything better. They would make careful decisions on just the right colors and scribble away with excitement. When they were finished they would sit back and smile with satisfaction.
Then, it would happen; what all of us in the babysitting room dreaded. The kids would turn and look at us with their big smile and we just knew it was coming. They would grab their drawing, get up from the table and make their way over to one of us. The whole 10 foot walk is almost in slow motion as we are already wrestling in our heads thinking, “I don’t want to lie to this kid.”
They extend their arm towards me, with picture in hand, and say, “I drew this for you. Do you like it?” Of course I didn’t lie as I would take the picture and say, “Ohhhh, thank you. I love it!” even though it isn’t anywhere close to what is actually going through my head. In my head, I look at the picture and think, “What the heck is it? This is art? It is awful!” Sometimes I would even kind of turn the paper over and over, trying to figure out which way is up. I know there are probably many of you who have been in a similar situation.
It’s great though because kids tend to pick up on this confusion. Whether it is the puzzled look on your face or the fact that you are looking at it upside down or something else, they quickly lean into your lap and explain that the picture is of their dog Skippy, flying through the sky with a Superman cape on. Suddenly, as they explain this, an image comes to life on the page and you begin to see the picture. You thank God that you didn’t try to guess because you would have been way off.
In a lot of ways, this situation paints a picture of a very similar situation that a lot of us in this room either have been through or are going through. See, we are all, right now, holding a picture in our hands, trying to figure out what it is. We are turning it around and trying to figure out which way is up and we are smiling at its Author thinking “Gee, thanks.”
That picture that we hold is our own lives as we try to figure out who we are, where we came from, and where are we going. In the same way that the little child’s picture only came to life when they explained it, simply because they were the ones who created it, we also must turn to our Creator to begin to discover the meaning of who we are.
Let’s jump into our text for the night which is Genesis 1:1-27. Instead of turning to this passage in your Bibles, I want everyone to just listen and try to picture what is happening in your mind. As I am sure almost all of us have either read or heard this story a number of times, I want us to try to think of it in a slightly different light. Since we began our conversation talking about a work of art, let’s think of God as an artist as He works through this creative process.
So starting in verse 1, we start with an empty canvas, a blank piece of paper where there are an endless amount of possibilities. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. And the Spirit of God was hovering over its surface.”
So God begins his work of art in verse 3. He says, “‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that it was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day’ and the darkness ‘night.’ Together these made up one day.” This was only the beginning of what God would do, just the foundation behind the painting that it would become.
As His creative juices began to flow, picking up at verse 6, God says, “‘Let there be space between the waters, to separate water from water.’ And so it was. God made this space to separate the waters above from the waters below. And God called the space ‘sky.’ This happened on the second day.” God’s painting was beginning to take shape. Two different sections had now been made. The beautiful horizon you see as you look over the ocean was brought into existence here.
God began to be filled with more and more ideas as he sat and looked at what had been created so far. With excitement he continued in verse 9, saying, “‘Let the waters beneath the sky be gathered into one place so dry ground may appear.’ And so it was. God named the dry ground ‘land’ and the water ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let the land burst forth with every sort of grass and seed-bearing plant. And let there be trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. The seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.’ And so it was. The land was filled with seed-bearing plants and trees, and their seeds produced plants and trees of like kind. And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the third day.”
Suddenly, we now have a whole slew of color and beauty break into the scene as plants, flowers, grass, fruits and others are painted into the beautiful picture. The amazing mountains, fields and valleys, the rivers, lakes, and oceans all were brought into existence here. We can see now that this whole creation process gets better and better with each day that goes by. This work of art is developing and changing more and more into a masterpiece. It is here on this third day that God looks at everything He has created and sees that it is good; the artist is pleased with where this creation is heading.
In verse 14, God continues saying, “‘Let bright lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs to mark off the seasons, the days, and the years. Let their light shine down upon the earth.’ And so it was. For God made two great lights, the sun and the moon, to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun, presides during the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the heavens to light the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. This all happened on the fourth day.”
The plot and story behind this painting continues to rise and develop. Now we have the beautiful stars and the mysteries they come with as we stare above us into the universe. A giant ball of fire is placed in the sky, big enough to light the world beneath it but yet in the perfect location to bring just the right amount of warmth to it as well. Again with the added mystery, beauty, and perfection God sits back and says, “This is good.”
God then decided to add some creatures to this painting. In verse 20, “‘Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.’ So God created great sea creatures and every sort of fish and every kind of bird. And God saw that it was good. Then God blessed them, saying, ‘Let the fish multiply and fill the oceans. Let the birds increase and fill the earth.’ This all happened on the fifth day.”
More intricate and detailed figures now find themselves placed from this Artist’s mind into His piece of art work. Even more colors and patterns now fill the canvas, as well as beautiful sounds of singing as the birds of the air fill the sky. Again, God sees that it is good. You can begin to feel the pinnacle nearing, the completion where everything will be finished.
Then, picking up in verse 24, “‘Let the earth bring forth every kind of animal--livestock, small animals, and wildlife.’ And so it was. God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to reproduce more of its own kind. And God saw that it was good.” Again, even more detail and structure came to life as God was at the top of his game. One who didn’t know better might have looked at all that God had done and figured He was finished. How could God top that? What else could he do?
Well, in verse 26 we see the icing on the cake. The most beautiful creation of all that finishes the masterpiece unlike anything else could. He decided to make a likeness of himself, a self portrait if you will, which is the pinnacle of all creation. Then God said, “‘Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life--the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals, and small animals.’ So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them.”
It is now, after the creation of people, the pattern for you and me, that God looks at all that He has done and says that it is very good. And it is now, not a moment sooner that God declares this work of art as completed.
As we hold this picture of our lives in our hands guys, it is SO important to understand and know that we are a creation of God. We are not just random beings that happened to fight our way into existence from some weird ooze. If that were the case life would have no purpose or meaning to live.
Instead, we are a creation of a Masterful Artist who put a lot of thought, planning, and preparation into our existence. Not only though are we just a creation, we are the only thing on this planet that is created in God’s likeness and the only thing that can have a relationship with Him. You are the pinnacle, the icing on the cake, the summit of this masterpiece of artwork that we call our world. You are special to God as he has taken the time to knit you together and created you in His likeness, you are a child of God caste from God’s image.
In the book of Jeremiah, God tells him, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.” He says this same thing to us today!
