Look What Creation Tells You About the Triune God!

1st Sunday after Pentecost, 6/15/14
Genesis 1:1-2:3

Look What Creation Tells You About the Triune God!
I. All he creates is very good.
II. He creates humans in his image.
III. He entrusts his creation to us.

Men, remember when it used to be a “guy” thing to work on your own car? Not so much anymore. All the time it takes is one reason for it. But the bigger reason is that we don’t feel competent (although we hesitate to admit that to anyone except perhaps a counselor who cannot share confidential information). So we accept that we don’t know how our vehicle works; we just know that it does a nice job of getting us from point A to point B in safety and relative comfort.

Likewise for cell phones. Don’t ask me how I can use this device not only to call someone on the other side of the world, but also to take photos, calculate my BMI, pay my bills online, check the weather and help me navigate my way from point A to point B in the vehicle which I don’t understand either. It seems that no matter what you want these days, there’s an app for that. I don’t know how to make this work. When I want to find out, I ask my children. The only thing I know is that it does what I want it to do. In other words, I know it because of what it does for me.

OK. So we admit that most of us don’t know much about our vehicles and our phones; so now tell me about the inner workings of our God. Tell me how he can be three persons but only one God. Tell me how he knows and sees all things. Tell me how he can create all things out of nothing in six days using only his almighty word. Explain how he came up with the laws of nature. If God is everywhere, is he outside of our universe? By the way, what is outside of our universe? And if it’s nothing, how can you understand that?

Our God knows that, as incredible as human wisdom is, it’s limited. We can’t understand him; at least not fully. But he does reveal to us what we need to know about him. And we can know all sorts of wonderful things about him as we look at the way he created all things. We have that blessed opportunity this morning. We have before us the creation account. Look at it with me. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God.

Part I.

Two weekends ago I spent about 10 hours spreading mulch around my home’s flowers and shrubs. When I got done I stood back, admired the job I had done through eyes smarting with sweat and said to myself, “Good enough.” Good enough?! Is that all? Two days later I noticed a spot I had missed. There was too much mulch here and not enough over there. Mulch spilled onto the sidewalk in one spot and covered a small flower in another. “Good enough” meant I was not going to make any more effort to make it better. “Good enough” meant I was willing to admit it wasn’t perfect. In fact, it meant I knew I was incapable of a perfect effort.

Not too many people, if given the chance, would step back from our world and proclaim it “good enough.” In fact, most would state our world is a mess. Another school shooting. Al Qaida is alive and well. Storms bring death and destruction. And then people wonder, “Where is God in all of this? Why doesn’t he do something about it?” And then it dawns on them that it’s always been this way. We live in a world gone wrong. And their conclusion? This is all God’s doing. It’s his fault. This is the way he made things.

Such people either don’t believe or haven’t read our first lesson for this morning. They miss or deny this little, but so important verse of God’s holy Word, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” That’s the Hebrew way of saying there was nothing wrong with it. It was perfect.

First, that means it turned out exactly as he wanted it to. He didn’t start out to do a perfect job but once he got into it and realized how difficult it was decided to settle for good enough. Everything turned out exactly as he planned it to. All things worked in perfect harmony. The entire universe beamed with the glory of the almighty, perfect God. He had created a perfect world.

That also means the world was morally perfect. There was no evil lurking deep within just waiting to emerge and ruin everything. There were no evil intentions even within Adam and Eve. There was no sin. There was no death. There was no destruction. There was no frustration. Just goodness. All over. All the time.

Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. All he creates is very good.

So, would you say that things today are getting better or worse? I don’t have the results of any poll before me, but if I had to guess, I’d say only a small minority of people would say that things are getting better in our world. It’s evident to the vast majority of us that things are getting worse. There are political powder kegs in our world just waiting to be detonated by some madman. We still have energy and pollution problems that we can’t seem to solve. That person who seemed so nice to his neighbors was actually despicable. Too many times each day the medical expert tells his patient, “I’m sorry. There’s nothing more that I can do for you.” What happened to “very good?” We know what happened. Sin happened. And we contributed far more than our share of it. So what’s the solution? Jesus Christ. He came to make all things very good between us and God. He did that with a gruesome death on Calvary’s cross. He came to make all things good for us forever. He did that with a glorious resurrection from the dead. He will come and make all things very good for us again on the Last Day. And that’s what we need to know. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!

Part II.

Do you realize how often every day you’re confronted with your image? It’s a huge advertising gimmick. If advertisers can just get you to consider that you should look different, they’ve done their job. Now you’ll listen to want they’re pitching. And it doesn’t even have to be physical. Consider the “subliminal messages” You should be smarter. You should be more active. You should be more popular. You should be happier.” It’s all about your self-image.

This first chapter of Genesis also contains information about an image. Not ours, but God’s. It says that God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” Adam and Eve were created in God’s image. Just what does that mean? Well, let’s state clearly what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean they were God. They were humans. Nor does it mean that they looked like God because God doesn’t have a body.

What does it mean? Scripture states that by faith in Jesus we regain the image of God—true righteousness and holiness. For Adam and Eve to be created in the image of God means that their will was in perfect harmony with God’s will. What they wanted was exactly what God wanted. Their desires about each other and all of God’s creation were holy.

It also means their intellect was holy. They thought about things the way God thinks about them. They didn’t reason how they could use something for a sinful purpose, but only how it could be used for the way God designed it. They didn’t think—either intentionally or unintentionally—about how to ruin something.

What a world! What marvelous human beings! Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. He creates humans in his image.

We might not be so bold as to say, “What I think and what I want are right because it’s what I think and want,” but that sounds fairly familiar, doesn’t it? Given a particular situation or issue, and we can easily conclude on our own what’s right for us. And the corollary to that thinking is, “Who is God to tell me?” How far we’ve fallen from being created in the image of God when our thinking and our desires were in complete harmony with God’s, not in utter discord! This creation account reveals the sad truth about us. But as we read further, we see how God planned and fulfilled the way to restore his image in us—through faith in Jesus as our Savior. Jesus won our forgiveness. Jesus makes us right with God. Jesus will fully restore us to the image of God when we enter eternal life. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!

Part III.

A loving and generous father takes the keys to a brand new car and hands them to his daughter on her graduation from high school. Can you imagine it? Yeah, it happens. A father spends 2 years restoring a vintage car to its original condition and, as soon as he’s done, he hands the keys to his son who just got his driver’s license. Can you imagine it? Most of you are saying, “I’m not picking up what you’re laying down, Pastor.”

Now imagine this. God takes the perfect world—the entire universe—which he had just created out of nothing and hands it to Adam and Eve to use in a perfect way. Can you imagine it? That’s what happened.

God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth and subdue it. The Hebrew words here indicate that they should use God’s creation in a way that God designed it. They weren’t to abuse it. And before the fall into sin, that’s exactly what they did.

It was all here for them to enjoy. They were amazed at the marvelous way God had created all things, from the beauty of a small flower to the vastness of the night sky. God takes the keys to the world and hands them to humans. What a loving God!

Look what creation tells you about the Triune God!

He did that knowing they would ruin it all with their sin. And we wonder why. I can’t answer that because God doesn’t tell us in his word. But when they did ruin it, he immediately announces a fix to it all—he will send a Savior. Now that’s love! Astounding love! Love like no other. That’s his love for you. Look what creation tells you about the Triune God. Look, and be eternally grateful! Amen.