Creation
Pastor Travis Norton's Sermons
English - March 18, 2013 19:35 - ★★★★ - 1 ratingChristianity Religion & Spirituality sermons lutheran elca jesus preaching pastor religion christianity church evangelical Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Genesis
When
I was in 9th grade
I wrote a paper
chastising my biology teacher
for
teaching evolution in her class
I
had just been confirmed in my church
and
really wanted to live out my faith
And
somewhere I had picked up the idea
that
evolution was an attack on my Christian faith
I
was determined to defend my faith and the Bible
against
what I saw as the onslaught of cultural forces
So
I wrote a scathing paper
refusing to answer
questions on evolution
while
sharply criticizing my teacher for teaching such nonsense
My
biology teacher was kind and understanding
and
wise enough not to take the bait
I
think she even gave me a B for the paper
She
was just doing her job
teaching the science of
the day
with
no agenda regarding my faith
I
hadn’t really though through
what evolution was or
wasn’t
I
just knew that as a Christian I was supposed to be against it.
In
my youth I got swept up
in the culture wars
Like
a child soldier
who doesn’t know why
he’s fighting
just
that the enemy is evil and it’s his job to vanquish them
But
I was wrong
maybe not in my zealous desire to
defend the faith
but
I was wrong to think
that science was the
enemy of faith
In the past several decades
Christians
in America have drawn battle lines over the bible
They
have politicized it and unwittingly
and
hopefully unintentionally
confused
our reading of Scripture
As
a result, when we read the story of creation
our
minds naturally go to these battle lines
The debate over evolution
same
sex marriage
and
the age of the earth
Are all red herrings
that
throw us off the trail of the Bible’s message
We
miss hearing what scripture is trying to say
because
we’ve been culturally conditioned to read this story
through
the lens of political battle lines
You
know the term ‘Red Herring’?
It’s
a term used to describe a logical fallacy
It
comes from an old trick used by bandits or criminals
to
throw bloodhounds off their trail
They
would take a fish—a red herring---
and
throw it down a trail going the opposite way
In
hopes that the bloodhounds chasing them
would
lead the police toward the herring
so
they could escape capture
These
political debates
centered on the book of
Genesis
are the devil’s red herring
If
he can get us to argue about science vs. religion
then
we won’t hear the good news of the creation account
And
as bonus
the devil can make sure
non-believers will be turned off altogether
from
the stench of our arguments
Last
week I made a strong statement
that got a
lot of your attention
I
said that Jesus and not the bible
is
the blueprint for us to follow
Not
that the Bible isn’t of extreme importance to us
it is very
important, it is the manger in which Christ is laid
But
Jesus is the one we follow
and He is
our guide to reading the bible
I’m
doubling down on that statement
when
we give up trying to defend the Bible
and instead
focus on reading it and letting it point us to Jesus
We
can slip out of all these pointless debates
and
fall in love with scripture again
as
God uses it to open us up to a relationship with Him
the bible is not a science book
and
we don’t need it to be
When
you read the first two chapter of Genesis
you
run into a huge contradiction right off the bat
one
that was put there intentionally
There are two accounts of the creation story in Genesis
You
find not one, but two accounts of creation
that when
read together clearly contradict each other
If
we read them as science
there is no way to
reconcile the stories
In
the first story
lights and plants and
stars and sun and animals come first
The
last thing created is humans
but
in the second account the story is almost completely reversed
starting
in Genesis 2:4
it
says that before there were any plants
God knelt in
the dust and made a man
and
breathed life into him
then
God planted a Garden
and made
animals
and
gave them to the man to take care of
So
the man comes first
in one story and last in
another
As
a science book
that doesn’t add up
If
we’re talking science
we have to decide which
story is accurate
and
which story to reject
But
the author of Genesis
wasn’t writing a science
book
He
knew that the two stories contradicted
and still
chose to put them back to back at the very beginning of the story
So
right of the bat we know something about the Bible
We know that the Bible
is NOT interested in scientific
questions
that’s
not what it’s about
Clearly there is some larger truth
that
we need to pay attention to
There’s
a larger truth
about God and his
creation
that
the Biblical author is making
In
the first story God says “Let us make humankind in our image—according to our
likeness
and
let them have dominion over every living thing”
In
the second story God creates the man first
plants
a garden and puts the man in the garden
He
gives him the responsibility to till it and keep it
then
God makes the animals and brings them to the man
to
name each one of them
Do
you see a common theme
a red thread that
connects these two stories
Do
you see the larger truth
that Genesis
is making
The
story of creation is about our identity
who we are
and who we are meant to be
as
the ones God has created
We are God’s crowning achievement
made
in his image
We
are given the earth and all that is in it
to
care for, to keep and to protect
We
are given a special identity as God’s image bearers
his
representatives on earth
This
is who we are!
When
we tell the Christian story
to a world
that increasingly doesn’t know even the basics
This
is where we need to start
not with
silly arguments about evolution and Big bangs
But
with the deep truth about humanity
that we were
created in the very image of God
that
He has great intentions for us
I
remember doing a stump the pastor event
at
my previous congregation
Fifty
teenagers piled into the youth room
and our
youth director challenged them
to
ask me anything they wanted about the faith
After
a minute of awkward silence
one young man, Matt
Bacon, a great kid always joking
threw his hand up in the air
thinking
he had the ultimate question
that would
stump me and get his friends laughing
He
asked me “Pastor, what is the purpose of life”
Everybody
laughed
not taking the question
seriously
and
the kid was pretty proud of himself for breaking the ice
But
I took his question seriously
and gave him an answer
I
answered him
to reclaim the night so they would
take it seriously
but also
because Christians actually have an answer to that big question
The
answer comes to us from Genesis
The purpose of life is to bear God’s image in the world
to
live in relationship with God
and
represent God on the earth in all we say
and do
I’ll say it again…
God
made us in his image
and he directed us to
rule, to be in charge
not
in some dictator way of the fallen world
But
as good stewards
taking care of the
garden and the animals
watching
out for creation
We
are called to represent God
in all
aspects of our life
In
how we care for each other
praying for
one another
offering
support and meeting needs
In
our relationships
marking them with humble
service
forgiveness and love
and
to represent him
just by being the
marvelous creatures
he
has called us to be
Last
Monday we remembered
our dear friend Pat
Blaker who died the first week of January
As
we remembered her
we learned that she was
someone who lived out God’s purpose in life
She
cared served her family
she served her community
and
she served her church well
She
was a shining example
of someone who bore
God’s image
and
lived a life in His name
We
will miss her greatly
and I think we who knew
her would do well
to
imitate her life as she imitated Christ’s
There’s
a great quote I love
by Marianne Williamson
She
writes “we ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented,
fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing
small does not serve the world…We were born to make manifest the glory of God
that is within us;”
How
many of us have stood in awe
at a star
filled night
overlooking the ocean, listening to the saves
How
many of us have been overcome in a moment
watching
a beautiful sunrise or sunset
At
our Tuesday morning bible study
Louise
Walker shared about a visit to the Grand Canyon
How
there was all this chatter on the trail leading up to the viewing area
but upon
seeing the Grand Canyon there was a hush that came over them
as
they stood in silent awe at the incredible sight
Well
I ask you
when was the last time you looked at
a person
with
that same sense of awe and wonder
When
was the last time
someone looked at you
overcome
with your beauty, with the wonder of who you are?
Can
you see yourself through God’s eyes
can
you see each other as His work of art?
Humans
are God’s masterpiece
a cut above
the rest of creation
We
gape at the beauty of the earth
and praise
God for all he has made
and
rightly so
But
you yourselves
each one of you
are made in
the image of God
Look
at the person sitting next to you
you are sitting
in the presence of a masterpiece
Worthy
of the same jaw dropping gapes of respect and appreciation
we
normally reserve for the wonders of the world
This
is the start of the Christian story
this is what
the world needs to hear
from
the book of Genesis and from us
Tell
your non believing friends and family
“ do you know that in God’s eyes you are more beautiful that a sunrise
and
more amazing than the milky way
You
are beautiful, amazing, a miracle
given great
dignity and responsibility
to
bear God’s image in all the world
this
is the beginning of the story
Now,
it’s not hard to see
that things have not
remained
as
God intended them from the start
We have fallen from this original
image bearing relationship with God
We
no longer look at one another
as divine
masterpieces
The
effects of sin are enormous
that human choice to
trust in ourselves over God
has
had disastrous consequences
Not
just for our own relationships
but our relationship with
the earth and its creatures as well
But
it was our relationship with God
that took
the biggest hit
Rather
than living in security
that comes with God
walking with us
We
live in fear and shame
rather than faith and
honor
When
we pulled away from God
we started
dying
But the minute God’s beautiful
creation
started
to crumble because of our sin
God went to work
saving
us
He
finds us hiding in shame
feeling vulnerable and
naked
because
we’ve lost our identity
in
our sin we have forgotten who we are
God
sacrifices animals
to make leather clothing
for Adam and eve
to protect them in the
new world that they have put themselves at odds with
This sacrifice and clothing
prefigures
the sacrifice that Jesus would make later
when
he gave his own flesh and blood
in
order to provide spiritual clothing for us
And
now when we are baptized
we are
clothed with Christ
and
our identity is restored
There’s
a reason we have that baptismal font
right at the
entrance of the church
Because
we go out from here every week
into a world
that has forgotten
who
they are as Children of God
and
what they called to do as His Image Bearers
And
we ourselves forget
as we are sold countless
counterfeit identities
We
are told that our identity
is grounded in what we produce
or
in what we consume
That
we’re only as good as our last sale
or
success
So
we put the baptismal font at the front of the church
so
when we return to this space for worship
We
can be reminded
that we are clothed with
Christ
and
are children of God
We
are God’s masterpiece
forgiven, cleansed, and filled
with Holy Dignity
We
are the ones God has made in his own image
destined
to represent him in this world
So
next time you dip your finger in that water
and
trace the sign of the cross on your forehead
Stand
up tall
straighten up your shoulders
as the
burdens of the world are taken from by God
Let
the light return to your eyes
and remember who you are
you
are God’s very own
He loves you, He made
you, He died for you
And
in His eyes
you are his beloved
child