Good Morning All,
Gen. 1:1: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and
the earth.”
There are a handful of verses from the Bible that most people, who any
biblical knowledge at all, can quote from memory. This is one of those verses. Yet it is one of the most ignored verses in
the Bible. In the first verse of the
entire Bible, we see what our relationship with God should be. God is the creator, and we are the created;
we are the creatures that fit into the creation. Yet most people are truly offended if you
tell them this. Try and tell someone who
is commenting on how great mankind is and how we can do anything if we just put
our mind to it. Tell them that we are
creatures in God’s creation but in this simple verse, 10 words long, that is
exactly what we declare.
Now it
is true that God created humans with a special purpose, to care for creation
and to serve God, and given something that the animals do not have, a living
soul, God created us to be the “image-bearers” for him here on earth. Humans were supposed to tend the creation, to
have dominion over it, and to be in worshipful fellowship with God. But man couldn’t live with this. Remember what the serpent told Eve, “you will
be like God” so Eve ate, and Adam did too.
Sin entered the world because Adam and Eve were not happy being the
creature; they wanted to be like the creator. The First Commandment springs
from this verse. Why should we have no
other gods before Him? Because He is the
Creator God who made everything out of nothing.
All sin is a sin against the First Commandment.
In the
Book of Revelations, there is a description of the Throne of God. As you and I go through life, our struggle
with the devil is who is sitting on that throne? Do I see God on that throne, or do I place
myself on that throne? Do I see God as
the Sovereign God who rules over all He has created, or do I have a “different”
theory. No matter what that theory is,
evolution, aliens, new age religions, everything else is about me sitting on
God’s throne and refusing to accept that God is there. In essence, we are rejecting our own human
creaturely status and have lost everything.
God,
in His mercy, sent Jesus to die to reconcile us back to Him. God continually calls us back to Himself, out
of love, to return to our true nature to be the “image-bearer” in this
world. Since sin is still prevalent, God
calls His Church to be partners or helpers in this reconciliation process. He empowers us through the Holy Spirit to
again be the “image-bearer” for Him in this broken world. We continually fall short, but God continues
to call. This cycle or rhythm is what
some call worship. God calls us and
pronounces us forgiven, we rejoice in His forgiveness and go forth only to fall
short again. We repeat this cycle until
the Lord returns. “In the beginning, God
created the heavens and the earth.” He is the creator, and we are the
creature. It really is that simple.
O
Holy Creator God, we, your poor creatures, continually fail to serve You as we
should. We ask for Your mercy. We celebrate because of Jesus’ atoning
sacrifice; we know we are forgiven. Lead
us, empower us, and give us the will to serve as your “image-bearer” to a world
of pain and suffering. In Jesus’ name we
pray, Amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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