In the Beginning God

Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God

There have been a few special moments in my life when I have been able to move beyond this material world, to transcend to an experience of God.

One was a night in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, in the northeast of the US. I was taking a group of 10 to 12 year old boys on a week-long hike and we camped one night by a set of waterfalls. After they were all in their tents, I laid out by the waterfall and looked up at the stars. Being away from city lights, I could see quite a bit. As I lay there, I saw deeper and deeper into the universe. The universe became larger and grander to me and then I began to pray to the one who had created all I could see. I was overcome with emotion that I was able to communicate with the one who had created all I could observe.

Theologians talk about how we can know God. This first way of knowing God is by observing his creation and is called general revelation. We observe the creation of God and learn about the character of God. We see, for example, that God is creative, values beauty and is powerful. It is about God’s power that I want us to reflect a bit this morning.

Psalm 104
31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
may the LORD rejoice in his works—
32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

The natural world has often spoken powerfully to me. I’ve been by the ocean during a storm and seen the power of the waves that come in and crash on the rocks of the shore and when I have been too close I have been terrified at what I experienced. The power of the sea is beyond us. I read a book about the merging of two storms in the North Atlantic to create what they called a perfect storm. There were 200 foot (60 meter) tall waves. To be in a storm at sea in those conditions has to be among a person’s worst nightmares.

In the Los Angeles area of California in the US, there was an earthquake just north of the city in Simi Valley. I visited there just after the earthquake and talked to a customer of mine who lived by the mountains. He said the whole range of mountains had lifted up and came down and a dust cloud rose up along the ridge. What kind of power is it that can lift a whole range of mountains?

The wind of a hurricane or typhoon is capable of imbedding a piece of lumber in the trunk of a tree. Tornados lift up houses and cars and deposit them miles away from where they had been.

In 1990, our family visited Mt. St. Helena, the site of a volcanic eruption ten years earlier. As we drove through the park we saw mile after mile of tree trunks that had been blown down as if they had been matchsticks. It was eerie to see them lying, all in the same direction, as if they had been neatly arranged.

We see the power of God in the power of his creation.

As powerful as the forces on this planet are, they are nothing compared to the power displayed in the universe. We fear a tornado or hurricane or earthquake but none of these can compare with the devastation of a meteor slamming into the earth. There is speculation that a meteor with a diameter of six miles (ten kilometers) collided with earth with such an impact that dinosaurs were made extinct. A tidal wave a mile high (1.6 kilometers) swept across Australia as the result of one of these collisions in the distant history of the earth.

The God who created the terrifyingly powerful forces of the universe is a God of immensity and power. We have difficulty comprehending who God is in all his power and are constantly reducing him to our level. We picture God as a benevolent grandfather and relax a bit. That picture of God is someone we can relax with. But God is not a benevolent grandfather with whom we can relax.

You don’t relax when you are in a cage with a hungry lion. You stay on your guard. You don’t take the lion for granted.

Scripture teaches us that God wants us to be in awe of him.

Remember what happened when Moses led Israel out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai? Moses went up the mountain to meet with God and these instructions were given:
10 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes  11 and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  12 Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.  13 He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.”

God wanted to teach Israel that he was a holy God, not to be trifled with, not to be taken for granted, not to be treated casually. God wanted to put the fear of God in them.

The Israelites were used to worshiping gods in Egypt that you could put on a table and see. You could decorate the statue, pet it, ignore it and it did nothing to you. A casual attitude to the statue had little effect.

God needed to awaken Israel to a new reality. God is not a lifeless statue but a living God. When God descended on Mt. Sinai to meet with Moses,
16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.  18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently,  19 and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

God is holy and powerful in his holiness. God is to be feared. How dare we talk about God so easily and casually!

As Christians we accept that we have a relationship with God and become very comfortable with that fact. We assume our relationship with God and begin to take it for granted. We begin to talk as if we can control and manage God. We make deals with him. “I’ll do this if you do that for me.” We try to manipulate him. We give him some of our money so that he will give us his blessing for what we want.

Christians talk confidently about how God will act in a certain situation. We talk about God as if he can be controlled and managed. We do this and he will do that.

But God is not controllable. God is not manageable. God is like a raging forest fire racing through timberland consuming all in its path. God is like a level five hurricane lifting boats from the harbor and sending them crashing into the shore. God is like an earthquake raising whole ranges of mountains. God is like a volcano melting the rock and destroying anything standing in the range of its blast.

God is to be feared, not trifled with.

Jonathan Edwards in the 18th century wrote a sermon that became widely read and a significant part of the Great Awakening in the history of the then colonies in America. Listen to part of his sermon based on Deuteronomy 32:25

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment.

That is God, powerful and holy and pure, in comparison with whom we are nothing. You may cringe at this description in Edward’s sermon, but why should you expect anything else. God is so great and so powerful and you are less than a drop in the bucket. On the scale of the universe, you are statistically invisible. You don’t even exist. So why should you expect anything from God who created the vastness around you?

God is even greater than we can observe. How much of God do we know? God pre-existed creation. Before there were ever galaxies and supernovas and black holes and the more mundane earthquakes and hurricanes, there was God. How can we know the part of God not revealed in his creation and interactions with mankind? As powerful as we see God in his creation, he is even more powerful because before what we see created existed, God was present. And after all we see disappears, ceases to exist, God will be present.

His creation is future and past tense but God is always present tense.

But now prepare to be astounded. Hear the most amazing news.

God who pre-existed his creation, who unleashed powers beyond our comprehension to create the universe we observe in the skies at night, who holds in his hands our lives and the order of the universe – now get this – pay attention to this – don’t let this slip past you – don’t take this for granted. This pre-existing, all-powerful God chose to reveal himself to you.

The galaxy of which our solar system is a small part is called the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy contains 250 billion to 750 billion stars. There may be as many as 100 billion galaxies in the universe with each galaxy containing millions to trillions of stars. The sun in our solar system is such a small part of the immensity of this universe, let alone the third planet orbiting around it, earth. And yet God who created all of the universe has revealed himself to us, tiny creatures on this small orbiting planet in this small solar system of the universe.

To be noticed by this all powerful God might be a dangerous thing. Better to be invisible. But to be noticed by God among his creation in the universe is such good news for us because even more amazing than being noticed by him is that he loves us.

The pre-existing God loves you. This all-powerful God bends himself and limits himself to communicate with you. He pursues you and forgives you. He loves you. He loves you enough that he sent his Son in an extreme act of limitation and humiliation to live among us and to die on the cross in our place.

This is unbelievable. Can it really be true? Can you grasp the implausibility of it all? The only reason this is not totally presumptuous is that it comes from God and not from ourselves. We did not make this up. This is not our religious fantasy, it is God’s intervention into history. It is not our wishful thinking, it is God’s actions in history.

In the beginning God. God who loves you. Hold on to that, never let that become a casual assumption. Don’t ever let this be just a cute button to wear or a sticker to put on your schoolbooks.  This is the most amazing thing you will ever be able to say. God, pre-existing-God, creator-of-the-universe-God loves you. Be ever in awe of his love.

Let me point out some implications for us of these most amazing three words: God loves you.

1. If God is head of the universe, ought he not be head of your life?

God is always in the beginning of life. God called into life his universe and on our planet he called into life the plant and animal world we observe. God called Adam and Eve into life and he called Abram into life. Abraham is called by Paul the Father of our faith. How did Abraham rise to this exalted state? In the beginning, God called Abram from Ur to Canaan and set him on the adventure of his life, called him to begin to really live.
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
Abraham’s life began when he obeyed God and left for the land God promised to show him.

Moses stands as one of the greatest of the Hebrew Bible figures and when Jesus met with two residents of heaven at the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses was one of them. Where did life begin with Moses?
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law… the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.  3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

And life began for Moses. In the beginning God. God is always at the beginning.

Where did Isaiah receive his inspiration to be the great prophet of the Old Testament?
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”

In the beginning God

Where did Jeremiah receive the strength to persevere as God’s prophet despite the opposition of virtually everyone in Judah?
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

In the beginning God.

Where does life begin for you and me? Life for us begins when we hear the call of God and we surrender our lives to him. We may have lived 5 years or 25 years 50 years or 75 years before we heard that call, but when we heard that call, our life began. Because in the beginning God.

God calls life into existence. Has he called your name? Has life begun for you?

If what I have been saying about God is true and he is the pre-existing God, creator of the universe of which our planet is just a very small part, then isn’t it the height of presumptuousness for you to deny his call to you to come and receive his gift of love?

The arrogance of someone to say that they don’t need God, they are self-made, masters of their universe is quite amazing.

Open your eyes. See the world around you. See God who has revealed himself through his creation and surrender your life to him. Accept the gift of salvation he offers you.

2. Don’t resist the call of God on your life. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, what is there to fear if you go where he has called you to go?

If God were only the all-powerful, pre-existing God, it would be terrifying to come to him. If God were not all-powerful and simply loved you, it would be risky to step out on an adventure with him when he could do nothing to protect you.

But you can trust him because he is the all-powerful, pre-existing God who loves you. You can’t have more security than that. You go out on an adventure with a companion who is more powerful than any creature or circumstance you will encounter and you know that your companion will sacrifice himself for you. Don’t hold back. Go!

How ought you to respond to God’s call? Listen to these responses:

When God called Abram to leave his country and go to the land he would show him,
So Abram left, as the LORD had told him

When Isaiah had a vision of God in the temple and he heard the voice of God saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
[Isaiah] said, “Here am I. Send me!”

When Gabriel appeared to Mary and spoke to her “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”

When God calls you, when God appoints you to something, don’t resist. You can trust God and step out into the unknown because it is God who is calling you and God who calls you promises never to abandon you, never to forsake you.

3. Open yourself fully to God each day and live that day for him.
Job 12
10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Everyday you wake up and are alive is a day in which God has a purpose for you. In the US White House, those who work for the President of the United States “serve at the pleasure of the President”. Each day you wake you serve at the pleasure of God. He holds your life in his hand. To wake up is to know that you are needed by God that day.

The pre-existing, all-powerful God who loves you has a purpose for you that day. Why close yourself off to anything God has in store for you?

We talked about spiritual gifts a couple weeks ago. On what basis can you find any sense in closing yourself off to any gift God wants for you to have?

The popular existential questions are: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose for my life?

These are rather simple questions to answer when you look at them in the proper light. When you view these questions against the backdrop of the all-powerful, pre-existing, all-loving God it becomes quite clear. You are here because God created you and when you seek him and open yourself to him you discover your purpose. The Westminister Confession makes this very clear. The chief end of man is to love God and enjoy him forever. Seek God and you will know who you are, why you are here and what is the purpose of your life.

You have come to church this morning with a range of experiences. I don’t know what the circumstances of your life are but I know to whom you can turn to be lifted above your circumstances.

The Psalmist wrote,
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

If you have never surrendered your life to God, then this morning, lift your eyes to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

If you are wavering, afraid to step out in obedience to what or where God has called you, then lift your eyes to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

You live today because God wants you to live. You serve today at his pleasure. Lift your eyes to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.